Portland Restaurant: CHKCHK

What: CHKCHK!!
Where: NW 23rd and Overton
When: 11 am - 10 pm
Honeys Heart: The price! And the decor.

Adam loves fried chicken. Like really loves fried chicken. He also really loves a sandwich, so anytime there is an opportunity to have a fried chicken sandwich he is all over it.

I've recently found that on weeks where we don't get Blue Apron delivered, we've lacked some cooking motivation. On such nights, I struggle between the financially responsible grocery store stop and the convenient Thai Peacock or Laughing Planet options. Tiring of our usual go-to's we decided to hit up CHKCHK, a new casual semi-fast food restaurant on NW 23rd. 

The menu is small but affordable, and the food is made to order, but quick. I would say we had our dinner in about 10-12 minutes and with our two drinks, spent a grand total of about $32. 

Our drinks were one of their four "Boozy Sodas". The Cactus Cooler ($7) is a bottled mix of green melon, tequila, and a little love. They weren't bad, but they were a little too sweet and a bit funky. I think I would try the CHKCHK Libre next time with rum, Blackstrap bitters, and cane soda.

For food, Adam opted for the Spicy ChkChk Sandwich ($7) while I went for the ChkChop Salad ($6) plus ChkChk Bites for an extra $1. 

Not that we needed it, but we complemented our fried chicken dinners with the ChkChk Fries ($2) and an array of dipping sauces. I do love a waffle fry...

The drinks weren't my favorite, but otherwise I would say this is a good stop for a quick, cheap din. Maybe not if you're trying to be healthy though... 

Portland Restaurant: Breken Kitchen

What: Breken Kitchen
Where: 1800 NW 16th Ave
When: Monday - Friday 7am - 5pm
Honeys Heart: Breken Draper Chicken Bowl

I started a job at Children's Cancer Association about a month ago and along with new office digs comes the critical task of finding new coffee shops and lunch spots in close range. Coffee spot? Check. Ovation on NW Overton and 9th serves up a good latte and chai tea. Lunch spot? Check. In addition to Lovejoy Bakery and pretty much everything else closer to Naito in the Pearl, I have a new option! This took a little longer to find due to my initial lofty goal of packing lunch daily to be healthy and save money, but I was finally introduced to Breken Kitchen by some co-workers.

The menu breaks down pretty simply. Soups, sandwiches, bowls, and a lasagna of the day. Clearly I was initially tempted by the cheesy carb-loaded lasagna option, but per a recommendation and a slight obligation to my lunch-time goals I ordered the Breken Draper Chicken Bowl ($9.95) with brown or Jasmine rice, black beans, corn, pickled onions, cherry tomatoes, avocados, chimichurri and house made salsa.



The bowl is simple, but tasty and filling. Something that I could easily recreate, but it's definitely the kind of thing that tastes better when someone else makes it... and puts chimichurri sauce on it.

In my subsequent visit I tried the Albacore Tuna Melt ($9.50) with a simple green salad. The tuna is super simple and the sandwich only includes Tillamook Cheddar, so the star of this show is really Grand Central's fluffy Big Country Bread. It's really very simple comfort food, so maybe $9.50 is a stretch. I think at a future visit the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup ($6.95) will still provide the benefit of that delicious bread, but for a slightly better deal.



Breken Kitchen also serves breakfast (yet to try) and sports a decent beverage menu. I ordered a latte made with Water Avenue Coffee and later saw that they have wine, cava, and beer. Drinking lunch anyone? Obviously only on Fridays when I work a half day...

Cute vibe, wifi, good food - simple, but satisfying - and multiple drink options. Probably best I didn't know about this when I was working from home. 

Portland Restaurant: St. Jack - New location!

What: St. Jack
Where: NW 23rd and Raleigh
When: Opens at 5pm 7-days per week, Patisserie to open soon!
Honeys Heart: The new digs

Katie and I first experienced St. Jack at their old SE Clinton location where we were introduced to Kyle's (now owner of Expatriate on N. Killingworth) excellent concoctions.

