PDX Breakfast

Due to the extremely pathetic turnout after the time-change to 7:30am, we are moving back to our normal schedule of Thursdays at 8:30am. Due to challenges with the space-time continuum (and the fact that I was on the east coast with my niecelettes), there was no #PDXBreakfast last week, so we are now off-schedule.

But, by special request of @donpdonp, we will make up the missed breakfast tomorrow, Thursday, October 27th at 8:30am at Fullers on 136 Northwest 9th Avenue. We will then resume normal #PDXBreakfasts, Thursday, November 10th at 8:30am.

I am now the proud owner of Breakfast in Bridgetown, 2nd serving. I won it from Daily Deals for Mom’s. But wait, you ask, you’re not a mom. True ‘dat. But anyone who knows me knows that I dote on my twin niecelettes, and I actually subscribe to several parental discount sites to find deals for my brother and some of the other parents I know. Ok, so now that I have restored my legitimacy, the next obvious question is why someone who runs #PDXBreakfast didn’t already own the book. The only thing I can say is that I was clearly a fool in assuming that I could get by just reading the Breakfast In Bridgetown Blog.

What makes the book better than the blog? Imagine it is Sunday morning and you and some friends have decided to go out to breakfast. Somebody suggests a restaurant, but someone else in the group says he/she doesn’t want to go there because the line is always too long.  A few more suggestions are made and all of them are shot down for a variety of reasons.  Eventually, at least one member of the group decides to seek help from the interwebs.  An hour later, nobody has moved and everyone is cranky from low blood sugar and caffeine deprivation.

Now, run the same scenario with the book in hand.  All of the ideas have been shot down, but the group has determined that they want a cheap place with no line in their neighborhood. Just flip open the book, locate a place to go and you’ve got a hot cup of coffee in your hand in no time.  I know, I know. Wasn’t the internet designed to do have the exact same power that I have attributed to the book? Well, yes. But sometimes having a well sorted and finite group of options just makes life simpler.

I was actually feeling kind of desperate to find places open at our new meeting time of 7:30 am. I spent some time looking on the web, but all I found were the same-old, same-old that I already knew opened early. But just flipping through Paul Gerald’s book, I now have 4 places, that I had not previously known about, bookmarked (you know, the old fashioned way–with a ripped up subscription card that fell out of a magazine).

I selected this week’s #PDXBreakfast location by my “who woulda thunk it” reaction when I saw that the Hollywood Burger Bar opens at 7:30am for breakfast.  It would never have occurred to me in a gazillion years that they were open for breakfast.

And for you lazy folks who just scroll to the bottom for the scoop, we are meeting this Wednesday morning, October 5th at 7:30am at the Hollywood Burger Bar located at 4211 NE Sandy Blvd.

And Paul Gerald, should you ever decide to join us for a #PDXBreakfast, your coffee is on me.

The survey results indicated that folks wanted more notice for #PDXBreakfasts, and since there was no good reason for me not to put up the posts earlier, I decided to just go for it. Now I know why I always put it off.  I was waiting for the muse to strike when I wasn’t in the shower, on the bus, in a meeting or anywhere else where it is inconvenient to write a blog post.  So, you are getting what is left in my brain at the end of the day. Which, sad to say, isn’t much.

And speaking of “isn’t much” I am having a hard time finding places that are open at 7:30am.  We did get a new attendee at last week’s #PDXBreakfast, so I am optimistic, but if you early birds don’t start showing up, I will be tempted to move it back to 8 or 8:30 to increase our options. But, I did stumble on a place I had never been that also opens at 7:30, so that is where we will be meeting on Thursday, September 22nd at 7:30am.

The place? Via Delizia at 1105 SW Marshall. 7:30am on Thursday, September 22nd. Be there or be a rhomboid.

A hearty thank you to all of you who responded to the #PDXBreakfast survey.

61% of respondents had never been to a #PDXBreakfast.  The Horror, The Horror.  However, one of those 61% was clearly lost as I am quite clear that I know no gentlemen. His comment?: “A real gentleman resists the urge to eat breakfast more frequently than twice a day.”

More notice and dietary restrictions were also raised as issues.

