Was home sick, decided to treat myself for lunch.  “Feed a cold, feed a fever, feed a hangnail,” my ma used to say.

So I mulled over my delivery options and opted for Tigard Pizza Kitchen.  I have about five delivery options at the noon hour for my sector, so why Tigard?   One of the very few places I have found in Portland that offers sliced green olives as a topping, and that’s one of my toppings of choice.

I used d-dish.com for delivery, which adds a wallop to the price of a pie.  This medium, with delivery and tip, topped $30.   That’s a chunk of change for pizza.

But to the meat of the matter.  This pie suits my taste.  It’s a little more doughy than I prefer, but acceptable.  Real cheese, mild sauce, and hand pulled chunks of Italian sausage.   Those joints that use “crumbles” I cross off my list.

We’ve been into TPK once before, and in addition to pizza, they have a full line of Middle Eastern foods, including some great hummus.

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Geez, FINALLY.  Truth in labeling about a  “Kobe” burger.  You know those restaurants where you are shelling out $10-$20 for a “kobe” burger?  It ain’t “Kobe.”   It’s American beef in the kobe style, whose actual name is Wagyu.  The full explanation is in Wikipedia, so I won’t delve into it at this point.   It’s akin to labeling sparkling wine from California as “champagne.”  (It’s not, technically).

Well, enough snobbishness for one article.  Point is, Trader Joe’s continues their not-so-subtle campaign to garner more and more of my weekly grocery budget.  In the frozen foods department, I picked up their American “Kobe Style” frozen burger patties, two half-pounders to a package, and the copy proclaims “may be one of the best burgers you have ever had,”  or something along those lines.

And damn.  May just well be.  At minimum, it is the best frozen burger patty I have ever consumed.  Most of them I take umbrage to.  Too fine a grind, a lingering frozen meat aftertaste.

Not so with TJs.   This is a fine burger.  Pan fried low and slow at my house this morning, very little shrinkage or fat left in the pan, a nice coarse grind, a hearty beef flavor.

You guys continue to amaze me with your quality, taste and price points.  I’ll be back later today to clean out your freezer of these puppies!

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Billy Heartbeats, an outlet of the Restaurants Unlimited empire, is tucked away adjacent to the food court in the Lloyd Shopping mall in Portland, OR.  It’s a schnock-0ff of Johnny Rockets, serving a limited, table service menu of hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, and shakes, with the addition of a few standard diner entrees.

I’ve passed by it quite a few times, never in the mall long enough to check it out.  Last nite we had time before a movie, so Mrs. BDB and I sampled the wares of the kitchen and enjoyed the (decade appropriate) tunes being spit out by a lovingly restored 1952 Seeburg B-100 jukebox.

They offer a daily special burger and shake.   I went with the former, bacon and blue cheese, and our over the top server answered my questions with prescient knowledge.  “And the blue cheese are the big crumbles, not that sickly salad dressing stuff.”

Sold.

Service was prompt and the burger at definite curb appeal.  Food is served in a basket, and most orders are accompanied by fries.  I liked the burger, it’s hand formed and pre-seasoned and suits my palate.

The fries weren’t spectacular but there was nothing wrong with them, either.  Mrs. BDB went with a veggie sandwich and a traditional soda, strawberry, which I had a sample of, and enjoyed that very much.

While I have rarely contemplated a shopping mall as a dinner destination, perhaps I should more often.   Billy Heartbeats makes a burger worth stopping by for.

Billy Heartbeats

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I have to admit loving places where the attraction is “something to do or look at” in addition to great food, and Beijing Hot Pot sure meets that criteria.

Like most people who have spent time in China, I am usually super critical of “Americanized” Chinese food,  but sitting at Beijing Hot Pot, trust me on this, you could just as easily be anywhere in China – it’s that authentic.

What is “hot pot?”   Think “Chinese fondue”.  But it’s not cheese, it’s a boiling cauldron of spicy (or not) broth at your table, and amply stacked plates of meats, vegetables, and / or seafood that one cooks in the broth.  There are plenty of options no matter which way you lean on the ‘vore’ scale.

We started with both steamed and fried dumplings, with traditional dumpling dipping sauces, including vinegar.

The server brings the broth to your table, which has a gas-heated bowl, divided into two pots, and pours the broth into the pots.  In a matter of minutes, the broth is at a full boil, and you are ready to cook!

