On the Road: Spork (Bend, OR)

We're going out of order here.  In my last post, I described on of the great meals of my life.  However, that wasn't the first thing that happened when I arrived in town.  I had a few hours to kill, which I planned to spend up in the mountains taking pictures of the forest area outside Sisters (which is still rebounding from the B&B Complex Fires), but I figured a break for lunch was in order after a five hour car ride.  I'd asked for recommendations on my Facebook page, received three, and decided upon Spork.  They interested me because they'd started out as a truck and then went brick and mortar to satisfy their following (something that seems to be happening more and more often).  They specialize in putting their own spin on dishes from all over the world, and a perusal of their menu reveals a wealth of Asian, African, and Latin influences.

On the Road: 5 Fusion & Sushi Bar (Bend, OR)

I'm not a professional.  I've said it time and again.  Usually it's to remind the people reading my ramblings.  I do it a a defensive measure.  You don't like my use of profanity?  The fact that I spend so much time writing about places that are out of town?  That so much of my writing is focused on things like burgers and Asian food?  Too bad!  I'm not a professional writer.  I'm sure as hell not a professional food critic.  I make no money doing this (notice the lack of ads on my blog?).  Sometimes I get an invite to a soft opening, or a free bottle of a condiment in the mail, and that's about as lofty as it gets.  I'm the one spending my own time and money, burning gas, putting wear and tear on my car, and so I go to the places I want to go and order the things I want to eat.  This whole thing is meant to be informative to those who want the information.  But every once in a while I get someone who accuses me of trying to ruin a business, or schill for another one, or complains that I write about taco trucks so much, and I feel the need to remind them that I am not a professional.

A few nights ago, I was the one who was reminded of just how non-professional I am.  That's karma for you.

K-Fusion (Meridian)

Allow me to make something clear right from the start:  I know pretty much nothing about Korean food.  There wasn't even a Korean eatery around here for the longest time, so the best you could do were things like the (admittedly awesome) fusion tacos at RiceWorks or highly questionable options like short ribs that occasionally show up on the menus of big bar and grill chains.  I was excited a couple of years ago when K-Fusion Korean BBQ & Grill opened in Boise, but the reviews that came out in the beginning didn't exactly inspire confidence.  Between that and the fact that they're not exactly conveniently located, I've never made it over there.  In the meantime, several other Korean (or at least Korean-themed) eateries have come and gone, including one that only lasted about three months.  Throughout this K-Fusion has endured, and even recently expanded.  When the Meridian branch of Wingers made the decision to relocate from their spot near Fairview and Locust Grove, K-Fusion quickly moved in to fill the void.  I never made it to K-Fusion, so K-Fusion decided to come to me.*  I decided it was finally time to give them a chance.

*That was a joke.  I'd like to think that most people have enough sense to realize I'm not actually that arrogant and delusional, but this is the Internet...

Mekong Fresh Noodle & Grill

Alrighty.  I still have a little motivation left over and I did promise some local content, so let's keep the ball rolling.  Today we'll be talking about a place that I actually visited two months ago (where does the time go) but because I'm a lazy bastard I'm kind of the last person in town to talk about it.  The Statesman not only reviewed it, it was also only one of two Meridian eateries to make their best new restaurants of 2015 list, an assertion that I agree with.  With a caveat or two.

On the Road Again: Kukai Ramen & Izakaya (Beaverton/Portland, OR)

EDIT: This is now Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya.  Apparently Kukai sounds too close to Hawaiian slang for poop or something.  You learn something new every day...

Okay, okay, I know.  Once again I've gone months without an update, and once again it's not due to lack of trying new places so that means I've got a major backlog.  I don't know what to tell you.  Everything has been crazy, from upheaval in my personal life to Halloween (and the subsequent lesser holidays) to Black Ops III to the nasty cold I've been trying to kick for almost two weeks now.  Often, when something in my life has to be pushed for lack of time, it ends up being this little hobby.   But considering I've only posted one update in the last four months, it's probably time.

Now for the bad news:  This is another on the road piece which are historically the least popular, but that's because since I've been sick this place is the one I've most wished I could magically transport myself to.  I promise I'll be mixing up the order rather than posting my reviews chronologically for the next little bit, so at least you won't have to read about several out of town eateries in a row before I get back to the locals.

26 Hours in Portland: Wong's King

 After we checked out of the hotel the following morning, it was time to once again feed my constant dim sum craving.  After good but still somewhat lacking experiences in Seattle earlier this year and at a different place in Portland last year, I finally returned to my first love.  The actual name of the joint is Wong's King Seafood Restaurant, but the only seafood I've ever eaten there was served in dumpling form.  They have two locations (the second is in Estacada), but the Portland branch is the only one I care about because that's the one that serves dim sum from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. seven days a week.  I could go on and on about this place but, as this post is already so lengthy, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.  Mostly.

