all the kids are doing it

guest blog post by seth eli goldstein:
if you are a culinary nerd you have heard about the food truck craze.  food trucks have become hugely popular in cities like LA, new york, and even boston (this week's tv diner was devoted to boston food trucks).  sadly, there are no food trucks in portland, yet...  however, with the recent opening of gogi you can feel like a trendy LA hipster while munching on korean/mexican fusion.
gogi (653 congress street) is in a space right next to local sprouts on congress.  i admired the black painted tin ceiling on walking into the restaurant.  i was hungry on this particular friday afternoon so i went for the proverbial "it."  one pulled pork taco, one beef short rib taco, and an order of fried dumplings, whose filling i cannot remember.  my food was ready in two shakes of a lambs tail and at $3/taco and $6/order of dumplings, a great value.
the tacos were wrapped in a single corn tortilla and topped w/ lettuce, cilantro, bean sprouts, and thin slices of radish and cucumber, with a wedge of lime on the side.  both variations were super tasty.  of the two, i enjoyed the pork more.
the dumplings were wonderfully fried and crispy and came with a vinegary soy dipping sauce that i could have consumed as a beverage.
my only complaint about the whole meal is that i had a taco "blow out."  you know what i mean, right?  all the taco stuffs busted through the tortilla, forcing me to rely on my fork to finish.  if gogi doubled up on the tortilla, like a traditional mexican street taco, they could reduce the risk of such blow outs.
given the affordability and uniqueness of gogi in portland, i think this establishment is a great addition to the portland food scene.  what is really cool is that gogi is open late night so if you need some korean/mexican fusion at 1 am, and who of us hasn't, you have a great option.
here is an article from the portland daily sun on gogi for a little more back ground.

lazy mo fo and chinese food

if i was a good blogger i would have posted about the article my very significant other had published in the bollard as soon as the paper hit the news stands in march.  instead the entire month passed by and i didn't post anything.  so here it is, april and a new bollard will be hitting the stands soon and i am only now telling you about the amazing piece on all-you-can-eat chinese buffets my husband wrote.
my devoted following knows i am not a good blogger.  what can i say?  i am lazy and that is a big part of it.  there are multiple things each day that occur and i think to myself: "random people want to know this pointless thing about me."  but i don't write about it.  also i have a job in which i spend the whole day on the computer without any real down time to fuck off and surf the web or write a blog post (a slow morning has provided me with a free lunch to post this entry). 
so i can say i am vowing to write more about food and mundane occurrings in my life.  but i probably won't.  and you probably don't really care either way.
in any event, check out the online version of seth's article: from super great to super soggy.

no name thai restaurant

guest blog post by seth eli goldstein:
Well, this is embarrassing.  Jenner asked me if I would guest blog for this round of Pad Thai-o-rama.  Sure I would, and so I headed down to the Thai food restaurant located in the food court at Monument Square.   The embarrassing thing is I can't remember this place's name.

                The food court is a nice clean space and there is excellent people watching when all the suits downtown are released for their one hour recess.   The restaurant, whose name I cannot remember, is really a counter place.  The cool thing is that you can watch your food cooked to order before your eyes.  My Pad Thai went straight from the wok to my Styrofoam container and was piping hot.   It was a large portion and I felt like I got a pretty good value for the price.  I would have tried a couple of appetizers as well but I was all by my lonesome and although I am in the Guinness Book of World Records for most crab Rangoon eaten in a single meal I just went with the Pad Thai. 

                I thought that the spice was pretty mild, particularly as I requested a spice factor 2 out of 3.  Perhaps a tad bland as well, but still passable Pad Thai with wide noodles served with scallions and mung beans.  Sometimes pad Thai can be a bit on the sweet side.  The Pad Thai, from the restaurant whose name shall remain a mystery, was not too sweet, and that was nice.  If you need a quick and affordable Thai fix for lunch (I'm pretty sure this is a lunch only joint) that will leave you with leftovers for dinner, hit this place up.  It won't knock your proverbial socks off but it does the trick.

this was a guest posting brought to you by seth for the 12th round of thai-o-rama. the unknown name of this restaurnt is siam orchid and it is located at the one city center food court.

New Vietnamese Joint in So. Po. Hits the Spot!

Whats up folks? Seth here, guest blogging.  Why?  I had to let you know about the new Vietnamese restaurant that just opened up at 171 Ocean st. in South Portland.  Last week I was riding my bike through South Portland and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a new sign for a place called Pho Hanoi. (I have great peripheral vision, particularly for all you can eat buffets, large carnivorous predators, and Asian restaurants.)  I'm a big fan of both Tan Tan and Saigon but I was very excited that another Vietnamese place was opening in our city.  So yesterday afternoon I checked out the menu posted on their door to make sure they would be open that night.  I noticed a couple of "special combination plates" of bun and rice with no further description.  This intrigued me, I was intrigued and compelled and by the time Jenner got home from work I was hungry!  First late me state with absolute authority that you with not find better more attentive wait service in any restaurant in the greater Portland area.  This seems to be a common trait of Vietnamese places here in Portland, this winter one of the waitresses at Saigon, literally, kissed my wife on the cheek while serving her pho.  The two servers at Hanoi were great and checked in with us often about our beverage and food status.  The menu is considerable and I was pleased to see some offerings not available at Portland's established Vietnamese joints.  For apps Jenner and I had the shredded pork skin spring roll, which was texturally a bit strange due to the pork skin but super tasty.  We also tried the fried egg rolls.  I'm gonna put it all on the line her and say that they were the best Vietnamese style fried spring rolls I've had in Portland.  That' right, I said it!  Jenner got the chicken pho as her main and it certainly rivals the pho at both Tan Tan and Saigon (although it did not have the pronounced anise flavor favored by some).  The pieces of chicken swimming in the broth were particularly tender.  I could not help myself, I had to have the "mystery" combination bun plate listed only as "Special Combination Vermicelli Bowl."  I asked the waitress what was in it but I don't understand accents so well.  I did take away from our conversation that something was wrapped around something.  In spite of not being exactly sure what was in the dish I ordered it anyway.  And, Ladies and gentlemen, I was not disappointed, turns out the dish is contains a shrimp paste that is hand molded onto pieces of bamboo.  The special combination also had grilled pork and grilled chicken which both had a wonderful char grill flavor to them.  All the accompanying veggies were super fresh and the basil, in particular, stood out.  When we had finished and were leaving the chief had come out from behind the line and he asked us how our dinner had been.  Accolades.  I should mention that the space is basic but pleasant.  I had my take out menu in hand and I plan to use it frequently.