Portland: Case Study Coffee, Tasty n Sons, and the Cheese Bar

*** Tasty n Sons and Cheese Bar have closed

I'd planned on having one "walking" (aka death march) day in Portland and this Thursday was to be it. Little did I know just how much walking we'd do.....on this day and the next because of some unplanned detours.

Things started as planned. Just a block or so away from the hotel is Case Study Coffee Roasters. Very chill and mellow.

The Missus got a pour-over, which was nice, and She decided that I should get the Lavender Infused Cold Brew...which seemed kind of, well, feminine.....but was nice with a refreshing clean finish.

Case Study Coffee
802 SW 10th Ave
Portland, OR 97205

The plan was as follows...the Missus wanted to walk, so I'd decided to head to Mount Tabor, via the Hawthorne Bridge and Hawthorne Boulevard. A decent 4 - 4 1/2 mile walk. We'd take our time and have lunch at Cheese Bar on SE Belmont Street, then catch the #15 Bus back to the hotel for a nice afternoon nap before walking another couple of miles to dinner. As we left case study, the Missus decided that we needed to try Tasty n Sons. We'd gone to Tasty n Alder twice during our last visit to Portland and She wanted to see how TnS lined up.... So let's just add another 4 miles total to things shall we? One does not argue with the Missus when She gets into "mission mode".....

So off we went. The Broadway Bridge was undergoing some work as we crossed so the bike lane and pedestrian walk area was a single thin path. Folks were biking to work so we'd stop and move under the scaffolding to let them pass. I'd forgotten how friendly and nice folks in PDX were. Every bike rider who passed us and there were many smiled and said "thank you"......

We crossed over the I-5 over to N Vancouver, then to N Williams Avenue. Man that part of North Williams near the Emanuel Medical Center is kind of depressing....but you soon get close to NE Fremont Street with the ton of bikes (3,000 bike commuters on this street daily is what I read), businesses, and gentrification. We'd arrived.....

The building Tasty n Sons is located in is quite interesting, it's named the Hub and contains almost every single type of new-agey business you can imagine, even a Naturopathic Vet!

Anyway, we were seated quickly upon entering the restaurant....we found the service here to not be quite as friendly or efficient as Tasty n Alder or even Toro Bravo (an upcoming post). Still, we sat at the counter facing the street and had a nice meal.

Seeing Shakshuka on the menu, we couldn't resist...and of course, there's the Missus's love of runny eggs...and my love of grilled bread.

The eggs were wonderfully runny, the bread nicely charred and smokey. The shakshuka could have had a bit more zip; both in terms of heat, sweet red pepper, and tangy tomato flavors. Of course, since we make our own at home quite often, we have a certain expectation in terms of flavor and prep. Still, this was good.

The real winner was the Moroccan Chicken Hash and of course, yet another egg for the Missus.

The spice-salt-earthy flavors was just what we were craving. The chicken was nicely seasoned and the creamy sauce brought everything together. 

During the recent hot weather, I've been making a nice chilled heirloom tomato and mozzarella salad with aged balsamic and Arbequina Olive Oil, which is so delicious. So we were excited to try the Heirloom Tomatoes. Well, you can't claim false advertising as it is heirloom tomato slices.

To our tastes it was a little low on both the acid and sweetness scale and the kitchen had been a bit too liberal in the application of salt.

Overall a nice, hearty, but not too heavy breakfast. I had encouraged the Missus to order the Radicchio Salad here, but for some reason She decided not to. Something She'd regret later.

Tasty n Sons
3808 N Williams Ave
Portland, OR 97212 

And so with some cajoling I got my butt in gear and we headed east on NE Fremont, then down MLK Boulevard. On this day, the temps were supposed to hit the high 80's (the next day would go into the 90's) and it was getting pretty warm by the time we got NE Belmont. The walk was slightly uphill, but not too steep.

There are quite a few interesting places along the way.....

Over 5 miles later, we got to the place I'd originally planned as our lunch stop; Cheese Bar.

We've really been enjoying cheese over the last couple of years. Cheese Bar along with the new "Chizu" in downtown are retail/cheese-wine bars owned by Steve Jones former winner of the National Cheese Monger Invitational Contest.

I was pooped, hot, and rather sweaty. Strangely, I was also a bit hungryl. Cheese Bar serves up cheese boards, charcuterie boards featuring Olympia Provisions products, sandwiches, beer, wine, and salads. We just ordered two cheese boards and had some highly restorative mineral water.

The House Cheese Board featured three Spanish Cheeses, chutney, and crostini ($11).

Really nice aged Sheep's milk cheeses. From right to left, a Mahón Reserva, a Buenalba, and a very nutty Zamorano. The Mahón seemed a bit behind the other two in terms of assertive flavors. But after letting the flavors open up as it reached room temperature the sweetness of the cheese became apparent.

We also got the "Stinky" Board with Crostini ($8).

The Grayson (on the left) is slightly ripe, though quite mild in flavor. The Vulto Creamery Ouleout has a wonderful texture, a slightly ripe smell but was also a bit mild for our taste. I guess we've gotten used to Harbison.

This was a nice stop for a light lunch. If we'd been doing some self-catering, we'd surely have gotten a couple of cheeses and a baguette.

Cheese Bar
6031 SE Belmont
Portland, OR 97215

I really looked like "Ji-chan" as I stood up....geez, I'm surely not getting any younger.....especially after taking a "nice" over 9 mile morning walk! The Missus was nice enough to allow us to return to downtown on the #15 bus. I crawled back to our hotel room, showered....and then it was time for a short nap. Which I hoped would be restorative since we'd be walking to dinner!

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[Junichi]

Holy moly! 9 miles before lunch? That's impressive. I would be starving after that.

[kat]

I would have a hard time walking after that walk! At least the weather was nice:)

[Kirk]

I should have been lying somewhere Junichi! Luckily we stopped and had two meals along the way.

I did have a hard time walking later on...had to loosen up Kat!

[caninecologne]

Very nice! Mahon is one of my favorite cheeses. The Avalon theatre building also houses Wunderland, a nickelodeon type place. We went there to play some games for our '09 trip (TC was still young). There are so many greatt coffee shops in PDX.Mount Tabor was also a very nice hike, not too strenuous.

[Kirk]

Hi CC - Next time you can walk there from Downtown! ;o) There's so much to do, I think it's time for another trip!

[Ning Wei Wang]

The food is pretty delicious!!Oh, Dear, I want to eat them. Cheese Bar,sorry, we only have a lot of snack bars in Beijing.We can taste some cake and Tofu soup.In Americe, the chicken is spicy... tomato is great. Make them together,I am hungry. By the way, I want to have a cheese bar in China. yummy,yummy,Ning.

[Kirk]

The food was pretty delicious Ning.