It's where we photographed this quote, which describes us well:

It's where I returned with my family to enjoy a fantastic, and expectedly pricey, French dinner:

Steak Tartare ($11) hand cut steak, cornichon, capers, red onion, quail egg yolk, & toasted baguette 

Butternut Squash Soup En Croute ($11) 

Roasted Beet Salad ($10) chèvre, arugula, toasted walnuts & red wine-dijon vinaigrette

Onglet Steak Frites ($24) with shallot, red wine demi-glace & pommes frites with bearnaise

Lamb Navarin ($28) braised lamb shoulder, cream, sherry, potatoes

It's where Adam had his "favorite cocktail ever"...it involved plum whiskey, but it's been a while so I can't name the drink.

So when we heard St. Jack was relocating to our hood, we were on board! It absolutely brings some cool points to NW, which seems to be making a bit of a "trendy comeback" with the recent additions of Barista, Little Big Burger, Pacific Pie Co., Bamboo Sushi, and Salt & Straw.

Adam and I met third-cousin Chase and his fiance to check out the new digs and try a cocktail. The space is much larger with a more open bar to one side of the restaurant and the restaurant to the other. On a Sunday night it was busy but we didn't have a wait, which was excellent.

I opted for White Lady ($11) with gin, lemon juice, and something else... it was very good. In hindsight it was a cocktail that I could have made at home so on my next visit I will branch out.

KB (Chase's fiance is also a Katie so to avoid confusion she'll be KB on the blog) ordered the L'Americain ($11) with campari, lillet rose, combier pamplemousse rose and chilled seltzer.

The important thing to note here is this drink is available by the carafe for $32. Yes please on a warm sunny day!

Adam and Chase went for the St. Jack Manhattan, but it's made with rye so though my inexperienced whiskey palate kind of liked it, it wasn't Adam's favorite.

We didn't order any food during our visit but the guys next to us had each ordered the cheeseburger ($9) and were sharing the fries ($5) off the bar menu and it smelled so good.

It's not in the budget to become a regular here, but it's definitely a worth while stop on NW 23rd and I'm sure we'll be back!

Kelly's Wedding Weekend! (and Portland Restaurant: Serratto)

Two weekends ago, we celebrated a very special event: Kelly and Adam's wedding!

Anyone who knows Kelly and Adam will not be surprised to hear that their wedding weekend was full of love, laughter, dancing, drinking, and general merriment making.

And while of course I had an amazing time at the wedding itself, one of my favorite parts of the weekend was our girls lunch and mani/pedi session following the rehearsal.

Kel chose Serratto as our lunch spot and I think it was a great choice! 

What: Serratto
Where: 2112 NW Kearney

Honeys Heart: Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Serratto serves Mediterranean cuisine with a focus on local ingredients. The day we were there, they were proudly displaying a huge platter of giant heirloom tomatoes- yum! 

Serratto also has a great ambiance- bright, airy and elegant. Perfect for a celebratory lunch with the girls!

Here's a sample of what we ordered: 

Grilled Chicken Sandwich ($11) on brioche with bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato. 

Caprese Salad with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil and olive oil.

Pizza Margherita ($10) with fresh mozzarella, tomato, garlic and basil.

Cobb Salad ($12) with romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, bacon, avocado, tomato, blue cheese, sliced egg and blue cheese vinaigrette. 

 Simple and delicious!

After our tasty lunch, we headed out to get mani/pedis at Oasis Nails & Day Spa. $30 mani/pedis + a complimentary glass of champagne = another great choice, Kel!

I'll also share a look at some of the special little details from the rehearsal dinner which took place later that night. 

 Mason jars, striped straws, giant balloons, custom water bottles. So cute! 

Congrats again, Kelly and Adam! Cheers!