Filed under: Korean, Northeast Portland | Tags: chicken wings, micro-restaurant, Northeast Portland, paleo, Portland
2329 NE Glisan St., Portland, OR 97232
(971) 271-8260
There’s a micro restaurant complex on NE Glisan and 24th. A couple restaurants opened that are small and “micro” meaning you order at the register, get a number and they bring you your food. We’ve been to a bunch of these restaurants and the quality of the food has been very surprising. The first one of the many micro restaurants that had popped up in this area is Basa Basa. It’s Korean-fried chicken. It’s gaining in popularity. In Korea, the fried chicken is a popular street and bar food, mostly eaten with some Soju or beer. It’s amazingly moist and crispy, so I’ve heard. There is a US food chain called Bon Chon that serves Korean Fried Chicken and I’ve been so curious to try it. So when we heard this place opened up in Portland, we had to try it!
What we ordered: Basa Box of 6 chicken wings, comes with mac salad and rice.
How we ordered it: Well, the menu is very simple. 1) Choose between a Box of 3, 6, or 10 wings. (Boxes come with two sides: mac salad and rice) 2) Choose between 3 sauces. 3) If you order a la cart wings, then the sides are mac salad or rice. That’s it. Here’s the menu:
Basa Basa Menu (Click to Enlarge)
What we received:
6 chicken wings
Cost: Box of 6 wings – $10, Box of 10 wings – $14, only 6 wings – $6.50, only 9 wings – $11.50
Quantity: I’d say they were a little on the small side. Small scoop of the sides was OK. I definitely was not full after this plate of wings. Probably because of all the gluten.
Quality: These wings were very tasty. Of course it could have been because I had forgotten how good meat is when it has flour breading on it and when it’s fried. It was hard to appreciate it, everything definitely tasted good, but as far as trying to eat “cleaner” when at a restaurant, this place is NOT the place to go if you are trying to go “clean”.
Meat-O-Meter says!
I so wanted this place to be awesome. The very simple menu didn’t have any options with vegetables. Unfortunately for us, we like to have a lot of options, especially if all there are high carb foods on their menu. Granted the fried chicken itself should have given us a clue, but what if the chicken was mind blowing? I had heard so many great things about Korean fried chicken that I couldn’t pass it up without first trying it out. (If Fire on the Mountain can not use flour on their wings, maybe this place could too?)
Well, now we know. Super tasty, but maybe it would be appreciated more by people on less dietary restrictions such as ourselves.
On another note, this micro restaurant complex does have an awesome taco place though, Uno Mas, review coming soon!
Filed under: Food cart, Northeast Portland | Tags: beef tallow, bone broth soup, chicken tenders, chill, food cart, fries, grass-fed beef, paleo, Portland, sweet potato fries
1477 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR 97211
Wow! This is what we’ve been waiting for! This is what we dreamed of having in Portland. A Paleo food cart. This food cart is PALEO LEGIT.
The fries are made out of sweet potatoes and purple sweet potatoes. They are fried in tallow. The chicken tenders are coated in coconut flour. The all-meat-chili is made out of grass fed beef cheeks.
What we ordered: Grass fed All Meat Chili, Rainbow Fries, Bacon Egg Frittata Muffin, Bone Broth Soup, Chicken Tenders.
How we ordered it: As is. Though we did put the chili on top of the fries and that was amazing. You could even ask to put the chili on top of the frittata muffins…yum!
What we received:
Chili Fries
Bacon Egg Frittata Muffin
Bone Broth Soup
Chicken Tenders in Coconut Flour
Cost: Chili – $5, Bacon Egg Frittata Muffin – 2 for $5, Bone Broth – $4, Chicken Tenders – $5
Quality: Umm, let’s see. Grass-fed? Check. Beef tallow? Check. Local? Check. 100% grain free, dairy free and soy free? Check. Check and Check.
