On the Road Again: PDX Street Food (Island Grill, The Whole Bowl, The Frying Scotsman)

Okay, so I did a local post last time, now back to my most recent trip to Oregon.  There's been a lot of talk recently about Portland being the best food city in America.  I don't know about that because my own travels have been fairly limited, but it's pretty damned good.  It's definitely the epicenter of street food in this half of the country.  Still, even with several trips to Stumptown over the last few years and 200 or so vendors to choose from, I'd never had any street eats there.  I decided to remedy that on my most recent excursion, so after hitting Starbucks so Miss Golden Rule could get coffee and breakfast (oh the humanity), we took a detour to downtown PDX on our way to the Coast.  I had done my homework and narrowed it down to a couple of eateries I wanted to try in different areas of town, so I just went with the one that sounded the most enticing to me at that particular moment: The Frying Scotsman.

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.

Like a Hawai'ian Boomerang...

My luck with Hawaiian-style food has been pretty hit and miss, especially for someone who has had so little of it.  Way back in the day before I decided I needed a domain name and a blogging platform so I could use a few thousand words to describe a cheeseburger, I did my reviewing on Urbanspoon, and that's where I posted my first review of a Hawaiian-style restaurant.

I hope it's not authentic

by Track
September 03, 2010 - Doesn't like it 

There was only one occupied table when I went, but I still had to wait several minutes to place my take-out order because the proprietor/cook was chatting with the people at the table. When he did return to the kitchen, he sang along loudly with the songs on the sound system. I understand the "just dropped by a friend's place for some homestyle island fare" vibe they're going for, but it's not my cup of tea when I'm eating at a strip mall. The rice was fine and the macaroni salad was rich but good, but the char siu pork left something to be desired. I've considered returning to try something more traditionally Hawaiian, but there are several other places around Boise I've yet to try, and it will depend on how they stack up.

That eatery was Kana Girl's Hawai'ian BBQ, Mark I.  Before I jump into discussing Kana Girl's Redux, a little context is probably in order...

'Ohana Hawai'ian BBQ (CLOSED)

EDIT: A follower of my Facebook page left a comment saying that the food and service are horrible at 'Ohana.  It turns out that the restaurant changed hands yet again in early May, and I've not been there since the new owners took control so I can't speak for the quality of the food or the service at this point.  Buyer beware...

Every once in a while, something related to this blog just flat out surprises me.  Such was the case about a week ago, when I checked my e-mail and found a message from one of the two women who run 'Ohana Hawai'ian BBQ.  The e-mail was basically an invitation to come and try their restaurant, but that's only part of the story....

You see, just a few short months ago, 'Ohana was an eatery called Kana Girl's Hawai'ian BBQ.  According to several restaurant review sites, I was in the minority of people who didn't like Kana Girl's.  In fact, back in the day when my reviews were concise and informative and posted on Urbanspoon (a site I'm still on a lot, and which you should all check out), I had this to say about them:

I hope it's not authentic

by Track

September 03, 2010 - Doesn't like it

There was only one occupied table when I went, but I still had to wait several minutes to place my take-out order because the proprietor/cook was chatting with the people at the table. When he did return to the kitchen, he sang along loudly with the songs on the sound system. I understand the "just dropped by a friend's place for some homestyle island fare" vibe they're going for, but it's not my cup of tea when I'm eating at a strip mall. The rice was fine and the macaroni salad was rich but good, but the char siu pork left something to be desired. I've considered returning to try something more traditionally Hawaiian, but there are several other places around Boise I've yet to try, and it will depend on how they stack up.

I have to confess now that part of that review was a lie.  I never really considered returning, I just felt like I should soften the blow a little because the food wasn't terrible and the people were nice enough.  I just didn't dig how they were doing things.  And now, here is a woman who, along with her sister and husband, had taken over the place.  She added that they had done a lot of research, made some changes, and were moving toward serving more traditional Hawaiian fare (which I took to mean no giant hamburgers).  A little research on their website turned up that they've very up-front about the fact that none of them are Hawaiian.  I have to admit, I was impressed!  I think it shows a hell of a lot of confidence to take over a place, serve basically the same food, and then contact people who have reviewed the restaurant poorly in the past and invite them to give it another chance.  It worked on me, anyway...

Not an old picture, just an old sign...

Shaka Shack - (sorta) CLOSED

Update - Shaka Shak has expanded into a full restaurant just a little further down the parking lot where Ono Hawaiian Cafe used to be.  More info at http://www.theshakboise.com/.  The old Shak still stands, but is now a Human Bean coffee stand.

Before we get into this, let me just say that I'm beginning to suspect that I don't really dig Hawaiian food.  Granted, I've only been to two Hawaiian eateries, one located in a Meridian strip mall and the other in a parking lot downtown.  I had good dishes at both, but nothing about the style of the cuisine really spoke to me, if that makes any sense.  That having been said, Shaka Shak was definitely the better of the two.