26 Hours In Portland: Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest

After a satisfying lunch (pulled pork and side dishes aside), we went and got checked into the hotel, made a quick trip to my favorite Safeway (and a not-so-quick trip to the Fred Meyer down the street due to its horrible parking lot) for some essentials, then back to the hotel again to enjoy not being in a car for a while.  We had originally planned to hit a happy hour prior to the show, but the aforementioned Festival festivities were making a mess out of the entire downtown area.  By the time we found a parking garage that wasn't full and managed to locate the happy hour spot I had chosen, the line waiting to get in convinced us there was no way we'd have time before we had to be at the venue, so we ended up just hiking straight over there and buying overpriced drinks at the concessions counter where a bottle of water costs almost as much as a shot of whiskey for some psychotic reason.

On the flip side...

On the whole, this working in Nampa thing has been a positive experience food-wise.  I've found unique sandwiches and sushi, addictive Hawaiian, surprisingly good Thai, even a combination Mexican and gyro joint.  But it hasn't been all moonshine and corn dogs.  There is no Indian food.  I have yet to find a truly good burger place.  And despite several attempts, I'm pretty ready to declare that there simply is NO good Chinese food in Nampa.

Let's make something clear here: despite my fondness for authentic cuisine and my constant bemoaning of the lack of it in the Treasure Valley (especially Chinese), I LIKE Americanized Chinese food.  For good or bad, it's pure nostalgia for me.  I grew up on it, and used to beg to go to those buffet joints the way most kids begged for fast food burgers and chicken nuggets.  So, finding a fix in 2C was important, and so far it's been a largely unsuccessful endeavor.  Let's check out a few together.

Memorial Day Weekend 2014: Day 1 - Portland (Sen Yai, Uno Mas, Voodoo Doughnut)

A little less than a year ago, I embarked on a road trip to Seattle for a three day weekend (meaning that I really only got to spend about two days enjoying the city).  This time around, I decided to step up the crazy by going on the single strangest vacation of my life (so far)...

At roughly 5:30 on Saturday morning, we hit Starbucks for coffee and breakfast (I do NOT recommend the bacon Gouda breakfast sandwiches) before jumping on the freeway.  In one car rode myself, my roommate and her kids; in the other, my mother and sister.  In Boardman, we stopped to visit with my aunt for a few minutes and gas up the vehicles.  At that point, the roommate's kids hopped in the car with my Mom and Sis so their mother could crawl in my back seat, and then it was straight through to Portland.  We reconvened at a shopping mall that I don't recall the name of, where the roommate's BFF awaited to whisk her and the younger child away to the Oregon Coast.  

The older child would stay with me and my family, spending the rest of the day and part of Sunday exploring Portland.  Sunday evening we would drive to Albany to visit with my cousin and her kids, and after a bit of that I would continue on to the Coast alone to spend the night relaxing (and hopefully indulging my rarely-addressed seafood cravings).  Monday morning I would collect the roommate and younger kid, swing back by Albany for the older kid, and then head homeward.  Yes, I agree that it seems a bit insane looking at it all laid out like that, but at the time it seemed perfectly sensible (or maybe I was just glad to be out of town for the weekend).  We checked into our hotel, which was a lot nicer than I expected, even though they charge three bucks to rent one of their severely limited selection of videotapes and were completely out of complimentary cookies.  Then, it was on to lunch.

Island Kine Grinds

For a while there, I was really behind on my reviews.  I'm starting to get caught up now, but the places I've visited recently have had to go to the bottom of the stack while I wrote up restaurants that I visited weeks or even months before.  In one case, that backlog has allowed me to work through most of a particular eatery's menu, and I've decided I just need to write them up and get it over with.

Krung Thai

One thing I'm learning about eating in Nampa is that the further you get away from the historic downtown area, not a lot of attention is paid to how a business looks on the outside.  I have stepped across the thresholds of several eateries that were a little sketchy-looking, only to find myself in a cozy little place staffed by friendly people who made me feel welcome and were happy to share their love of food.  One such place is Krung Thai.

Pad Thai House

Well, since I'm starting to get backed up on Thai restaurants I need to review, I might as well get one of them out of the way.  Pad Thai House has become a favorite over the last several months, not just of mine but my roommate, my mother, my sister, my sister's boyfriend, etc.  They were one of those places I drove by a million times and never stopped at until my loved ones basically held an intervention to get me there.  Sometimes visiting a place a half dozen times in a few months makes reviewing them tricky, because I don't really recall my first visit or any anecdotes about it with any real clarity, but by the same token there are usually a lot more pictures to show and dishes to talk about.  So let's talk about some food, eh?

They grow up so fast...

Believe it or not (and trust me, I'm having a hard time believing it at the moment), I've been doing this food blogging thing for just four months shy of four years.  Of all the people I've met while eating my way across the Valley and beyond, both good and bad, a handful have ended up being very special to me.  Chefs with passion that inspires, history that fascinates and, most importantly, food that delights and challenges me.  Looking back over the years, there is probably one that stands out just a little more than the others, who pops up almost like clockwork through my Facebook and blog posts.  As my audience (and hopefully my skills as a reviewer) have grown, so has this chef's business and menu continued to develop and evolve.

