40 09 willamette week, january 1, 2014

Page 18

FOOD & DRINK AMAREN COLOSI

EAT MOBILE

Jobs for the Food and Drink Industry Staffing solutions for owners and managers NYC/ CHI/ SFO/ SEA /PDX/ AUS

Lavish Buffets of Indian Cuisine

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6/10/12 9:41 AM

Exotic Dishes of Lamb, Chicken, Goat Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, Vegan Options

Vegan Dishes Available

Karaoke 9pm nightly Hydro Pong Saturday night

I get HAPPY 4-6pm Tues-Fri $3 menu

Tuesdstaryy: Fun Indu Night!

Dragon Lounge

Chinese-American Restaurant

2610 SE 82nd at Division 503-774-1135 Ho Ti

Read our story: canton-grill.com

Namaste

Parkrose since 2009 8303 NE Sandy Blvd 503-257-5059 Vancouver since 2001 6300 NE 117th Ave 360-891-5857

NamasteIndianCuisine.com

FEATURING 100%

GRASS-FED BEEF ...TASTIER, HEALTHIER AND WAY BETTER FOR THE PLANET

EASTSIDE 3312 SE BELMONT ST 503.235.0146 WESTSIDE 704 NW 21ST AVE 503.206.5916 WWW.DKPOR TLA N D.COM 18

Willamette Week JANUARY 1, 2014 wweek.com

MAINE EVENT: Lobster roll (foreground) and lobster bisque.

MAINE STREET LOBSTER The Maine Street Lobster cart is a mess of improbable. A streetside lobster seller might be normal at a wharf in the other Best deal: $5 lobster Portland, where the beast actually exists, sliders offer a taste. but here it’s a logistical nightmare: The cart flies in fresh crustacean three days a week. And though the lobster roll is a classic New England treat, the cart owners—who came here from Florida and Georgia— throw $10 po’boys on the menu for good measure. But the Maine lobster roll is exactly what it should be: a hot mountain of buttery, tender lobster chunks on a crisped, halved roll. Don’t expect bargain basement here—it’s lobster, after all. But in a town where diners will pay $10 for a tuna melt without blinking, the $14 hoagie stacked high with tender morsels is a workingclass treat, less special-occasion than a hard day’s reward. The Down East ($14) is basically a lobster version of crab louie on a bun, a cold lobster sammie with mayo sauce and watercress. It’s pleasant, but when the lobster’s fresh, I prefer it unmasked. The bisque ($6/$8) is straight-up butter and sherry in lobster base, a winter warmer worth savoring. Just be careful with those sandwiches. The heaped lobster has a nasty tendency to drop off the top—heck, my dining companion actually picked up a couple chunks off the parking lot when they fell. “I wouldn’t normally do this,” he said. “But it’s lobster.” MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Order this: Maine Lobster Roll ($14).

EAT: Maine Street Lobster, 8145 SE 82nd Ave. (Cartlandia pod), 770-480-3437, mainestreetlobstercompany.com. 11:30 am-7:30 pm Tuesday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday.

DRANK

BON VOYAGE (BLOCK 15) Block 15’s Bon Voyage should be served Eliot Ness style: the barrel split with a broad ax, the foul brew inside left leaking into the sewer. That’s easy for me to say, of course. I invested only $3 in a 4-ounce pour at Beer Mongers. I knew I was in for a bad trip when I felt the heat of this barrel-aged Baltic Porter on my eyeballs. I sipped anyway, getting rotten cherries, rancid milk and moldy wood. The Corvallis brewery dumped toasted coconut flakes into the beer, but there’s no covering up the stink of whatever bad bugs were lurking in its rum barrels. Why does a well-respected brewery release something like this? Brewmaster Nick Arzner tells me this “challenging beer” is what he was looking for. That’s good, I guess, because there’s a lot on the line. It’s impossible to know what’s going to come out of a microflora-laden liquor barrel, and even harder for a small business to cut bait on expensive cooperage, an imperial-strength base and nine months of storage. The beer has its fans, Arzner tells me, but I’d call it untouchable. Not recommended. MARTIN CIZMAR.


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