Best Reuben PDX

Reuben's are quite possibly my favorite sandwich. My second favorite sandwich is a Cuban, which makes me question if a Reuben was named so to rhyme with it's Miamian sandwich cousin. A reuben is typically defined as a corned beef sandwich, topped with sauerkraut and melted gruyere cheese all between two slices of rye smeared with Thousand Island Russian dressing.  My favorite reubens are grilled enough so the bread has a nice crunch when you bite into it. Here is my list of my top four favorite reubens in Portland.
Note: I didn't take any of these awesome photographs. I stole them from yelp, urbanspoon, and the like. Please don't sue me.

4. Kenny & Zukes
1038 SW Stark St.
I used to order the reuben at Kenny & Zukes Sandwichworks, which has now turned into Kenny & Zukes Bagelworks (not to be confused with Kenny & Zukes Deli OR Kenny & Zukes Deli Bar). I'm now so confused with what each Kenny & Zukes location offers that I don't know where to find this delicious reuben anymore. This little number will set you back $5.75, by far the best deal reuben in town. Bonus: Comes with an incredibly crunchy pickle.

3. Guner
 527 SW 12th Ave.
Gruner calls their rueben a Gru-ben and it is delicious. This $11 baby comes with a vinegar based potato salad. Gruner is a German restaurant, so you bet your bottom dollar they know how to make a mean kraut.

2. Tasty & Sons
3808 N Williams Ave.
Although Tasty & Sons has my second favorite reuben in Portland, I've only had it once. Why? Because everything I've eaten at Tasty & Sons is the best of its kind, and it's hard to order a reuben again when there are so many other tasty concoctions on the menu begging to be ordered. This $10 sandwich comes with a generous portion of fries, which I instinctively pushed to the side in order to tackle the more important star of the show, the reuben. You cannot go wrong at Tasty, and their incredible food (and long lines) continue to blow me away.

1. Imperial
410 SW Broadway
I went to Imperial this past Sunday and was blown away by the best reuben IN THE WORLD, thus prompting me to author this blog entry. I should have known the 2005 James Beard Best Chef Northwest Award winner would do something delicious with his take on the Jewish sandwich staple. What stood out on this reuben to me was the kraut. Chef Vitaly Paley has foregone the typical green cabbage kraut for a beautiful bright red cabbage, and it is damn delicious. He uses an organic gruyere, which is so much creamier than a standard gruyere, lending itself to the likes of a fontina. The corned beef melts in your mouth, and is sandwiched between two toasty slices of Grand Central rye. For a (steep) $13, this little gem comes with a side of homemade potato chips.

Quotes

I just finished reading a book called "The Reach of a Chef: Professional Cooks in the Age of Celebrity" by Michael Ruhlman. A fantastic book and a must-read for anyone whose ever been sucked into The Food Network or wandered the shelves of Sur La Tab wondering how so many celebrity chefs got their own brand of cookware.  I loved this quote from the book about "finding" yourself in the kitchen:

"We've all got to eat.  A kitchen is a good place to be, almost always the best place in the house...  A place where you can't lie to yourself. Go to the kitchen.  Wipe down your counter till it shines.  Set out a heavy cutting board. Steel a paring knife and a chef's knife.  Gather your shallots, your parsley, your tomatoes, and the rest of your mise en place, and stand in once place and cook for a long time.  That's the greatest thing about a kitchen- it's guaranteed always to be there, will always be only and exactly what it is.  That's where greatness begins."

While I'm quoting, I might as well share a few quotes I found written on the walls of Delicatus, a favorite Seattle sandwich shop of mine.

"One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing, and devote our attention to eating"- Luciano Pavarotti

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well"- Virginia Woolf

"Life is too short for self-hatred and celery sticks"- Marilyn Wann

"Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond , cauliflower is nothing more but cabbage with a college education"- Mark Twain

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food"- Hippocrates

Guilty Food Pleasures

No matter how "foodie" I become, there will always be some guilty pleasures I secretly indulge in from time to time.  One can only eat organic and local for so long before they eventually crave chemical additives and foods tinted with colors seldom found in nature. Here are mine...

Boston Market mashed potatoes and cornbread- I forego any form of animal protein for these two side dish gems.  I'm not sure they even have Boston Market on the west coast.  It's probably a good thing for the sake of my waistline.  I'm sure the potatoes have more butter in them then Paula Dean's butter cake with buttercream frosting (terrifyingly enough, it is a real recipe of hers).

