Tanuki- Japanese Drinking Food

Before I went to Tanuki, I heard mixed reviews. Most foodies raved about it, while I heard other complaints like “It smells like fish” and “It’s too dark in there.” Well, I’m not afraid of the dark and if the smell of fish means that there is fresh, high quality fish in close vicinity, then I’m there. I went in with high expectations, which generally means I may be walking away disappointed. Fortunately, Tanuki lived up to the hype and I am dying to go back and try more of their offerings.

I went with my buddy Adam and we started by grabbing a good bottle of sake. I don’t know much about sake and didn’t bring a pen, so I won’t try to describe it. Either way, it was a good accompaniment to our $25 Omakase meal. Tanuki is a Izakaya, a Japanese drinking den that serves food accompaniments. It is one of several Izakayas popping up around Portland. Other restaurants of similar style include Ping, Biwa, and Departure. The interesting thing about Tanuki is that it is in a tiny little spot off NW 21st Ave. It’s dimly lit and the owner/chef Janis Martin runs the whole show. She does all the cooking and is constantly on the go trying to please all of her customers. Somehow she manages to get everything out and I imagine most walk away quite pleased.

The menu has several interesting offerings. However, the best approach is to order Omakase style. You have to go in open minded, but if you do, you will be kindly rewarded. Ordering Omakase style allows the chef to customize your dining experience. Now you don’t have to go in completely blinded. The chef is willing to take many things into consideration, including dietary restrictions and food choices. Adam and I had no restrictions so we let the food flow. Janis starts by asking what you are drinking and immediately picks good dishes to accompany your beverage(after all it is a drinking den). As the dishes came out we were asked other probing questions to see what our preferences were, such as “How spicy do you like your food?” and “Are you starting to get full?” or “Are you thinking your next course should be heavy or light?” If you do a $25 Omakase, they likely won’t permit you to leave hungry at all. After some sake infused math I came to a total of roughly 10 courses. THAT’S $2.50 A COURSE. And the food is high quality too. Janis changes the menu daily and revolves it around fresh seasonal produce and fresh seafood from her distributors. I won’t try to recount all of the courses but some of the highlights were fresh Uni (sea urchin), Hamachi toro (yellowtail belly), Oysters with kimchi shaved ice, Kimchi fried rice, and spicy hamachi and maguro hand rolls.

It was amazing to see a place that was able to hold up to the hype. I got the opportunity to talk about Tanuki with Janis for a little bit and to introduce myself. She clearly feels passionate about what she does. She wants food with integrity. She is trying to give all people the opportunity to access great food. She provides customizable meals, using quality ingredients at extremely reasonable prices. Tanuki is a special place. It’s a place to go with friends to get good, interesting food and to catch a buzz. I suggest getting down there and supporting Tanuki. When we left I couldn’t help but hug Janis, and she didn’t even freak out. They are doing a real cool thing at Tanuki and despite all of the great food in Portland, we need more of this love. My only gripe is that its across the river-- this place has East side soul.
Oysters With Kimchi Shave Ice (Amazing)
Yellowtail Belly
Uni (Also rediculous)

Le Pigeon- Awesome Burger

So a few weeks ago Sarah and I had our first meal at Le Pigeon- a great Portland based French restaurant. The meal was amazing. Everything was rich in butter- French cooking style. We sat at the chef’s counter observing the masters at work. While there, something caught my eye-- a beautiful burger. Now, I thought I had a decent grasp on the high quality burgers that Portland had to offer (Slow Bar, Sapphire Hotel, etc.). I would in no way consider myself an expert, but for a while these two were battling for best PDX burger that I had exposure to. When I saw this beautiful mountain of cow butt, bread, lettuce, and other greatness it left me in a trance.

Well, last week Sarah was out of town and I had to drown my lonely sorrows in something. You guessed it, the burger at Le Pigeon. I got there early, about 5:45 or 6. Rumor has it they only serve 5 of these a night, so you have to get in early if you want it. The place is small too, so don’t bring the whole crew for the perfect burger. I would suggest going in ninja style, maybe 3 people max. When I went in it was pretty dead being so early. I immediately sat at the chefs counter. I don’t even know why they brought me a menu as I had tunnel vision. So I order it and at $9 for the burger with potatoes and $11 for the burger with mixed greens it is clearly comparable if not cheaper than any other high quality burger in town. I opted for mixed greens as I was already feeling guilty as I have already fallen off the diet wagon, for the most part. I waited around and chatted for a while with my neighbors and the servers….

