For the Carnivorous Foodie in all of us….by Jessica Chang


Corbett Fish House

5901 SW Corbett Ave., Portland, OR 97239

503-246-4434

corbettfishhouse.com

Amy G. found this place and thought we should try it, Thanks Amy! They are self proclaimed Portland’s Best Fish and Chips!

What caught our eyes was the gluten-free menu.  The entire restaurant is gluten-free. No butts about it!  Here’s a snippet of their story (click to enlarge):

Click here for more about their Gluten-Free Story.

Their breading is brown rice flour, they flash fry it in rice bran oil and they filter the oil twice a day.  Granted of course this is not paleo, but IMO way better than the vegetable oil and regular wheat flour most restaurants use to fry stuff. The Meat-OMeter LOVES fish and chips.  It’s a love hate relationship. His mind Loves it, but his gut does Hates it. Not quite worth it, until we found Corbett Fish House.

 What we ordered:   Regular Size Pacific Cod Fish and Chips, Regular Size Halibut Fish and Chips and Buttermilk Garlic Chicken Strips

How we ordered it:  We didn’t realize you could get Sweet Potato Fries!! Dangit! So we ordered all as is.

What we got:

Chicken Strips

Pacific Cod

Halibut

Cost:  Chicken Strips – $7.75, Pacific Cod Fish and Chips – $9.75, Halibut Fish and Chips – market price – $18.75

Quality: Their fried fish is pretty legit.  The fish was not too greasy and very lightly battered. Granted I’m not a big connoisseur of fried fish, but it was overall pretty tasty. Chicken strips, flavorful, not too greasy, not dry, and really good. Of course you can order non-fried foods here, which looks tasty, but why would you go to a steak place and order a salad?

Quantity:  When the plastic baskets were placed in front of us, I must admit I was not impressed; especially for the Halibut.  However it was deceivingly enough food for a meal. The Chicken Strips at $7.75 were by far the BEST bang for your dollar.  NOT worth it for the Halibut, just get the Cod. When it’s fried, the difference is slightly noticeable and therefore not worth it for the huge price increase.

MEAT-O-METER says!

Yes we ordered a fried crazy mess!  I know, we could have picked a better restaurant that was a bit more “Paleo-ish friendly”, but do you see that picture above?  He loves this shit.  He just wants some fish and chips at a good price.  The fact that Corbett Fish House is openly and legitimately gluten-free gives it major points.  BIG PROPS to the owners for doing this.  They even have a little pamphlet on the table explaining why gluten is bad for you and some basic information about Celiac disease.  Can’t argue with that! It’s like they were preachin’ to the choir! Hallelujah!

I didn’t leave here feeling bloated with the food just sitting at the pit of my stomach, waiting to make it’s impact.  I felt close to normal and I left satisfied.  Granted I won’t be coming here every week, but it’s comforting that there is a place out there that’s slightly more forgiving on your gut.

PS, I heard the fish tacos were pretty good.  It didn’t look like a large amount of meat, but maybe worth it….order at your own risk!



Fire on the Mountain (E. Burnside)
March 15, 2012, 4:31 pm
Filed under: American, Northeast Portland, Southeast Portland | Tags: , , , , ,

1708 East Burnside Street, Portland, OR 97214

(503) 230-9464

portlandwings.com

(This tip was given to us by Jake M.!  Thanks Jake! Hope school is going well and we miss you at the gym :D )

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.



Dick’s Kitchen – Update!!

3312 SE Belmont St. Portland, OR 97214

503 235 0146

Sorry, to temporarily excite some of you, but we still think Dick’s is……eh….

But because so many people at the gym go there frequently and rave about it, we were curious just how much Dick’s changed their menu.  When we were there last, they did say they were still going through some changes and trying to figure out their menu.  So of course we had to go back and try it out.  Otherwise it would always be lingering in the back of our minds and we would regret not trying one more time.

The first thing I noticed when we arrived for the second time was that the advertisements and articles saying that they are the first Paleolithic Restaurant were gone.  That was really refreshing actually.  They weren’t trying to be something they weren’t.

