Their spicy margaritas are off the hook! Right across the street is Bar Avignon. Another favorite of mine. Great food, great oysters, great drinks.
Yeah, the only problem with Cocina is there's always a wait. I've always wondered about the place across the street. Oysters you say? What kind of food do they have?
lol. I asked them since it's the 'Original' Wow burger does it make it a chain? And they said no, there are only two locations in the nw.
Portland food without being pretentious. Always a simple menu with at least one of each of the following for entrees: seafood, poultry, pig, beef, vegetarian. Good soups, good salads. Their menu is online.
They get some of the best local oysters. I only like them raw on the half-shell. I usually get a mix of the daily offerings with this light lemony-icy dressing stuff. Bomb-diggity. Better than Ace of Base, so it's definitely the tits. Patrick and the owner (I forget his name at the moment) are bomb dudes.
I love them raw on the half-shell. I'm quite the oyster connoisseur. I got introduced to them when I was young and going to my grandparents beach house in Rockaway. My mom's friend owned a seafood store in Garibaldi and we'd practically get as much free oysters as we wanted. I think I was probably 10 years old when my dad talked me into shooting a raw one. I actually liked it when my brothers hated it. My relationship with oysters since then has been a match made in heaven. I've tried them in that lemony-icy way at South Park seafood. Bomb.
Some restaurants piss me off with their oyster shooters. I don't need tons of filler. Just a little bit. Mainly me and the oyster. Like Acadia. I don't need a double decker shot glass full of bloody mary seasoning.
South Park is bomb. I work with a chick from there at IPNC every year. As for the oysters, they usually have something from Netarts, kumomotos, and another choice or two. I usually get 2-3 of 3 types they're offering. Changes regularly. But they're all good. In fact, it was Bar Avignon that I had the first oysters I ever liked and kept me coming back for more. I don't want them as my meal, but it's a good way to get the evening started with some drinks.
Or when they use GIANT oysters. Man, this place down the road from our beach house uses the biggest oysters. I actually can't eat them.
It does seem like the ones you get at the beach are way bigger than the ones they get in restaurants. Those big ones are more for BBQ and dipping in garlic sauce if I say so myself.
I had some decent oysters at little bird bistro well. Forgot the types but one from Oregon and one from Washington But loved getting foie gras since it's banned in California. My favorite oysters are probably kusshi though. hoop fam
One restaurant that I haven't done that I really want to do (well there's a couple) is ScreenDoor. I always show up and there's too long a wait and I'm hungry so I say fuck it were going to Casa Del Matador across the street and grubbing on their bomb food and stiff drinks instead.
It's bomb. Only been once. I'm a home body so the craziness of waiting is ridiculous to me. But it's worth trying once to answer the curiosity.
