Portland Restaurant: Hat Yai

What: Hat Yai
Where: 1605 N.E. Killingsworth St.
Honeys Heart: Fried Chicken & Curry Broth

Doug and I are those obnoxious people who went to Thailand on our honeymoon and have since claimed Thai food as "our thing".

We unabashedly love Nong's, visit Langbaan as frequently as our wallets will allow (so, once a year), and have been known to pick up visitors from the airport and drive them straight to Pok Pok.

So you can understand that we were pretty excited when we heard about Hat Yai, a new restaurant focusing on dishes from Southern Thailand by Langbaan & Paadee's Earl Ninsom and St. Jack bartender Alan Akwai.

Hat Yai is located in a narrow space near La Taq/Podnah's. It's a counter service spot so the vibe is pretty casual.

The star of the menu is the Fried Mary's Chicken, available in different pieces and meant to be paired with Hat Yai's curry broth, sticky rice, and roti (Thai fried bread).

I got a little confused when ordering and somehow missed the option for the Hat Yai Combo ($17), which features all the items above. It was basically what everyone in the restaurant was eating, except for us. Sorry, Doug!

Instead, we ended up with an order of Wings ($6) plus the Beef Cheek Curry with Roti ($17), and the Khao Yum ($9), rice salad with shrimp powder, toasted coconut and herbs.

The wings were delicious, especially when dipped in the beef cheek curry. They're made with an herb and spice marinade featuring cumin, white pepper, coriander, and fresh garlic, and are topped with fried shallots- so there's lots of good flavors happening.

The beef cheek curry broth was rich and velvety, so while the portion of cheeks was fairly small, it ended up being the perfect amount.

The Khao Yum was probably our least favorite part of the meal, mostly because of the tiny red peppers that we realized were SUPER spicy only after we had mixed them into the salad. We ended up carefully picking around them, which is never the most enjoyable way to eat something.

We both also tried the Tamarind Whiskey Smash, made with bourbon, tamarind, mint, simple syrup and soda, which was super refreshing. 

And, while we rarely order dessert at restaurants (I know, poor me!), I decided we couldn't leave without sampling Hat Yai's Dessert Roti ($5). The dessert roti is topped with milo (a chocolate & malt powder that is popular in Thailand) and condensed milk. It might sound a little strange, but it was so good!

Doug is already plotting when we can go back to Hat Yai, partly so we can order properly (combo, here we come!), but mostly because it was so delicious.

It's also worth noting that Hat Yai is still in it's "soft-opening" phase- though you wouldn't guess it from how smoothly things seem to be going.

Portland Happy Hour: Rae's Lakeview Lounge

What: Rae's Lakeview Lounge
Where: 1900 NW 27th Avenue
When: Daily happy hour 2 - 6 pm
Honeys Heart: $9 Carafes

It's been a while since Katie and I reviewed a true happy hour, but we recently met up halfway (ish) between our two work establishments for some end-of-week unwinding (aka wine drinking).

Rae's has been around for quite some time (like 50 plus years) and for people who have lived most of our post-college lives in NW, it's maybe a little surprising we didn't make it there before now.

The restaurant has a neighborhood dive feel inside, so we opted to sit outside on the patio where we soon learned that it's assumed you'll share your picnic table if you're a party of two. That's okay by us, but it would have been appreciated if the server could have given us a heads up before he plopped two menus down next to us.

Also, within a few minutes of us being seated, the bros behind us began to surround us in plumes of smoke from their e-cigarettes. I mean, I guess it didn't smell as bad or linger in my hair as long as a regular cigarette, but it for sure affected our patio experience.

To help take the edge off our so-far iffy visit, we decided to order a half-carafe of the house wine ($9)... followed by a second carafe. The second carafe was obviously a different wine than the first, but whatevs. Cheap wine is cheap wine, right?

For snacks, we ordered the Cheddar Mack ($4.50) and Black and Tan Hummus ($6.50). Both would definitely fall into the greasy bar food category and while I wouldn't go to Rae's for the culinary experience, at least the prices were cheap?

Maybe we're just getting old, but I think both of us would willingly pay a bit more for higher quality food and a better ambiance. Those $9 carafes might convince us to come back though...

Portland Restaurant: Chesa

One of the hardest parts of our quest to try new restaurants and bars is that our husbands and friends also occasionally want to get in on the fun and check out new places too. That means we are sometimes forced to go places without each other. It's sad, but ultimately unavoidable.

Such was the case with Chesa, the highly-anticipated, paella-focused restaurant from Ataula's Jose Chesa and Christina Baez.

It opened back in February, and has been receiving slightly mixed reviews, including this recent one from Willamette Week.