DK's Original Medium Size Chili

DK Burger bowl

Bacon Burger served Naked with side of "Yam Not Fries" and coleslaw. Yes that's cheese on there...

Cost: DK’s Original Chili – $4.50, DK Thai Burger Bowl – $9.00, Bacon Burger Naked – $8.75, side of Yam Not Fries – $3.00

Quantity: Not the greatest.  5.5 oz of burger before cooked.  So it ends up being a tiny burger. I still don’t get it, the coleslaw bowl is so small!

Quality:  Beef is grass-fed. Can’t get any better than that!

MEAT-O-METER Says!

Well, its not great, but it’s better than it was before!  Not bad…I can see if you’re in a bind for some grass-fed beef, you can go here and spend more money than you would like. The substitutions and additions add up really fast!  My Bacon Burger ended up being $11.75 total.  It was small, though the quality was good, I still spent more than I would have liked on a burger combo meal even though it was grass-fed.  Though they must be doing something great because they have a second location in the Northwest! I would love to hear your thoughts!

 



Thai Dish
November 4, 2011, 3:42 pm
Filed under: Southeast Portland, Thai | Tags: , ,
(503) 236-1466

 

I got a little trigger happy.  It’s so easy to buy Groupons on your mobile app!  It’s a little dangerous.  We were in the usual bind for dinner, no cooked food at home, we were ill-prepared for the night and we were starving!  So whenever we are going to go out to eat, I always check the Groupon, Living Social, Amazon Deals, Google Offers…let’s see what else did I miss…to find a new restaurant we haven’t tried before.  My middle name is Thrifty.
We were in the mood for Thai and the Yelp review wasn’t too bad (4 stars with 9 reviews), so we gave it a shot.
What we ordered:  Thai BBQ Chicken (#58), Thai BBQ Pork (#63)

 

How we ordered it:  The Thai BBQ Pork comes in a gravy.  We weren’t sure what that was, so we ordered it with Peanut Sauce on the side  (no flour).

 

What we got:
Thai BBQ Chicken
Thai BBQ Pork
Cost:  Thai BBQ Chicken: $10.95, Thai BBQ Pork:  $9.95

 

Quantity: Chicken was huge.  Really good amount of food.  The Pork was NOT what we expected.  The little red things that look like dried cranberries are actually small pieces of Chinese sausage, salty and delicious by itself. But the pic doesn’t show the large bed of iceberg shredded lettuce underneath.  Not really a whole lot of meat.  The egg added a new unique touch to it, but overall a bit lack luster as far as protein goes.

 

Quality:  Chicken was a little dry.  Not as good as Siam Society. The pork dish was slightly dry as well, though the Chinese sausage did make it much tastier.  It was a weird dish, very lackluster, not a big fan and wouldn’t order it again.

 

MEAT-O-METER Says!
This place had a lot of potential for us.  Unfortunately it did not live up to our standards.  We left the restaurant with full stomachs, but feeling unsatisfied with our meal.  Wouldn’t really go here again, but we bought 2 Groupons!  Boo, some premature trigger happy fingers taking a gamble and we lost….

 

Still holding steady with our vote for Siam Society as having the best BBQ Chicken.


The Country Cat
March 23, 2011, 8:46 pm
Filed under: American, Southeast Portland | Tags: , , ,

7937 SE Stark Portland, OR 97215

503.408.1414

www.thecountrycat.net

OMG! Not to sound like a 6th grader, but this has got to be my new favorite restaurant! We came here about 3 years ago during our pre-paleo days and really liked it, but for some reason it took us this long to come back.  Maybe because back then our palette for amazingly cooked meat hadn’t developed fully and our appreciation for fine dining hadn’t been fully grasped.  This place is a bit expensive, not Hoity Toity, but in the $15-$22 range for entrees.  A restaurant that is very feasible when you want to treat yourself once a month or week ;)

What we ordered: Baked Goat Cheese and Orange Salad, Molasses and Hickory Smoked Duck Leg, The Country Cat’s Whole Hog.

How we ordered it: As is!!! I should have ordered the Duck Leg with an alternative side for the Spatzel.  I had no idea Spatzel was tiny flour balls of goodness….service was great, so substituting the Spatzel for additional veggies would have been no problem.