Australian licorice- Not to be confused with American licorice, Australian licorice is usually softer, thicker, and shorter than your average Twizzler. It comes in flavors like green apple, strawberry, and mango. The exotic flavors and packaging (not to mention- price tag) lead you to believe it's gourmet. Trust me, this shit is nothing but corn syrup and Red 40.  Why anything that doesn't taste like actual disgusting black licorice is called licorice to begin with is beyond me. But I'll continue to quietly purchase those puppies at Hudson News while on layovers for the rest of my life.

Cheeze-Itz- Tell me you can eat just one.

Chipotle- I'm not even ashamed about Chipotle. I'd rather eat at Chipotle than my favorite little hole-in-the-wall taco shack run by illegal immigrants (that's how you know it's good). Chipotle is delicious and I crave it nearly every day of my life. Lucky for my blood pressure, my boyfriend refuses to eat there so the only time I can indulge in one of Chipotle's sodium bomb burritos is when I visit my parents (my family is equally fond of Chipotle's deliciousness).

Red Baron frozen cheese pizza- This frozen pizza saved me from numerous hangovers in college. Everyone knows steamed veggies do nothing to save you from a night of bar hopping. It's probably all that saturated fat and bleached flour in Red Baron's products that did the trick.  I'm no frozen pizza aficionado, but for the sake of argument all those other pizzas in the freezer section suck compared to Red Baron. It's best eaten on the verge of being burnt, sitting in front of  re-runs of Keeping Up With the Kardashians with your girlfriends while contemplating what has become of your life.

What are your guilty food pleasures?
Time for my kale smoothie...

Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini

Oh, well hello again.  I've been stuck in the wettest month on record in Portland.  It's been rainy nearly every day save for a few precious sunny gems.  On the rare occasion the sun has come out lately, the whole city comes out of hibernation and soaks up as much Vitamin D as they can from that big, unfamiliar fire ball in the sky.

Two of my best friends braved the rain and came to visit me a few weeks ago.  We had such an amazing time playing tourist, catching up, gossiping, eating amazing food, and having one too many beers.

Ana, me, and Frances- my partners in crime

Ana with her "Old Dirty Bastard" donut at Voodoo

Chinatown drag show, about time I checked that off my bucket list

Hiking Multnomah falls

In other news, the Portland State University farmers market is once again open for business!  Zephyr and I picked up some amazing lamb and goat cheese and decided to grill for the first time of the year last sunny Saturday.  Although zucchini are far from in season, I couldn't resist trekking to Whole Foods to pick up this summer staple, even if they came all the way from Mexico. Sometimes you just need a little taste of summer when summer feels so far away.

Stuffed Zucchini 

*Makes 4 halves, so serves 2 or 4 depending on how hungry you are :)

1/2 cup couscous

3/4 cup chicken broth

2 medium sized-zucchini

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tomato, diced

12 pitted kalamata olives, diced 

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Slice zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out pulp. Place in baking dish skin side down and cook for about 12 minutes (alternatively, you could grill them!)

2. Heat chicken broth until boiling. Add couscous, stir, and remove from heat. Cover at let sit for five minutes or until couscous absorbs all the broth.

3. Meanwhile, squeeze as much water out of the zucchini pulp as possible. Sauté pulp with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and oregano over medium heat until heated through, 3 minutes

5. Combine couscous, zucchini mixture, tomato, olives, and feta in a bowl.  Stuff hollow zucchini boats with couscous mixture.

Lamb burger with goat cheese and roasted red pepper with couscous-stuffed roasted zucchini

Mardi Gras Jambalaya and Hurricanes

Happy mardi gras, yall!  Mardi gras holds a special place in my heart. Although raised below the Mason-Dixon line in Virginia, most people from the D.C. area hardly consider themselves southerners.  However, I was born in Jackson, Mississippi and spent summers in the muggy heat of Baton Rouge while visiting my grandparents growing up (I could have lived there myself had I been born just a year earlier).  My dad went to LSU and my sister to Loyola New Orleans.  I love the south.  I am lucky enough to have been to New Orleans a number of times, most memorably for Mardi Gras!

My sister, friends, and me on Bourbon St. holding a famous Hand Grenade in 2004

In my opinion, New Orleans' food is some of the best in the world.  I'll never forget the first time I had Beignets at Cafe Du Monde or my first Po Boy at Mother's Cafe.  My family loves cajun food so much that our first dog was named Gumbo and my parents' current yellow lab is named Beignet.

