4th Street Brewing Company

The other night we took our 19 year old to Sandy, OR so he could watch a play that a friend of his was in. We were a bit hesitant to drive all the way out to Sandy, back home, and then all the way out to Sandy again. In lieu of all of that driving, we decided to kill some time in Gresham, OR. We had two stops to make but more time than that to kill so realizing that it was way past dinner time we decided to troll for a place to eat. Using my cool Android phone, I discovered a place nearby that had potential. It is called The 4th Street Brewing Company. My wife who is my regular dining companion thought I was being kind of coy when she asked where we were going and I responded "4th street".

Well we pulled up to this establishment and noticed that the parking lot was full. Of course that is always an encouraging sign. We walked in and it appeared that there was a choice of restaurant seating or an even more casual kind of bar seating. The bar area was where the tv monitors were tuned in to an apparent football game. It sounded like a fun place immediately as every once in a while a cheer would sound. Apparently, there had been a great play or perhaps even a score. I don't know, we were there to eat.

We were not prepared to spend a lot of money, however, so our eyes drifted to the part of the menu that was a little more on the casual side. There were some selections that sounded really good that were a little more than we wanted to spend that night. Maybe next time.

I know it doesn't make good blogging fodder, but we both chose the same item off of the menu. It was the Black and Bleu Cask Burger.


It came looking great and it was very tasty with the emphasis on black pepper but what surprised me to the core was the fries. I don't know what they did to them and I'll need to return to verify that it wasn't some sort of anomily, but they were arguably, the best fries that I've ever tasted. I can't begin to describe to you how wonderful they were in my mouth.

We didn't eat everything off of our plate and asked for a take home box. Our thoughts were to share our dinner with our kid, Jonathan, when we picked him up from the play. His immediate comment upon tasting the food was "Oh my goodness, these fries are great. Where did you get them?" Enough said, we have to go back there and order something that comes with fries. I mean, I have to know. Was it some sort of anomoly or are those the best fries in the world. One of these days I'm definately going back to check out those fries. I'll let you know how it went.

Wild Wood Cafe On Main

Today was a rather unusual Saturday. Normally, our Saturdays consist of a series stressful competitions with other antique dealers to aquire a collection of desirable items to which we can attach a price that will bring a desirable profit.
Well, today the prospects looked a little grim and besides we had another responsibility that was equally pressing for priority. Our son had a meeting planned with another person and needed transportantion to downtown Gresham. Interestingly enough, we don't often find ourselves in downtown Gresham.

While we were there we noticed a farmers market and decided to wander around a bit.

Afterwards, we needed to kill a little time and chose to wander in to a little restaurant that we saw along the way. It was called the Wild Wood Cafe. It was a pleasant little establishment. The wait staff consisted of a couple of older women but they were both effective and attentive to their customers. The menu was not complicated but had an adequate variety of choices. We each found something desirable, and ordered our choices. Mine was a chicken fried steak
selection that was very good.

My dining companion selected an omlette that was a true delight to her pallet.

The prices were average and the fare was very nice. I would have to say that given another opportunity to enter to doors of the Wildwood Cafe, I would not hesitate and would in fact, boldly go where I have ventured before.

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'.