…Then it arrived in all its glory. Let me describe this thing as best as I know. From what I gathered this thing is about ½ pound, Strawberry Mountain (Local as hell ) beef. Its hand pattied and cooked to order perfectly. This is a top notch PDX restaurant, so you can’t expect less. It comfortably lounges on a nicely fluffy and chewy ciabatta roll. I watched the chef spread some mustard on the bun and I wouldn’t be shocked if it were not made in house. Next, there are some pickled onions placed gingerly on top of the burger, which also has some sort of quality cheese melted on top of it. Now, heres where it gets interesting. They have some juliened lettuce, that’s tossed in a dressing, that the sous chef carefully places on the burger. He then puts the lid on it and sticks a knife down the center, as this thing HAS to be cut in half. There may be more to this I’m missing-- my bad.

Anyways, this thing is a giant mess of awesome. I was sitting in this intimate French restaurant grubbing tough and spilling burger all over my face. It was great… I don’t think they would offer it if they didn’t know that would go down. It may have been the best burger I’ve ever had. I have heard about some other good ones around town and I will have to test them and report back. In the meantime, if any of you guys want to get a burger, hit me up and we will sneak in ninja style. (Maximum of me and you)

Finally an update- Pickling 101

For several years I have been interested in the notion of pickling my own vegetables. I love going to a restaurant that offers varieties of quality pickled vegetables such as Kenny and Zukes. There are many books on the subject and the internet obviously has a wealth of information on pickling. I did some research on the internet and started to look at recipes. Well, a few weeks ago I took the plunge and entered the world of pickling my own vegetables. Lo and behold, it was quite easy and produces a delicious snack. They are great as an addition to a meal, for a bloody mary, or as an hours derves. I have received rave reviews from people that have tried them. Let me explain to you guys the method I have been using.

I had two pickling sessions. For the first session I pickled asparagus, green beans, mini onions, brussells sprouts. All turned out real delicious with the exception of the brussells which were awfully chewy. Being a total newb, I used the same brine for all of the vegetables, which worked out fine. I imagine pickle enthusiasts have different brines for each type of vegetable, but you have to crawl before you can walk. I kept my brine simple. It included an approximate mixture of :
55% water
45% white wine vinegar
¼ cup dill seeds
¼ cup salt
A few full pepper kernels
Some thyme and mustard seeds

When I say approximate, I truly mean it. I basically just put the vinegar and water in and then started pouring the spices in. Then I started heating it in a pot on the stove. While doing this, I put another large pot on the stove in order to sterilize my mason jars. It fit about 3 mason jars at a time. If you have factory fresh mason jars, you really don’t need to sterilize them before pickling, in my opinion. If they were dirty I would sterilize them in your boiling water bath after cleaning them. While all this is happening, you need to prep the vegetables. I put a few smashed cloves garlic in the bottom of each jar as well as a jalapeno pepper cut in half. This makes for additional flavor and also tastes good pickled.

You also need to prepare the vegetables. Prepare them how you like by cutting off nasty parts and ends. Next you want to blanch them-- that is boil them for about two minutes. This will help preserve crunchiness and flavor. Once you take them off the boil, immediately put them in the freezer to cool down for a few minutes. Your next step is to pack the jars. You want to pack these babies as full as possible. This will help distribute the heat and not overcook the vegetables once you poor the brine in, or something like that.(I’m not a scientist) Don’t forget to put your garlic, jalapeno, and a fresh thyme sprig in while packing each jar.

Next step is the fill your jar with the brine, which should be pretty hot at this point. Mix the brine up so you get an even distribution of all the spices in each jar. Grab a ladle and fill the mason jar above your vegetables. Now, grab a sterile paper towel and wipe the top of the jar to prevent anything from breaking the seal. This is one of the biggest problems with pickling-- people don’t seal the jar properly. I haven’t had any problems with this yet, so neither should you. Put on the top and screw it down tightly.

Now, here comes an important part. You need to put these in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes to kill any diseases or bacteria that may have snuck into the jar. 10 minutes in boiling water and those suckers are dead and you can store your pickles on your shelves infinitely or until you feel the urge to host a BBQ with the ultimate Bloody Marys…We used this recipe and it resulted in some pretty good Bloodies. Once you are done boiling the pickles, take them out let them cool. Sticking them in the fridge will create a stronger seal during the cool down. If you don’t boil them for 10 minutes they will stay good for a few weeks or maybe longer if you keep them in the fridge. But to be safe, I would suggest boiling them.

