The Great Lost Bear celebrates their 30th anniversary this week. Photo: greatlostbear.com
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
Last week, What's On Tap visited Portland, Ore., one of America's top craft beer cities. But there's another Portland on the opposite coast of the country that deserves recognition, in the great state of Maine. Despite a population that ranks 40th in the nation, the state manages to hold its own in the suds department, and is home to such well-known craft brewers as Allagash, Atlantic, Sea Dog and Shipyard.
Boasting more than 60 taps from more than 40 different brewers nationwide, perhaps the most recognizable brew-focused Portland watering hole is the Great Lost Bear. This week, on Sunday, June 28, the pub will be celebrating its 30th anniversary.
"We started adding micro brews in 1986. At that point we only had six beers on draft," says president and co-owner Dave Evans, explaining the transition to a focus on craft beers. The pub broke the 60 tap barrier about six months ago after adding some dedicated Allagash lines.
Evans insists that the Bear is more about having a great bar than about just having great beers. "We also have PBR in cans," he says. "We try to get every beer patron in the world, and we still sell more food than beer."
The Green Dragon in Portland, Oregon. Photo: mrzarquon/Flickr
A weekly look at the draft selection in beer-friendly bars across the country.
According to the past twoweeks' worth of WOT, Portland, Ore., might be the most neglected What's On Tap city. And what neglect! Portland has regularly been regarded as one of America's top beer towns, snagging top honors in a recent online poll that beer legend Charlie Papazian put together.
This week, Portland's Green Dragon gets some much deserved attention. It was named after Boston's original Green Dragon Tavern, which was dubbed "the headquarters of the Revolution" due to the proclivity of many rabble-rousing Colonial American groups to congregate there. Proprietors of this modern Oregonian iteration promote relaxation, not rebellion, with a great draft selection that includes a number of hard to find brews, a chill atmosphere and a large selection of bar games.
Last year, the Green Dragon was purchased by Rogue Ales, but that hasn't changed its commitment to offering a unique range of beers. Assistant Manager Samantha Sugar (who calls herself the "Beer Gazelle") tells us the Dragon still aims for that "neighborhood bar appeal" with an always rotating selection of beers.
Three in particular -- Pot Pie, Salad Sandwich and Noodle Soup -- have turned his head. A pro freelance shutterbug turned urban chicken farmer, he has devoted a blog to their adventures (and misadventures) called Three Chicks a Day that will break your heart with cuteness.
It all started when a friend introduced Elliott to home-raised eggs -- "definitely better than store-bought" -- four years ago. When he and roommate Chrissy Morgan finally adopted three dewy little critters last week, he decided to snap their portraits daily until they are old enough to move outside in about four weeks. The blog features photos with brief notes about the chicks' modeling preferences: Noodle Soup, for example, is a "strutter."
Elliott is among a growing number of city dwellers from coast to coast building coops in their yards. They are holding social events and even chat groups where forums range from incubating and hatching eggs to lively discussions about predators and pests.
In Portland, Ore., where he lives, three chickens are the legal limit without having to obtain a permit. With the blessing of his landlord, a teacher who found the idea adorable, he began building a coop and enrolled in a weekend-long seminar called Chicken Fest at a local nursery. Classes included Chicken 101, coop-building and chicken health and boy, was it popular: "I went to one class and there must have been 30 people [there]."
The first time I encountered latte art in person was at Jim and Patty's in Portland, OR. It was December 2004 and I was out in my hometown, visiting my parents. When I visit them, I make a point of slurping down as much good Portland coffee as possible and Jim and Patty's is always one of my favorite stops. I walked up to the counter, ordered a latte and was totally mesmerized as the guy running the espresso machine made the foam resemble a fallen leaf with a couple flicks of his wrist.
These days, there are many people who spend their days elevating the combination of coffee and milk into the highest form of impermanent loveliness. Check out the video above for some amazing work. For more, check out this amazing Flickr set.
Artisan cookie company Two Tarts has taken Portland by storm, baking up tiny cookies with big flavor.
When it comes to baking cookies, the protein quantity in the flour you use it crucial. Too little, and shortbread loses its signature charm.
