Portland Restaurant: Batter Griddle and Drinkery

What: Batter, Griddle & Drinkery

Where: 4425 NE Fremont St.

When: Tuesday - Sunday 8am - 11pm

Honeys Heart: $5 pint-sized mimosas 

Batter has been on my list since it opened last March. Luckily, it happens to be my Mimi's favorite new neighborhood joint, so we've hit it up on multiple occasions recently.

It's definitely a family friendly place with plenty of options to please everyone in a group. I say go for the $5 pint-sized mimosa with multiple juice options - I favor the grapefruit - as you look over the slightly overwhelming menu (if you're bad at making decisions like me). 

There is a sweet and savory side of the menu. Though I am tempted by the sweet side, I know that I won't be satisfied without my salty fix, so I go for the savory. 

I like to think that I mix it up, but I have ordered the Mu Shu Crepes (shredded pork shoulder, shitake mushroom, egg, ginger, scallion with hoisin sauce - $9) both times I've been here and I'm not convinced I will change my ways. I need to go with someone who will get something else and go splitsies with me. There's definitely others I want to try, and then there's plates like the Mac & Crepe ($10) with mac n cheese wrapped in a crepe topped with more cheese and bacon...and that seems scary, but also I'm curious. 

Mimi is one to stick to her classic favorite and every time I have gone to Batter with her she orders one waffle and a side of bacon, extra crispy. I can't really fault her... the bacon is spot on. Two mimosas and a crepe later, you've only spent $20. That's already pretty good brunch rate, plus the crepe I order is definitely enough to split or take half home so you have another meal there.

Still on my list is to try their after 4pm bar menu. There's something related to mac n cheese, deep fried bacon (eek), but also a detox salad so we should be able to find some balance.

Thursday Night Supper: Brunch for Dinner

Last week, we made dinner at my house again, but this time Katie and I created and executed the menu. After spending the day working for Boogie Wipes, Katie and I originally planned a small plates style dinner, but then we remembered we didn't want to spend very much money and we didn't want to make 5 different things.

Instead, we decided on Brunch for dinner which included German pancakes (or Dutch babies), bacon (with option of an egg sandwich), fruit skewers and, of course, mimosas. Inexpensive, easy, and delicious.

German Pancakes

Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 5 eggs
- 4 tbs butter

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put butter in a 9x14" pan and put in the oven to melt.

Beat together flour, milk, and eggs.

Check the butter occasionally to make sure it's not getting too browned, then once the oven has reached 425 pull your pan out and add the flour, milk, and egg mixture. Put the pan back in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Take it out of the oven, cut it up and enjoy!

Fruit Skewers

Katie was recently inspired by Jello Shot Test Kitchen's fruit and jello skewers so she thought this would be a cute spin on serving fruit rather than just throwing it all in a bowl. Fruit is always tasty and this presentation does give it a little something special. And best part, so easy! 

Ingredients:
- Fruit
- Skewers

Instructions:
Pick out the fruit you want, wash and cut (if needed.) In our case we chose raspberries, blueberries, honeydew melon, and cantaloupe.

Skewer and serve!

Bacon

Ingredients:
- Bacon

So this one is pretty obvious and I'm not even going to write out any steps. Either bake it at 425 for 12 minutes, or fry it up in a pan! To make an egg sandwich (which Adam opted for) just fry an egg in a little of the bacon grease and put on a toasted english muffin with a slice of cheddar cheese and of course, bacon.

Mimosas

For mimosas, we've recently been inspired to change it up with different types of juice other than the traditional orange juice. So far my absolute favorite is fresh grapefruit juice, but last Thursday we tried it with raspberry lemonade which was pretty tasty.  

Ingredients:
- Champagne
- Fruit juice (your choice!)

Instructions:
Pour a good amount of champagne into your glass, we just went with normal wine glasses instead of smaller champagne flutes. Also, there's no need to buy expensive champagne. We use cooks because it's the cheapest and we seem to go through these rather quickly!

Add a splash of your favorite juice, garnish with fruit and enjoy!

See you next week!