Brooke Geery

Oasis Cafe

3701 SE Hawthorne Blvd www.oasispizza.com Date of Visit: October 26, 2009 Price for 2: $16.75 I was trying to decide what makes a slice of pizza perfect for me and I realized I don't know. It's just the sort of thing where you bite into and say, damn this is a great slice of pizza. But like everything in life, it's going to be different for everyone. And honestly, I don't even really like pizza that much. Call me un-American, but rarely when we head off for lunch do I say, I really want a slice of pizza right now! But unfortunately for me, there are two people on this…
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5 Things: October 24, 2009

Wow, it was a slow news week. The balloon boy turned out to be a hoax, and reports of "Michael Jackson ordering take out" were unfounded. I really had to scrounge around the internet to even find 5 things I found important/interesting this week. But I did it, because this is how I give my life meaning and purpose. Here goes: 1. Montana football coach can't take a joke the truth. In my line of work, I am well aware that some people have no sense of humor. Then Ian tuned me into this story about his alma matter. University of Montana football coach Bobby Hauck is leading his team…
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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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