So based on the results, we are trying an experiment.  Starting Tomorrow, 9/7 (yeah, sorry about the complete and utter lack of notice) we are moving #PDXBreakfasts to every-other Wednesday at 7:30am.

Please join us for the inaugural new #PDXBreakfast feasting at Utopia Cafe, 3308 SE Belmont St at 7:30am.  Look forward to seeing you there.

And the answers to my favorite question on favorite breakfast or food related song:

• “St. Caffeine” by John Gorka
• “Sunday Morning” by the Velvet Underground.
• “Morning Song” by Jewel
• “Dinner Bell” by TMBG”
• “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon
• “My Bologna” by Weird Al Yankovic
• “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd.
• The song my three year old niece sang about bacon being awesome (please note, this is not Eva’s niece) (:
• “C is for Cookie” by Cookie Monster
• “Drink, Drink, Drink” by Mario Lanza
• “Peaches” by The Presidents of the United States of America
• “Eat It” by Weird Al Yankovic
• “Food, glorious fooooood” from Oliver Twist

class=”alignnone” width=”1024″ height=”768″ />It has taken a good long time, but I have unknowingly crossed a major milestone.  I can now reference CubeSpace without crying.  I can’t quite tell you when it happened, it just kind of snuck up on me.  I still miss CubeSpace, and I miss the community even more, but I am now at a place where I can safely reminisce without waterworks.

While acknowledging this important milestone, I remembered CubeSpace’s very first member. A guy named Paul. He was a poor match for Portland because he craved sun, which is why we (we being Portland) ultimately lost him.  He used to watch Weather.com very closely, and as soon as it looked like there was a sunny golf course within reasonable driving distance, he was off like a shot.

In the summer, he liked to split his work time between CubeSpace and the Little River Cafe because they had a place where he could sit outside and work.  And, being that it is summer, I am following Paul’s example and scheduling this week’s #PDXBreakfast there.

And, if you haven’t already completed the #PDXBreakfast survey, please do so ASAP. You can find it here.
To summarize: Thursday, August 25th, 8:30am at Little River Cafe – 0315 sw Montgomery St.  It can be a little confusing to find because it is on the RiverPlace Esplanade Boardwalk. But below is a handy map to help you find us:

Coping Points:

I blew the last #PDXBreakfast posting because of a staff retreat.  That’s my story, and I am sticking to it. So, I was kind of hoping to make this week’s #PDXBreakfast extra special.  But no.  I just got back from a great long-weekend with friends, which means I am super over-tired and my brain is goo. But, even in my compromised state, I am longing for the kind of breakfast that only Portland can provide.

My friends live in Gilroy and we decided to sample one of their local brunch places on Sunday.  The first indication that I was no longer in Kansas (and by Kansas, I mean Portland) was that we were able to make a reservation. For breakfast. On a Sunday.  Our reservation was for 10am, which was interesting, because when we arrived we were told that the restaurant didn’t open until 10:30.  The owner decided to go ahead and seat us anyway (due at least in part to the persuasive powers of my friends’ 18 month-old daughter).  Pretty much as soon as we sat down, we were given a plate of mini-croissants with AMAZING strawberry butter .  The rest of the meal wasn’t that memorable.  Don’t get me wrong, the food was good.  But, being new to the brunch game (this was only their second week of serving brunch) they hadn’t yet learned the critical role of the bottomless coffee cup in making a breakfast out a roaring success. As any of my regular breakfast compatriots will tell you, one of my favorite parts of breakfast out is getting way too hyped up on endless cups of coffee.

Now for the part of the post where I tie my random anecdotes to my restaurant selection.  I offered a bit of a clue in the previous paragraph, but in a vague and usually unhelpful Encyclopedia Brown kind of way.  Has anyone figured it out yet? Ok, I will tell you.  The plate of croissants reminded me of the tasty little scones Zell’s gives their patrons almost immediately upon seating.  Those tasty little morsels that line one’s stomach before the onslaught of the aforementioned bottom-less cup of coffee.

In summary (for those who just like to skip ahead): Our next #PDXBreakfast, is this Thursday, August 11, at our usual time of 8:30am at Zell’s -1300 Southeast Morrison Street

I look forward to seeing you all there.

