PDX Breakfast

A couple of weeks ago Glee dedicated an entire episode to Saturday Night Fever. I used to love, love, love Saturday Night Fever. John Travolta dancing, what could be bad about that.  When I got older and tuned into the whole rape thing, my love for the movie kind of soured.  But, I still love watching the dance scenes.

Glee had a complete unknown, named Unique, don drag and sing Boogie Shoes.  She pulled out all of the stops and gave a performance that would make Mitzi, Bernadette and Felicia from Priscilla Queen of the Desert, proud. Anyhoo, I have not been able to get the damn song out of my head for a couple of weeks now.

I was struggling to decide on a place for this week’s #PDXBreakfast and decided to put my earworm to good use and make it inspire me.  That is why we will be dining at the most 70′s place I can think of: Doug Fir.  We do run the risk of running into a fixie of hipsters, but I suspect they won’t be up and about at 8:30 on a Thursday morning. Yes, it’s true. We are now back on Thursday mornings.

The pertinent details:

Thursday, May 3rd, 8:30am at Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E. Burnside.

At the end of the last #PDXBreakfast, @BryanStearns asked if we could have our next breakfast at the Blue Pig.  I happily agreed because it meant that I wouldn’t have to decide where to have this week’s #PDXBreakfast.  But, as it turns out, I met @BryanStearns & @GinaBean at the Blue Pig for breakfast that very weekend.  Bryan ended the meal by telling me that all he wanted to do was make sure I had breakfast at the Blue Pig, so I was now free to hold the next #PDXBreakfast at the location of my choice.  While I very much appreciated the gesture, that was a bad move on Bryan’s part, since it left me way to long to mull over where to hold the next #PDXBreakfast.

A normal person probably would have left well enough alone and stuck with Plan A. While I am many things, normal is not one of them.  I kind of blame my father for this (take that Freud!) My father doesn’t like repetition. He had a rule about always taking a different route home (he no longer drives, so this is now a tough rule to enforce) and he refuses to eat the same food twice in one day.  While I don’t always need to take a different route home, I do like to mix things up.  @RabbiDavid thinks it is very weird that I will sometimes take a longer route if it means I get a break from the routine.  This also applies to restaurants.  I try to avoid going to the same restaurant on two consecutive occasions.  Thus the crux of my dilemma.

I have spent the last week debating revisiting the Blue Pig vs. any other breakfast place in Portland.  We have yet to try Toast. I wasn’t impressed with the Blue Pig’s biscuit, which led me to think fondly of Bakery Bar’s homemade pepper biscuit (yum!!!!). I finally made it to the Rocking Frog, and while their breakfast menu is very limited, their made-to-order donuts were awesome!  This morning, I finally came to a decision driven by behavior rather than decisiveness.  Since it is now Wednesday morning and I have yet to post a location, I figure I should stick with what we all agreed to a couple of weeks ago.  But, since I still can’t stop thinking about Bakery Bar’s biscuits, I am going to schedule the next 2 breakfast locations now.

I just looked at the calendar and realized that our first #PDXBreakfast in January is the day before @RabbiDavid’s birthday. And since I know that he loves, loves, loves Zell’s, I will postpone fulfilling my desire for a Bakery Bar biscuit for a bit longer (knowing that my birthday is in February) to give @RabbiDavid a birthday treat. It also means I am creating a new #PDXBreakfast rule:

Hear ye, hear ye. As of December 2011, any member of the #PDXBreakfast cohort (and we define membership as showing up) gets to choose the #PDXBreakfast location for the gathering closest to their birthday.  So say we all.

Thursday, December 29th – 8:30am Blue Pig at 2028 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Thursday, January 12th (2012–eek!) – 8:30 am Zell’s Cafe at 1300 SE Morrison St.

I have been getting alumni emails from my socialist summer camp (I completely filtered out the zionism, but did seriously drink the socialist kool-aid) which just makes me wistful for an idyllic socialist nation.  However, the pragmatic side of my brain keeps loudly reminding me that socialism sounds great on paper, but has some serious flaws when implemented.  And eating Cuban food is a tasty way to remind myself of the issues*inherent in socialism?

If I haven’t already convinced you that I am a socialist, then I will let my library addiction speak for itself.

Havana West is a Cuban restaurant that is located in what used to be Hal’s Tavern (next door to Zell’s).  They are still relatively new and somewhat untested, but #PDXBreakfast will help remedy that.

If you look at a calendar, you might (or might not, depending on how much attention you are paying) notice that the next #PDXBreakfast is scheduled for Thanksgiving (aka Exploit the Natives Day, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Day, T(of)urkey Day or other moniker of your choice).  That didn’t seem like such a good idea, so we have elected to bump it back a week.

That puts the next #PDXBreakfast on Thursday, (gulp!) December 1st at 8:30am. Havana West 1308 SE Morrison Ave.

*However, for all of it’s political and economic issues, Cuba has a 99.8% literacy rate,^[3][13] an infant death rate lower than some developed countries,^[14] and an average life expectancy of 77.64.^[3] In 2006, Cuba was the only nation in the world which met the WWF‘s definition of sustainable development; having an ecological footprint of less than 1.8 hectares per capita and a Human Development Index of over 0.8 for 2007. –Wikipedia

Before our failed trial of moving #PDXBreakfast to OMFG early, I had planned for us to go to Juniors, but they don’t open until 8am.  I have been avoiding Juniors for longer than I would like to admit. Not for any rational reason.  But simply because I know the founder and original owner.  A new owner meant change.  Some change I embrace, but because Portland has such a plethora of great breakfast places I found it so very easy not to give the new owner a chance.  So now I am using #PDXBreakfast as a way to break me out of my routine and embrace change.

