The Stepping Stone Cafe

Do you ever watch the travel channel? We like to stream our tv content from Netfix and happened upon a show called Man vs. Food. The host of the show, a guy named Adam Richman goes around to various eating establishments and takes on food challenges ranging from quantities that would feed normal people for a week to perhaps plates that are so spicy that they might peal the skin off of the average tongue. When he was in Portland, Adam visited a little joint called The Stepping Stone Cafe. That is where we found ourselves this morning.

Now to be perfectly honest, this place does not create a great first impression. I mean there is a hand written sign on the door telling us that we are supposed to wait outside and the list to get in the place is taped to a window.

I mean, what is that about? The next impression to greet us once we got inside the place was that the place was badly in need of general maintenance. I'm talking bare sheets of plywood and missing tiles in the floor. I was thinking to myself that this place is one visit from the health inspector from getting shut down. It was like this place was banking its whole existance on a chance encounter with a celebrity from the Travel Channel.

Well, thankfully, it's not all about first impressions. We were quickly asked what we'd like to drink and our coffee was brought promptly. The menu was obviously well used but there were a number of interesting selections and we each chose one albeit not the "Man Cakes" as featured on Man vs. Food. Debbie chose the Chicken Scramble for $8.75

and mine was an Absolute Omelet for $9.00.

They arrived a bit sooner than I expected but they looked and smelled great. To be perfectly candid they tasted equally as good. I was eager to finish the entire plate and in this personal episode of man versus food, man won. Sorry Adam for borrowing your line.

To finish this post, we don't get down to this part of Portland very often so it may be a while before I return. However, it wasn't the food that is likely to keep us away. Just sayin'.

Deschutes Brewery and Public House

If you've been reading this blog, then you know that we've been enjoying our visits to eating establishments that fall into the brew pub category. It seems that they serve a lot of comfort food and the friendly, casual atmosphere is appealing to us. Debbie even said to me recently that we should try another pub because she has enjoyed the fare so much. For this reason, I was really looking forward to our visit to the Deschutes Brewery and Public House. I was pleased to see a crowd when we arrived and the wait for a table turned into close to fifty minutes though the estimate when we arrived was reported to be approximately thirty minutes. Oh well, to me that says that their patrons were enjoying themselves and afterall it is difficult to guess when people will be done eating.

After what seemed to be a long time, our beeper let us know it was our turn and we were seated. The waitress took us to a raised table for two which is ok but we do prefer sitting in a booth type setting.

After spending a little time with the menu, I was ready to choose the Fish and Chips but Debbie suggested that I should try the Stewed Chicken. Ok, I yielded to her suggestion but when she ended up ordering the Fish and Chips I felt a little betrayed. I mean, why would it be unhealthy for me to eat deep fried cod but it was ok for her?

Fortunately for me, she did allow me to enjoy one of her three filets. It was very good and certainly might be worth a return trip. On the other hand, my selecton, the Stewed Chicken

was only ok. I thought the presentation was far too monochrome in that the red of the tomatoes was the only color present. I'm not going to say that it didn't taste good but it was a little under cooked in my opinion. I ate it all but I was just a little disappointed. That in itself is not a good reason to not give this establishment another chance but I might not go out of my way to get there. It is in the Pearl District and though its resident population may think there is something particularly special about "The Pearl" I am not impressed by a place solely because of a geographic location.

In short, though I may return to this place, it will not be because of an outstanding first impression. It will only be because I am hungry and I won't have to go very far out of my way to get there. Perhaps sometime when I am visiting Bend, Oregon I will try the Deschutes Brewery and Public House's other location.

Gasthaus Pub

It has been over six months since we posted on this blog. My dinner companion and I have each missed doing this but we've been extremely busy with other distractions. We were each mentally and physically exhausted today so when it turned out that today was a payday of sorts, we decided that we deserved a special event like "Dining in the Dark".

The Gasthaus Pub is an extension of the Widmer Brothers Brewing Company. I drove past the place one time and thought to myself that it looked like an interesting establishment. It is situated in what appears to be an old industrial building between the the Rose Quarter and the railroad tracks along the Columbia River.

Growing up I never would have entered a place which had the word "Pub" in its name. However, if you've read all of my previous posts you'll have noticed that I have discovered that many of those establishments are not just a collection of dingy bars but, in fact, are family friendly, well respected restaurants. This one I am pleased to say is exactly that.

The place was full when we entered and there is no waiting room. We were only waiting for a short five minutes or less. The clientele ranged in ages from infants to senior citizens.

We started our dinner with a really good appetizer which was described as a spinach artichoke cheese dip. It came with half a baguette of French bread. Wow! That was a good start.

Along with a full line of adult malt beverages, they brew their own root beer. I saw someone order what looked like a cola also.

Debbie ordered a green salad which I got to sample. It was good and came with a delightful variety of croutons.

Her entree was a bowl of Goulash over mashed potatoes. I got to eat a significant portion of her plate. It too was excellent. It was the real Hungarian style with lots of paprika. There were peppers as well which whispered hints of Hispanic cuisine.

My choice was chicken schnitzel. It came with garlic mashed potatoes and what I believe were beet greens. Again, it was very tasty and after eating Debbie's goulash, I'll be eating the balance of my plate tomorrow for lunch. I am sooo looking forward to it.

We are definitely returning to this place. We are thinking that it might be fun to just order appetizers and share each others choices. I'm like totally looking forward to that.