What we got:

Baked Goat Cheese and Orange Salad


Country Cat Whole Hog

Molasses and Hickory Smoked Duck Leg

Cost: Baked Goat Cheese and Orange Salad – $10, Country Cat Whole Hog – $21, Molasses and Hickory Smoked Duck Leg – $19

Quality: This restaurant was in Portland, so where do you think the meat came from?  Yes, you guessed it, it’s local.

Quantity: The quantity for the price we paid was a sold GOOD.  Duck was a perfect size, I was stuffed.  The amount of hog was so much that the MEAT-O-METER was slowing down a little bit towards the end.

MEAT-O-METER says!

FANTASTIC!  This restaurant is a solid thumbs up with even a slight smile.  We highly recommend this restaurant, it is a bit farther out of town; SE 80th and Stark, but sooo worth it!  Very Paleo friendly and a nice bar. too! There are weekly and daily specials.  Atmosphere – Good, Food – Good, The Country Cat – GOOD!!!





Lucky Strike
January 19, 2011, 12:56 pm
Filed under: Chinese, Southeast Portland | Tags: , , ,

3862 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard Portland, OR 97214

luckystrikepdx.com

(503) 206-8292

We were on our way to a favorite restaurant of ours called ARISTA.  Then we find out that it closed!  Up popped in Lucky Strike.  A bit disappointed, but excited to try a new restaurant!  We heard that Lucky Strike was good and also that they were super spicy.  Given the cool name, out interests were peaked.

What we ordered: Chicken on Fire, Chives with Egg, Twice Cooked Pork, Kung Pao Chicken

How we ordered it: As is.  No rice.

What we got:

Chicken on Fire!

Chives stir-fried with Egg

Twice Cooked Pork

Kung Pao Chicken

Cost: Hot Pepper Chicken Bath – $10, Kung Pao Chicken – $9, Twice Cooked Pork – $10, Chive Stir-fried with Egg – $7.

Quality: So on their menu they state that all their meat is from local farms.  They write which meat is from what farm, it’s so Portland!  A Chinese restaurant that serves real authentic Chinese food and is concerned about where their meat comes from.  Hmm, could this place be the best of both worlds?

Quantity: This was not too bad.   The fact that most authentic Chinese restaurants would charge between $10 and $18 for major entrees, this really wasn’t that bad.

MEAT-O-METER says!

 

This was after I dared him to eat one red pepper.  OK, so some people’s palettes can handle really spicy food, but geez, they are some special people.  You can get other entrees that are not spicy and somewhat Paleo, but they are limited to the Chives with eggs and the baby bok choy.  If you are looking for a solid cheat, go for the Seafood Pancake. (so good)  Otherwise, it was pretty easy to order Paleo here, everything can be ordered as is.  If you love spicy food and don’t need rice to help alleviate the painful temperature in your mouth then this is the place for you!

 

 




Olympic Provisions
(503) 954-3663
High end meat seller
Sort of like Tappas place.  You know how we feel about Tappas.  Booo…expensive, little food.
We tasted one of their cured meats at a potluck, Thanks Madoc!  It was great!  I had never heard of this place and so we of course had to try it!
What we ordered: We tried to order a taste of a lot of different stuff.  Because let’s face it, for tappas, it’s unlikely we’ll make it back here in the near future.  Maybe distant future though.  I’ve labeled the pictures, but honestly I can’t remember what the dishes were called.  The menu changes, so you may not see these dishes ever again.  However, as long as you can get a gist of the quality of the dishes, I think you’ll get my point.
How we ordered it: As is.  The stuffed pepper had some cheese in it, and the breaded pancake thing….well that was just a moment of weakness, there was meat in there somewhere, I swear!
What we got:
fish