Below, you'll find my take and Katie's, both of which are also... slightly mixed.

What: Chesa
Where: 2218 NE Broadway St
Honeys Heart: Paella

Kelly's Take:

When is the last time I tried a new restaurant within a week of the opening? It's been a while. Too bad it takes me months and months to actually post about it so it basically doesn't matter when I went.

Adam and I met my coworker Maggie and her husband Walker there on a Friday night and, no surprise, encountered about a 45-minute wait, so we started with cocktails in the bar. Maggie and I made lots of good choices, though I can't remember which ones they were. Gin for me I'm sure, and I was a fan of the Chesa-stamped ice squares.

We started with the Costilla Iberico (port rib and fennel-garbanzo salad) and Bravas ($8 - Chesa's second bravas choice...). Both were pretty tasty, but in true tapas style, the portions were pretty small, but the price tags were medium-high.

Adam kept seeing bread go by, and was able to get his hands on some by ordering the Mejillones (mussels made in the josper) which came with some.

Overall, on the small plates front, I might choose Toro Bravo's over Chesa's.

For the main dish, the shining star of Chesa, we ordered two Paellas. The Mallorca ($22) is made with Carlton Farm pork shoulder, Spanish sobrasada, bomba rice, and nora picada (sun-dried peppers).

And the Chesa ($25) with sherry marinated rabbit, (Fermin) Iberico ham, Viridian Farms beans, bomba rice, and boletus (mushroom) ali-oli.

Since I waited too long to write this post, I won't be toooooo descriptive, but the Chesa was a favorite. The crispiness on the bottom added the perfect amount of crunch and the oils they used and the marinated meat added unique flavor and moisture that you won't find in just anyone's homemade paella (aka Doug's and mine).

Side note: Doug and I were inspired and later attempted to make a Spanish feast. We succeeded with a full menu that included croquettes, bacon wrapped dates, potatas romesco, grilled asparagus, and paella. We plan to try the paella again!

Overall, I would go back to Chesa for paella and gin drinks, but perhaps skip the rest!

Katie's Take

Doug and I hit up Chesa a few weeks after Kelly and Adam's visit.

We started off with drinks: a Gin Tonic ($10) for Doug and a Chesa ($10) with vermut roja, olive-oil washed gin, lemon, pimenton, and bay leaf syrup for me. We loved that Chesa offers gin tonics and a selection of vermouth since we drank quite a bit of both during our trip to Spain. So far, so good!

The Tortilla ($9) was a no-brainer since we were sure that this usually simple dish would be taken to the next level at Chesa...

... and it was a tortilla. Nothing special. Except that it was pretty tiny for being $9.

Next up was the Empedrat ($7), made with Viridan Farms beans, pine nuts, quail eggs, scallions, sherry vinaigrette, and smoked piquillo

This came highly recommended by our server, but was also underwhelming. The beans were too al dente for our taste and the flavors were nothing to write home about either. Miss.

We also tried the Bunuelo ($9), salt cod beignets with ali-oli, which was our favorite tapa of the three.

For our paella, we went with the Mar i Montana ($19) with braised oxtail, bomba rice, prawns, sofrito, and scallions.

The paella was rich, flavorful, and perfectly cooked- definitely the highlight of our meal.

In the end, Doug and I agreed that we had expected more out of the tapas and, similar to Kel's assessment, we'd turn to Atuala or Toro Bravo for a purely tapas fix. We'll be back to Chesa again, but probably only for Gin Tonics and paella.

Buzzed with the Happy Hour Honeys: Nashville Episode!

Our third episode of Buzzed with the Happy Hour Honeys is devoted to our recent girls trip to Nashville! Listen in to hear all about our adventures in Music City including our picks and pans and how to properly execute drunk planing.



A Visual Guide to Episode 3:

(See a guide to Dougie PDX vs. Katie's husband Doug here.)

Concrete at Wiz Bang Bar

 --- NASHVILLE!!! ---

Nashville Ladies: Kelly, Katie, and Dana

Georgia's Adorable Apartment in 12 South

 
Husk's Shrimp & Grits

Husk's Beef

Hattie B's Hot Chicken 

Cocktails at The Patterson House

Beers at The Pharmacy

A Bass Player

Las Paletas' Popsicles

Sweet Tea at Draper James (Reese Witherspoon's Store) 

B-Cycle Bikes

Cronuts at Five Daughters Bakery

Joy Ride Nashville Photo Shoot 

Super Salty Country Ham at The Loveless Cafe

"Demonbreun" is hard to say but fun-ish to visit.

Also, we really liked Proper Bagel, but we forgot to talk about it. Thanks, rosé!