Quantity: We ate around 11:30 am. We were not hungry until 5 pm. It was filling and extremely satisfying; exactly what a good Paleo meal should do for you. I didn’t feel terrible, sluggish or moody after the meal, as I usually do after eating fried foods. It was an awesome amount of meat and I just can’t say enough about it!
Meat-O-Meter says!
Words can’t really describe this picture…
OK, so for an entire meal at any food cart in town, you’d pay about 5-8 bucks maybe. BUT, is it real quality food? Is it grass-fed beef? Cooked in grass-fed beef tallow? Is there any type of processed oils in the mix? Cultured Caveman has all non-processed, grass-fed high quality meat in their dishes. It doesn’t get better than this.
For this, I will pay a little bit more for a food cart meal. This place is the whole package for the cost, quality and quantity, it’s 100% Meat-O-Meter approved!
They are doing so well that they are opening a second location on SE 41st and Hawthorne. I think this Paleo thing might be catching on….cross your fingers!
Filed under: Middle Eastern, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland | Tags: grass-fed beef, middle eastern food, paleo, Portland
3401 SE Belmont St, Portland, Oregon 97214
503-236-8325
Grass-fed Beef! Get on it, in case you haven’t already. Not only is grass-fed meat gaining popularity, but it’s freaking good for you (high in Omega-3). FYI: Crossfit Portland sells grass-fed ground beef, roasts and steaks from Neiffer Triangle 4 Ranch! Cheaper than at the supermarket! :D
Finding grass-fed at restaurants is slowly getting popular, at least in Portland that is. Not only is the meat at restaurants local, but the next step IMO is for it to be grass-fed. Dick’s and Ox has made that step, others will soon jump on the band wagon as well. The big question is, will they skimp on the portion size as soon as they switch to grass-fed? Well, let’s find out! Hoda’s is in the Southeast, but also has another location in Northeast Fremont and 47th. We NEVER would have known about this restaurant if Jason Stein hadn’t told us about it! Thanks Jason! Here is what they have displayed on every table. Click to enlarge.
Grass fed beef! That’s pretty sweet. But are they worth the amount of meat per dollar? Let’s see…
What we ordered:
- #1 Kafta Kabob Plate (two skewers of 100% grass-fed natural ground beef kabob served with choice of rice or humos and a salad)
- #5 Beef Shawarma Plate (delicately flavored marinated 100% grass-fed natural beef, sauteed onions, served with humos, tahini sauce, and a salad)
How we ordered it: We ordered one regular salad and another salad with feta and olives for an extra $1.50 just to see what the difference would look like. The kabob plate was ordered with rice and hummus. The shawarma plate was ordered with hummus only. You have the choice to add Tabouleh for an extra $1 instead of rice, which would make it slightly more Paleo, but I’m not a big fan of tabouleh. Oh wait, tabouleh has gluten in it…nevermind then, problem solved 
What we got:
Side salads, feta and olives is on the right.
Beef kebab
Beef Shawarma
Cost: Beef Kebab – $13, Beef Shawarma – $13, $1.50 for the extra olives and feta on the salad.
Quality: Hey! It’s grass-fed beef! Can’t argue with that!
Quantity: Surprisingly I could not finish my plate! I had the kebabs and it was more than enough food. Those kebabs were deceivingly very large. The Meat-O-Meter though finished off his plate like a champ and was fully satisfied.
Meat-O-Meter says!
Riddle me this: Why do so many people line up at Dick’s Kitchen, when Hoda’s is right down the street where you get so much more grass-fed goodness for your dollar.
I think we’ve made our point. Nuff said.
Filed under: Argentinian, Hoity Toity, Northeast Portland | Tags: Argentinian, gluten-free, paleo, pork chop, Portland
2225 NE MLK Blvd., Portland, OR 97212
503-284-3366
A new restaurant that has a lot of meat choices!?!? You can bet we were there as soon as possible!