This summer, the Montavilla Farmers' Market has a new addition, the Market Chefs. Each Sunday, Kelly Myers and Kathryn Yeomans cook their way through a number of recipes, helping people learn what to do with their summer produce. Check out their okra recipe.
It's fall, but don't think you have to say good bye to the tropical fruit of summer quite yet. Check out the big, green Keitt mangoes for a final hit of the hot season.
When cherry season arrives, I go a little crazy. I have been known to eat a pound or two and call it a meal. I just got an email last night from one of my favorite u-pick farmers in New Jersey saying that their cherries are ripe and the blueberries are coming in.
This image from Mike (who lives in my hometown of Portland, OR. Woo hoo!). It makes me hungry just looking at it and now I think I have to find some time this weekend to go get myself some cherries. Thanks Mike, for adding your picture to the Slashfood Flickr pool.
It's a good weekend for attending a food festival if you:
a) are a hipster of the American Northwest b) love wine c) have never attended a crawfish boil d) are hungry
If you, like me, find yourself nodding emphatically at these criteria, read on! This weekend offers food festivals sprinkled across the country, promising some of the most interesting and delicious foods I've seen in a while.
He thought he was heading towards Alice Waters' landmark restaurant, Chez Panisse, but instead Chef Marco Shaw of NE Portland's Fife Restaurant found himself captured by the relative ease and peace of Portland (not to mention a thriving restaurant scene).
Rianne Buis lived in Portland for several years and found herself deeply addicted to the Irish Soda Bread from Grand Central Bakery. A move to Seattle left her without a soda bread source and so she determined to recreate Grand Central's version in her own kitchen.
In the Mix offers info on local fundraiser, Take Back the Tap, on whether parenting styles can raise a child's risk of being obese and rounds up some happy hour deals.
What could be better than using up your St. Paddy's Day leftovers in a corned beef quesadilla.
I picked up this magazine-style cookbook when I was in Portland, during my bi-yearly visit to the bins (the as-is Goodwill Outlet in SE Portland that sells nearly everything by the pound) for $.50 (the books are just about the only things that don't go by the pound). My edition of the The American Homes: Meals in Minuteswas printed in 1964, by the publishers of The American Home magazine (which was headquartered in a building 13 blocks from my apartment here in Philly).
The thing that's fun about this cookbook is that it is a snapshot of a time in American cooking that has since past. I contains recipes for things like "Make-Ahead Frankfurter Casserole" and "Tongue Noodle Supreme." However, tucked among the kitschy and slightly revolting are some really useful and tasty-sounding recipes, including a well-explained and fairly authentic version of Osso Buco. Another useful element of this book is that it prints calories and information about the vitamins contained in each dish under the recipe. I'm fairly certain that they were probably one of the first to be publishing that sort of data back in those days.
Scattered among the recipes are also a variety of tips and tricks for making food look more lovely and for getting the most out of your leftovers. I'm a particular fan of the tip on page 60 that suggests a good way to heat up leftover rice, spaghetti or veggies. They say that you should place the food on a piece of aluminum foil and then cup the foil up around the food, making sure to leave the top open. Then place it in a saucepan with a small amount of boiling water in it and steam for ten minutes or so, until the food is well-heated. Not a bad tip for these days, especially if you are trying to reduce your dependence on the microwave.
When I was at the farmers market on Saturday with Sarah, I picked up a couple pounds of gorgeous-looking beets, without much of a plan other than they called out to me. Yesterday afternoon around 3 pm, they started to talk to me from the vegetable drawer and so I put a pot of water on the stove to boil them up. I had picked up a package of chevre at Trader Joe's and I started to imagine a beet and goat cheese salad with red onion, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
While I was in the middle of making some relatives showed up and my cooked beets spent about an hour gently cooling in their skins on the kitchen counter. When I finally got back to them, they slipped out of their skins easily. I cut them into half moons, tossed them with some great olive oil that somehow wandered into my parents' kitchen, the crumbled chevre, some slivered and soaked (in attempt to make them a little less pungent) red onion, a little balsamic, a bit of cracked black pepper and some salt.