In honor of cajun country this year, I'm making my family recipe for Jambalaya.  I've added a few extra ingredients to this recipe, which was very basic when my mom gave it to me a few years back.

Jambalaya

1/2 lb andouille sausage

3 Tbs flour

2 medium onions, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 Tbs parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups rice

2 1/2 cups chicken broth or water

1/2 lb shrimp

1 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1. Brown meat.  Remove from skillet (leave the drippings in the pan)

2. Add flour and stir until dark roux forms

3.  Add onions, peppers, celery, parsley, garlic, cook until soft

4.  Add rice, broth (or water), salt and pepper, and shrimp. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.

5. Cover, simmer 1 hour or until rice is dry.  Stir in red pepper flakes, green onions, and sausage.  Top with lots of Louisiana hot sauce and bon appetit!

I served this with cast iron skillet cornbread and Hurricanes, the Crescent City's signature drink.  The most famous Hurricanes at Pat O'Briens are made with passion fruit. But seriously? Where the heck does someone buy that?  I don't even know what a passion fruit looks like. Here's an easier recipe: 

Hurricane

2 oz light rum

2 oz dark rum

1 oz grenadine

1 oz pineapple juice

1 oz lime juice

Shake all ingredients together and serve over ice.

“I'm not going to lay down in words the lure of this place. Every great writer in the land, from Faulkner to Twain to Rice to Ford, has tried to do it and fallen short. It is impossible to capture the essence, tolerance, and spirit of south Louisiana in words and to try is to roll down a road of clichés, bouncing over beignets and beads and brass bands and it just is what it is. 
It is home.” 
― Chris Rose, 1 Dead in Attic

White Bean Dip

I was going to make hummus the other night, when I blindly opened a pan of canellini beans instead of chickpeas.  Turned out to be a delicious mistake!

White Bean Dip

1  15 oz can of white canellini or kidney beans, drained

2 tablespoons of tahini

1/2 the juice of one lemon plus 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon garlic

salt and pepper to taste

GOOD olive oil (the expensive kind makes all the difference in this recipe)

Combine all ingredients except olive oil into a food processor or blender. Slowly pour in olive oil until the dip reaches desired consistency (for me it ended up being about 2 Tbs). 

Serve this dip with pita chips, bread, chips, or veggies!

Note: Tahini is sesame paste (although it has a much more of a watery consistency than what I consider a "paste"). It's sold in a jar like peanut butter.  It can be hard to find, but when in doubt- consult the shelves of Whole Foods, they have EVERYTHING. 

Vegas Round 3

Vegas lured me into its grip once again this weekend.  This time, we stayed at the Cosmopolitan, a relatively new high end hotel/casino.  It was SO NICE.  When I think of the Bellagio/Venitan or other pricy Vegas hotels all I think of are overpriced gaudy looking rooms.  The Cosmopolitan was none of these. Maybe pricy, but worth it.  I'm a self proclaimed hotel snob (don't blame me, blame my mom), and this place was perfection. Modern, chic, and no KIDS spotted anywhere in the hotel.  Don't get me started on the kids thing.  Why do so many people bring their kids to Vegas? HELLO it's called SIN city! Move your damn stroller out of my way, I'm trying to drink excessively and gamble away my savings.

View from our suite on the 68th floor

We planned our meals ahead of time, using Urbanspoon and Yelp to gauge the hottest spots.  Here are the highlights/dissapointments:

We'll start with the bad:

Todd English's OLIVES: Located in the Bellagio, this celebrity chef's restaurant overlooks the famous Bellagio fountains.  The fountain show happened to be going on when we sat down, which was awesome!  But the food didn't deliver quite like the fountains did.  I ordered a lobster carbonara which was terrible. The lobster was overcooked and the carbonara flavorless.  The service was rude and everything was way overpriced for what it was. 

And the GREAT:

Thomas Keller's BOUCHON:  Not only do some say Thomas Keller owns arguably the world's greatest restaurant (The French Laundry in Yountville aka wine country, California), but he also happens to have this cute french bistro in the Venetian hotel. You have to make reservations to French Laundry months in advance, not to mention shell out $300 per person for a meal there (not including wine).  Bouchon's brunch menu is a bargain in comparison. I ordered a croque madame with the best mimosa EVER to wash it down.  When in Paris with my family 15 years ago, my siblings and I lived on croque madame's and frites.  We were kids, with no appreciation for escargot, frog legs, or the like.  While my palate has become much more refined since then, I couldn't shake the desire for my favorite childhood French dish.  It was heaven on a plate. 