After watching Anthony Bourdain’s visit to Uruguay episode, we are thinking this will be our next vacay…South America here we come! But in the mean time, we’ll take what we can get in the States. When we found out about how Ox is Argentinian influenced (their giant oven for meat grilling is pretty sweet) and has a lot of meat choices, it was a no brainer.
What we ordered: Green kale salad with feta ranch dressing, fired chickpeas, kalamata olives and strawberries / House Chorizo and Blood Sausage / Mote con habas: heirloom hominy, braised pork belly, fava beans, chiles, olive oil-fried duck egg / Beef Skirt Steak / Maple-brined pork loin chop (comes with chimichurri dipping oil) / and finally for dessert – grilled pineapple with coconut milk sorbet, toasted cashew, rum raisins and fleur de sel. (it was the Meat-O-Meter’s birthday, so we celebrated in good form!)
How we ordered it: Everything was ordered as is. We consider this place Hoity Toity. You may have heard me mention this before, but the more expensive the restaurant, the better quality and the better the food is prepared. To eat Paleo or close to Paleo, Hoity Toity restaurants are the way to go if you can afford it. You can’t get any more organic, locally raised, gluten-free, grass-fed than this!!
What we got:
Green Kale Salad
Blood and Chorizo Sausage
Mote con habas (hominy, pork belly, fried duck egg)
Beef skirt steak
Maple-brined pork loin chop
chimichurri (oil based deliciousness of a dipping sauce)
Grilled pineapple w/ coconut milk sorbet
Cost: Green kale salad – $9, Blood Sausage – $9, Chorizo Sausage – $9, Mote con habas – $8, Beef skirt steak – $19, Maple-brined pork loin chop – $19, Grilled pinapple w/ coconut milk sorbet – $8
Quality: You can just take the skit from Portlandia’s “where does your chicken come from?” and there you have it. The server told us it’s all grass-fed and local. All of it was very well made, tasty in every bite, what you would expect from a nice restaurant.
Quantity: All of this was enough for the two of us and a little extra. I wouldn’t say that the skirt steak was a great amount of meat, but the pork chop was a good size for a hoity toity restaurant. Sausages were super tasty! Blood sausage was my fave. Though both were disappointingly small for $9. The Mote con habas had a disappointingly small amount of pork belly. 3 pieces of meat maybe in the whole dish. Would not get it again, but very tasty.
With the extra side dishes, this meal was incredibly satisfying and we were stuffed. The chimichurri sauce was AMAZING!!! A suggestion from the Meat-O-Meter: ”Sell that shit at New Seasons and I will buy it in bottles!”
Meat-O-Meter says!
Yes this place was good. However, he wasn’t over the moon. It’s all about the price and amount of the meat.
On a side note, the dessert was perplexing. It didn’t blend well together. We felt like we were eating some pineapple, then some sorbet, and then a cashew and a raisin. The dessert wasn’t “composed” well together, I guess you could say it was underwhelming for 8 bucks. Also couldn’t help but think that we could have made it at home with pineapple/Coconut Bliss and some cashews and raisins. On a positive note, it is Paleo.
Overall, pretty good though for a birthday dinner! Ox restaurant is nice. The food is great and there are lots of meat/veggie choices and combinations to choose from.
We give it a thumbs up!
Filed under: American, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland | Tags: chicken, east burnside, oregon, paleo, Portland, salad
UPDATE ON HOUSE SALD WITH SIDE OF DOUBLE CHICKEN ORDER. As of 6/23/12, FOTM changed the price on their side of chicken from $2.50 – $3.50. That’s an extra two dollars for this House side salad with order of double chicken. This makes this amazing salad deal into an average/OK salad deal…soooo, order at will. Also, we were informed that their chicken wings are NOT breaded! Their boneless chicken wings are however dredged in flour. Good to know, food for thought, I’d say that’s some good meateats reporting! 
