Brooke Geery

Food

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More

Noah’s Bagels

3541 Southeast Hawthorne http://www.noahs.com/ Date of visit: November 29, 2009 Cost for 2: $18 Noah's bagels was one of those gray areas in this (lately somewhat neglected) blog project, which is probably why it's taken me so long to get around to writing it up (that and I am lazy.) Since it's technically a chain, it wasn't really necessary for us to eat there to reach our goal, but on this random day, it seemed like a good idea. But since I'm obviously not overly inspired by a bagel chain I'll keep this short. Bagels in Portland, like pizza, aren't great. So Noah's NY-style bagels are about as good as…
Read More

The Whole Bowl

4409 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.thewholebowl.com Date of Visit: December 17, 2009 Price for 2: $13 The first visit to the Whole Bowl is an interesting experience, because it's definitely not your normal restaurant. After all, there is a grand total of one thing on the menu. Your choices include what size and an option to omit any of the standard ingredients. You can also choose to get chips (of the basic tortilla variety served up in an unimpressive ziplock bag) or not. And they have a variety of drinks including Hansen's soda, which is always a plus. Personally, I really like one item on the menu, but Jared was not…
Read More

Rice Junkies

3535 SE Hawthorne blvd Date of Visit: November 23, 2009 Price for 2: $16.50 The first time I went to Rice Junkies I had gotten a thai chicken wrap. I think it was an homage-order to the weird-hippie-burrito place we used to go to in Burlington, VT, because that's what I always got there. And like the food at the weird-hippie-burrito place it wasn't really that great. My main complaint people there was too much tortilla and it wasn't heated up enough to be soft. So on this visit, I figured I'd give one of the bento bowls a shot. They basically have the option of any sort of bento…
Read More

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

3746 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.nicksfamousconeys.com Date of Visit: November 17, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $23.25 We'd actually tried Nick's shortly before embarking on this blog project, and being honest, our review then wasn't good. I'd gotten a burger, because the A Frame outside says "Best Burgers in Town" explicitly and I felt obligated to test it out. Jared got a veggie coney and we both had the mac salad because that day the fryer happened to be broken. We both found ourselves incredible underwhelmed, and never planning to return. But as we now make all lunch-related decisions by this blog, and Nick's Famous Coney Island is one of…
Read More

Hot Lips Pizza

2223 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.hotlipspizza.com Date of Visit: November 16, 2009 Price for 2 (including tip and blogger discount) $10 People ask me all the time if I get free food because of this blog, or at least, if that's the goal. The answer is no on both counts, I am simply doing this cause it's a fun project. But on our trip to Hot Lips, blogging did pay off. It also helped that I knew the person working (through a friend), so I happened to bring up the fact I'd be blogging about our experience. When we were rung up, 3 slices, two drinks and a salad magically only…
Read More

Thai Spoon

1334 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: November 13, 3009 Price for 2 (with tip) $17 If there is one thing Portland does not have a shortage of it's Thai restaurants. There are at least 5 I can think of off the top of my head on Hawthorne alone, and for that reason, we'd never tried Thai Spoon before. But whenever it's my turn to drive (yes, we drive to lunch every day and we've both driven to the office so we always fight over who has to drive that day) I always pick a place that's as close as possible. Don't tell Jared about this, since when he drives…
Read More

5 Things I Did This Week

I had a good three-week run of my list of 5 things more important/interesting than snowboarding, and I still plan to do them occasionally, but being honest, I haven't really been paying attention to the outside world lately. Rather I've been perfecting my sales skills, running too many websites, and even doing a little actual snowboarding. But I know my 8 dedicated brookegeery.com readers demand new content, so here's 5 Things I Did This Week. 1. 2009 Alliance Superlatives. In years past this has been a large magazine feature, but as you may have heard, times are tough for print right now. So with reduced page counts, the feature has…
Read More

Barley Mill Pub

1629 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=10&id=313 Date of Visit: November 12, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $22 The Barley Mill is the oldest McMenamins pub in Portland, and if you've been to one McMenamins, you pretty much know what to expect. Pub food and good beer served up in whatever kitschy theme that location happens to be dedicated to. The theme here is the Greatful Dead, and the walls and even ceiling are covered with brightly colored junk of that ilk, but I tried not to hold that against them. When you really start to pay attention, there are subtle differences in the menus and offerings at each location, and…
Read More

Burgerville

1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd Burgerville.com Date of Visit: November 10, 2009 Price for 1: $7.59 Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn't have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn't work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place. Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it's so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The…
Read More

Grand Central Bakery and Cafe

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html Date of visit: November 6, 2009 Price for 2: $18.65 Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I've tried tons of different places and seen what's out there, I'm pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality. As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to…
Read More