Your done! Wasn’t that easy? Actually it’s kind of a pain in the ass. But, for a bored foody such as myself, it was a great project. I look forward to trying out new vegetables and getting deeper into the pickling puddin. My current plan is to try to buy vegetables in bulk from farmers at peak season and pickling 10-20 pounds at a time for winter use. I found some asparagus for 1.35/pound so I bought about 15 pounds of it and pickled it. Unfortunately, I was so excited about the price that I failed to closely examine the product. I had to cut down 50% plus of the asparagus because it just wasn’t that good. I guess you get what you pay for. I would love to hear people’s recipes and trials and tribulations with pickling. I suggest you give it a shot if you are bored and like pickled stuff. And if you see me on the street, holler at me and you can try my pickles. Until later… drop down and getcha pickle on.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert on pickling. This information is strictly used as a report on my activities. This blog is not FDA approved. If you plan on pickling, please do some research as doing it improperly can give you some weird diseases. This is in no way a guide and use this information at your own risk.

Vancouver, B.C.

Last Friday, Sarah and I were feeling adventurous, so we headed to to Vancouver, B.C. It is crazy that after three years of living in Portland, we have never taken the time to go up to Vancouver. Personally, I had never been there. It is a very cool place. The architecture is amazing. There are all these modern high rise condominiums. They utilize daylight to reduce heating costs, so they are covered in glass windows. It is a very cool looking city and it happens to be home to some of the best Asian food on the West coast. They have very good fish, so the sushi is great and abundant. They also have very good Indian food. My goal was to go to one of the best sushi places and the best Indian food places in Vancouver. I consulted Yelp! and PortlandFood.Org for advice. The two heavy hitters for the weekend would be Tojo's for sushi and Vij's for Indian food.


Friday afternoon we arrived and got our room at the YWCA hotel. The rooms were cheap and clean. The beds were not Temperpedic, but they worked. We ended up paying about $95 Canadian per night. I would stay there again as the price was right and the location was convenient. After we got situated we headed down towards Tojo's. Tojo's is somewhat of an institution in Vancouver. It is the most recognized sushi restaurant. Of course, this has its downside as it means it may be somewhat touristy and overpriced. They supposedly are the originators of the California roll. They also offer Omakase style sushi, where you tell the chef your price range and he just starts sending you stuff. Sarah was not up for Omakase, so we did not do it. I regret not getting Omakase, but the meal was still good. The fish was very high quality. I ordered a whole slew of nigiri. We also had the California (Tojo) Roll, which was made with real crab and a spicy tuna roll. The rolls were nothing special and were overpriced. They also had some rolls that had lobster and other crab which we did not get. I found the nigiri to be reasonably priced and of outstanding quality. We also had some handrolls that were possibly the highlight of the night. They had a nice crunchy outside and a soft inside. Alongside all of this we had plenty of Sake, white wine, and beer. I thought Tojo's was great and the service was outstanding. I would go back for the nigiri, a couple handrolls, and the Omakase, but not before experiencing some other, less trendy, high end sushi spots in Vancouver.



After dinner, although stuffed, we decided it would be in our best interest to grab a few drinks somewhere around town. We headed back towards the downtown area, where out hotel was. We had a hard time finding a place that was not a bumpedy bump club blasting the Untz music. We were actually longing for a Portland style bar. Finally, we came to a place called the Black Frog in Gastown. They were playing some loud alternative music, but at least it had dim lighting and was not crowded. They also had one of those Guinness taps that pours a perfect Guinness. I tried a local amber ale that was fine, then reverted to my old friend Guinness for a few pints. I have been drinking Guinness recently because it is:
A) Delicious
B) Less calories than a Budweiser, therefore good for my diet.
So we had a few rounds before retiring.

The next day we did our coffee/breakfast thing and hit Chinatown. They have a crazy Chinatown in Vancouver. There are tons of little markets that sell everything. There are all these open air stores that have dried shrimp and fish and lots of other nasty smelling stuff. They also have many butchers that usually have duck, chicken, or pig out front roasting on a stick or rotisserie. There are tea shops, herb stores that sell medicines and places that sell all sorts of little nick nacks. We walked around and bought Dim Sum at random places. The Dim Sum was fine, but no better than Wong's Kind Seafood in Portland (8733 SE Division St). I know that they have outstanding Dim Sum in Vancouver, but was a little too lazy to seek it out. Eventually we got bored with Chinatown and returned to the hotel.