1708 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97214
(503) 230-9464
(This tip was given to us by Jake M.! Thanks Jake! Hope school is going well and we miss you at the gym )
This place has a special place in my heart. Growing up in upstate New York, the Buffalo Chicken Wings were something that were taken for granted. I didn’t realize you couldn’t get that Buffalo sauce outside of upstate New York. If you did, it was terrible. The owners of FOTM are from Buffalo, New York (home of the Buffalo Wing w/ the special sauce) and they also used to play Ultimate Frisbee, (which is even closer to my heart!), sometimes using frisbees as serving plates for their wings, this place is awesome! Unfortunately this post has nothing to do with Chicken Wings. Their wings are slightly battered, but their sauces are gluten free…if that counts for anything….
What we ordered: House salad with chicken. (2 grilled tasty chicken breasts)
How we ordered it: Ask for House salad with chicken and to add an additional side of chicken. (double the chicken)
What we got:
House salad with double the chicken
Cost: House salad – $2.95, Add grilled chicken for $2.50 and then add an extra side of chicken for an additional $2.50. Total = $7.95!!!!
Quality: Awesomeness! The grilled chicken was tasty, moist, not dry at all! The chicken is from Northern California, and free range according to the blurb on their menu and website.
Quantity: This salad should be called, “Would you like some greens with your chicken?”. Just how we like it!
MEAT-O-METER says!
Woohoo!! We have one happy camper. This salad is pretty amazing, I was really impressed. It’s a ton of protein with your salad. Very Paleo friendly, the only thing on the fence is the balsamic vinegrette. Not sure how much sugar they put in their dressing, but they didn’t have oil and vinegar, that is the only thing that was kind-of-not-so-paleorific.
Other than that this is a great restaurant that you can go with your non-paleo friends. They can have their beer and wings, while you can still have a tasty paleo friendly chicken-tastic salad.
Filed under: Northeast Portland, Thai | Tags: northeast, paleo, Portland, Thai
As of June 23rd, 2012, Siam Society has CLOSED it’s doors. Their BBQ Chicken will be missed 
2703 Northeast Alberta Street, Portland, OR
(503) 922-3675
Groupon! Woohoo! We bought one and gifted ourselves one as well. Trying to work the system. Hopefully others took advantage of this deal too! I did a post about Siam Society but it was only for their Happy Hour. So this time we focused on the regular menu, which is long overdue.
What we ordered: Thai Barbecue Chicken, Leg of Lamb in Curry (I think it was a special because I couldn’t find it on their online menu and it was something the waitress recommended to us. How did she know we love large portions of meat? must have been the glasses…)
How we ordered it: As is!
What we got:
Thai Barbecue Chicken
Leg of Lamb
Well, we cannot get over how good the chicken is…
Cost: Thai Barbecue Chicken – $13.95, Leg of Lamb – $19.95
Quantity: I should insert a reference measurement strip on the picture to show you just how big it is. I thought they were both big, but the Meat-O-Meter thought a bit differently. Add In from the Meat-O-Meter, “Basically the lamb curry taste bumped up the lamb dish to $20, not a steal, but on par for the course. Both portion sizes were on par, but the chicken is delicious.”
Quality: So good! Siam Society’s meats are mostly from local farms as noted on their menu. (we didn’t get the names of the lamb or chicken unfortunately, but we hear they were raised humanely
MEAT-O-METER says!
In the words of Debbie Reynolds and Ann Miller, LEG UP! Literally, it was so good
The chicken was baked/bbq’ed or something and then was flash fried, to get the skin nice and crispy, perfect! No breading on it which was pleasant and totally NOT dry!! The chicken did come with a side of Jasmine sticky rice, but that could easily be not eaten or cheated on easily. Apparently the Thai Barbecue Chicken is a popular dish and so when we actually called ahead of time to make our reservation, we made sure to ask if they still had chicken left. If you go and they’re out, well that just sucks.
