Panic Blog

We sometimes get asked to recommend places to eat in Portland. It’s a very food-oriented city, so you’re probably in good hands wherever you go. Here’s a list of specific dishes I love and you should seek out:

Neven’s Can’t-Miss Foods

• Fish sauce wings at Pok Pok or Whiskey Soda Lounge
  They were named one of the top ten dishes in the US by Food & Wine magazine for a reason. And that reason is that they are delicious. The fish sauces stretches the very definition of “savory”; these are impossible to put down, but please do so for a moment, to sip on some drinking vinegar. I know, right – fish sauce and vinegar? You may be surprised how comforting and familiar it all tastes. (You can get the wings at either restaurant; they’re run by the same crew, and located across the street from each other.)
• Pizza Tartufo Bianco at Apizza Scholls
  Scholls makes perhaps the greatest pizza yours truly, a native of the Mediterranean, has ever tasted. All the house pies are great, but this truffle-rich white pizza stands out. Come hungry and come early; they’re always busy, and understandably so.
• Nong’s Khao Man Gai
  This street food popular in Thailand may sound simple – chicken and rice in soy sauce – but its taste is a four-movement symphony. Some say the secret is yellow soybean paste; others point to rice cooked in fresh chicken broth. Whatever it is, this downtown cart does it right.
• Gnocchi at Nostrana
  It’s hard to pick one favorite from Nostrana, a multiple-award-winning restaurant that’s high on authenticity and originality, and low on pretension. How about the best gnocchi you’re likely to have anywhere? They’re only available Thursday nights; a sign of the effort that goes into making these perfect pillows of fluffy dough.
• Schnitzelwich The name of the Czech cart is actually Tabor, but everyone identifies it with their signature dish – the schnitzelwich sandwich. A tender, juicy chunk of pork (or chicken) with caramelized onion, on ciabatta bread with horseradish and ajvar (red-pepper sauce).
• Sardine sandwich at Best Baguette
  Everyone ought to eat more sardines, and Best Baguette – a McDonalds-looking building in an unremarkable location – is a great place to start. Their bánh mì (Vitneamese sandwiches on French-style baguette) are fresh, quick, and shockingly cheap – about $2.75 for the footlong sardine yuminess.

Neven’s Safe Bets

The following restaurants either have seasonal, rotating menus, or they’re just great overall. We won’t single out any one thing on the menu – go nuts and order what looks good!

• Beast
  A six-course, prix-fixe restaurant perfect for a hip date.
• Le Pigeon
  Fancy dinner from one of Portland’s top chefs
• Grüner
  Alpine food with a modern twist; classy and satisfying
• Clyde Common
  Hip and reliably tasty; open for lunch
• Piazza Italia
  Portland’s most authentic Italian food, down to the soccer jerseys on the walls
• Lucky Strike
  Hellishly spicy and awesome Szechuan on the far East side. They close at random times, so good luck to ya if you decide to go.
• Leroy’s Familiar Vittles
  Fabulous BBQ and Southern fare from a Southeast cart

We could go on with these lists for a very long time. Hopefully this is enough to get you started on your next visit to PDX. Or if you’re a local – what are you doing not hitting these places already?

Photos from Flickr users scaredy_kat, MookieLuv, and AlannaRise. Thanks, Flickrinos!

The weather is cold, the holidays are approaching, the food-talk is at an all-time high; this means war. More specifically, a cook-off battle pitting friend against friend: Panic Inc.’s Les against Panic Inc.s’ yours truly. This has happened before (we all remember August’s Battle Tomato) and it was bound to happen again.

The Rules

• All food must be prepared between Saturday morning and Monday noon
• The cooks shop for the chief ingredients together, on Saturday
• All dishes must be new to the cooks; no recipes allowed
• The food must be challenging to cook…
• …but not challenging to eat, as it is served to the whole office, which includes picky eaters.
• This week’s theme was soup. Stews, broths, chowders, chilis, gumbos, bisques – if it’s cooked down and you eat it with a spoon, it qualifies.

A food battle makes for a busy weekend. I drove around looking for turkey legs and Gjetost cheese (the best-designed cheese in the world) while Les built his food muscle the long way: nine hours to make the broth, eight hours to braise the pork, an overnight kimchi.

Monday morning, disaster struck: the gas burners in the office would not fire. All was lost, hopes dashed, stews cold and gelatinous. But then, Dave Hayden remembered how the elders of his family told the legend of an ancient mystical device, some kind of magical fire on a stick they used to start the stove, long ago before they had sparkers… So we fired the burners using a match – really, have you seen these things? They’re great – and off we went, right on schedule. The smoky, sweet, porky smells drew a crowd into the kitchen.

Battle Soup Menu

Les

White Bean and Ham Soup with Kale
Radish Kimchi Stew with Braised Pork
Sweet Persimmon Soup

Neven

Turkey Bean
Chestnut Brunost
Apple Honey

More photos here! (All taken by Christa Mrgan)

Les describes his offerings thusly: “Like Neven, I started with a homestyle, smoky bean soup. The idea of kimchi stew was stuck in my head from reading David Chang’s Momofuku book. (Of course, in accordance with competition rules, no recipe was used.) And while I’d never heard of persimmon soup, somehow it was an easy decision. It’s the end of the season when the fruit is sweetest. I balanced the persimmon purée with cream, vanilla, ginger, allspice, and lemon zest.”

As for my dishes, the first one was a childhood favorite, though I’d never made it myself before. The chestnut soup paired its star ingredient’s nutty winter warmth with the familiar yet unexpected caramel flavor of Scandinavian brunost cheese. And for the sweet tooth, Granny Smiths cooked in mead, served with sugared bacon and gorgonzola dolce. You can see approximate recipes for my dishes on my blog.

The Office Responds

Reactions ranged from positive to overwhelmed to off-topic:

“Les’ kimchi stew and Neven’s turkey bean soup battled it out for supremacy of Panic kitchen… the winner, all of us!” – Wade

“The spoon hurt my lip.” – Will

“I could taste each and every hour Les put into that kim chee stew, and it tasted like smiles and rainbows. And pork. Rich, succulent pork.” – Tim

“I would have enjoyed it even if I hadn’t been required to attend.” – Ned

“Les found a way to get me to eat Kim Chi. I fear his eldritch magick.” – Steve

“Ultimately satisfying, even if it failed to live up to the hype.” – Dave

“Productivity in the office decreases as the food that is served increases in deliciousness. Today is not a productive day.” – Mike

“Who knew putting 72 hours of love into pig meat would pay off this big. And dessert soup?!? I am coming to work at least 5 times a week from now on.” – Ian

We will meet again on the battleground, Les. The next challenge is yours to give.