I stole this picture from Bouchon's Urbanspoon, this is exactly what it looked like. And tasted even better.

Jose Andres' JALEO: Jose Andres is a James Beard Award winner, Iron Chef, and Spanish tapas specialist. He owns several restaurants in my hometown of DC which I'd never been to (read: DC friends, GO!!)  Jaelo is one of his spots in Vegas, located in The Cosmopolitan.  What's great about tapas is you can try so many different things at once.  We got quite a few tapas including lightly battered eggplant drizzled in a honey reduction washed down with a delicious rose cava. Here were my favorites:

Paella- Jaleo is most famous for it's paella, which rotates nightly.  The night we went was a vedura, or vegetable paella

Warm brussels sprouts salad with apricots, apples, and Serrano ham.  

The star of the show in my opinion- braised veal cheeks with morels atop an olive oil potato puree.  Look up "melt in your mouth" in the dictionary, this picture will be there.

This round in Vegas was so fun and filling.  It's time to hit the gym HARD, not to mention live on canned soup for a few weeks to make up for such an expensive getaway!

Spicy Crab Linguine

The combination of spicy chiles with mint was one I wouldn't have put together before, but it works beautifully in this crab pasta dish. The best part of this recipe is that you can make it in under 20 minutes, what takes the longest is for the water to boil!  I am a self-proclaimed expert crab cracker. It's almost therapeutic to sit with a glass of white wine, listening to great music and cracking crab.  Am I crazy or am I crazy?

I used one medium sized Dungeness (straight from the Oregon coast, of course) to serve two, which was more than enough. Following is my version of Bon Appetit's recipe.


Spicy Crab Linguine (serves two)


8 ounces linguine (I used fresh whole wheat- makes all the difference)
olive oil
1 minced shallot
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 red jalapeños sliced into thin rounds
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus 2 teaspoons lemon zest
8 ounces cooked, shelled crabmeat
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, julliened 

1. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.

2.  Pour 2 Tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and stir until just soft, 3–4 minutes. Add garlic and 1 chile and cook about 1 minute.

3. Add 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice and 3 Tbsp. pasta cooking liquid to shallot mixture; add a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until liquid is almost evaporated, about 1 minute.

4. Transfer pasta to skillet and add 1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking liquid. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, tossing pasta or stirring with tongs, until liquid is almost evaporated about 2 minutes. 

5. Add the butter, 1 Tbsp. oil, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1 tsp. lemon zest, crab, half of mint. Stir pasta until butter melts.  If pasta looks dull, add olive oil until glossy. 

6. Divide between bowls; top with remaining 1 tsp. lemon zest and mint. Sprinkle with more lemon juice

• 

Happy New Year!

Ok, I admit it, I really lagged on blogging for a while there.  But it was the holidays!  Everyone is busy! Cut me some slack.  Here's a quick update of what's been going on since October:

I spent Thanksgiving with Zephyr's dad & family in San Antonio.  The warm(er) weather was a nice escape, and we enjoyed touring the River Walk and Alamo.

 My favorite part was making kolache- his family's Eastern European tradition.  We made a healthy version, but his adorable grandmother begged the whole time for more butter in the dough.  We filled the dough squares with apricot, cherry, and nut mixtures.  I got his grandmother to hand write me the recipe so we can carry on the family tradition (the full-fat version of course, as his grandma insisted)!

Early December brought a visit to Atlanta for my cousin's wedding.  It was a blast.  I absolutely adore being around my birth dad's side of my family, and it meant so much to me that Zeph finally meet them.

Cousins, sans Geoff, with the bride (yes, I know I the bride and I look more alike than my sister and I!)

I headed "home" for Christmas to D.C. later in the month.  I did a ton of cooking, and was most proud of the dessert I made for Christmas day.  A sour cream white cake, layered with peppermint cheesecake, topped with white chocolate mousse frosting a la Southern Living Magazine.  I don't care how long I've lived on the West Coast, I am a true southerner at heart, and will never give up my Southern Living magazine!

A messy cutting job, but delicious!

The biggest surprise of Christmas was a family trip to the Bahamas on the 26th.  It was so great to relax in paradise!

Dad, Geoff and I at the Atlantis aquarium

View from our hotel, the historic British Colonial Hilton in downtown Nassau. So beautiful!

Sipping a Bahama Mamma in the sand isn't a bad way to end another great year.

Happy 2012! Recipes to come!