Category: corporate consumption

and one by one the nights between our separated cities are joined to the night that unites us

On By Emily KeithIn corporate consumption, new to me, new to youLeave a comment

I wake in the morning to the cracking sounds of metal on concrete. Demolition. Diesel engines. Hard Hats coordinating through specific directives, rapid shouts of construction, the high-pitched metronome of a truck in reverse. I don’t really mind, sometimes it’s nice to eavesdrop on industrial activity.

At night a group of drunkards stumbles past my bedroom window, reaching their way home from bars and booze, slurring a grocery list of topics only the inebriated discuss. They’re new here, rolling back and forth for the past 8 months. I don’t really mind, one day their repetition will break and they’ll walk home somewhere else; that can be a nice thought to think.

Everything is new here in my old neighborhood.

A few blocks West there are 3 new joints hawking fried chicken. To my immediate North there are FIVE NEW ESTABLISHMENTS SERVING PIZZA. I can’t complain, I love pizza.

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Pizza Maria is a small restaurant within a large building that once held a cooperative grocery called Natures, then Natures closed and the building sat empty for several years. Now you can wait in line to eat at multiple establishments on the first floor and/or live in a condo on the top three floors. There are buildings just like this being constructed every 3 blocks within a mile radius of my apartment.

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This is a cocktail that my friend ordered at Pizza Maria, she enjoyed it because she loves bourbon.

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This is my minty lemonade mocktail which I enjoyed because I was very thirsty and love lemonade.

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Here is a $9.00 cucumber salad which employs faro, sage, feta, olives and and a vinaigrette dressing. It’s actually a lot of food for two people so $4.50 per person is not a bad deal.

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This is a sausage pizza. The owner of Pizza Maria moved here from NYC where he worked for Thomas Keller. He wanted to move here and open a restaurant because people in Portland have important conversations about food, at least that’s what he said in an interview. I can’t disagree, Portland is a nice place to talk about food.

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There are only two important facts about pizza:

pizza is good

and for everyone.

step into the light, poor Lazarus

On By Emily KeithIn corporate consumption, ephemera, libations, PortlandLeave a comment
Lela's Porch
Lela’s Porch

The triumphant return of eating lunch at my desk – Lela’s Bisto on NW 23rd sells top rate banh mi with fresh salad sides. They also make fizzy house sodas.

the traditional
the traditionalist
spicy tamarind and a caramel shortbread quarter
spicy tamarind and a caramel shortbread quarter

Other days I circle the district on foot (inspired by “Wanderlust” a brilliant book authored by Rebecca Solnit) stopping at the library, heading South to Saint Patrick’s, ambling by the re-purposed grocery carts and suffering under the 405 bridge, eventually procuring lunch at the Q19 carts.

zucchini tacos from el diablitp and sunshine
zucchini tacos from el diablito and sunshine

After dark I get down to business, most recently at the new Ava Gene’s, sister of The Woodsman, on SE Division.

love makes you feel 10 feet tall
love makes you feel 10 feet tall

This is a Zimmerman concoction of Gin, Pisco, Aperol, Punt e Mes, Grapefruit Peel. I feel like it should be served in a coupe but I also admit to being newly and completely bored by cocktail menus. So I did what any modern mortal would do when faced with indecision and ambivalence, I doubled down, ordered another pre-fab cocktail.

Light's Out
Lights Out

Zacapa Centenario, Becherovka, Bitters, Black truffle. What a broody drink, of course I enjoyed it but it didn’t shoot me to the moon the way a recent dealer’s choice at Teardrop did. That’s the night I learned pineapple juice, maple tinctures and liquids that have “shrub” in the title can CHANGE LIVES.

I’m not quite ready to discuss the food at Ava Gene’s, I veer a bit further from indecision towards confusion on that topic.

marble crypt
marble crypt

I am decisively decided on Ava Gene’s restroom facilities. Transcendent rooms that feel like sacred spaces, completely covered in marble, a balmy 45 degrees, almost completely dark save for a few small lights near the basin. A peaceful tomb-like quality. A  proper antique soap carafe that you turn over in your hands. Amazing design. Whether you stop by for a 5 course meal, or a single cocktail, make sure to excuse yourself for a moment.

Up Next: I spend 3 days overdosing on Vitamin E to have a sense of smell for 48 hours. The last time I did this was nearly 10 years ago and I learned that old books have a smell. Game changer. I have various Tour Guides for the majority of this project but there is one epic experience that is so crucial, so central to my philosophy of food and drink, it is a mission I must face as God intended, alone.

The Berkeley Diet

On By Emily KeithIn corporate consumption, unsolicited adviceLeave a comment
A blackboard in China, pretty much spot on.

For several years Aaron asked me questions about the time I spent living in Berkeley, CA.  I have lots of interesting stories about my time in the East Bay but he was mostly interested in the food commerce.  You see, Berkeley has several fast food restaurants but none of them are drive-throughs. You can stop by a McDonalds, if you insist, but you have to get out of your car to do so.  Exactly two years ago Aaron and I started the “Berkeley Diet” it consists of not siting in drive-throughs and, by extension of that, abstaining from fast food.

One of my favorite responses to the “Berkeley Diet” came from a friend who exclaimed, “Not even Bojangles?!?” No, not even Bojangles.

It’s not a weight loss plan, clearly one can consume equal amounts of crap in the privacy of their kitchen. It’s about not sitting for your food, and not indulging in food that came from a large cardboard container that sat in a warehouse in the Midwest for who knows how long.  It’s also about not risking the chance of being in a drive-through line behind a man in a Cadillac when he experiences some kind of coronary/diabetic episode and passes out in line with his car running. That really happened to me, true story.