I had intended to top it with some toasted walnuts, but people came in and started eating it before I got to that step. Instead I just cut off a hunk of sourdough from a loaf I bought at New Seasons earlier in the day and scooped up a plate of beet salad for myself. They were some of the best beets I'd ever had, sweet and earthy and so tender. If you have some beets laying around, this is a great way to make them appeal to a large swath of people, as no one who has passed through the house yet has been able to say no to it.
Saturday morning I met up with sometimes Slashfooder Sarah Gilbert and her youngest son at the Portland Farmers Market. It was cold and rainy (normal for this time of year in Portland) but that didn't stop us from first taking a loop of the whole market to see what was being offered before starting to buy in earnest. It was the first time I've been to this market and I was totally awed by what I found. I thought that we were doing pretty well in Philly with our Headhouse Square Market, but Portland had put us totally to shame.
I tried to be restrained in my buying, knowing that my mom had already the bulk of the holiday food shopping and I won't have that many opportunities to cook before I head back to Philly on the 29th, but I still managed to fill the reusable bag I brought with me and spend around $20 on some of the most gorgeous produce I've seen in a while. I was particularly taken by the mountain of turnips you see above. There was something about the freshness and sheer abundance that seemed to embody the best qualities of a farmers market.
Sadly, it was the last Saturday for the Portland market until spring. Thankfully, it will be open again when I get out this way again during the summer. I can't wait!
I turned my browser to the New York Times Dining and Wine section yesterday morning and was startled to discover that the headlining story was about the burgeoning restaurant movement in my very hometown of Portland, OR. As I began to read, I was totally delighted to discover that the very first restaurateur they mentioned and then quoted was none other than my cousin, Andy Ricker. Forgive me the familial pride, but I'm bubbling over with excitement that what started as just a little Thai take-out shack in SE Portland has become enough of a city institution to merit a mention in country's newspaper of record.
Oh, and if you happen to get an opportunity to go to Pok Pok, make sure to have the fish sauce glazed wings. It's been nearly ten months since I had my last taste and I still dream about them.
The newest issue of Cooking Light, which is their 20th anniversary issue, has the magazine's choices for the top 20 cities in the US, based on 15 criteria that they feel embody their "Eat Smart, Be Fit, and Live Well" philosophy. They looked at fitness, health and exercise data from the Centers for Disease Control, the number of parks and recreation areas (and how often they're used) from the Trust for Public Land, restaurant ratings from the Zagat Survey and James Beard Foundation, and the USDA's farmers markets listings. Everything was evened out on a per capita basis and the cities with the most of everything made the top cut.
One of the top ten cities will be featured each month in the magazine this year, so readers will have access to information about all the things that got the city their ranking.
1. Seattle, WA 2. Portland, Ore. 3. Washington, D.C. 4. Minneapolis, MN 5. San Francisco, CA 6. Boston, MA 7. Denver, CO 8. Milwaukee, WI 9. Philadelphia, PA 10. Tucson, AZ
Would you say that you love donuts? Even if your answer is "yes" and the employees at your local Dunkin' Donuts have your order ready and waiting for you every morning, you probably don't come close to the donut-love of Blognut. Not only does he blog about doughnuts, but actually took a trip across the country, from New York to Portland, OR, to get his wedding vows (with his wife, not a donut) renewed at Voodoo Doughnuts, one of the best donut shops in the country. And not only did he trek out to Voodoo, he blogged the whole experience - including what seems to be every donut on their menu. He and his wife visited Voodoo at least 5 times in one weekend, including stopping in three separate times on their last day in the Pacific Northwest. Multiple donuts were consumed each day.
The trip is blogged in five parts (part one, part two, part three, part four, part five) and is a must-read for any donut lover. Or if you just want to see some really great pics of some really unusual donuts (like the giant cat-donut above).
It's a good weekend for attending a food festival if you: 
I picked up this magazine-style cookbook when I was in Portland, during my bi-yearly visit to the bins (the as-is Goodwill Outlet in SE Portland that sells nearly everything by the pound) for $.50 (the books are just about the only things that don't go by the pound). My edition of the 
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