Brooke Geery

Food

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
Read More

Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
Read More

Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
Read More

Pepino’s Fresh Mexican Grill

3832 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.pepinos.org/ Date of visit: Oct 7, 2009 Price for 2: $11.50 After a few days out off town, we opted against somewhere new and headed to Pepino's, by far one of my favorite lunch spots. The taqueria is quick, cheap, and one of the few places on Hawthorne with an actual parking lot. (If you've been to Hawthorne you know parking can be a real pain.) Unlike the nearby, over-hyped Por Que No, Pepino's is seriously cheap. I almost always go for the taqeria taco combo: two tacos, chips and a drink for $4.50. The tacos themselves are super basic. Two corn tortillas, meat (I get…
Read More

Fu Jin

3549 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Price for two (with tip): $20.50 From the outside Fu Jin looks like it’s either going to be amazingly seedy and gross, or amazingly seedy and good. But inside the dining room is basically like a really dressed-up cafeteria, and the food over all was decent, so it’s actually much more boring than that. If there is one thing I can say for Chinese places, they do lunch right. The lunch menu included a $5.95 lunch special with your choice of soups, an entrée and rice. If you’re wondering how we managed to spend $21, we ordered a pot sticker…
Read More

Rovente Pizza

3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of Visit: September 28, 2009 Cost for two: $15 (with leftovers) West coast pizza places tend to have one thing in common: shitty pizza. So either Rovente is an exception, or I have been here too long, because I was pleasantly surprised with the offerings at this hole-in-the-wall pizza joint. Rovente apparently as two locations in Portland. The one on Hawthorne is tiny, with only a few indoor bar seats to speak of. Most of the dining room is taken up by a huge glass case displaying the day’s pizza selections. Luckily, the day we hit up Rovente it was nice out, and we were…
Read More

Lunch on Hawthorne

I started a food blog. Up to and including two people have said I should and I finally did it. Funny story though. My first food blog concept was a Portland breakfast blog, and I even went so far as to buy the domain name. Well, sort it. You see, I tried to buy it, but in my haste I accidentally bought pdrbreakfast.com instead of pdxbreakfast.com and by that point the excitement of the idea had worn off and I gave up. But then, in a totally unrelated meal, Jared announced he wanted to eat lunch at every restaurant on Portland's SE Hawthorne Blvd, and a new blog was born.…
Read More

Chez Machin

3553 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.chezmachincreperie.com/ Date of visit: September 29, 2009 Price for two (with tip) $26 I've never been to France, but I did take two years of French in High School, so I feel I am fairly qualified to comment on the authenticity of Chez Machin. Based on what I assume and have seen on the episodes of 90210 where Donna and Brenda went to France, it definitely felt like an authentic French cafe. A little bit cramped, red-checked table clothes, provocative art on the walls, whole nine. Oh yeah, and the menu is in French (although not the food descriptions themselves, which is good because I have…
Read More

Bread and Ink Cafe

http://www.breadandinkcafe.com/ 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd Price for 2 (with tip) $26 Bread and Ink has been situated on the corner of 36th and SE Hawthorne for 25 years, and is definitely worth a stop if you're on the Hawthorne strip. This is a favorite breakfast spot of ours, mostly because of their awesome waffles. Waffles can also be purchased from an outside window, but as I have an aversion to getting food and having no where to eat it, I've always opted to sit down inside. I've gotten a few different things here breakfast-wise. The lox eggs benedict is one of my favorite benedicts in Portland, so creamy and decadant,…
Read More

Hawthorne Street Cafe

3354 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: September 24, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $24.40 The Hawthorne Street Cafe is a oddly named place, with Hawthorne being a boulevard and all, but that's not the only thing unique about it. It's situated in an old, misplaced farm house on the corner of 33rd Ave, and from the outside, seems more on the upscale end of the spectrum. But immediately upon walking in, I felt like I'd ended up back in Vermont, in a country cafe complete with red checkered table clothes and a sloping porch where we were seated. The menu is standard breakfast and lunch fare, with breakfast…
Read More

Riyadh’s

1318 SE Hawthorne Date of Visit: September 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip) $23 Middle Eastern restaurants in Portland have a big hurdle to overcome by the name of Nicholas's. Typically if a place is small and boasts long waits in this city, it is totally overpriced and over rated, but not so with Nicholas's. It is hands down the best Lebanese food I have ever had, and for that reason, I'd never even bothered to try Riyadh's before. Since it's at the start of the Hawthorne strip, we've passed by it over and over, so it was nice to finally check it off the list! So obviously I…
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Cup and Saucer

3566 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.cupandsaucercafe.com/ Dates of visits: 7/19/09 and 7/25/09 Price for 2: $22 The Cup and Saucer cafe is actually a chain of three Portland restaurants, and more of a breakfast spot than lunch. That said, we've visited it on several occasions, usually for weekend brunch. But since we've got a whole lot of new restaurants to try, and I'd already taken pictures of this one, I figured it counts! If there's one thing you can expect from a breakfast spot on Hawthorne (or anywhere in Portland for that matter) it's that you're going to wait for a solid 30 minutes for a seat during the weekends. For…
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Dingo’s

4612 SE Hawthorne http://www.dingosonline.com/ Date visited: September 22,2009 Price for 2: $25.50 If there's one thing you'll learn about me from this blog, it's that I really like Mexican food. It's cheap, quick and most importantly, comes with chips and salsa. That said, I am not a big fan or trulty authentico Mexican food, dripping in grease and containing questionable meats. For this reason Dingo's has been on the go-to list for awhile. The real prize point of the menu at Dingo's is the sour cream lime stuff that you can get in or on tacos, burritos and enchiladas. Recently I discovered the lime chicken tacos are the closest thing…
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