pork shank

stuffed peppers, yes w/ cheese
lamb leg
pancake thing
Cost: Their menu is ever changing, and I forgot to write the price down.  But let’s just say that each small tappas was between 11 and 14 dollars.  Thasalotta dolla dollas for da meat!
Quantity: Considering the Meat-o-Meter’s past hatred of tappas restaurants, I think you know where this is going.
Quality: Olympic Provisions is a MEAT specialty store.  So you can expect the best.  Luckily the meat met our expectations.
MEAT-O-METER says!
So even though this place is super expensive, it’s nice to go once in a blue moon.  (Hence the not so smiley face, but with a thumbs up!)  Being Oregon’s first USDA ceritified meat-curing facility, they have all the highest quality meats and local too!  They were very tasty, flavorful, and well cooked. Everything tasted great, even my cocktail :)
When you go to a hoity toiyt restaurant such as this, don’t try to scrounge through the experience, you just have to go for it, commit, and drop some dolla dollas.  Just enjoy it and try not to be frugal with what is there on the menu.  If you’re going to eat at this place, try to embrace it; get a cocktail, window shop at their cured meat, order a couple tappas and heck even dress up a little.  It may just be worth your while.  We ended up buying a quarter pound of a pistachio-meat-loaf-type-thing!  It was mmmm delicious!!!!


El Palenque
November 7, 2010, 4:33 pm
Filed under: Mexican, Southeast Portland | Tags: , , ,

8324 SE 17th Avenue, Portland, OR 97202

(503) 231-5140

www.elpalenque.org

Our new thing, sort of, is Groupon.  El Palenque was a Groupon offer we couldn’t pass up!  We were also itching to try someplace new.  This place is a mix of Mexican and Salvadoran fare. Mmmmmm…

Compared to where we are in North Portland, this restaurant was kind of a trek to the Sellwood-ish area.  If we are ever in the area again, we may just stop by for the fried yuca.  Have you ever had not good fried yuca?  good stuff…

What we ordered:  Side of  Guacamole Salvador (boiled egg mixed with onions and garlic), Palenque Salad with mole chicken, and Yuca plate with Carnitas

How we ordered it:  Guac – as is, Palenque salad – no rice or beans with extra lettuce and some sauteed peppers and onions, Yuca plate – no rice, yuca fried please. :P

What we got:

Side of Juevos Guacamole

Palenque salad with mole chicken

Yuca with carnitas

Cost: Juevos Guacamole – $6, Palenque Salad – $10, Yuca with carnitas – $13

Quantity:  Very little

Quality:  Not bad.  Tasty. Nothing special.

MEAT-O-METER says!

OMG fried yuca is so stinking good!!!!! My fav for sure.  Very disappointed by the meat amount, hence the sad face.   But apparently they are very liberal with the yuca.  You can get the yuca steamed instead of fried if you want to go super strict wtih this meal. We were a bit disappointed by the mole, it was definitely more on the sweeter side unfortunately for the MEAT-O-METER, he likes it a bit more bitter.  Overall the meal was tasty, but not worth the drive down from NoPo for this, but maybe if we’re in the area and in the mood for some fried yuca…maybe…

 



Dick’s Kitchen Diner (DK’s)
September 30, 2010, 8:34 pm
Filed under: American, Southeast Portland | Tags: , ,

3312 SE Belmont St. Portland, OR 97214

503 235 0146

After we ate at this restaurant we HAD to write about it immediately.  Yes, I am slacking here on my posts, but hopefully this will jump start them back up again.  (Thank you everyone for reading and following along!!!!!!!!  Please spread the word!!)

Some people had recommended this place to us and the first thing they said was, “It’s a Paleo Diner!” The Meat-O-Meter and I looked at each other like, “Whaaaaa???? No way.”  We did our research and looked it up on the good ol’ interweb.  We were incredibly interested, but incredibly skeptical.  We have had several conversations with each other about what a REAL Paleo restaurant would be like and what a REAL Paleo restaurant would serve to be successful.  We thought no one would ever do it because it’s so against the norm and that it wouldn’t last…maybe as a food cart….maybe….

Anyway, when we heard about DK’s, we thought, “An actual restaurant that publicly declares themselves to be a follower of the Paleo Diet and actually writes in bold letters, PORTLAND’s FIRST STONE AGE DINER on their website.   It sounds too good to be true.”

Hmmmm....