While breakfast out in Portland is de Reguer (French for “duh! Of course we are going out for breakfast!!!!!), the stars have to really align to coordinate #PDXBreakfast and out-of-town guests.  Which is why I am so excited that @rabbidavid’s father, Neil, will be joining us for breakfast this week.

When I asked Neil if he had any breakfast food favorites (aka asking him to help me narrow down options), his response was:

I am like the Great Dane offered in the “Pets for Adoption” column (to update, I suppose that would now be Craigslist..), “eats everything, especially fond of children.”

We do have us some tasty children here in Portland, but as far as I know, none of them are served at any breakfast places open on weekdays.  So much for passing the decision-making buck.  That left me perusing my list of places #PDXBreakfast has yet to visit.  I could make up some elaborate story on how I made my decision, but the truth is that I arbitrarily* decided on the Blue Pig.

The details are:

Thursday, July 14th at 8:30am. The Blue Pig – the corner of SE 50th and Division Street.

*While it truly was an arbitrary decision, it is a pleasing coincidence that the very first I owned was located on SE 51st and Ivon, just a couple of blocks away.

This morning, I was  innocently sitting here in my new office, enjoying the cool breeze coming through my open window, while drinking my coffee and eating my Dave’s Killer Bread toast.   I remembered that I hadn’t chosen a location for this week’s #PDXBreakfast, so I decided to do some research into downtown breakfast places.  Bad idea. After perusing all sorts of menus and reading reviews on Yelp, my humble breakfast has lost its luster. Now all I want is a rich and caloric breakfast that will satiate me and induce a day-long food coma.

But the, Carly Simon popped into my head and I realized that Thursday really isn’t that far away. And I now have a couple of days to work up my appetite. So with that introduction, I invite all of my #PDXBreakfast tweeps to join me at Sugar Mama’s Coffee Cafe located at 539 SW 13th Ave.  I haven’t heard of them before, but assuming the reviewers on Yelp aren’t lying, it is high time we checked them out.

For those who just like to skim, here are the bare bones details:

Thursday, June 30th, 8:30am at Sugar Mama’s Coffee Cafe located at 539 SW 13th Ave.

On an entirely different subject, I am still struggling to figure out a way for #PDXBreakfast to memorialize the loss of Paul Bingman, one of our most stalwart members.  I have ideas, but none of them seem adequate to the literal and figurative giant that was Paul.  Thus far, my ideas involve a weekend breakfast, so more people can come, at a location that somehow relates to trains.  Any train geeks want to chime in?

I have spent the last 2 years dreaming of a time when I could truly relax and take time off, knowing that income was pending.  One of the worst paradoxes of unemployment (or in may case for the past year, underemployment) is all the illusion of all the free time you will have to do everything you want.  Except that it is really hard to relax when you don’t have a steady paycheck coming in.  So, I spent my “free” time applying for jobs, beating the bushes for contracts and generally stressing myself out.

Just about the time I managed to secure employment (I start at NTEN) next week, life went to hell in a handbasket as David and I shuttled back and forth between Boston and home (ok, I shuttled, he mostly stayed there for weeks on end).  So, I now only have one week in which to pack everything I want to do.  Plus work.  Did I mention that I still have some work to do before I start work?

What does this have to do with #PDXBreakfast? Well, believe it or not, my chaotic life has everything to do with our next #PXBreakfast location.  In my random web wanderings in search of ideas for breakfast places, I stumbled across an announcement that Pine State Biscuits is now 5 years old (where has the time gone?).  Although, as a vegetarian, I have never eaten any of Pine State’s massive, gut-busting creations, just reading about them makes me feel overstuffed.  So, what better way to recognize my over-packed week than to join in Pine State’s anniversary celebration?

Although I live oh-so-close to their location on Belmont, seating is virtually nil.  Plus, I have never been to their Alberta location, so we will be convening there. For those of you who are just jumping to the details, they are:

Thursday, June 16, 2011, 8:30am.

Pine Street Biscuits, 2204 NE Alberta.

I look forward to seeing you all there.

Life here on the #PDXBreakfast front has been a little on the chaotic side lately. The good news is that life should be settling down, but the bad news is that it won’t be settling down until after June 2nd (which would be our next breakfast).

So, stay tuned for the next actual #PDXBreakfast, on June 16th. In the interim, go forth and find new places for us to eat!