La Cerreta Mexican Restaurant

January 18, 2013

Date #67

We started our night out by driving towards downtown Portland, as we got closer Chuck asked me if I knew how to get to the Ross Island bridge. Unfortunately, this is not one of the areas of Portland that I know well, so we had to follow the signs on the I-5. The problem with going over this particular bridge tonight was another popular bridge, the Sellwood bridge, was closed because it is being rebuild due to its age, and bad bridge rating of 1 out of 100, yikes! And we didn’t know an alternate route to the Ross Island bridge, so we had to stay where we were, and it took about 30 minutes to cross, not too bad. We finally got to the other side of the river and found La Carreta Mexican restaurant, yummy my favorite ethnicity.

This is a very old building, and I am told the restaurant has been there for ages. We were taken upstairs to a banquet/bar room with plenty of tables and people, and were presented chip and salsa, my favorite appetizer. I think the most exciting part of going to a new Mexican restaurant is tasting the salsa to see if we like it. I love mild chunky salsa, and this was it, just a bit spicy and plenty of veggies, so good! A mariachi band consisting of 3 very small men came by to sing us a song, it was something about a beautiful diamond. It was fun, but also a bit embarrassing to have everyone in the restaurant looking at us. 

I ordered my new favorite Mexican dish chili relleno, it came with rice and beans, and a cabbage salad. The chili relleno was heavily breaded which wasn’t that tasty, but it was easy to remove the breading and just eat the chili, egg, and cheese. It was very good, and the red sauce complemented it nicely. The rice and beans were excellent as well, the plate was very large, and I wasn’t able to finish all the food.

Chuck order a combination dish of a taco, tamale, and enchilada, and rice and beans. The taco was placed in the enchilada sauce so it was a bit soggy, but the taste was great. He could tell the meat had been simmering all day long, so soft and flavorful. The tamale tasted very good, but the meat was too big and chunky, would have tasted much better with the taco meat. He agreed with me that both the rice and beans were very tasty.

Really good restaurant, we both commented that we should bring our parents here on their next visit, this place was pretty authentic, not Phoenix, but great for Portland. Great find Chuck!

Sushi Hana

January 11, 2013

Date #66

When I first tried sushi I didn’t like it because of the texture. Over the years I have grown to love it, mostly the California rolls, and had it at quite a few different places. The one style of sushi I have never had is the restaurant that offers it on a conveyor belt. So tonight is conveyor belt sushi at Sushi Hana, people from work have gone there often and say it's realy good.

We arrived around 8pm, and the place was packed, and not much room to wait for a place in front of the conveyor belt, but we add our names to the list and watch the fun. We are sat at a corner which is good, just a little more room for us to move around. We had to sit on our jackets because there’s not much room for anything but your body to sit on the stool. We order out drinks and are set free to pick from the interesting offerings on this wonderful conveyor belt.

   
We are a little nervous to start, we don’t want to pick the wrong thing, and me not picking any weird meat. They had a small picture guide to help us out, but it was still hard to find what we wanted in the beginning. After our first selection it became easier, Chuck was in heaven and I the same. Each plate cost around $1.75 and had 3-6 large pieces of sushi. Everything was very fresh and flavorful.  It was so much fun watching everyone doing their picking, and hoping if we spotted our next selection that no one if front of us would pick it. We never had this happen, there was always plenty to choose from. The only one Chuck couldn’t find was one made with eel but I think we could have special ordered it.
Besides the sushi the conveyor belt also offered fruit, pie, drinks, and cream puffs. I had to try one of the cream puffs, they were drizzled with chocolate and so delicious, perfect dessert after sushi. We left stuffed and with a bill of less than $30, very nice! Now off to walk around Petco and some groceries at Winco, two things Chuck loves to do.

Muu Muu's

January 4, 2013

Date #65

We were off to one of our new favorite areas of Portland, the NW 21st area and Muu Muu’s. It’s a bar but a restaurant or a restaurant with loud music, anyway it’s a hip place in Portland.

We started out with your favorite salad, caprese. We just love the combination of tomato, basic, and mozzarella, this version came with a bowl vinaigrette for dipping, very nice.

Next I had a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato on Straun bread which made the sandwich. I had never had this type of bread before, it is hearty and flavorful, I think it would be good for any grilled sandwich. This was a simple sandwich and very tasty, so happy I tried it.

Chuck had jambalaya with shrimp, Andouille sausage and chicken over rice. It was a bit spicy for him, but he ate the whole bowl.
Chuck’s friends from work showed up, we had a nice visit before leaving around 11pm. The streets were packed with people out for a fun time on Friday night.

Pho Tango

December 28, 2012

Date #64

For work I sometimes need to go to our plant in Tillamook, this is a 2-hour drive so I need coffee. I found a location of my favorite coffee place, Dutch Brothers, on the way; I also found our spot for date night tonight right across the street, Pho Tango. The restaurant is busy with people even at this late hour, this is a good sign we have found a tasty restaurant.

We started with vegetarian spring rolls, and pot stickers, both were very tasty and were served with a sweet dipping sauce. They were served very quickly, which was nice because we were very hungry.

                         

Next, we both had Pho, I the vegetarian, and Chuck the beef special including flank, brisket, soft tenderloin, tripe, and meatballs. My Pho was good, but not a lot of flavor, tasted like a weak vegetable soup with tasteless rice noodles, this is the reason I usually don’t have Pho it’s not good without the meat and egg noodles. Chuck’s Pho on the other hand was very good, lots of flavor, and plenty of meat, this is one of his favorite meals.
I’m happy we tried this restaurant, I have looked at for months, in a new area of town we have never explored before…off to Kohl’s we go.

