Portland Food Event: Nob Hill Dishcrawl

Katie and I have a tendency to proclaim to Adam and Doug that we'll surely be home from our date nights by 9:30 or 10pm, a claim which they have both learned to dismiss and plan on a closer-to-midnight arrival time. Last night's Dishcrawl's date for the Nob Hill crawl was no exception.

We were excited for our food adventure in NW, but drinks aren't included in the Dishcrawl ticket so we decided to make a couple pre-event stops on our way. We began at Casa del Matador where we quickly learned we should not have seated ourselves outside without checking inside first. We were blatantly ignored for 10 minutes and then waited another 10 minutes for our Cadillac Margarita ($8).

With half an hour left before the start, we skipped down the road to St Jack for a delicious drink and hopefully better service. After hearing about our prior experience, their bartender made us his take on an El Diablo with tequila, creme de cassis, lime and ginger syrup. Perfect.

Stop 1: Pacific Pie Co.
Where: 1668 NW 23rd Ave
Honeys Heart: The great service

New to Northwest, Pacific Pie Co. offers up Aussie-style meat pies, sausage rolls, pasties, soups, salads, sandwiches, and more. Owner Sarah, was onsite providing incredible service and tasty samples. We tried a mini Chicken Pot Pie, a mini Meat Roll, and a mini Spinach and Feta Pastie. All were great, but I think Katie's and my favorite was the pot pie.

Sarah and her team went above and beyond and decided to offer a cocktail taster. Though it wasn't our favorite drink, it was a great thought and differentiated Pacific Pie Co. from the other Dishcrawl stops.

We also tried the Aussie 75 ($8) with gin, lemon eucalyptus syrup and sparkling wine.

Happy hour is Monday through Friday 3 to 6pm with $5 mini pasties, meat rolls, and Aviation gin and tonics. Definitely worth returning for!

Stop 2: 23Hoyt
Where: NW 23rd and Hoyt
Honeys Heart: Special menu items just for Dishcrawl

After a 11-block walk (or in our case run because we were slow to settle up our bill and had to make a quick pit stop along the way) we enjoyed some samples at 23Hoyt. The board featured Curried Mussel Soup, a Shrimp Corndog, Tempura Fried Clams, and Chickpea Fries. Most of these items aren't featured on their regular menu, but it gave an idea of their New American style.

The flavor of the soup was really excellent, but a little cold. I wasn't completely sure if it was meant to be served that way or not, but it tasted good.

Katie and I also ordered the drink special made with gin, cynar, grapefruit, and sparkling wine. Yum!

Stop 3: Dick's Kitchen
Where: 704 NW 21st Ave 
Honeys Heart: Dick himself!

The final stop was Dick's Kitchen on 21st. Dick's goal is to reinvent the traditional diner by offering delicious burgers and sides, but with a healthy spin. Owner Dick's personal health has required that he follow a specific diet, similar to a paleo diet, and the mission of the restaurant is to give people with dietary restrictions an dining out option that is just as delicious.

All the beef used at Dick's is 100% grass fed from Carman Farms and sides include a ton of healthy veggie options. We tried a beef slider, asparagus and beet salad, and braised collards. The beef was definitely great quality and the braised collards were a great side.

We spent some time at the end of the night chatting with Dick about the importance of being really conscious of what we put in our bodies and learned that his hope is that by supporting companies with sustainable and healthy practices, like those at Carman Farms,someday there will be a more mainstream push back to this way of farming, preparing, and eating food.

After Dick's Kitchen the official crawl was over, but we weren't quite ready to head home. We would have typically hopped over to Gypsy to sing karaoke and bug the KJ, but since its closure earlier this year we had to find another option: Voicebox. We were concerned it would be a little pricey and were prepared to negotiate, but $4 per person for an hour seemed like a deal. We ordered some sake and entered our room which included a ton of bench seating and a ledge for Katie's back up dancing. It could easily fit 10-15 people, but it was just us and we were pretty amazing. We sang and danced for an hour and a half and in true Kelly/Katie fashion walked home at midnight. Whoops. Definitely the most fun for $4 we've ever had!

