I’m going to say this: I do not believe that I’m a foodie. Many friends and acquaintances would surely disagree, but I think that somewhere in the definition of this gastronomic subculture, I begin to diverge. I’m not sure where the deviation takes place, but I can tell you that I do not necessarily feel akin to those folks I see at the table beside me, talking breathlessly about a particularly deft risotto, or a baguette they would kill for from some small Parisian café, or “goodness isn’t the rillette so great here but so not as great as the place where we ate this weekend and oh I need a picture of this salad and have you ever eaten at…”
Who knows, maybe I’m a self-hating foodie. Maybe I feel threatened. Maybe I’m just a grumpy bastard who’d rather not be distracted by the flash photography from the down the banquette while trying to savor something particularly lovely. Maybe it’s just the word that sets me on edge—when I was working as an intern at Portland Monthly then food editor Camas Davis had issued a moratorium on the term. How about good old gastronome? Or hedonist? Or gourmand? Or glutton? Oh! Feedonist? Fuck it…
Don’t get me wrong. I do not disdain the foodie. I like their pluck, drive, commitment, and disposable income. They do what they do for love. I do what I do for love and a paycheck. The fact is I admire the more aggressive eaters in the city and the blogs and forums they’ve created as a labor of love. Portlandfood.org collects an opinionated and intelligent membership that discusses the finer points of Portland dining in minute, enlightening, and often hilariously viscous detail. Portland Food and Drink, is helmed by mystery man Food Dude, who is more than willing to spill a couple thousand words for one well-considered food review. I’m actually surprised that his identity remains a secret, because if I ate as much for each review as he does, you’d be able to recognize me from space. And those are just the two go-to sites. That’s not mentioning such favorites as Guilty Carnivore, Food Carts Portland and a myriad of others.
Although I eat widely and often throughout Portland, I’m only one man; so, even though I’m constantly dining out, there are many many dishes in the city that I haven’t tried, or missed in the near constant barrage of openings and new restaurant reviews. And though I’d expect you, dear Blogtownies, to read my review before you trundle off into the interwebs to read the opinions of those who disagree with me, I consider most Portland food blogs and forums (and the… ahem… feedonistas that create them) an essential part of discovering what food means to our city.
To that end, I’d like to draw your attention to pdxPLATE, and their list of “100 Things to Eat and Drink in Portland.” It’s a pretty astounding list, and one that goes farther afield than many would be willing to go. What’s nice is that the list draws from a tight group of forum members who have ensconced themselves as regulars in various restaurants and ethnic food scenes throughout the city, and the strength of that experience is fairly clear. I also like that I can agree with many of their recommendations (a good thing when I consider actually eating my way through this list—woof). I’ll post the first 25 after the jump, (click here for the rest). But before you get too hungry. I’m curious to know what you think they left off (I, for one, think Simpatica is an egregious omission). I’m also kind of hoping this will set off a “100 Things” food blog/forum arms race. Because it can only mean that we all eat better.
The first 25 things…
# 50 Plates – dirty rice “beignets”
# Alba Osteria – tajarin with lamb sausage ragu
# An Xuyen – Chinese sausage banh mi
# Andina – “5 Elements” ceviche
# Apizza Scholls – apizza amore
# Asian Station – xiao long bao soup dumplings
# Aybla – super gyro
# Bar Mingo – polpettine
# Barista – vac-pot coffee
# Bastas Trattoria – razor clams
# Beast – foie gras bon bon (charcuterie plate)
# Besaw’s – Uncle Earl’s famous bloody mary
# Best Baguette – Saigon bacon banh mi
# Biwa – Biwa ramen
# Broder – smoked trout hash
# Brooklyn Park Pub – a whole bunch of whiskey
# Bun Bo Hue – bun bo Hue dac biet
# Bunk Sandwiches – pork belly cubano
# Byways Cafe – corned beef hash
# Cafe Nell – chorizo and clams
# Cava – steak frites
# Chennai Masala – dosas
# Clyde Common – sweetbread ravioli
# Cool Moon Ice Cream – kulfi ice cream
# Country Cat – grits and gravy
Good call; forgot about that one.
Edit: Cava out, Simpatica in.
Thank you Patrick THANK YOU!
I want to slap people when I hear the term foodie – ‘Oh, YOU like to EAT good FOOD? HOW UNIQUE!’
If a Portland, OR publication saw fit to hire you to eat food and then write about it for a living, you are a foodie. There really isn’t any room for argument here. Just like there are different kinds of Mormons, ice cream and douchebags, there are different kinds of foodies. Not all of them blog photos of every meal they eat, or ostentatiously coo over [insert ingredient known only to foodies]. Just accept it.
