Friday, August 22, 2014

Road Trip Eating

I left town on August 2 and came back August 18 with a day in the middle to get clean clothes. Here are some places to eat if you find yourself driving around the Northwest and a treat in a place you'd never expect:

We flew from Philadelphia to Boise to start off a sightseeing, place collecting, and brewery visiting vacation. I'm becoming more of a foodie and there were some places I had to try then others that were just found along road.

Boise: 10 Barrels Brewpub was the most exceptional turkey sandwich I never had. The fries, because they are super fresh, had a different taste. They also serve fries with fry sauce (1 part ketchup, 2 parts mayo) that is popular in Idaho and Utah.

Pendleton, Oregon, was at Wildhorse Casino Resort. Since it was on a reservation, they had a Native American style in the hotel, casino, and restaurants. We went to the sports bar and I got the $7 Indian taco, a taco on traditional fry bread. It was tasty and really cheap for dinner.

On to Portland, I noticed that Bunk Sandwiches had been visited by several Food Network shows, particularly the location on Morrison. The pork belly cubano is the famous sandwich. It was good but a little fatty. I can only imagine this sandwich, with beautiful thick pork, on a Philadelphia-made hoagie roll.

One of those stumble across places was on the coast in Garibaldi, Oregon. We stopped at the Park Side Coffee House, with five inside tables, one bathroom, and wait staff who knew everyone within 20 miles. I had clam chowder and it was the best I've had outside Boston.

In Seattle, I had Ivar's clam strips at Safeco Field. Safeco has the widest variety of ballpark food I've ever seen. The next night, I threw caution to the wind and gave up the ghost on sushi. We settled on Wasabi Bistro in Belltown because if you're having sushi it has to be fresh and upscale. I trusted the other diners and my waiter, Blake, to make the right selections. They were right, everything was wonderful and I'd even go eat sushi again.

That ended that trip but then it was off to Mom's in Bristol, Tennessee where I found a hidden gem at Abingdon Olive Oil Company with a new tasting room in Bristol, Virginia. They have more than 50 infused oils and balsamics free for the tasting or dipping. I settled on a 375 mL bottle of Tuscan herb. If you are in the area, it is a good way to spend an hour, sniffing and tasting oils and vinegars that are unique.

That's it. It's back to school time then back to Mom's at Christmas time. Back to cooking on Sunday.