There’s beef, pork, chicken, shrimp, tofu, and a host of noodles to put into the broth.  The wait staff and owner are very friendly, and further instruction is available from them or on the menu, if you are in need of coaching.

The cooking food adds even more flavor to the broth, and if you defer adding the noodles until late in the game, they become an exclamation point to the experience!

Chinese and Taiwanese beers are available, as well as soft drinks, and tea, of course.

This would be a great place for a first date, as  cooking together  is a  great bonding experience (or makes up for any lulls in the conversation).

This is the weekend before Chinese New Year, and as we head into the year of the dragon, Hot Pot was a great way to celebrate the holiday, and for me, personally, a time to drift back to my pleasant memories of living in China.

The bill for four was $85., and worth every yuan, er penny!

Go, eat, laugh, enjoy.

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You’ve probably had strada – a baked, layered egg dish, for breakfast at some point in your life.   I’ve varied this recipe to produce an entree more on the (unch) side than the (br) side for brunch.

8 slices of rye or pumpernickel bread, crusts removed

1/2 pound thin sliced, lean corned beef

8 slices swiss cheese

1 small can of sauerkraut, drained

6 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 C cream or your choice of milk

Lay bread in bottom of 9×13 casserole dish

Layer meat, cheese on top of bread

Take drained sauerkraut and SQUEEZE between your hands to remove all remaining liquid, and sprinkle on top of meat and cheese.

Combine cream and eggs, mix.

Pour cream and egg mixture on top of casserole contents.

Cover with foil, and let rest in refrigerator at least overnight.

The next day, bake at 350 for 45 minutes, remove boil, broil for 3 minutes.

Remove from oven, let sit for 10 minutes before slicing into squares.

Plate with fruit cup or breakfast potatoes, serve, enjoy.

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If you ever visit St. Louis, MO, locals will encourage you to spend some time on the “Hill” one of the local ethnic neighborhoods that remains relatively intact and true to its roots.   In the early days, the “Hill“, so named because it is the highest point in St. Louis, was home to clay mines, and immigrant Italians settled in the area in the 1890s – mostly as workers in the mines.

Shops and restaurants opened to cater to the Italians, and the “Hill” remains an oasis of Italian focused eateries to this day.

Specific to the area is one popular dish, which may have originated there – toasted ravioli.  Ravioli pasta is stuffed with meat or cheese, and deep fried until crispy.

Louisa Foods, of St. Louis, has elevated the status of toasted ravioli, by making it available as a frozen “heat and eat” dish available to the home consumer.

The people of Louisa have mastered the creation of a crispy ‘eat at home’ product that actually DOES crisp up in the oven.    When you think about all the frozen products you have tried for the home, that promise ‘crispness’, you will be aware of what a great feat Louisa has achieved.

The pillows of pasta are stuffed with seasoned minced beef, and come out of the oven piping hot and crispy in the right places, chewy in the center, just as you would find in a local St. Louis eatery.  I AM impressed!

Mrs. Burgerdogboy heated some as part of an appetizer dinner last nite, and served them with a side of marinara and shaved Parmesan (not included), and the package easily serves 4-6 on an appetizer basis, and for the 2 of us, would have been more than enough for a meal, all by their lonesome.

I always enjoy partaking in regional specialties, and when you find manufacturers that are successfully able to take a regional dish and make it available to the world, well, that’s a treat.

Congratulations Louisa, on a fine product.

I think I found these at our local Wal Mart.  I was not able to find a website for the company, but they have a Facebook page.  Call them to ask about availability in your area:  314-868-3000.

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I had an urge to roast coffee today, and so I stopped by my bean purveyor of choice, Mr. Green Beans, on N. Mississippi in Portland.

On the way out, I noticed a new next door neighbor (new to me), which is called Mac! Mac and Cheesery, and I thought to myself, “Self, you’re on your way home, and who loves mac n cheese more than Mrs. Burgerdogboy? No one!). So I ambled in and perused the menu.

Myriad of combos await the discerning m & c lover, with “original” topping the list, but you may avail yourself of numerous ingredients to blend in – whether your taste buds tingle for truffles, or you salivate for “Southwestern”, have a vice for vegan, or brag about bacon.

I went with original with bacon, noting that the “b” word at our house is spoken in hushed tones, we hold it in such high regard.

I texted Mrs. BDB (not while driving!) that I was on my way home with a yummy, and delivered it to her in her home office.