And thanks for posting the list, I wouldn’t have seen it otherwise.
I’ve had about a third of the stuff on this list.
I’m just goin to come out and say it; Apizza Schools if fucking over-rated. There is better pie in this town. Just because Tony B. ate there and it’s been on some TV shows doesn’t make it awesome or worth the wait or the price.
PAC: you, sir, are no foodie.
PDX plate, on the other hand, is the quintessential foodie site. They are knowledgable and well-travelled, though.
I’ve got to raise issue with the complete absence of beer from this list. That’s all.
The editor/publisher of PDXPlate does not drink/like beer. Whiskey on the other hand…
I’m over the foodie term. Ruth Reichel the grande dame from Gourmet declared war on it on what, like 2001, so you know it’s time for a comeback. Like the words feminist or the N-word, or F.A.You Know What. Who the F-Cares whatever other people think?
If you like food, and like to read, think and talk about it then you are a foodie or or gourmet/gourmand or whatever you want to call it. Some people might just say you are French/Spanish/Italian/Chinese/or Thai, cause that is their culture’s number one past time. I guarantee as that one crazy Cajun chef woulda said. Where’s the shame in that? You don’t need to call yourself a “foodie” or anything else, Nor do you have to accept others calling you that, nor anything else.
But you know know, sticks and stones can break bones but foodie words just taste delicious. Plus, I’d rather spend time hunting out that awesome lamb BBQ taco truck in deep SE, or looking for real stone ground grits from Ayers Farm or putting that first sweet-as-sin Hood River strawberry in my mouth which was better than losing my virginity with a super stud while on E during high-school prom. Yeah, it was.
Not into the “cult of the pizza” either btw. It’s a slice of FUCKING PIZZA IN CASE YOU NEEDED REMINDING. THEY DO IT MORE AND BETTER IN OTHER PLACES EVERY DAY WITH NO HYPE. But I do like A Pizza Scholls, still. My take, Portland has great food, but overall we are still a fairly adolescent culture in general that needs to **** over feel, over define, and over express*** ourselves in general, so it fits that our food culture fits into that equation. Kind of like the goth kids in my study hall.
Of course I had a wonderful dinner of Jamon Serron, tortilla Espanola, migas with poached eggs and gazpacho for dinner washed down by copious amounts of Rosado (you would have never guessed!) so that’s just the devil foodie in me talking. But I have to say, Whole foods sucks ass. No farro, no decent Chiorizo, and no Jamon Iberico or even Jamon Serrano. BAH. I call BS on their over priced faux healthy foodie empire. No farro? A wonderful ancient whole grain filled with fiber and vitamins, You have to be kidding me.
Still, whatever. I stand by my claim: Good Food For the Masses with the Food Carts and Urban Edibles and the plenty of cheap ass Asian and Hispanic Groceries in Portland. Thank the F God cause otherwise this place would really suck.
And word, we foodies sure can hold our liquor. That’s a bonus.
Simp = Pimp = Chicken and Waffles.
I’ve given up fighting the word “foodie”. I don’t like the connotations of someone who cares more about appearances than substance, who is obsessed with “the next big thing”, etc, etc. But it works well enough. The hell with it. I always preferred “food geek”.
PAC if you’re not a foodie, then you’re a poseur. Decide which you’d rather be. 😉
Thanks for the link.
@ CBF & Graham
“Just a slice of pizza”? I wish my bustline wasn’t approaching yours, CBF, or I’d be eating that “over-hyped” pizza a lot more often — along with a lot of the other great pies in this town. I don’t understand what “just a slice of pizza means”, though. Is pizza inferior to ham and eggs, especially if called a tortilla con jamon?
I wish people would recognize that generally what they mean when they say something is over-hyped is really that they’re offended that other people like it more than them.
I’ve long believed that once you reach a certain level of execution and ingredients that the question of how good something is becomes more about your personal preferences than about anything more objective (or based in tradition, standards, etc.) Apizza Scholls — along with Nostrana, Ken’s, Al Forno Ferruzza, Tastebud, Apizza Stayton, and Firehouse — makes an excellent pie in its tradition, with top quality ingredients and execution. For me, it’s my favorite among all those. It just fits my palate better. Which is why I had “Tony B” go there. And having eaten most of the other pies in its tradition in NY, I can say that, no, others don’t do it better regularly every day. We’re lucky to have them here.