But before I fully embrace change, I need to thank Junior’s original owners for opening up my breakfast world  a little bit.  Until I went to Juniors I never ordered oatmeal when I went out for breakfast.  Restaurant oatmeal always seemed to be a gummy, unappetizing mess.  But Junior’s oatmeal was a bowl of delicious steel cut oats served with a plethora of fresh fruit.  Without Juniors oatmeal, I would never have ordered Gravy’s oatmeal brulle, which is probably the best oatmeal I have ever eaten.

So please come join me embrace change on Thursday, November 10th, 8:30am at Juniors: 1742 Southeast 12th Avenue.

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.

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.

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.

Technically, the last #PDXBreakfast of the year is December 30th.  Since I will be on a plane that day, this will be the last #PDXBreakfast of 2010 that I will be attending.  It is traditional to take a moment at the end of the year to look back and reflect.  When I did so, I came up with: noms, over-caffeination and great conversations.  I have to say, those three thoughts are more than enough to keep me coming back next year.

But, before we say hello to 2011, we need to finish up 2010.

At our last #PDXBreakfast, @pdxflaneur was tasked with exploring our breakfast options in Linnton.  Here are the results of his efforts:

I called the Decoy this morning at 8:30, the time we’d be gathering next week.  The phone rang and rang and rang.  I later found a MySpace page for them that says they open at 9am on Thursdays.  Shouldn’t there have been someone there at 8:30 to answer the phone?

Given our dubious luck with accurate websites, rather than pushing our breakfast back 30 minutes, I suggest we go explore what St. Johns has to offer.  I did my normal research, which basically involves looking at menus and seeing which makes me hungriest.  But in this instance breakfast was not the only thing that caught my eye.  Pattie’s Home Plate is apparently where the International Bigfoot Society met (meets?).  Given this year’s field trips to breakfast places with Historical Significance, I couldn’t resist adding one more.

So come join us on Thursday to see if we can spot any Sasquatchophiles over breakfast.

Date: Thursday, December 16th
Time: 8:30am
Place: Patti’s Home Plate – 501 N Lombard at Leavitt, one block south of Philadelphia (the street that comes off the St Johns Bridge).

For reasons that don’t bear further exploration at this juncture, David and I scheduled trips east in October, November & December with only 20 or so days in between.  And I only got to see my niecelettes once in that crazy schedule!

Normally while in Boston, I have lots of time to get things done while David’s mother and stepfather are at work. But, Thanksgiving produced 4 days of everyone being around all of the time, resulting in frantic scrambles to fit in working and little details like #PDXBreakfast posts getting lost.

So here we are, Wednesday afternoon, and I am just getting around to writing this.  Feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of finding a new eastside place for tomorrow, David suggested Zell’s.  Zell’s is almost the definition of a reliable breakfast option, so problem solved.

I hope to see lots of you at Zell’s tomorrow morning at 8:30am. Since I know several of you have @PDXBreakfast as a recurring event in your calendars, I expect to see lots of folks there.

One of the many things I loved about the book The Phantom Tollbooth was that in Dictionapolis, everyone had to literally eat their words.

…The waiters reappeared immediately, carrying heavy, hot trays, which they set on the table. Each one contained the exact words spoken by the various guests, and they all began eating with great gusto.
“Dig in,” said the king, poking Milo with his elbow and looking disapprovingly at his plate. “I can’t say that I think much of your choice.”
“I didn’t know I was going to have to eat my words,” objected Milo.
“Of course, of course, everyone here does,” the king grunted. “You should have made a tastier speech.”

Cookie Monster was much more into letters than words, but he does seem to enjoy nomming the letter “C “(a lot).

I am much more traditional, choosing to limit my intake to foods that are organic in origin.  However, I do believe in walking my talk, or in this case, eating my values.

After I scheduled the next #PDXBreakfast at the Morningstar Cafe, Bryan Stearns said the following:

I’m opting out of visiting Morningstar Cafe — they’re one of the restaurants complaining (to the city and in the news) about food carts, crying “unfair competition!” (I know, the carts should get permits for add-on structures, and the rules are different for carts, but I don’t like their whining, and would as soon eat elsewhere. See you next time (or you could pick somewhere different for the 18th – capiche?)

To which I responded:

Thanks for the tip. I hadn’t caught that Morningstar Cafe was anti-foodcart. Foodcarts are a (relatively) low-cost entry-point for entrepreneurs in the food industry. Given the rapid market growth of food carts in Portland, I had hoped restaurateurs (especially those with well-established businesses) would recognize the benefits of coopetition and support their fellow business owners. I am disappointed to learn that the owners of the Morningstar Cafe are not seeing the big picture when it comes to economic development in downtown Portland.

I support every business-owner’s right to his/her own opinions and to publicly express that opinion to the Powers that Be. I also support every individual’s right to choose where to spend one’s money. So, as the de-facto Power that Is for #PDXBreakfast (at least until J-P pulls my access to this blog), I am going to relocate November 18th’s #PDXBreakfast to Mother’s Bistro at 212 SW Stark.

If you are just scanning this email, please take note that the venue for the November 18th #PDXBreakfast has changed to Mother’s Bistro at 212 SW Stark.  Time is still the same: 8:30am.