For dinner we decided to go to Vij's, a trendy, high end Indian food restaurant. Vij's had good reviews everywhere and the consensus was that it was a must. We got there around seven and there was an hour and a half wait. So we put our names on the list and went to grab a drink. We came back 45 minutes later and grabbed some drinks at Vij's wine/beer bar while we waited. This was great because they pass out appetizers while you wait. They were all standard fried Indian appetizers. We were finally seated and the real fun began.


For appetizers we ordered a dish that was made up of paneer, Brussels sprouts and papaya in cumin, mango powder and sour cream curry served with naan bread. This dish was tasty, but slightly disappointing due to my extreme love for Brussels sprouts. It tasted good but was not amazing.


The second appetizer we got was spicy ground cricket paranta with tomato-cumin, chutney and celeriac salad. This was delicious and exciting, since we were eating crickets. You couldn't tell that they were crickets. They were crushed up into the dough for these little bread triangles. You put the other topics onto this bread and enjoy. We both really liked this dish and found it to be better than the Brussels sprouts.


For the main course I got wine marinated lamb popsicles in fenugreek cream curry on tumeric spinach potatoes. This is one of their signature dishes and was absolutely amazing. The lamb was cooked to perfection and the sauce was creamy deliciousness. I would go back for this alone. (Although I wouldn't mind trying some of their other meat dishes)

Unfortunately, my dining companion was not feeling the desire for cooked flesh that evening so she got a veggie dish. I can't remember what it was, most likely because it is forgettable. It was good, but not great and next to the lamb tasted like tofu(not really, just boring).



Vij's was a great experience. It was on the expensive side, but made for a great night. Afterwards we went to the Kitsilano neighborhood for a few drinks. We were advised by a bartender that it would be a more mellow bar scene. It was, except for the disco DJ. We had to leave that bar. After a few drinks we grabbed a cab back to the YWCA and called it a night.

Sarah left her credit card at a bar in Kitsilano so we had some time to kill before we left on Sunday, as the bar opened at two. We went to the tourist trap, known as Grainville Island. They have a cool market. We got a great bagel with lox there. Other than that we just kind of walked around. We decided to grab some cheap sushi before we left. We went to Kitsilano Sushi as it was near the bar we had to go to and Yelp! gave it good reviews. What a mess that was. One of the sushi chefs walked out. So an assistant chef and a bunch of waitresses started rolling the sushi. They were getting orders wrong and the sushi was mediocre at best. At least it was cheap. I was definitely ready to get out of there. It was disappointing to end my experience with such bad food and service in a city with such amazing food. We did, however, have an amazing weekend. On the way out of town we drove by a million bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich) shops. So I definitely have some unfinished business to attend to in Vancouver, BC...

Just a few short reviews...

These are reviews I posted on Portlandfood.org. If you are ever curious about a restaurant or want to learn about new places in Portland, I suggest checking it out. They have a ridiculous amount of information and many of their members are extremely knowledgeable. My name on there is HappyHourHero.

Taste of Jakarta:
1239 SW Jefferson street
Portland OR, 97201
Review from 5/5/2009
I got the opportunity to try Taste of Jakarta today for an early lunch. This was my first time eating Indonesian food and I was very satisfied. I ordered the spicy beef(I forgot the name). It came with yellow rice, a small salad of cucumber, carrot, and tomato and some crispy chip like things. The beef was amazing. It was these nice nuggets of beef brisket. The sauce/gravy was sweet and nicely spiced, almost like a mole, but more tangy. I spoke with the owner and he said that they are going for authentic Indonesian food, although they turned down the heat some to cater to American tastes. I found the heat to be at a desirable level and refrained from using chili sauce, but I'm sure you could ask them to kick it up a notch. For 5.95 its a great lunch deal. I will definitely be going back, as the thought of Indonesian fried chicken and jackfruit curry fascinates me.

Lttle T's American Bakery
2600 SE Division
Portland, OR 97202
Review from 5/6/2009
I just grabbed a quick lunch from Little T. This was my second trip there and both times I have left satisfied. Today I had the Italian grinder. They were out of the hogie, so they used their French bread. This sandwich is damn near perfect. The meat and cheese are both delicious and the pepper salad adds the perfect amount of zest and zing. This is what I like to expect out of an Italian sandwich. The French bread was a bit chewy, but still a good bread. I love this spot because I can get a good sandwich for a fair price ($6) and a good espresso. I need to put this into the permanent rotation.