So we checked out their menu online.  The first thing you see on the menu is burgers, sausages and sandwiches.  (My one eyebrow is raised)  Then we see words: vegan and vegetarian options.  We were like, “Whaaaat???”  Then the last page of the menu is a page long description of the Paleo Diet!  They even go so far as give recommended books to read up on about the Paleo Diet!!! (By the way Robb Wolf’s book, “The Paleo Solution” is the book to read.  Go buy it now.) Wait a second…..Paleo Diet: meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and seeds, Vegetarian Diet:  NO meat.   How is that right?  Not good feelings…..But, with all the hoopla and questioning from other Paleo followers, we had to go and check it out.  On a rainy night, we drove to the diner, located next to the Laughing Planet on Belmont.  (We come to find the owner of DK’s is also the owner of Laughing Planet)  This is what we found on every table:

Click the pic to enlarge.

What we ordered: Sausage Plate (recommended by the waiter to have the most meat for our money), Veggie Plate (your choice of 3 sides)

How we ordered it:  As is.  Supposedly it’s Paleo, so bring it!

What we got:

Sausage Plate

Veggie Plate - dinner roll not pictured

Cost: Sausage Plate – $10, Veggie Plate – $8.50

Quantity of the meat: Did you see the size of that cole slaw?  In case you missed it, it’s in that small dish that is the same size as the mustard.

The waiter recommended the Sausage Plate and said, “The sausages are huge.”  Then we asked him about the sides.  The waiter then said, “The greens are great.  They taste like they are cooked in bacon even though they are vegetarian.  The cabbage is awesome too. They taste really buttery, but it’s vegan.”

“Hmm” thought the bacon eating connoisseurs.  ”OK let’s try it.”

Oh, the disappointment.  After the meal, we asked the waiter, “Have you had bacon before?”

Quality of the meat: The best thing from these two dishes was the sweet potato mash.  It was different and unique.  They do serve grass fed 5 ounce beef patties for their burgers.  That’s 5 ounces before cooking.  Can you imagine how small it is after it’s cooked? Yikes.

MEAT-O-METER says!

Ouch, the thumb’s not even visible.  That’s not good.

OK, there’s so much to say about this place, where do I begin.  First, if you are claiming yourself to be a Stone Age Diner, don’t say that NO-BUN is optional.   It should say that burgers come with lettuce, tomato, etc.. and bun is optional.  It seems like false advertising or actually total bs to go so far as to claim yourself to be a Paleo Restaurant, and then have bread everywhere.  What is up with that?  A Paleo Menu should look like:  MEAT OPTIONS, VEGGIE OPTIONS, done.

We do realize that it must be a big risk to go Paleo especially in Portland because we must be the capital of vegetarianism, but Podnah’s, Clay’s Smokehouse and Russell St. Barbecue seem to be doing just fine with their meaty menus.

I really think if you go down this road, just pull the trigger.  If anything, Portland is the place to do it.

So what is the difference between DK’s and any other diner?  I can get better sausages at another diner.  The server asked us how our meal was and the Meat-O-Meter laid it on him.  The server told us they are still trying to figure out the menu.  Figure out meat and vegetables!?!?!?!  OK, whatever.  We decided that DK’s is making the classic mistake of trying to appease everybody, but not satisfying anybody.  Have you ever straddled a fence?  It’s uncomfortable, and that’s what it felt like eating at DK’s.

From afar DK’s looks like the perfect grass fed medium rare steak, but up close, it’s just a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich.



Lucky Strike
August 14, 2010, 10:17 pm
Filed under: Chinese, Southeast Portland | Tags: , ,

Review coming soon! Sorry all for the delay in posts.  After a 3 week vaca in China and then I recently got my computer and camera stolen!

(I curse the day those evil people were born!)

So no camera yet, I’m working on it.  However, we did just eat at a great restaurant on 39th and Hawthorne called Lucky Strike.

This will be my first review back after our 3 month meateats hiatus!

Thanks everyone for still coming back!  Hopefully within the week I’ll be able to get my reviews and the Meat-O-Meter back up and running again!

Cheers!

J




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