The dinner was thoroughly tasty and savory. Next time the fam comes into town we’re definitely taking them here!
Filed under: Northeast Portland, Soul, Southern Food | Tags: Northeast Portland, paleo, southern food
Solid restaurant, solid food, solid drinks, solid service, solid environment, solid location…Go check this place out!
What we ordered: Pecan encrusted trout with creamed spinach, Side of sweet potato fries, Brisket with choice of two sides, Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and greens.
How we ordered it: They were very accommodating with substitutions. We could substitute any of their many choices of sides with the sides that were listed on the menu. The trout was ordered as is, sorry about the cream!, Brisket with 2 sides of collard greens. The fried chicken with the mashed potato, well that one was kind of a bust as far as Paleo goes, but we wanted to show the picture anyway.
What we got:
Fish with creamed spinach
Side of sweet potato fries
Brisket
Fried chicken
Cost: Fish – $15.75, Brisket – $15.75, Chicken – $14.75, Side of sweet potato fries – $3.50,
Quality: For the prices, you get what you pay for, the meat was tasty, moist and super flavorful!
Quantity: These were some pretty hearty portions as comfort foods should be.
MEAT-O-METER says!
OK you got us, these weren’t the most Paleo options that we could have chosen. We were celebrating a special occasion and decided this would be our 1 semi cheat meal we would have in a long time. However given the many choices of sides and the many Paleo options, and the ability to make substitutions, this place deserved a thumbs up! With our large party and the many substitutions we made, they were very accomodating. How nice! A slightly higher end restaurant that catered to our needs, solid thumbs up.
5237 Northeast M L King Boulevard, Portland, OR 97211
(503) 331-9844
BUFFET!! Yay! When I was younger I would get so excited about buffets! Eating as much crappy food as I wanted! Now, it’s not so appealing of course, due to all the processed, crappy food that is served. BUT, then we found out about Horn Of Africa! They serve traditional cuisines of Ethopia, Somalia, Djbouti and the Middle East. They have a lunch buffet that is pretty Paleo perfect. There was a restaurant.com coupon for Horn of Africa for dinner so we decided to check it out!
What we ordered: Lukku (#9) – Garlick lemon chicken, Foon Sangaa Akawii (#10) – marinated prime-cut beef in African spices, Foon Huulaa Diimaa (#12) – boneless leg of lamb in Beri Beri Sauce, Bamia – Stewed okra and tomatoes with onions
How we ordered it: No rice, no bread
What we got:
Lukku - Chicken
Foon Saanga Akawii - Beef
Bamia - Stewed okra
Foon Huulaa Diimaa- Boneless Lamb
Cost: Lukku – chicken – $9.95, Foon Sangaa Akawii – Beef – $9.95, Bamia – okra – $5.95, Foon Huulaa Diimaa – Lamb – $12.95
Quality: The food was all very tasty. Different spices made all the dishes really flavorful and unique. The beef dish, I was a little disappointed in. It tasted like there was a TON of butter in it. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but it had that buttery after-taste. The MEAT-O-METER couldn’t taste it, but I swear there was something butery in it….
The lamb was tasty. I loved the okra! The chicken was for sure my favorite. It reminded me of tandoori chicken. Moist and tasty!
Quantity: We got jacked. I can see if you were eating rice or bread with these plates, they would be very filling! But these plates alone should be enough to feed a couple of people, at least that’s what I think. The lamb plate had bits of shredded lamb and some bigger chunks, but overall really not that much meat. Loading up on bread and rice is not a trick we fall for here!
MEAT-O-METER says!
We had read all the yelp reviews about this place and were hesitant. Though the reviews didn’t mention much about the food, just that the service was bad. So we went and ended up waiting a bit for our food. They brought us free hummus and bread because of the wait. That was so nice! Too bad it’s not Paleo. They were really nice, it looks like they upped their quality of customer service!
