Oodles of Noodles & a Donut Burger too!!!

It seems that lately every other post I write involves Portland OR.  I suppose with the amount of time I have spent in the city this year, it’s only logical.  I was recently back there for two long, grueling weeks for work which barely allowed time to see daylight, but my son joined me for the second week and on the flight out we decided it would be fun to theme our meals.  The theme we chose was noodles.  It only made sense because there are so many options in Portland.  We made some delicious discoveries and some were just mediocre considering the hype around them.  It was a rainy week so we opted to stay within walking distance of the hotel except the one night a friend with a car joined us.

Jade Noodles

Our first noodle adventure took us to Luc Luc on 2^nd Street.  Luc Luc is a Vietnamese restaurant and I had eaten there the previous week when I ate a Bahn Mi which I loved.  We walked in intending to order a bowl of Pho but instead ordered their special Jade noodles.  The noodles are made with soba and spinach and then sautéed with chicken, scallions, peppers and bean sprouts.  We ordered them medium spicy which was perfect for our combined taste though I would probably order them hotter next time.  They were delicious despite the fact that we ate them in our hotel room (little man was suffering from jet lag which made for a not so great mood).  They were tangy, spicy and full of flavor.  My only negative comment would be that the chicken was a bit dry but hey, we were looking for noodles.

Ramen with Shoyu & Chia Siu Pork

The next day I walked back to the hotel for lunch and we decided that we would try the House of Ramen just up the block on Columbia Street.  It’s a tiny hole in the wall that I have passed many times on my trips here but never actually ventured in.  Turns out this was our favorite noodle joint of all the ones we tried.  My son had the make your own bowl which he ordered with the Shoyu soup base, normal size noodles, and the Cha Siu Pork.  Also added to each bowl are bok choy, bean sprouts, scallions, corn & ginger.  I ordered the Kyoto bowl which also has the Shoyu soup base, scallions, mushrooms, jalapenos, kikurage and ginger. Once you place your order and find a seat, the Ramen is brought to you in about 5 minutes.  We chose counter seats along the window so we could watch the passersby and examined a variety of hot sauces on a tray while we waited for our food.  Both our bowls of ramen were delicious.  We added sriracha sauce to kick it up a bit and just ate in silence till the bowls were empty.  One thing I was thankful for as I enjoyed my ramen was my local Chinese friends who have over the past few years gotten me fairly comfortable eating with chopsticks.  Even my little guy did pretty well with them.

Pappardelle with Bolognese

Having tried two Asian style noodles thus far, for my business dinner that evening I offered to make reservations so that I could keep with the theme and decided Italian noodles were likely the safest option.  The restaurant I chose is Pazzo on Washington Street.  I have eaten at Pazzo before and also been there for cocktails, but had never eaten the pasta.  It’s an Italian restaurant and they make some of their own pastas.  We ordered the Pappardelle with Bolognese sauce to share since our bowls of Ramen earlier in the day had not yet completely digested.  The pasta was very good and perfectly cooked.  The Bolognese also was rich and flavorful.  We ate it all despite our already full stomachs.

Roti Mataba

Our next noodle adventure took us back East to Thailand and to a restaurant in the Southeast called Chiang Mai.  Online reviews claimed it is as good as, if not better than, Pok Pok so we figured we’d check it out.  This one was a semi-disappointment.  I say that because my son’s soup and sticky rice were very good and had a nice spice level.  My friend D, who joined us for this one, ordered the Pad Thai and was very happy with it.  I tried some and it was very good with the hot, sour and slightly fishy flavor a good Pad Thai should have.  Their spicy Roti Mataba appetizer was delicious.  But the noodles I ordered (I wanted to be adventurous and try something besides the Pad Thai) were mediocre at best.  It was called Kuay Tiew Nua Sap Kai Dao and was described as wide rice noodles stir fried with ground beef, tomato, onion, lettuce and sweet & sour sauce topped with a crispy fried egg.  Sounded great to me and I asked them to turn up the heat on it to make it hot.  Unfortunately what arrived was a plate full of unseasoned noodles with dry ground beef lying on top of whole lettuce leaves, and a way too fried egg sitting on top of it.  No tomato, no onion, no sauce were to be found.  Oh and there was absolutely no heat.  My son’s soup, ordered medium, was spicier than my noodles.  Thoroughly disappointed, I asked for some hot sauce, added it to the plate and ate as much as I could handle.  Note to self – next time stick to the Pad Thai.

My Noodles

Pad Thai

On our last day, my son was tired of noodles.  I suggested going back to Luc Luc for the Pho but he wouldn’t have it.  So we decided to walk toward Pioneer Square to a restaurant I had read about to check out their happy hour.  What interested me most about this place were the donut burger sliders on their menu.   The name of the restaurant is The Original on 6^th Street.  It is an interesting place with a diner style décor located on the street level of an office building.  It is bright and friendly and when you walk in, you get a sort of nostalgic feeling.  We were seated in a booth and ordered the Donut Burger sliders, Chicken & Waffle sliders and some Black Bean Nachos.  To put it in text language…..OMG!!!  Both the sliders were absolutely delicious.  Generally I find that burger sliders tend to be overcooked meatballs, but these were cooked a perfect medium and full of flavor.  The bun is made from buttermilk donuts, the burger is topped with some Tillamook cheddar and then it’s all coated in a sticky, sweet glaze that has a hint of spice to it.  They were so good, my son wanted to place a second order.  The chicken & waffle sliders were equally good.  The chicken was moist and tender and the waffles nice and fluffy.  There was a honey-dijon drizzle on top which was flavorful though my son & I added some hot sauce to it for an added kick.  Black bean nachos were also quite good.  Having broken our noodle theme, we walked back in the rain by way of the Microsoft store where my son enjoyed playing some video games for a while before heading back to the hotel.

This noodle fest was delicious but came with a price in the form of six pounds of gained weight.  I don’t normally eat so many simple carbs but what a fun and delicious way to gain weight.  I’ll just have to be sure to lose it before the holiday eating begins.  As one of my friends put it yesterday, the diet always starts tomorrow.

If you know of any interesting noodle places, please post them for us.  Or if you’ve had any interesting burgers for that matter….

Happy Eating!!