Brooke Geery

McMenamin’s Bagdad Pub

3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.mcmenamins.com/index.php?loc=9 Date of visit: October 23, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip and lunch beer): $23.70 Today was the final day of our goal within a goal of the 4600 block of Hawthorne, but as we drove towards Thai Thai, we passed the Bagdad Pub. Seeing the big windows filled with happy dinners enjoying their microbrews on a miserable, rainy Portland day made me realize: I wanted a lunch beer! So we turned the car around and headed back to Bagdad, one of two McMenamin's options on Hawthorne Bvld. The Bagdad (they spell it wrong, not me) is part of the chain of Portland restaurants famous…
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What I Learned in J School

My college years were mostly spent at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA, (pictured above from my Polaroid phase), which was most importantly, in the shadow of Mt. Baker. I will be completely honestly, the proximity to epic shredding was way more a factor in my decision of where to go to college than the actual curriculum. It just so happened, however, that Western actually had a decent journalism program (at least, according to them.) But seriously, the program turned out an award-winning bi-weekly newspaper and even taught a know-it-all-like me a thing or two. Of course, that was before the print media started to crash, and back then the…
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¿Por Qué No?

4635 SE Hawthorne http://www.porquenotacos.com/ Price for 2 (with tip): $21.50 ¿Por Qué No? is one of those places that the hipsters in Portland will tell you is the most amazing place around. And why wouldn't they, "why not" is the name of the restaurant after all. With two locations in the hip areas of Hawthorne and Mississippi, happy hour drinks, and seemingly cheap food, all served up in a casually-busy decor, Por Que No is a total hipster dream come true. Unfortunately, it's not actually very good. The food at ¿Por Qué No? is definitely not trying to be authentic Mexican (despite the over use of Spanish) but is more…
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Toji Korea Grill House

4615 SE Hawthorne Blvd Date of visit: October 21, 2009 Price for 2 (with tip): $18.90 Toji is one of those places I've always wanted to go, but trying to drag a vegetarian to a restaurant where one of the main options is roasting raw meat on a grill in the middle of your table has proven difficult. But since this week has been designated for the 4600 block, it had to happen and today we hit up the Grill. I guess I expected it to be expensive (it is designated with two dollar signs on Urbanspoon) and was pretty sure Jared would be forced to eat salad, so when…
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East Side Deli

4626 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.pdxdeli.com Date of visit: October 20, 2009 Price for 2: $14.50 A good deli can actually be hard to find in Portland, so when a vegan friend told us we had to try East Side Deli, I was initially skeptical. But this place is hands down the best deli I have ever been to in Portland, and it just so happens it's on Hawthorne and in the 4600 block, at that. The sandwiches turned out of the open kitchen are huge and more importantly, completely customized with super high quality ingredients. No limp, shredded ice berg lettuce here, the stuff they use is fresh and leafy.…
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Zach’s Shack

4611 SE Hawthorne Blvd http://www.myspace.com/dogswithasnap Date of visit: October 19, 2009 Price for 2: $17 Today we realized the 4600 Block of Hawthorne may just be the ultimate lunch utopia. We originally set out to eat at Por Que No (more for review purposes than because we wanted to) but were distracted by the neighboring Zach's Shack and the East Side Deli. Also on this block is Dingo's (where this whole project started), Toji Korea Grill House, Thai Thai and Angelo's (which I'm a little scared of.) So for this week we've got a goal within a goal: eat at all of these places. Ok, so it will actually take…
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Viewed and Reviewed: Hard to Earn

If you’ve been paying attention to snowboarding at all, then you probably know exactly the type of rider featured in FODT/MFM Production’s Hard to Earn. Snow Gangsters, I believe they are called. But for the sake of humor, let’s pretend to be an out-of-touch person right now. What would their reaction to this movie be? Well, they would be amazed that there were so many midgets who were so good at snowboarding. They would think, with that many midgets, maybe I should start a brand specifically catering to the little people who snowboard so they are longer forced to wear such giant apparel! And then we would end up with…
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10 Reasons NOT to Move to Portland

Like Breckenridge in the 90s or Mammoth in the early part of this decade, Portland has become the hot spot for snowboarding. It’s an interesting choice, since the mountain is actually over an hour away, but it seems that being hip and urban is in these days. But as a Portland resident who has lived here since before it was cool (but not actually a native, those are like unicorns), I am here to tell you Portland is TOTALLY overrated. Here are ten definitive reasons why. 1.    It rains You’ve probably heard this rumor and it’s true. From Nov- March it rains pretty much every day. The worst part is…
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Wille Yli Luoma’s New Heart

Just when I was starting to get tired of the other 519 coffee shops in Portland, Wille Yli Luoma decided to open Heart Roasters on East Burnside. Wille is out to prove, probably inadvertently, that just because you spend years as an influential pro snowboarder, you are not destined to a future of team management, announcing, or photography. Either that or he just really likes coffee. We’ll probably do a deeper expose into the inner workings of Heart in the future, but for now, this is a story about the kick ass opening party on Saturday, October 17. The classy, open space was filled with a DJ and hipsters from…
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5 Interesting/Important Things: Oct 17, 2009

As the internet buzz wears off from the stupid Burton drama, I can't help but realize even further how unimportant action sports are. So I've decided in order to add meaning to my life as an extreme journalist, I am going to start recapping things in the world that actually mattered (or were at least interesting) every week. Here's what made the cut this week. 1. Balloon boy! Is he in the balloon? Is he dead? Was it a hoax? Was it the parent's fault? So many questions, so much wasted time. I too found myself transfixed, watching the live feed of young Falcon, allegedly careening over Colorado in a…
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