Unfortunately, for dinner, we were disappointed at the quantity of meat that was served. On their website they say that everything is made onsite and authentic. I don’t mind waiting for quality, I just wish they would have given a bit more in quantity. $12.95 for the lamb was VERY disappointing.
However, for their lunch buffet, that’s a whole other story! The lunch buffet is $8.95 and it is TOTALLY worth it! Meat dishes galore, with greens and salad. It’s awesome! AND there’s an online coupon on their website! Get one buffet for $8.95 and get a second buffet for $5.95. Or buy one dinner entree and get the second one 50% off. That doesn’t make it too bad. With the restaurant.com coupon it’s even better. Either way you slice it, dinner was not great, lunch is Paleo-tastic! Pics of the buffet coming soon!
Filed under: Hawaiian, Northeast Portland | Tags: Hawaiian, Milwaukee Oregon, Northeast Portland, paleo
(503) 335-5800
Since moving away from NoHo’s – the Southeast Hawaiian Restaurant, we haven’t had that much Hawaiian food lately. Also continuing on our quest to find good Poki outside of Hawaii has been very hard to find. Ah well, we’ll have to settle for what we can get locally.
What we ordered: Large Kalua Pig Main Plate, Garlic Mahi Mahi Main Plate
How we ordered it: No rice, No Macaroni Salad, Extra Salad please!
What we got:
Kalua Pig
Garlic Mahi Mahi
Let’s take a closer look at the fish.
Wow, very rare, moist and perfect!
Cost: Large Kalua Pig Plate – $10, Garlic Mahi Mahi – $12. Add $.50 for substituting green salad.
Quality: The Kalua Pig was a bit salty, but overall very moist and well done. The Mahi Mahi was Perfect! That’s how fish should be made. Melts in your mouth, on the very rare side, not fish smelling and definitely NOT DRY!
Quantity: OK. We were starving and after we ate this meal, we were still a bit hungry.
MEAT-O-METER says!
Even though it wasn’t an incredibly large quantity, the quality way exceeded our expectations. Meat is fer sure their specialty and they do it very well. The fact that eating Paleo here was so easy was awesome! They are great and a sure bet. They’ve also expanded to Milwaukee too!
707 Northeast 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR
(503) 261-1689
With the disappointment of Golden Coin closing, we haven’t found another LEGIT Chinese Restaurant. With the help of Yelp, Shenzhen seemed worth trying out. We did circle around the parking lot a couple times, partly because there were no spaces left, but exclaiming our hesitancy the whole time.
It was a gamble, but when we walked in and all the specials that were posted on the wall were written in Chinese, we were a little bit more optimistic.
What we ordered: Appetizers – Pig ears, 5 Spiced beef. Entree – Beef in a Bucket (With a name like that, how could you not!)
How we ordered it: As-is. No Rice.
What we got:
The menu: Another sign of a good Chinese restaurant...
Sliced Pig ears
5 Spiced Beef - Spicy w/ so much awesome flavor
Beef in a Bucket (really.)
Eating the Beef in a Bucket
Cost: Beef in a Bucket – $9.95, Pig Ears – $2.50, 5 Spiced Beef – $4.50
Quality: As the Meat-O-Meter would say, “It’s pretty legit”.
Quantity: The “Beef in a Bucket” lasted us another day. It was craziness!
MEAT-O-METER says!
Look there’s still leftover. We were stuffed! This restaurant is the real deal. AND they’re open until MIDNIGHT EVERYDAY! Woohoo! So next time you pick up friends or family from the airport and it’s after 9 pm and you need to go eat somewhere….GO HERE!
More photos of the 2nd and 3rd time we went back:
Lamb for the Hot Pot!
Hot Pot Setup
We got the seafood Hot Pot. It was the best meal to end the year! I think it’s a chinese tradition to eat it on New Year’s Eve, but not sure….If you haven’t gone here yet, for the love of the Paleo gods, GO!
