Fun and/ or fast Food, Portland

Just of the trendy corner area of E. Burnside and 28th Street is Tapalaya, a place where you can eat all the mudbugs you want, and then a bunch of other tasty morsels served tapas, small plate style. There is live music on selected evenings. Chicken liver brouchettes, crab deviled eggs, pulled pork sandwiches, fried oysters...for wine had an Oregon Tempranillo, but it was not flavorful enough to stand with those powerful and spicey foods.

Salvador Molly's is by far our favorite place in town for dinner. Cuba, Carribbean, African, Spanish and Hawiian food all in one! Casual dinning, fun atmosphere, great food. Nothing like I've ever been to before.
The decor ranges from carribean fun, beach toys to an Velvis wall (Velvet Elvis).
Staff are great, they make us feel like friends when we come in. The main menu has nothing but wonderful foods, but the real gems are the specials.
I can't say enough wonderful things about this place.
FYI, expect to toss your peanut shells on the floor and drink a couple mochitos (sp?).

Favorite Dish: Favorites - Famous Kalua Mojo Pork, Tamarindo BBQ Ribs, Palm Ceasar Salad, the onion rings (beware HUGE), lime chicken soup, any of the bread puddings, and anything that is the special of the week.
Be adventurous, it is great!

Mother's is a great place to grab breakfast, lunch or dinner while downtown. Considered comfort food, so you'll see a french toast, mac and cheese etc.
Special thing about it, every month they have a "Mom" of the month guest menu from area (or outside) chefs.
Great service here.

Favorite Dish: My favorites include the french toast covered in corn flakes, which is beyond words.
The French press coffee is great as is the standard bacon and eggs.
Dinner, I fall for the meatloaf or chicken and dumplings. You can't really go wrong.

Tillimook is a small coastal town that is known for their dairy products. High quality and taste. They expanded to a handful of ice creameries around the Portland area.
Most have an attached diner, but no matter how good the cheese it, doesn't cover the bad burger beneath it.
You go here for the ice cream.

Favorite Dish: So many flavors, so good. My favorite is the plain vanilla bean or chocolate, but they have some specialty flavors like peanut butter fudge and german chocolate that are truly outstanding.
Better than any ice cream at B.R. or Coldstone.

I almost don't want to review the Montage because I grew up in cajun country, and though the cajun food there is not bad, it just isn't done right. That having been said, I feel the need to mention this place because it is one of the only non-pub/24 hour hotcake house places to get something to eat in Portland after 1 AM (open til' 4AM Saturdays!). That, and I don't think I've ever had authentic cajun food outside of Louisiana. The Montage is a classy for a hipster restaurant located underneath a bridge. The service is intentionally (sometimes seeming contrived) crass, screaming your orders to the bar. It is heavy on the ambiance, and a good place for a date. (Hey, I've listed one!) Though loud and not very intimate.

Favorite Dish: They have a very interesting menu, even serving Alligator and frog's legs linguini! They are best with the simple stuff. The cheesecake is great.

1 more image

This is a great place specializing in providing great, well-made food quickly with an emphasis on local products and at reasonable prices. It is a deli and also has informal in-house eating. It is especially great for lunch and breakfast but stays open 'till about 7:30 in the evening. One can quickly grab excellent food, salads, fritattas, chilis, soups, sandwiches, etc., along with other deli-type things.

Downtown Portland has a nice array of great street food of various types and ranging all the way up to excellent, fresh gourmet salads and more, plus hot dogs, Mexican food, etc. Much of this is in food carts parked on the edges of parking lots such as those along Alder near 10th.

This is one of the little food carts on the street in downtown. It has excellent salads and soups, all prepared extremely well with excellent, fresh ingredients. Moreover, it's cheap and fast because it's a food cart.

Tucked in between the strip of rock and roll clubs and bars off Burnside lies one of the few late night places to eat after the bars close. Voodoo doughnuts serves all of us late nighters who crave a quick snack at two forty five in the morning, but don't want to drive all the way out to the Hotcake House. The Roxy is always an option, but sometimes you just want to avoid the Andy Warhol crowd and get something quick and without all the drama. Voodoo has normal doughnut fare, but they top them with all kinds of great treats. Cocoa Puffs, Nyquil, Peanut butter and jelly, just about anything you can think of...OK... Trust me, it tastes alot better than it sounds....I'm guessing many stoners were put to task in creating the menu. They also serve Stumptown coffee and teas. Oh yeah, and you can get married there. The place is practically a closet, but if things get too crowded, you can go outside.

Favorite Dish: I'm trying to get them to start making fried Snickers bars. But the cocoa puff doughnut is my standby until then. The Old Dirty Bastrd and the maple bacon doughnut are also great.

This is a sports bar on the west coast. Sports start early out there due to the time difference and makes for a great start to the day.

Favorite Dish: I had the German Breakfast. Went well with baseball at about 11am.