What started out as a dream; a little takeout shack on a residential street in Southeast Portland, Andy Ricker has since grown Pok Pok into a Thai food empire.
A self-proclaimed, "proud copycat" of Thai food, the James Beard Award winning Ricker spent the better part of a decade eating in roadside restaurants, noodle stands and home kitchens across Thailand in order to create a menu that might introduce American palates to the street flavors of the North and Northeast Thai countryside.
While much of the menu is addictive, it is the Pok Pok wings that are legendary. The kicker is, they are not even Thai! Visitors to Portland and locals alike line up on trendy SE Division St. for upwards of two hours happily waiting to indulge in Ike’s Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings (named after Pok Pok’s first employee and cook). The wings are are marinated in fish sauce and palm sugar, then deep fried and wok-tossed in a caramelized phu quoc fish sauce and garlic. They are crunchy, salty and loaded with flavor. By the end of your meal, you’ll be licking your sticky-sweet glazed fingers, grinning from ear to ear because 1) you were able to check this experience off your Portland To-Do itinerary and 2) you get to instagram a pic of these renowned wings, thus making your friends back home squeal with envy.
This national treasure serves dynamite local, Yucatecan cuisine. Go for lunch and enjoy the deep flavoured mole with the bowl of pickled vegetables featuring the enormous head of elephant garlic. The coffee is excellent as well. Don't forget to leave a tip for the Mariachis!
When the Puerto Rican immigrants in Chicago missed their home food, they created this unique sandwich – Jibarito at this authentic Puerto Rican restaurant - El Nuevo Borinquen in Humboldt Park. Jibarito has distinct features that set it apart from all the other sandwiches. The main foundation of this sandwich is flattened & fried plantains instead of bread. It is filled with meat, cheese, lettuce, mayonnaise and tomato and is full of flavours.
This unique and wonderful burger was invented in Connecticut at the now defunct "Jack's Place" and nearly simultaneously here at Ted's in 1930. Ted's is the only place in the world that exclusively seals this kind of burger. It is truly worthy as the steaming results in a wonderfully juicy burger.
You know the kind of food that you dream about for days after you have eaten it, right? Recently, we came across such a dish at Amaseena, when we tried their Paneer Gulfham. Paneer or cottage cheese in isolation, is quite the crowd-pleaser and because of that, dishes incorporating paneer are available at almost every Indian restaurant. Ideally, good cottage cheese will be soft and pillowy in texture and delicate in taste, possessing that melt-in-your-mouth quality. The Paneer Gulfham at Amaseena is all that and more. While most restaurants make the mistake of masking the glorious flavour and texture of fresh paneer by adding it to an over-spiced curry base; Amaseena sets itself apart from the rest, by really honoring fresh cottage cheese. The paneer here, is stuffed with malai (cream) and khoya (dried whole-milk) and grilled to perfection in a tandoor with slightly charred edges and a rich, creamy, and slightly sweet center.
Another favourite of ours at Amaseena, is their Dal Bukhara. It comprises of black lentils and from the moment you dig in, you can taste the understated flavour of perfectly-roasted garlic followed by a luxuriously creamy and mildly-smoky dal. . what can we say, the dal is simply gorgeous!
Take traditional Cuban sandwich ingredients -- roasted pork, ham, sliced pickles, a slathering of mustard -- put it between the halves of an awesome bun and you’ve got the makings of a great food truck meal. Frankly, I’ve never ventured past the Cuban at Melt Your Heart, but I hear from my Foodiehub.tv street team that melt Your Heart can also whip up some deliciously ooey, gooey grilled cheese or grilled pimento cheese sandwiches. It’ll melt your heart.
I tend to go traditional when I hit up El Kimchi -- usually in the parking lot of Wedge Brewery. Bibimbap, an over-easy egg topping a savory broth rich with veggies mushrooms and, in my case, chicken, is my go-to. For a tasty mash-up, load a burrito or a couple of tacos with traditional Korean BBQ and, please, whatever you do, add spicy kimchi!
Dine in the intimate Japanese-themed dining room or enjoy your sushi, tempura, noodle bowl or hot pot al fresco in the funky lower Lexington Avenue neighborhood. Attention to detail is of the utmost importance here - from quality ingredients to attentive service. For a lunch or dinner to languish over, try Oyako Don, a donburi rice bowl featuring chicken, sliced onion and shiitake mushrooms in a rich, well-seasoned sauce.