Honeys Heart: Xico, tenderBAR, Ava Genes, Burning Love, & Hale Pele

We've been major slackers lately. Sorry, guys. So here's a few things we're really into right now cuz lists are fun and easy for us and you.

1. Xico

Kel and I went to happy hour/dinner here with her parents last week and it's kind of embarrassing how much we talked about it the day after... and every day since. Obsessed, basically. Everything was good but we especially liked the $5 happy hour Sonoran Hot Dog and the Sopaipillas, both savory and sweet.


2. tenderBAR

We're pretty mad we didn't think of this idea. Cocktail catering plus custom bottled cocktails- so smart! Kel sampled some of their cocktails at a recent event and loved both their Cold Blood, made with tequila, honey, and blood orange, and their Gin Gin Pina, made with gin, pineapple, and ginger bubbly.


3. Ava Genes 

Kel and Adam had a date night here last week and can't wait to go back to sample more of their delicious (but pricey) food and drinks. Recommended: Fresh Sheep's Cheese & Nettles bruschetta and Lamb Ragu & Chicories pasta.


4. Burning Love

Let's be real, the best part of The Bachelor/The Bachorette is making fun of it. And having a good excuse to drink wine on a Monday night. (If you don't agree, this is why we aren't friends.) If you love doing both those things, pretty sure you'll enjoy Burning Love too. New webisodes every Thursday and Friday.


5. Hale Pele

Nothing cures the winter blues like drinking a gigantic tiki drink in an aptly kitsched-out bar. Favorite drink so far: Missionary's Downfall (above), made with rum, mint, peach, and pineapple. But get the Jet Pilot if you're a fan of fire, cinnamon and sitting shotgun (no driving after one of these!).

Portland Sneak Peak: Sidecar

What: Sidecar
Where: N. Mississippi (Next door to Gravy)
When: Opening March 3rd! Wednesday - Monday 4pm - close, Closed Tuesday

Yes it's true, yet another awesome restaurant and bar is opening on N. Mississippi. Surprised? No? Me neither. It seems as though North Portland, namely N. Mississippi and N. Williams, have become popular streets for great food and drink. Tuesday night I had the chance to tag along for a sneak peak at Sidecar, opening Thursday March 3rd at 4pm!

Sidecar is a skinny bar with an "intimate, speakeasy style" (they're working on it) next door to Gravy on N. Mississippi. The name, inspired by the traditional cocktail, is owned by Blake Smith (of Davis Street Tavern) and John Cooper. During our sneak peak we got to try some snacks and sample some cocktails. Here are some suggestions and current pricing!

Drinks
- Gin Gin Mule ($7) gin, mint, lime, sugar, ginger. This drink is fabulous if you like ginger, which I do!
- Mississippi Sidecar ($7) brandy, lemon, orange, sugar, served up. I don't like brandy, but I liked this! It's fresh and sweet.
- Your Mother Smells of Elderberries ($8) St. Germain, peychauds, bubbles, orange twist. I love champagne cocktails and St. Germain is possibly my favorite new liquor. Combine them and I am all over it!

Now if your not a fan of prohibition style cocktails, don't worry. With their spin on these classics you will find something you like. They're even going to throw a vodka option on the menu for those die hard vodka drinkers.

Food
- Steak Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce ($6) Definitely a fan. Can't go wrong here!
- Chicken Skewers with Sweet Chili Sauce ($6) These were good, but not exciting. If you love chicken, you'll be happy.
- Panini ($8.50) The panini we sampled had cheese and tomatoes on a grilled focaccia-esque bread and it was wonderful!
- Italian Salami Flat Bread Pizza (8.50) A few drinks down and this small, individual sized pizza is going to be just what you need. Though it's not the best pizza I've ever had, it definitely hit the spot. The whole garlic cloves were amazing!

That's all for the sneak peak. Follow them on Facebook to get all the updates. There will be a proper review with photos once it's officially open!

Cheers!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Us!

On Aug 8th, Happy Hour Honeys turned 2 years old...and we inadvertently celebrated our blog's birthday a day early by hitting up one of our favorite spots in Portland, Elephants Delicatessen.

And with bartenders Steve and Kelly's help, celebrate we did...

Before we continue, you should know that we were at Elephants for like 4 hours...which justifies all the drinks we had...right?