She loved it, not only because it’s great mac n cheese, and had delicious pork parts in it, but also because it resembles the “baked kind” in that the top is sprinkled with bread crumbs and slightly browned.

I was offered a morsel or two, and I believe this to be a fine product, worthy of your attention. The shop also has sandwiches, burgers, and dogs, which will require an in-house visit for a complete and thorough examination.

Did I mention they have cocktails? I did not. They do. When Mrs. BDB and I get in there for a sit down repast, I predict a long and enjoyable day.

Now I’m off to roast coffee beans.

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Met my pal here for the lunch buffet today, it’s a bargain at about $8, and enough variety to satisfy whatever kind of “vore” you are.

I had curried goat, the minced beef casserole common to that region, greens, hummus, bideena bread, hibiscus tea.

Picked up a cup of soup and the falafel plate to bring home to Mrs. BurgerDogBoy, which included bideena, pita, hummus, tabouli as well.

It’s obviously a kind of hybrid menu, with both African and Mediterranean dishes, they do have some offerings which are more “family style”, if you want to go the whole sharing route.

I really enjoyed it.  Ample free off-street parking in back, as well.

My plate runneth over.

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I’m generally thought to be a fairly good internet researcher, tho I have not been able to come up with the origin of “SOS” or “Shit on a Shingle” as it was referred to by generations of US armed service employees.  (A more polite version of the abbreviation might be “Stuff on a shingle’ or “Same old stuff.”)

A common description for chipped beef in a cream sauce, served over toast, “SOS” is thought to have been created in the Southern United States prior to 1900 as a way of extending leftovers.  It may be a variant of sausage gravy.  The Stouffer’s package describes it as “tender strips of dried beef in a seasoned creamy sauce.”

Variations on the dish may include using ground beef in lieu of chipped beef.

What is chipped beef?  Hormel used to describe their own version of this as “an air-dried product that is similar to bresaola, but not as tasty.”

The meat is swimming in a white sauce, and served over toast, generally as a breakfast dish.  It used to be a standard in diners, but is difficult to find these days.  Chain restaurants have replaced it with sausage gravy, for the most part.

It is generally very salty, and Stouffer’s version (a boiling bag product) has a half-day’s RDA of sodium in a serving.

In my memory, we were never served this at home when I was growing up, but we did frequently have jars of the Hormel processed meat product in the pantry.  I’m not really sure what for.

Stouffer’s instructions tell you to place the sealed pouch in boiling water for 18 minutes; alternatively, you may elect to pierce the pouch, place it in a bowl, and microwave for 9 minutes.   Open pouch, pour over toast.

I’ve always had a fondness for this dish, probably because (some would say) I’m addicted to salt.

Regardless of my motivation, I picked up a packet of it recently, and enjoyed it last nite.

If you’re inclined to make it at home, from scratch, here’s a recipe that serves 60, from the 1910 edition of “Manual for Army Cooks.”

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32 degrees out, and we’re determined to have a seafood “picnic”, merely because 1) that’s how we roll, and 2) we’re in a seafood paradise.

We asked our innkeeper for directions to Brady’s, and he supplied minutia detail down to the minute (7 minutes north on this road, turn right…, etc).

Brady’s is not a restaurant, it’s an oyster farming business, with a small market, and an in-house smoker for local salmon and other delicacies.  Aside from the seafood counter, they have a couple of shelves of related grocery items, like cocktail sauce, crackers, seasoning and a few knick-knacks.

Oysters there are damned cheap, compared to restaurant prices, and you can buy them by the pint, gallon, or multi-gallon.  They ship, as well. As you probably know, oysters come in a variety of sizes, and having moved up here from the Gulf Coast, we’re used to a more diminutive mollusk than are generally available here.  The “smalls” in Washington are fairly equal to the largest ones out of Louisiana, and if you want ‘reall small” around these parts, you ask for yearlings.

The even larger ones are a delicacy in Asia these days, and the US ships a lot of them over there.

So we purchased some ‘already shucked’ oysters, cocktail sauce, crackers, and a slab of smoked salmon to enjoy at the picnic tables outside the market.

If you want a strictly oyster vacation, it appears South Bend, WA, is the center of the industry in the area.  Lots of processing plants and oyster-centric restaurants.

We enjoyed Brady’s.  We’d stop again.

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