Nostrana

Restaurant: Nostrana
Location: 1401 SE Morrison, Portland, OR
Date: September 28nd, 2009
Ordered: Insalata Nostrana
Cost: $9.00

I ate at Nostrana for a work meeting. It's got a great location in Southeast Portland with a good parking lot and easy accessibility. The inside is clean (but not sterile-feeling) with windows that make the place light up naturally.

Looking over the menu I hit on an instant problem that I often face when dining out: I don't speak whatever language they choose to use, so I often have little idea what I'm facing. I ended up going with the Insalata Nostrana, mainly because I could figure out that it was a salad.


The food arrived and I was quite pleasantly surprised. It was a wonderful salad with a house dressing that made it an entirely enjoyable meal. I'm not sure it's a place that I would frequent (a $9 salad was one of the less expensive items on the menu) but I was quite satisfied with what I had.

Bocci's on 7th

Restaurant: Bocci's on 7th
Location: 1728 SE 7th Ave, Portland, OR
Date: September 22nd, 2009
Ordered: Soup & Salad
Cost: $6.75

Bocci's, for me, is just a quick walk away from work, so I went there recently on a recommendation. I found a small, cozy restaurant with a personable and enthusiastic staff waiting. Sitting down at an empty table, I looked over the menu and - looking for a light lunch but finding mainly pastas - ordered the soup (a minestrone) and salad.


The order arrived quickly and I ate the bread and salad first while the soup cooled down. It was a good, small salad - exactly what I was looking for. The soup, once cooled, was also fairly delicious.

I don't have much to say about Bocci's; it was a good and I'll definitely go again (if nothing else, due to proximity.) It's worth checking out if you're in the neighborhood.

Aroy Thai Cuisine

Restaurant: Aroy Thai Cuisine
Location: 506 SW 4th Ave, Portland, OR 97204-2102
Date: September 21st, 2009
Ordered: Pad Thai
Cost: $6.95

I ended up at Aroy Thai Cuisine almost by accident, but I'm going to say that I'm glad I did. From the outside the restaurant is almost invisible; but for a small sign and a door tucked away from the street one wouldn't even know it was there. The inside presumes even less; it comes off as quite literally "a hole in the wall", with very modest furniture.


Let me also say that Aroy Thai Cuisine is definitely focused more on flavor than on presentation. When my Pad Thai arrived it was not impressive looking - not by any stretch of the imagination. The lime was literally a slice of lime, and the two shrimp that are traditionally included were buried within the meal.

But, and this is the most important part, it was delicious. Truly, honestly, good - and I wolfed it down faster than I'd have preferred to. It was a tattered book on a forgotten library shelf that you pick up, almost by accident, and find a magical story within.

So rest assured that I'll be going back. Maybe I won't go when I'm looking for atmosphere, but when I'm hunting for that hidden gem, you'll find me there.

Genie's Cafe

Restaurant: Genie's Cafe
Location: 1101 SE Division St, Portland, OR 97202
Date: September 16t, 2009
Ordered: BLT
Cost: $7.50

I ended up at Genie's in SE Portland having lunch with a friend. We went there with no idea of what to expect, only that "it came recommended". We sat down in the eclectic restaurant - and I say "eclectic" meaning "a bit of Portland hipster with a splash of Portland hippy thrown in for good measure" - and I perused the menu, immediately deciding on my old favorite, the BLT.


A short while later my BLT arrived with the side salad (note: no honey mustard dressing!) The salad was good enough, with delicious bleu cheese dressing, but the BLT was phenomenal. It was just the right amount of thick, juicy bacon without making me worry about having a heart attack on my way back to the office. The bacon was cooked "just right", the bread was nice and soft (versus overly toasty), and the lettuce and tomato were present but not overwhelming. Basically it was everything I look for in a delicious BLT. I was happy.

That recommendation that Genie's came with? It stands.

Nicola's Pizza

Restaurant: Nicola's Pizza
Location: 4826 N Lombard St, Portland, OR
Date: August 13th, 2009
Ordered: Nicola's Sausage and Peppers
Cost: $11.99

Looking at it from the outside, Nicola's seems like a somewhat run-down establishment, unimpressive in every possible capacity. Yet, inexplicably, the first time I saw it I thought, "I want to find out what's in there." I wasn't sure what to expect; I figured some bar & grill-type pizza joint or some such. Was I in for a surprise!

Walking into Nicola's is like opening to the door to a beat-up car and a well-kept, fine leather interior with all the latest comforts inside. There's a definite Italian theme (or perhaps just a theme that says "Italy") and it's a clean, pleasant, family dining establishment that actually has some class.

The menu is mostly pastas and pizza - kind of like the Olive Garden, but smaller, quieter, and with fewer birthdays. I ended up ordering "Nicola's Sausage and Peppers", which was essentially spaghetti but with large chunks of italian sausage and peppers mixed in.


And it was good. VERY good.

So that's all I have to report on Nicola's: it's a surprise, and a very good one at that. You can bet I'll be adding it to my "list of local restaurants to revisit"!

Dang's Thai Kitchen

Restaurant: Dang's Thai Kitchen
Location: 670 N State St, Lake Oswego, OR 97034
Date: July 15th, 2009
Ordered: Pad Thai
Cost: $9.00

Always on the prowl for good Pad Thai, I had dinner the other day at Dang's Thai Kitchen in Lake Oswego. A nice little place, I was immediately impressed by Dang's upon entering; it has a modern, classy feel to it - yet it's still pleasantly small, quiet, and inviting.


A period of time after ordering, I noticed that it was taking an unusually long time for our food to arrive. Just about the time I started to get truly hungry, we were delivered an appetizer plate of asian spring wraps, compliments of the house. It seems that we weren't the only ones to notice the delay. Well handled on their part!

The meal itself was quite delicious. Flavorful, plentiful, and nice to look at, everything was done well from the presentation to the food itself. I was quite impressed by Dang's, and will definitely go back again - given the opportunity.

The Sultan Cafe

Restaurant: The Sultan Cafe
Location: 1500 NW 18th Ave, Portland, OR 97209
Date: July 2nd, 2009
Ordered: Lamb Gyro
Cost: $6.99

Through extremely good fortune, I was introduced to The Sultan Cafe by a coworker. Upon entering, I went up to the counter and ordered the Lamb Gyro from a friendly Turkish gentleman that I'm guessing was the owner. I paid, and we managed to find seats despite how crowded the place was. So far everything seemed good, but I wasn't overly impressed.



Then our food arrived, and I took a bite of my gyro. That moment changed everything. Even thinking about that bite is making my mouth water and crave yet another gyro from The Sultan Cafe. It was that delicious!

I don't know what they did to it, but the lamb was so soft, tender, juicy, and flavorful that it literally was the best thing to happen to my mouth in months. My only regret is how quickly I devoured it because I wanted it to last longer.

I will definitely be going back to the Sultan Cafe, time and time again. I'm not sure I want to order anything else there, though, since that gyro was so amazingly good. It's a conundrum, that's for sure!