La Buca

December 21, 2012

Date #63

I guess modern society interpreted the Mayan calendar incorrectly, as date night did happen tonight. We were in the area of Northeast Portland, an area Chuck loves to go for date night, driving up Burnside towards 28th avenue and come upon La Buca in a great old area of Portland. It’s located on an old building, the restaurant is rather small and many people are waiting for a table, this is a really good sign Chuck found a good one. To our delight we were called to our table within minutes, this was because we said we would sit in the bar, I would recommend this because it’s just as nice as the main restaurant.

We started out with caprese bruschetta, the bread was crispy, mozzarella creamy, and the balsamic glaze was sweet, such a wonderful tasty combination. So often when you order bruschetta the bread is soggy when it arrives at the table, this was not the case, even our last bite was still crispy. This was a very good start to the evening.

For dinner I ordered vegetariana this consisted of penne, roma tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, pine nuts, and garlic tossed in lemon juice and olive oil. I just loved this bowl of pasta, I could taste all the different ingredients because it wasn’t over powered with sauce, so light and refreshing for a winter night.

Chuck ordered polenta con maiale which was slow roasted pork with caramelized onions and peas over parmesan polenta in a sage chianti butter sauce. The pork was soft and moist, the polenta creamy, and the butter sauce blended everything together magnificently.
To top off the evening we stopped by the Whole Foods next door and looked at all the tasty wares, such a lovely evening.

India Flavors

December 14, 2012

Date #62

I started out with the idea of going to a Chinese restaurant tonight, but while at work today I wanted to pick a second choice because we did Chinese just a few weeks ago. I am happy I did some research because on the way home I notice the restaurant I had chosen had a different name. Could still be a good place, but wanted to wait a few weeks to see what others have to say. Tonight I chose India Flavors, a nice Indian restaurant in Beaverton and right next door to Fred Meyer so Chuck can do what he loves to do…shop!

We started out with cocktail samosa, chick peas, potatoes, and spices in a crispy wrap, and a sweet sauce for dipping. These were really good, we weren’t sure what we had ordered, but were pleasantly surprised when we bit into the crispy crust and found soft potatoes and Indian spices, the sweet dipping sauce was a nice compliment.

For dinner we ordered navratan kurma, goat curry, garlic naan, and rice. My navratan kurma had 9 vegetables in a creamy spice sauce, the veggies were firm, and the sauce was a bit spice but the cream cooled it down. This mixture was so good along with the rice and naan. Chuck’s goat curry was really good, even though he ordered it not spicy, it came pretty spicy, but not spicy enough for him not to eat all of it. Chuck said this was the best goat he had had since Saudi Arabia…I wondered to myself how many times had he had the opportunity to have goat…poor cute goat!
The young man that was our server didn’t look the part, with his hat and jeans, but he was one of the best servers we have had. He made sure we had everything we needed and when we asked for something, he brought it right away, such a pleasant surprise from so many other servers out there. The other think about India Flavors was most of the guests were Indian, this was a very good sign we had found a great Indian restaurant. Chuck…and I got to do some shopping afterwards, he was happy; full belly and shopping equal a great date night! 

Seasons and Regions

December 7, 2012

Date #61

As we start out tonight we head down the 99W, now I’m not sure if we actually should be heading this direction because of past experiences due to talking while driving, but it seems like we are headed the right way as we turn into a favorite area of mine, Multnomah Village. We have never gone wrong with any date night in this area, and tonight its first Friday, Santa and horse drawn carriages are here, this is a really good sign. We turn into a restaurant called Seasons and Regions, the parking lot is full but there are signs that tell us to park across the street at the Jewish center, so we do, along with many other hungry people. Thankfully, it’s bigger than expected inside and we are sat at a table right away.

We started with Dungeness crab wontons with goat cheese, chives, and a red chili cucumber salsa for dipping. The wontons were crispy and the filling full of crab and not overpowered by the cheese, and the salsa was amazing. The wontons had little pockets that could be filled with the spicy, sweet salsa before eating, yummy!

It was very difficult to select our main course; I had it down to four and asked our server for help with the final selection. She told me that the Pacific red snapper and vegetable risotto was one of their most popular dishes, that’s what I chose. Chuck was able to decide on his own and chose NW seafood & pasta in white wine butter sauce. Our main course included soup or salad, I had the Caesar salad, and Chuck the tomato basil soup because one of his friends told him it was superb. The Caesar was lightly dressed, and garnished with shavings of parmesan cheese, it was light and refreshing. The soup was so flavorful, the basil stood out from the fresh tomatoes, very good choice, I had a sample!!

The red snapper was something that I am not used to eating, but both Chuck and I are trying to set out of the box. This venture out was fantastic, the fish was moist, the risotto creamy, and veggies crisp with flavorful grill marks. It is no wonder that this is one of their most popular dishes, I agree it was just wonderful!

Chuck’s pasta was full of seafood, each piece it’s own distinct flavor, married with the cream sauce and pasta made this dish scrumptious. The pasta was firm and the cream sauce light and flavorful, the parmesan and fresh herbs complemented the dish.
We weren’t planning on dessert but our wonderful server gave us each a spoonful of their homemade peppermint ice cream to try. We could not resist, we both had a scoop of ice cream, I peppermint and Chuck espresso. The ice cream was so thick and creamy, I don’t think I have tasted anything like it, I know I will be craving it in the future.
What a wonderful dinner, so many wonderful choices, oh and I didn’t mention they have a vegetarian menu, we will be back soon, if only for a scoop of ice cream. Another good sign this was a great choice is I had a hard time finding different descriptive words to describe the tastes we had tasted. YUM!!!