Happy Caturday!

Best Baguette

I was first introduced to the Vietnamese sandwiches, known as Banh Mi, while living in Oklahoma City. It took some convincing from several co-workers before I was brave enough to cast aside my daily PB & J and venture to Saigon Baguette (aka Milk Bottle Sandwiches) for my first ever taste of the glorious Banh Mi sandwich - it was love at first bite. These sandwiches vary slightly from store to store but generally they are comprised of thinly sliced pickled carrot and daikon, cilantro, chili peppers, some kind of sauce, and meat or tofu all in a soft but chewy french baguette roll. I enjoyed several variations of these sandwiches at various restaurants in Oklahoma City, but Saigon Baguette was by far my favorite. I also should note that these sandwiches are usually priced around $2 or $3, which makes for a great cheap meal. So when we left Oklahoma City for the bright lights (ok, light rains) of Portland, I was sad to say goodbye to Saigon Baguette, and hoped that I would be lucky enough to find a new Bahn Mi to fill the void.

Well my wish was granted when one day while driving to the library I saw sign that said it all...Best Baguette. I mean come on! That is a bold statement and I knew I had to see if in fact it was the best. So we stopped in for a lunch one day. I ordered the vegetable sandwich with tofu and Peter order the grilled pork sandwich. The sandwiches are pretty darn good, not sure if they are the best because I'll always be partial to Saigon Baguette, my first Banh Mi love. Best Baguette bakes their own baguettes so the bread is always fresh and few times we have been lucky enough to have sandwiches on very fresh, still warm bread. They load their sandwiches with lots of veggies and meat/tofu, so the sandwich itself is plenty to make a meal. The sandwiches are all under $3 (take that Subway) and worth every cent. We do hope to keep trying various Banh Mi restaurants in the area, but for now Best Baguette is our favorite.

Trek In The Park

Over the weekend we decided to boldly go where no man has gone before. Ok that's not totally accurate several men, women, and even children have been here before but we haven't, so we boldly went where we had never been before. Anyway I digress, we ventured to the east side of Portland to witness a massive gathering of nerds known as "Trek In The Park". "Trek In The Park" was the brainchild of the Atomic Arts group founded by local Portlanders. For 3 weekends they put on a live rendition of a classic Star Trek episode. This year they brought the episode Space Seed to Woodlawn park. If you are unfamiliar with this Star Trek episode or simply need a reminder wikipedia has a great write up of the episode here (gotta love nerds). To put it simply, Space Seed is the episode where Kirk and Khan first meet. Their cast was small but very talented, and you could tell that the actors as well as the audience were having fun. It was super crowded, and kind of hard to see. So if we go back next year we will try to get there earlier to stake out a better viewpoint. "Trek In The Park" is just so Portland (white and nerdy), and we are so lucky we get the opportunity to experience it. Below are a couple of pictures we took (the lighting wasn't great), and then a list of the cast members.

Happy Caturday!

McMenamins Edgefield

I can't believe it but we have totally neglected to share with you a great chain of brewpubs owned and operated by McMenamins. McMenamins has several brewpubs, concert venues, hotels and even a few movie theaters in the Portland area, as well as other parts of Oregon and Washington. A few weeks ago we spent a couple days out at McMenamins Edgefield located in Troutdale, Oregon.

The hotel and surrounding grounds were the site of the Multnomah County Poor Farm in the early 1900s. The main building served as the farm hospital. Farming operations ceased in the 1950s, and the main building became the Edgefield manor. This manor housed emotionally disturbed children. Later the facility became a nursing home.

McMenamins took over the property in 1990. They turned the nursing home into a hotel and restaurant. The surrounding grounds were transformed into a vineyard and two par 3 golf courses. Furthermore, the various farming buildings have become pubs, bars and distilleries. They even have room for an outdoor stage for summer concerts. We have visited McMenamins Edgefield several times since we moved to the Portland area. Usually we go out to play golf and enjoy a pint or two. But in early July we stayed the night in the hotel and enjoyed a nice dinner in the Black Rabbit Restaurant. We had a rather nice stay with great food and beer. Unfortunately, our stay happened to coincide with a brief heat wave in the Portland area, and hotel was not equipped with air conditioning so our evening was a little uncomfortable. It was fun to stay at the hotel and wonder the historic grounds. We will definitely be heading back to play golf very soon. Look for more posts coming soon about other McMenamins properties.















Location of McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon
















Pub course and distillery bar





















Painted pipe in our room