When I first met Phu Tran, I had been indulging in this little hobby of mine for just over a year, about the same amount of time that he had been on the street in his RiceWorks truck slinging fresh, traditional Asian food to grateful office workers.  I ended up going back two more times in as many weeks, and the resulting write-up has had over 900 views (it doesn't sound like a lot, but it was for this site back in 2011).  Phu was the first chef ever to learn who I was before I actually ended up reviewing him, and he was the first person I interviewed during my ill-advised stint with the Boise Weekly, and believe it or not at that point he was considering calling it quits.  Since then, the truck got a helluva paint job, the all-important semi-monthly Food Truck Rally events have allowed many more people to sample his wares, and Phu has begun to focus more on fusion cuisine.  All of this has culminated in the opening of an honest-to-goodness brick and mortar restaurant in The Village at Meridian.  I considered writing a big, overall retrospective piece on the evolution of RiceWorks, but something tells me that Phu hasn't peaked yet, so let's just talk about last night's dinner instead.

Chai-Yo Thai

So, a couple of days after my previous trip, I had occasion to be in Twin Falls again (don't ask).  But given my previous good luck, this time I decided specifically to see what else Mountain Home might have to offer.

When it comes to aggregate review sites for restaurants, I've always been partial to Urbanspoon, so I turned to them for information.  Friends, let me introduce you to the highest-ranked eatery in Mountain Home...

SHIOK!

A few weeks back, I had occasion to venture to Twin Falls.  I was excited at the prospect, since there are a few eateries there that I've been wanting to write up.  Unfortunately, most of them decided to close down for the Labor Day weekend.  And that's how I found myself driving back to Boise on a Saturday night angry, hungry and with rapidly dwindling options.  About the time that I was trying to decide if I'd have to get some crappy fast food in Mountain Home or if I could struggle through to Boise in hopes of finding something better, I recalled that one of my Facebook followers had recommended checking out an eatery in Mountain Home called SHIOK!

They can't all be winners...

I've loved Asian food for as long as I can remember.  As kids, while my siblings begged for McDonald's for dinner, I usually asked to go to New China buffet.  I practiced over and over with disposable chopsticks, meticulously following the directions on the back of the packet to gain proficiency.  I had more late-night dinners at Twin Dragon during my high school years than I can recall.  Over the last decade or so, my interests have broken free from the confines of Americanized Chinese fare and branched out to other Asian cuisines, and one thing we're surely not lacking in the Treasure Valley is Vietnamese restaurants (not like we're lousy with them or anything, but there's certainly more of them around than Korean or dim sum joints).

It's hard to find a fan of Vietnamese food who doesn't like pho.  It's not my favorite Vietnamese dish, but I still adore it.and even if (as so many say) the pho around here don't stand up against noodle joints abroad or in larger U.S. cities, most of the people I talk to still have a favorite local spot.  My personal preference is Pho Tam, but I'm certainly not above scarfing down a bowl at Baguette Deli, and I also have to reluctantly admit that I've yet to sample the wares of Pho 79 and Pho Nouveau.  Since they opened, Pho Bac has had a steadily growing fanbase, and has been recommended to me by several readers.  Personally, I'm amazed that a place with such a limited menu has lasted this long, but it led me to believe that they must be pretty good at what they do have.  So, after a year plus of driving past the place twice a day, five days a week, I finally decided to check them out.

The Great 2011 Dining Slump Round-Up

Damn I've been having a hard time motivating myself to write lately.  It's just so much more difficult when the food is mediocre.  I mean how many ways are there to describe food that's more or less "just okay"?  I've had these things piling up because I don't want to bother writing about them, so rather than waxing eloquent, let's just clean house...

Shige Teriyaki

I never got a chance to write up the Osaka Grill in Meridian before they went the way of so many other independent restaurants over the last few years, and that's really too bad because I was a fan.  Their stuff was a more oily, less healthy version of Asian grill food, but it was still tasty (I still miss their yakisoba in particular).  One day I drove over to get some noodles, and there was a sign up saying that they would be closed for a few months.  A few weeks later it hat been replaced by a "for lease" sign.  I watched the spot for a long time, cruising by every so often when I was in the area.  I figured that sooner or later another eatery would open there, and hoped it would be another Asian one.  Then one day I was driving past and and noticed that a new sign was hanging in the window.  I thought I could tell what it said but I didn't believe my eyes and pulled in for a closer look.  Sure enough, "Coming Soon, Shige Japanese Cuisine".  I was very, very excited by this prospect, but had no clue how they were going to fit everything that Shige does into that little space.  The answer finally came when the final sign was hung: they weren't.

RiceWorks

A couple of weeks ago, the B29 Streatery truck was parked across from WDS Global near the corner of Golden Trout and Kimball in Boise.  I decided to hit them up for lunch, and while I was there I noticed another truck parked a short distance down the block.  While the Streatery was putting my order together, I decided to take a quick stroll to investigate.  There I found something I didn't know had existed but which I've been wishing for and complaining about the lack of for over a year now: an Asian food truck in Boise.

Zen Bento (Eagle)

This may be one of my most comprehensive review to date.  The two adults in this household have become very fond of Zen Bento lately.  Over the course of six days we visited them three times, and I've had the opportunity to try five different items.  No hilarious anecdotes or anything to relate though, so this should be fairly concise...and away we go...