Kenny and Zuke's Delicatessen

Greetings one and all!  This week, I'm going to bring you a few American reviews, since work decided to give me some (well-deserved?) time off.  I ended up going down the West Coast a bit, and so that means a few "exotic" places were hit along the way!  Cam and I have the same job, and thus similar schedules, (time off!) so we decided to hit up Portland for a few days.  He kept going on about a deli that he and Hilary and gone to and loved on previous visits.  So, of course we went there on the last day that I was in the city.  Located on the corner of Stark St and SW 11th Ave (1038 Stark St), Kenny and Zuke's has been open for a couple of years, serving up pastrami in all sorts of way.  Yes, these guys take pastrami very seriously, apparently!

It was just before 11am when Cam and I arrived, so the place was already quite busy.  There were spots outside, but apparently they don't seat anyone outside until around noon, when another server gets on shift.  Regardless, we were given about a 15 minute wait time for a spot to sit ourselves down.  The interior of the place is very plain and open, not in a bad way mind you.  Finally, we were seated and given a couple of menus to peruse.  We had just missed the cutoff for the breakfast menu, but that didn't really matter, since there's a few all-day breakfast items to choose from.  I decided upon a pastrami & swiss omelette, while Cam went with the Big Shot Breakfast Sandwich, because he's a high-roller, y'know.  It was at this time that we noticed a lack of, well, a few things.  Coffee, water.... a server?  I swore that we had seen a server with coffee going from table to table earlier on.  Did we happen to sit at the "plague table" or something?  No wait, the people that were seated after us (and next to us) didn't have anything either.  That was a good(?) sign, I guess.  Finally, after about 15 minutes of sitting and waiting for service, the server came by.... and started taking the other table's order.  The man said to her, "Um, I think that you should help these guys that were here first."  So, she turned around and took our orders.  We were brought coffee and water after a few more minutes, then our food arrived a bit after that.

This be Cam's Food

This be my food

I have to admit, the food was quite tasty.  Even for a guy that just had his wisdom teeth pulled about a week earlier, it was good.  They did have some good pastrami, for sure.  The potatoes had a lovely group of spicing on them, and the omelette had a bunch of filling and flavour.  Cam kind of sucked his plate up like a vacuum cleaner, which I take as a good thing.  No, seriously, he actually sucked the entire plate up.  Kind of like a cartoon, but with less awkward sound effects.  Anywho, yes, we were both pleased with our food, especially in terms of portions vs price.  I have to say though, the coffee wasn't all that good, and the lack of service put me off.  I think that the conversation that the couple next to us had with the server sums up my feelings on the service:

"Is it possible to still order from the breakfast menu?"
"No, we stopped serving it at 11."
"Well, we were seated before then, and had to wait 15 minutes for you to take our order."

"That's too bad, I can't help it."

Maybe it was an off-day for the server?  Maybe it was busy and she was running behind?  Maybe she's just not a good server?   Either way, it leads me to give 4 Bacons for food and affordability, but only 2 Bacons for service.  I mean, c'mon, it's not that hard to at least take people's drink orders within 15 minutes of them sitting down.  I might go back to Kenny & Zuke's again, when it's less-busy... or when I have a tonne of time to burn.

Stay sharp, kids

Jesse

Portland

Hey everyone! Long time no see, I must say. Being on the road makes updating this food blog a bit tough, especially when you're avoiding snakes and angry hobos. Anywho, to streamline things a bit, I won't be doing separate entries for each joint that we hit, unless if it's really worth it. So, here we go.... welcome to America, namely Portland, OR!

Fuller's

Cam and I arrived in the city around noon and got our stuff to the hostel. (Find out more at our other blog.) Both of us were famished, so we headed out in search of food. We came across a nice-looking diner on the corner of NW 9th Ave and Davis (136 NW 9th Ave), known as Fuller's. I likened it to a bigger and more classy Save on Meats Cafe. Only bar seating for about 20 people in this place, and that added a bit of flavour, I think.

So, we sat down immediately and were brought a couple of waters. We each ordered a coffee ($1.95 each, free refills) and began browsing the menu. It featured many of the things that you'd expect from a diner, ie. breakfast specials, french toast, burgers, etc. Cam and I decided that it was too late for breakfast, so we each ordered a burger, no fries. The service was amazingly fast and the servers themselves were a lovely bunch of folks. Coffee kept coming as soon as we got a bit low, and the burgers also came out in a matter of minutes. They were great! So full of toppings and fresh veggies. We scarfed them down in no time, finished our coffees and paid our bill, which only came out to about 12 bucks. Good show and 3.5 Bacons all-around!

Food Carts

Having been to Portland before, Cam was aware of some delicious and cheap food in the core of Portland. In a few spots, there are groups of street vendors serving up a multitude of food and delights. (Take a hint, Vancouver). Everything from Thai to burgers to Indian and Mexican. If you wanted it, you could get it from these places. Our first foray into the food carts was for lunch. Cam was going to get some curry, until he was given a sample of some sauce at a pulled pork booth. His mind changed in that moment and he ordered up a pulled-pork sandwich. Meanwhile, my heart was set on a grilled-cheese sandwich.... and then it happened... I fell in love. Yes, I found a booth that made burgers with grilled-cheese sandwiches AS BUNS. WHAT?! For 5 bucks, how could I refuse or resist? It was like heaven, minus the crappy parts. I'm sure that my heart stopped a few times in the midst of eating, but that's okay. Cam's sandwich blew his mind, among other things, I'm sure.

For our second run the following day, we returned to the same set of carts and chose a couple of new places. Cam finally got his Thai curry.

Meanwhile, I got... SURPRISE, a burger!

I'm going to have to give 4.5 bacons to these places. The prices were right and they didn't mess around, that's for sure.

Stay sharp, kids
Jesse