Vegas has tons of great restaurants. TONS. The Oregon and Washington coast have the best clam chowder I have ever had. There was this one place in Cannon Beach that had great clam chowder but had cheese sticks that were about the size of a stick of butter. Awesome. Coronary inducing but awesome.
Mo's? I was there also...was showing my college roomate around Portland as he had a weekend pass from his wifey. I take it you've never been to Boston? Legal Seafoods Clam Chowder is AWESOME. Kills mo's chowder. Also, if you go to Pike Chowder in Seattle, their Scallop Chowder is fucking TITS. I also like the chowder at Ivar's vs. Mo's.
I lived near Gino's East for several years and ate there countless times. Awesome pizza. There's the original Uno's and Duo's as well. Out in the burbs there's Lou Malnotti's. The thin crust picture is from Aurelio's. The sausage is unlike any I've ever head - strong flavor, soaked in beer along the way, and the whole pizza has that flavor throughout. Italian beef is something I've not found outside of Chicago. For those who've never head it, it's thinly sliced roast beef simmered in au jus for hours with green peppers and onions and a lot of italian seasonings. Served on an italian roll sopped in the juice, the thing explodes while you eat it, but it's simply delicious. I actually figured out a recipe to make these myself at home and do from time to time. Chicago also is famous for sausages and hot dogs. Here in Vegas there's a couple of chicago-style hot dog places with the florescent green relish and hot sport peppers and everything. Polish sausages are really spicey large hot dogs that stay with you all day (belch!) and are awesome. There's also gyros, a greek sandwich made of pressed beef & lamb cooked on a spit. They have special machines/grills for cooking them in an upright position. They slice the meat right off the machine with a long knife and put it on a pita with a cucumber sauce. I've been able to find them in other places in the country, but not as good as in Chicago.
Hmm, I've never been but I've been to Vancouver and it's a lot of great Asian food. I'm not sure if it would be the same in Portland. Coffee? I'd imagine they'd make a good cup o joe on the left coast, similar Seattle or Vancouver. And yes, excellent mushrooms.
We have polish sausages and Gyros too. Wat I like about Portland is that food from all over the country and world seems to gather here. Its like a chefs convention. By the by, if you are ever in Portland and feel like you are in need of a high quality New York style pizza head over to A Pizza Scholl's. Awesome pizza there. Matter of fact if you are ever in Portland and looking for a place to grab a bite could ask me some good places to eat. For Authentic Mexican (Not that Tex-Mex stuff found everywhere) You could visit the Hungry Skeleton. If you want a nice Irish Pub stop on by to Kell's. If Indian is your thing my favorite place would have to be the Bombay Cricket Club. If you want Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, or Japanese pick a road like Hawthorne or Belmont or 82nd walk a couple of blocks and pick one. There is also a rather large amount of cafes to choose from but that isn't really my scene.
I'll second Aurelios as a top notch Chicago thin pizza. It really is kick ass. I can't say I'd consistently prefer it to a top notch NY pizza, it always depends on my mood. I'm a big tent kind of guy. Some things I've noticed: * At Chinese places in the DC area, Crispy Beef is really good and consistently on the menu. I've never seen it in Chicago or Indy. Or in Beijing, for that matter. * This thread is on its second page and nothing yet has convinced me I need to go the Pacific Northwest to eat. Did anyone else know that in Victorian England, contracts for nannies sometimes stipulated that they be served salmon no more than once or twice a week?
Mike, where do you live in DC area? I'm a former resident of Cap Hill, Clarendon, Ballston and Old Town myself.
Oregon also has one of the largest Juniper forests in the world. Juniper is used to make Gin. The difference between Oregon food and say DC is primarily the ingredients. We have a lot of types of Cheese wine beer fruit and vegetables. We also have a lot of cooks that like to put a new spin on old recipes. Things like chili, hot dogs, and pizza, we have no classic style. We don't have large groups of people fresh from Europe to influence our food. What we do have is a lot of Russians and a lot of different Asians that are beginning to put their stamp on our cuisine. Other than that we a have a little of everything. Plus this is the best place on earth to drink a beer.
I wholeheartedly agree. PNW food culture isn't recipe-driven, but rather based on the quality of ingredients. We are lucky enough to be able to grow most everything, so what arrives on your plate is fresh. It makes a huge difference.
Heh, I'm a former resident. I lived in Bailey's Crossroads for a year and a half, then Chantilly for six and a half years. I moved to Indianapolis a year ago. And, I have to say, I'm not missing DC in general.
On a food note, I lived right down the street from the original (or quasi-original) Five Guys, which is now franchising itself all over the country (there's one down the street from me in Indy, in fact). Looking at their website, I see they're opening one in Beaverton, OR.
I know that Five Guys well, as do my pants that were stretched to their limit by their food. I spend half the year in Denver and a Five Guys opened across the street from where my wife works. She claims she's keeping an eye on whether or not my car ever enters that parking lot.
Word. Or.....the Tillamook Bacon Cheeseburger, add spread, Walla Walla onion rings and a fresh BLACKBERRY milkshake. Or take a trip out to North Plains for for the Rogue Garlic Burger, or take two exits earlier off 26 and have the world class Helvetia Burger. Or drive up Skyline for the old fashioned and always delicious Skyline Burger. Or......Stanich's! No shortage of burger love here in Oregon. But obviously our claim to fame is BEER
As someone stuck on the other side of the Rockies from the deliciousness of which you speak, damn you...damn you to hell!
