HOLY CHRIST ON A CRACKER, is shit ever awful right now. Weâve got a petulant sociopath at the helm of the free world, everyoneâs losing their health care and being deported, your rent got doubled, and youâre looking at another Valentineâs Day alone. All that âFighting the Powerâ wears down oneâs very soulâso go ahead, honey. Eat your feelings. Here are my top recommendations for temporarily numbing the god-awful pain of reality.
St. Jackâs Cream of Tomato Soup
Regular-ass tomato soup from a can would fit the bill, but St. Jackâs Crème De Tomate en Croute is like memories of your sweet grandma smiling at you through hazy sunlight, holding a freshly baked pie in her hands. But instead of a pie, itâs a tureen of creamy tomato soup with puff pastry baked on top, and instead of your sweet grandma, itâs an aggressively attractive waitperson. You gingerly poke your spoon through the gossamer layers of golden, flaky pastry and make a crumby mess all over the table, but then the server comes with a little crumb-scraper and gleefully makes all that bad mess go away. For a moment, you think about what life would be like if our country had a magical crumb-scraper to make all this bad mess go away. St. Jackâs, 1610 NW 23rd
Woodsman Tavernâs Pimento Buns
First of all, Woodsman has a whole menu section called âHot Buttered Buns.â Just let that set your heart at ease for a moment. You can get the crab, pimento, or beef and broccoli-cheddar (or all three!), but my moneyâs on the pimento bun. Itâs like one of those top-split lobster roll buns, all chewy and soft and crispy-edged, gilded with decoratively piped pimento cheese. Still feeling blue? They also have just a straight-up bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy. Everythingâs gonna be okay, baby. Woodsman Tavern, 4537 SE Division
Tadâs Chicken ân Dumplins
If you donât mind making the 25-minute drive, the chicken and dumplings at Tadâs are the edible version of someone stroking your hair and saying âshhhh.â You can gaze out at the Sandy River while you spoon warm, gravy-poached wads of dough and shredded chicken into your face. Perhaps youâll opt instead to have a big bowl of chicken livers in gravy, or if youâre the same particular amount of despondent as I am, youâll crave the liver and onions. Bonus: Thereâs a 70 percent chance you will be called âhonâ by at least one person in the restaurant. Tadâs Chicken ân Dumplins, 1325 E Historic Columbia River Hwy, Troutdale
Laurelhurst Marketâs Mac and Cheese
They also have shepherdâs pie, which brings us back to the aforementioned healing properties of mashed potatoes, but vegetarians will take solace in a dish of mac and cheese. It comes with a potato chip crust. In these desperate times, I like to add ketchup to my mac and cheese. (If Iâm being honest, I prefer mac and cheese with ketchup all the time, because sometimes itâs okay to eat as if a first grader is making the decisions.) Laurelhurst Market, 3155 E Burnside
A Giant Sack of Taco Time
While I would never deign to kick a Crunchwrap Supreme out of bed, I will always be, in my heart, a Taco Time girl. Their veggie burrito is my go-to: whole wheat tortilla with the expected beans, rice, cheese, iceberg, and tomatoes, plus sour cream andâget thisâsunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds! What a fun surprise. And where else can you find a foot-long tube of fried tortilla filled with shredded meat or beans (AKA the Crisp Burrito)? Plus, theyâre a Pacific Northwest-based chain, so you can almost convince yourself that youâre supporting a local business, which, letâs face it, is occasionally all you can muster. Taco Time, various locations
Chungdamâs Boodae Chigae
Sometimes you need to eat the pain away with a few friends, so you head on out to a dystopian mini-mall on 82nd and order a dish that was invented during the Korean War. Boodae chigae, or âarmy base stew,â is All of the Things in one bubbling hotpot: fiery broth, kimchi, Van Camp-style canned pork and beans, rice cakes, ramen noodles, tofu, bacon, hot dogs, Spam, American cheese, oh and what the hell, a handful of green onions to make everything all healthy. As you wade your way through, it dawns on you that this is a product of scary wartimes. This king of all hotpots serves three or four comfortably (or two very sad people), and itâs impossible to not feel a little bit okay after eating it. If youâre there late enough to order off the late-night menu (after 9 pm), you can get fried chicken and cheesy corn, making this a holy trifecta of good vibes. Chungdam Korean Fusion, 7901 SE Powell, Suite A1