BAGEL LAND

I've always kind of been a sucker for places or stores with either "LAND" or "WORLD" in the name. It's like the easiest store name ever, but always seems awesome to me.

TACO WORLD or POTATO LAND or TOILET WORLD. All awesome names, and no confusion as to what they sell or where you need to go to get any of those things.

Anyway, I got a whole wheat bagel with a schmear of cream cheese. It was fine. I've never found a bagel in the NW that compared to NYC bagels though. I'm not really sure why... it seems like it should be easy. And there are all these weird little shops in NYC with dirty kitchens and people that don't exactly inspire culinary confidence by the appearance with ridiculously good bagels. But that is not BAGEL LAND. BAGEL LAND sells a bagel that reminds me a lot of the bagels from bagel oasis in Seattle. Which are pretty good, but something seems missing. It's certainly better than Lenders or some packaged bull*bling* masquerading as a bagel, but probably not worth going out of your way to eat. However, there is a great coffee shop just north of BAGEL LAND called Ristretto. They make and roast awesome coffee.

But what is the deal with Bagel places in the NW being run by hippies? Hippies.

Sawasdee Thai Food

Oh man. So good! Sawasdee is another of the food carts down at 9th and Alder in downtown Portland. We've got to get a group shot of that area sometime. It's neat. There are so many options down there, that I feel a little bad going to the same place twice, let alone getting the same thing twice, but their pumpkin curry warrants being a "repeat offenda" as my friend Booyeah might say. The pumpkin curry seems especially apropos right now since the weather is feeling more and more like fall. Waiting on the my bicycle waiting for the bridge to open and close, I knew I wanted something warming. And then halfway there, I knew. THE PUMKIN CURRY MOTHER BLINGERS, YEAH!

Anyway, it's a nicely sweet yellow curry sauce with green bell peppers, basil, tofu (optional. you can get meat or something if you want) and pumpkin. It's probably not the variety of pumpkin you are familiar with. It's green on the outside and orange on the inside. Similar to an acorn squash maybe? They cook it with the skin on though. With little score marks on the outside. It's delightful though. One thing about this place though, I got 4 stars today, and it was really mild. If you like it hot (some do), you might have to specify that yes, you may be whitey, but you like spicy food. Unless your not a whitey, in which case that would be a stupid thing to say. Maybe they were just out of hot pepper, I dunno.

I've also had the Spicy Egplant (pictured as well), and it was pretty good. Not as good as the pumpkin curry, and again, not spicy. Worth eating, but honestly I would say just go with the Pumpkin curry. Scott thinks it is one of the best things on the face of the planet.

EDIT : I forgot to mention that when I went there today, they had switched from those big nasty plastic to go containers to the nice waxed cardboard containers! I thought that was great, so I wanted to mention that.

Ziba's Pitas - Authentic Bosnian Food

Ziba's Pitas is one of BBT's favorite places to visit in Portland's downtown cart area.  The cart location in general is best visited on bike to avoid the snarls of downtown traffic and if you do bike or bring your own container many places will give you a discount on your order.  Ziba's is especially pleasant with three tables (many carts have none) and BY FAR the cutest employee in the neighborhood (if the carts had a beauty pageant she would easily be the queen and the runner up).

On my first visit here I was expecting something quite different but it turns out

Bosnian pitas are not at all the same as the Greek pitas I know and love.  The Bosnian pita looks something like a braided danish stuffed with vegetables, meat, and/or cheese.  The result is a hot and delicious combination of crunchy pastry and soft filling.  I was a little disappointed today however because my zucchini and cheese pita was a little too salty.  Not a deal breaker but after the goddamn salty prime rib I had last night it was a little too much for me.  Fellow Editor in Taco, Erin (prime rib free and loving it), felt the same way.

The pita plate included fresh cucumbers with yogurt and some kind of roasted pepper sauce, as magnificent in color as it is in flavor.  

We'll definitely be back to Ziba's sometime soon but I hope it's a little less salty in the future.  The last time we came everything was perfect. 

Flavor (Spot) - Home of the Dutch Taco.

Somehow "dutch taco" sounds sort of dirty to me. But anyway. These are basically waffle sandwiches. I've only ever eaten here once before, but I woke up this morning craving a waffle from here, so we went there for lunch. It was delightful. I should get a picture of the cart from the outside. It's pretty cute. They are in a parking lot on the south end of Mississippi in North Portland, but have really done up the cart and area around quite well.

Anyway! On to the Dutch Tacos! I had the special today, which was strawberries, whipped cream and nutella sandwiched (or taco'ed) in between the waffle. I'm normally more of a belgian waffle lover than the flatter variety, but the waffles here are super good, and very crispy, but moist inside. Delicious.

George had what may be the most brilliant sandwich ever conceived. Bacon, wrapped in Cheese, wrapped in turkey, wrapped in a mother-*bling*ing waffle. Holy Moses! He seemed to enjoy it. Scott had the "Lemon Pie", which was lemon curd, whipped cream and waffle. He thought it was awesome as well.

Nice work, Flavor Spot. I'll definitely be back.

¿Por Que No? Well, why the *bling* not?

Hallelujah! Blessed be those who reside near Por Que No, for they shall inherit the good tables on the sunny days.

Though PQN has amazing tacos, we've been on a big Brian's bowl kick. It's the equivalent of like 5 tacos for the price of 2. Except you only get 3 tortillas. Still though, it is delicious and quite affordable.

A couple weeks back, some nice fellow shared his chips with us though, and now we get a basket of chips to go with the bowl. The 3 tortillas, though ass kickingly awesome, never hold the mammoth amount contained in the bowl, so the chips come in handy for scooping up that deliciousness. Plus, if you get the chips a la carte, they are just $1.

There was a dog sleeping under our table today as well, and you know what they say about sleeping dogs. They say you should kick them and then feed them tacos.

This is pretty much our favorite lunch spot at the moment.

Por Que No Tacos