Please understand, my people put up pickles. My Pop laid a heavy ceramic plate over his endless crock of bread & butters all the years I was blessed with his presence. Every year I grew stronger, the lid was easier to raise. His old vessel is now an heirloom.
Apollo’s Light
I have tested many iterations of the October 22nd NYTimes sandwich including Hemingway’s preferred combo of peanut butter, mayonnaise, olives, and raw onions (one of the many reasons he is My Man, I never smell his breath.)
Persephone and Despoina
I originally intended to write this post as part of my ‘take a deep breath and make a _________ sandwich’ series but life moves quickly and now I am more preoccupied with the concept of Taking Care. Put care into people, put care into food. The young pickle you taste-test in October will live to win an award next February. Your friends are your ancestors, your creator.
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 traditionalistspicy 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 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
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.
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
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.
I’m rattling around Alphabet Town these days. My new professional gig provides a vantage point for the big possibilities in life that can so often dampen and darken if you stand out in the elements too long or turn the volume too low.
“do do du dut do do du dut” – Suzanne Vega
Today I dropped into the Pearl District for lunch at Byways Cafe. I listened to “Left This World” by La Sera on my headphones, volume all the way up, and I thought about New Things, Old Things, and Things I Haven’t Seen Yet. These concepts are all around me as I swim upstream – gathering strength for the next invertebrate drift.
For Now, You Are New
At 2:00pm on a Wednesday Byways Cafe is as locals-only as Yur’s Tavern up the street. I chatted with a few people at the counter about our respective books and gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the awesome interior.
You Are Exactly As You Should Be
I settled into one of my main Life Skills, ordering.
You Are An Arnold Palmer It Is Too Early For John Daly
Whatever the importance of ordering as a Life Skill, it’s infectious. The two people on either side of me replicated my selections without hesitation.
Multnomah Melt – You Are Fresh Fruit
Twice grilled Challah, smoked turkey, ham, havarti, red onion, avocado. This is about as perfect a sandwich as I can imagine. My Life Skill brethren and I jawed into this serenely cloudy lunch, melty and giddy. The waitress behind the counter beamed while espousing how good three Multnomah Melts smell when lined up together.
At the end of The Hudsucker Proxy, the movie responsible for the origin of the post title, Moses The Clock Man shoves a broomstick into the gears of a large clock allowing time to stop and the hero of the story to live; not only to survive, but to commune with an Angel of Advice. Life braces and the weather keeps falling. On my terms, this is exactly what Peace is about. For the past few weeks the Hudsucker finale has played over and over, both waking and sleeping, on the Super 8 reel in my brain.
Whoever my Moses is, wherever the realm my Moses inhabits, whatever Moses had to shove in the grinding gears of my life to keep me from squishing myself, to suspend me in truth and grace; I am deeply and extraordinarily thankful.
May we all have lunch every Wednesday.
*a very special birthday to my best friend extraordinaire, and Clock Man Contender, Mr. John Waggoner Junior.*
bunny bread surprise 