Note: They also changed their turkey sandwich to include cucumber and cilantro pesto. They also had a turkey club with bacon and avocado.

Learning to ROLL your own...

There comes a time in every man's (or woman's) life where they must learn to roll their own. You can't always go around asking other people to roll for you. Along the way your bound to have some spillages and deal with some stickiness. But at some point, you just gotta step up and go for it. So last week I decided it was essential that I attempt to roll my own sushi. This endeavor started with a trip to the Fubonn Super Market on 82nd Ave in SE Portland (2850 SE 82nd Ave). If you live in Portland and have never been to the Fubonn market, I recommend you go. This place has everything you need and tons of stuff that you will probably never need and think are strange. I was in a rush because SOMEBODY was rushing me to take them to yoga, so I was unable to fully embrace Fubonn. It was my first time and I could have frolicked in the pickled vegetable isle or bathed myself in chili sauce, but alas there was no time for those shenanigans. There was enough time to get the supplies I needed for vegetable sushi though. I got nori (the seaweed wrap), short rice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi powder, pickled ginger, the bamboo roller mechanism, and some other odds and ends depicted here. I will definitely be returning to Fubonn in the near future for another experiment.

So, once I had the proper supplies, the next step was getting in there and getting my hands dirty. The first step was going to be coming up with some delicious sticky rice. I always thought that this was extremely difficult for some reason. Well, I was wrong. It's very easy to make good sticky, sushi rice. I just followed Alton Brown's recipe from the Food Network. If you are a complete noob to the cooking world, The Food Network has an extensive database of recipes online. You can pretty much learn anything there and get any recipes you may need. I constantly check their database for recipes or if I want to try something new. You can also look on Youtube for cooking tips. I actually watched this clip from Alton Brown's show Good Eats about sushi making to get a little more information on what to do. While my rice was cooking I took out a cucumber, avocado, carrots, jalapeno, and asparagus. I sliced everything into very thin strips, except for the asparagus, which I left whole.


Once your rice cools, pull out a piece of nori. Some tips that I got off of the internet suggested cutting the nori in half. We tried that and it made it too difficult to roll the sushi. I'd say until you are an expert, roll with the whole piece of nori. Your sushi will come out much better. I started by using my hands to apply the rice. This ended up being a very sticky proposition. On later rolls, I realized it was better to use a small spoon to apply the rice to the nori. This takes a little while longer but your hands won't be nearly as sticky.


Something I found important was not to put too much rice on. I would recommend being able to see through to the nori in some spots. If you put too much rice on it will be difficult to roll the sushi. You also want space for your insides. I know, when you go to the sushi bar, you see the sushi chef really piling it on there. Well, I wouldn't suggest doing that unless you want to encounter an epic failure.



See how the rice is somewhat thinly applied, yet covers most of the surface of the nori? I found this to be the most successful approach. Once the rice is applied you can put in your vegetables. Once again, I would not overload this until you really get the hang of it or it will look like the death of a sushi roll. This happened on my first roll. I ended up eating it like a broken cigar. Also, I would put the veggies or fish towards the side you plan to start rolling from. That way, the insides will get tucked into the roll at the beginning.




Rolling it is pretty self explanatory. See how when I placed the veggies near one side the rolled up nicely into a pocket before finishing the roll? That's good and will give you success.



Once your roll is done you can slice it up. I did not have a sharp knife. This is recommended. You can use a steak knife, but a sharp sushi knife is likely better. Once you are done plating the sushi, dip it into some soy sauce and enjoy. We also got some wasabi powder and pickled ginger. On this first attempt, I decided to stay away from fish. I did not want to get a nice cut of fish and then waste it if I was unable to make good sushi. Next time I want to try using sashimi grade tuna, shrimp, and maybe even teriyaki chicken. It was a successful experiment. Once you get all of the ingredients you can make a fresh, cheap snack any time you want. It is also pretty healthy, other than the calories from the rice. Well, until next time, go learn to roll your own.

Quick Update

I just got back from a great weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia. There was some excellent dining done on this trip. This week I should be posting about the food in BC, my sushi making experiment (which was a week ago), and my pickling experiment. Be sure to check for these updates! (Your not gonna want to miss out)