Round 1. Delicious. The one on the left was spicy and sweet. The one on the right involved limes... (Here we should probably also mention that we didn't really take notes about what we were drinking...sorry.)

Round 2. These might have involved rum...?

At this point, the woman sitting next to us at the Elephants bar informed us that Bartender Kelly has a nice tush. We made him prove it. He did, willingly.

 

Round 2.5: Berry and honey goodness. Nice garnish as well. Kudos Kelly.

Round 3. And one more berry/honey creation for each of us. We decided that this drink should be named after us. Steve (or maybe it was Kelly) suggested "The Kellkat."

When Kelly took this she definitely thought it was not blurry...whoops.

During our stay at Elephants, we were given the task of looking through magazines and newspapers to find "faces" of people to motivate Kelly and Steve. We did. Then we put them in this envelope and covered it with these beautiful representations of  the four of us. And also quotes.

So as if we weren't tipsy enough, we asked for shots. Kelly made a "Hot Load" and yes, inappropriate conversation ensued....

We were not pleased so we asked for another...we got these. DELICIOUS.

Before we left, we felt the need to demonstrate the effect of imbibing so many of Elephants' excellent drinks. A woman walking by was quite disturbed. We thought it was cute...Seconds after taking this, Kelly and Steve chased poor Katie with a broom and spray bottle. Lesson learned, never pass out on the steps of Elephants.

Definitely thought we were funny. Also, another example of Kelly's superb photography skills.

Then we went home, ate tasty homemade gyros, changed, and headed to Gypsy to share a bowl drink.

Don't worry. We couldn't finish it. We actually couldn't even start it (it was that bad). So we gave it away and headed elsewhere...

to do tequila shots.

Cheers! 

Grand Central Bowling and Portland Happy Hour: Moloko Plus

Thursday was Katie's 22nd birthday and since we are college students and often have a little thing called homework to do we (our roommates-Dena and Leslie-and ourselves) celebrated Friday with happy hour and bowling. For happy hour we went back to the "Nothing Bar" (Moloko Plus...) but this time we didn't just order infused citrus vodka, we actually looked at their drink menu and ordered cocktails. Dena, Leslie and Katie all got cucumber drinks ($8 for Dena's and $9 for Leslie and Katie's) and I got something with blueberry infused vodka ($8). All very unique, and good. We also ordered off their happy hour food menu, which includes $5 paninis. Of course we ordered the paninis, three salami and one turkey, which were really good and, for only $5, it was a lot of food! Although the prices weren't bad and the food and beverages were quite satisfying, service was really slow! That was only our first time at happy hour there though, so maybe just coincidence.


After happy hour, we went home to prepare for bowling. Katie wanted to wear lacy, frilly socks (kind of like what 5 year old girls wear), but it turns out they don't make those for adults so before we could go out we had sew lace on socks, a skill I apparently don't have (thanks Leslie!!). After putting on our party dresses, drinking an impromptu crystal light and vodka beverage, and hiding our lace socks in our purses for later, we were off to Grand Central Bowling (on Belmont).




We got there around 8:45 pm knowing we'd have to wait a little over an hour for lanes, so we checked in and ordered some party bowl drinks (8 shots, served in a huge bowl, $20). We chose the Long Beach, which involved vodka....good. We met up with some other friends upstairs where there is seating and pool tables. After the birthday girl successfully downed a few shots and a couple drinks (which resulted in an impromptu marriage ceremony...don't ask), our buzzer buzzed and we were bowling! There can be 6 people on a lane but a couple people in our party decided to team up. Given the chance to enter our names in the system, we ended up with Carol (Katie), Alphajoe, That Thang (Leslie and I), Zolton (Dena)...and a few others. I'm not gonna lie, our socks were a big hit, at least we thought they were pretty great and I proceeded to show them to everyone I saw.


Bowling was so fun with all the good drinks, good music, fun big screen TVs at the end of the lanes showing music videos, and the all important nice DJ. Katie and I made friends with him and at one point I may have been heard (regretably) singing Pussycat Dolls into the microphone. Definitely not the most cost-efficient bowling place but then again, you know a place is pretty special when you need a minimum of four people to promise they're sharing a drink before you can even order it....