Dave Knows Portland

Portland’s real edge

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City Limits: Walking Portland’s Boundary by David Oates

citylimitsbook.jpgWriter and Professor David Oates set out to walk, and kayak where necessary, Portland’s Urban Grown Boundary.

The result is personal and informative essays. Oates deftly describes the terrain he traverses while sharing his robust opinions and philosophies about Portland, the UGB, and our Oregon culture. At times he travels with companions, including William Ashworth, Ana Maria Spagna, and David Bragdon, who contribute essays as well.

I gained insight not only into the philosophies supporting the UGB, but also the geography of the region I’ve called home my entire life. An impressive number of topics, and miles (260), are covered admirably by the small book (a mere 125 pages including index).

Where to find it: Library | Powell’s | OSU Press

Biscuits [and gravy] aren’t for sharing*

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Biscuits and gravy (b&g) are not hard to find. In fact, they’re ubiquitous. But Portland’s best?

Candidates

Arleta Library (5513 SE 72nd) claims to have Portland’s Best Biscuits-n-Gravy.

Slow roasted pork loin comes thinly sliced, nestled between two sweet potato biscuits and smothered in rosemary sausage gravy

They are pretty damn good, but the best? I would label them the best non-traditional b&g I’ve tried. Sweet potato biscuits though, that’s kinda weird (though delicious).

For typical ginormous portion, diner white and fluffy sausage gravy-style b&g I strongly recommend Kelly’s Olympian (426 SW Washington). Kelly’s Olympian’s b&g (a full order contains your calorie needs for the weekend) and a Bloody Mary chased by a pint of Old Speckled Hen are the perfect hangover cure, look it up.

The b&g of Overlook Family Restaurant (1332 N Skidmore) is a solid choice too.

Honorable mention

For a Chinese-American variant of b&g, you can’t go wrong with the Maple Leaf‘s (7129 SE Foster) breakfast egg foo young. When I lived in the neighborhood I used to frequent the Maple Leaf, an amazingly undiscovered gem out on 72nd and Foster, home of inexpensive American and Chinese food and great service. Last time I visited you could get a massive portion of the breakfast egg foo young and a constantly re-filled coffee for under $5.00.

Not quite

Apologies to vegans, but Paradox Cafe‘s (3439 SE Belmont) vegan biscuits and gravy are inedible. It’s impossible to make good biscuits without butter and/or cream. My ex used to make a fantastic non-vegan vegetarian b&g, however (Gimme Lean Sausage Style is a remarkable thing).

In my sights

I’ve tried the vegetarian b&g at Gravy (3957 N Mississippi Ave), but haven’t tried the regular ones yet, so I’ll withhold judgement there. Their vege b&g is second only to my ex’s. (But the best use for their vegetarian gravy is in the gravy fries!)

After seeing this post, and photo, at altportland I’m looking forward to trying the b&g at Podnah’s Pit.

The write up about The Tin Shed Garden Café (1438 NE Alberta) on PortlandFoodandDrink.com also has me salivating:

. . . solid, down-to-earth stuff like biscuits and gravy, done very well. And that’s the word of two former Southerners. The biscuits are crunchy around the edges, fluffy in the middle, and if you prefer, they also have apple wood-smoked bacon gravy.

Inexplicably I have yet to patronize the Tin Shed.

The best?

One of the highlights of my nascent blogging career was locating poutine in Portland. So I’m optimistic this post will pay dividends. Help me find the best b&g in Portland!

*Overheard on the 4 Fessenden a few months back. I didn’t catch the context, but the sentiment is clear, and irrefutable.

Entertaining, silly, endearing and creepy: A Juggling Extravaganza to remember

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Presenting a guest post by Lesley:

Saturday night, after a couple of cocktails, I, along with two friends, attended the 15th annual Juggling and Vaudeville Extravaganza at Benson High School. I’ll be honest: I don’t have much of a base from which to write a comprehensive review about a juggling show. I was not at the 1st-14th annual Extravaganzas and have probably seen a total of 13-20 street jugglers in my lifetime.

Saturday night, then, was a big night for me. I increased my juggler sightings by at least 75%, AND was thoroughly entertained. Both local and international jugglers and stuntmen took the stage. Performers ranged from the polished Cirque Du Soleil alum, Pat McGuire, to the creepy cowboy who danced around stage to techno music with a whip.

In between those acts was quite a bit of silliness. Some surreal: like the three man acrobatic juggling troop, “Dead Bugs on a Windshield”, who dressed in costumes made for young children, created human structures without dropping a pin, and made me feel as though I was very very high; and, my personal favorite, the mesmerizing and endearing large bodied, long armed, small headed clown who simply bounced a giant red balloon around the stage.

There were also some international acts: German juggler, Luke Wilson, skillfully juggled pins, lots of them, so many of them I couldn’t count, and a Norwegian woman bounce-juggled several pink and white balls. I also couldn’t keep track of all the balls she juggled, unfortunately, because a lot of them rolled off the stage.

The vaudeville acts mainly consisted of comedic stunts. One performer threw plungers at a volunteer who was holding a square glass plate and wearing a giant athletic cup (engineered to sporadically squirt a fountain of water); comedian, Charlie Brown, did some fancy stuff with top hats, while making dead-pan, Stephen Wright-like comments; and that aforementioned whip man whipped a piece of toilet paper right out of a volunteer’s hand without leaving a mark. He also chanted, “kill the doggy” while threatening to whip a balloon animal to death. Creep.

Most of the acts were entertaining; some were quite impressive, some quite funny. Those that I would use other, less positive, descriptors were at least short. Besides the acts:

I had a prime seat: not only did I get to sit in the middle of two great friends, each whispering sweet sarcasms in my ear, but I was also just two seats away from a couple of high school boys who continuously made obnoxious comments that I was just buzzed enough to thoroughly enjoy. My friend gagged and complained of their B.O., but I was just too happy to notice.

In conclusion: Viva La Juggling Extravaganza! It kicked the Polish fest’s ass by a long shot [Ed: not possible; Polish fest rocked!  See previous post].

Piwo, pierogis, and Polka

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Presenting a guest post by Brent:

That’s right, last weekend was the 14th annual Polish Festival, and what a damn good time it was! This was the first year that I’ve marched on over the Failing Street Pedestrian Bridge to arguably the best festival in Portland and the largest Polish festival on the West Coast. The Polish fest packed the perfect amount of people, food, and beer, with some fantastic entertainment to keep everyone amped.

While gabbing with friends, I sampled some delicious sweet cheese pierogis and drank copious amounts of Black Boss Porter (not for the weak at 9.4% abv). Yum Yum!

Everyone was extremely friendly and extremely Polish, which was a pleasant surprise. No sorority girls and frat boys jibber-jabbering in the beer line, just lots of happy Poles speaking their native tongue. I couldn’t enjoy the atmosphere more.

I thought the entertainment was also top notch, with a couple very talented Polish folk dance groups from British Columbia (Polonez from Vancouver and Polskie Orly from Kelowna). Saturday evening ended with Polonus Band laying down the beat. Dubbed the “best Polish band in the Northwest,” Polonus was a site to behold, and so was the crowd. Since the passing of Nirvana, it’s rare to see teenagers get this excited about a band. But, with everyone having such a marvelous time, I wasn’t surprised.

I’m sure next year’s 15th anniversary will really make everyone yell “Na Zdrowie!” See you there.