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Happy Meal Deals
There you are, watching the haughtily dressed denizens of Northwest 23rd Avenue traipse from opulent boutique to chic cafe to highbrow bar. There you are in tattered jeans and sneakers, craving a delicious meal but directed by your wallet to the closest burrito stand. Now, thanks to some of the area's otherwise-spendy restaurants, you can save the burrito for lunch and treat yourself to a rich dinner at thrift-store prices. Piatti's Sunday Supper Club offers $8.95 entrees every Sunday between 4 and 10 pm. Choices include pesto lasagna, roasted chicken, lemon ravioli, capellini with tomato sauce and chicken, meatloaf and fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp.
Benson Hotel, 309 SW Broadway, 525-0945. Head out early and get a hearty meal of crispy fish and chips with coleslaw for $9.95. The Harborside Restaurant offers this special between 5 and 6 pm every evening. A child-size portion is $3.95, and dinners are served family style.
RiverPlace Marina, 0309 SW Montgomery St., 220-1865. Indulge your appetite for aesthetics at Zefiro, currently offering three-course meals for $22 on Tuesdays. The prix fixe menus continue through the summer, featuring dishes from Vietnam, Spain, France, Italy and Mexico; some dinners will be strictly vegetarian. Upcoming menus as follows:
March 24: Tarragon chicken, pate and celery root rémoulade, crème brulée
March 31: Marinated baby leeks, potato and garlic ravioli, poached pear
April 7: Tortilla soup, pork in tomatillo salsa, Tahitian vanilla ice cream and cake
April 14: Ribollita, stuffed veal breast with salsa verde, panna cotta
April 21: Salad with green goddess dressing, chicken fricassee, rhubarb tart
April 28: Pork rilettes with pickled fruit, herbed sausages on lentils, tarte tatin
500 NW 21st Ave., 226-3394. --Christina Melander Oops...
The greatest pitfall of modern technology is that vital information can disappear from one's computer without a trace. This happened with the names and addresses of those who called seeking info on NXNW during the last couple of weeks. If this was you, please call back: 243-2122, ext. 380.
Northwest Memory Lane
Aplets & Cotlets, Ernst, Pay 'n Save and Jimi Hendrix. What do all of these things have in common? They are all homegrown Northwest, and all are mentioned in the True Northwest Preservation Society's quarterly newsletter. For those of us reared in this corner of the country, flipping through the pages is a jaunty walk down memory lane. True Northwestfocuses primarily on the years between 1950 and 1980 but also includes places that people can visit today. In a department called "Another Roadside Attraction" (a reference to the novel by Seattle-area resident Tom Robbins), the spring 1998 issue gives info on a Bing Crosby collection on display in Spokane. The cover story is a meticulously detailed account of Elvis' 1962 visit to Seattle to shoot It Happened at the World's Fair. Music, art, sports and politics are covered, as well as less heady offerings, like a review of Northeast Portland's "wiener wonderland," the Dog House. It's easy to feel culture-void in the Pacific Northwest --especially in comparison to the South or Northeast--but revisiting our history in the pages of True Northwest reminds us that there actually are things we can call our own, like Grapelets. Memberships to the True Northwest Preservation Society are $20 per year. Members receive quarterly issues of True Northwest and special discounts on Northwest books, movies, music and products. To join, or for more information, contact: True Northwest, PO Box 22, Olympia, Wash., 98507-0022. E-mail: truenw@olywa.net. Phone: (360) 754-8064.
--Cynthia MacKay
On the Rocks
After eight U-turns I got really sick of the stretch of Northeast Sandy Boulevard between 30th and 32nd avenues, so I parked and finally realized that Portland's latest rock club, Tonic Lounge, is inside the glowing neon cavern known as Shaughnessy's Bar and Grill (3100 NE Sandy Blvd., 239-5154). Alcohol connoisseurs will know this bar as the place that has $1 well drinks on Thursdays, but they may not realize that a narrow, bistro-style lounge exists beyond the booths and bar of the drafty main room. The Bella Low and the Pinehurst Kids helped initiate this new venue Saturday, March 14, with a small but successful show. Most of the modest-size audience was sitting at tables sipping cocktails, which was odd to watch while listening to head-banging emo-rock. The difference between this show and most? Everyone left happy. Happy that they got to be comfortable, drink whiskey sours and see music at the same time. Any dubiousness about this cozy new nightclub was erased. Adequate sound, a full bar, Vegas-style seating and an intimate vibe make Tonic Lounge an appealing place. --Brooke DeNisco
The SPICIEST Man in Oregon
"Garlic Jim" Hedford's friends don't enjoy his cooking. In fact, the word they use to describe his spice-layered dishes is "nefarious." Hedford's quest for the hellishly hot recently led him to Salvador Molly's for the March 8 Big Heat-Off, a habañero-chili-fritter-eating contest to benefit the Oregon Heat Foundation, a small organization that helps poor and elderly residents pay their heating bills. Hedford, a Portlander, beat out serious competition by putting away 26 of the "great balls of fire" fritters, three bowls of Dante's Vision hot sauce and one raw habañero pepper. Unlike close contender Bonito Gone, who excused himself from the table to purge, Hedford did not get sick. He credits his success to strategy: He ate an order of six fritters the night before the Heat-Off to inoculate his body. The contest's charitable theme prompted Hedford to request a catered meal for a friend's wedding instead of accepting the original prize, a barbecue party. He laments that he has a hard time finding restaurants that make suitably spicy dishes. "I really don't enjoy a meal unless I break a sweat," he says.
--Christina Melander |
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