Winco is a low-priced, employee-owned grocery store chain across six states in the West, including multiple locations here in Oregon.  Inside most of the stores, you’ll find a Leonardi’s Pizza, featuring value-priced take and bake, or baked in the store, pizzas and subs from a counter at the front of the store.

They also sell bargain slices, tantamount to a quarter of a pie for $1.98.  Elsewhere in Portland, you can buy up to $6 a slice, for a much smaller (and skimpier, in some places) slice o’ pie.

Couple it with a Shasta from the nearby vending machine, and you have a quick meal for about $2.25.   Feed yourself or the kids on the long trip home from the market – tho I always recommend eating BEFORE grocery shopping.

Another fun thing, elsewhere in the store (usually around the cheese case) you can find Leonardo’s dough balls, if you are really feeling ambitious for the bake at home pizzeria experience.

A slice is a slice, and this one measure up, both in heft and taste.  It’s a respectable product, and $8.98 for a large whole pie, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better pizza value.

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Unbaked Pie

Seems to me (and I could be wrong, usually am) that Newman’s own product launches have picked up since the founder’s passing.  No matter, just an observation.  Today I took a look at their “All Natural Ingredient” “Uncured Pepperoni” “Thin and Crispy” pie.

At $6.99 at my local Safeway, for a 13.2 oz pizza, Newman’s Own comes in at a little over 53 cents an ounce, not that great a value for frozen pizzas.

The instructions said to bake directly on the shelf at 425 for 10-12 minutes, and I complied.  It’s a new oven, so the temp is accurate, and right at 10 minutes, it was a little on the done side.

The crust is definitely ‘thin and crispy’, but that’s my own personal preference, so that was fine with me.   The sauce and cheese were relatively mild, with a hint of heat.   The pepperoni cupped, which is generally an indication of a higher fat content, but as I am not an expert in these matters, “non-cupping” may well come from preservatives, I simply don’t know.

Did I like it?  You bet.  Would I pick it up again?  Yes, but I will look for sales events.

Baked pie

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Yearning for a taste of her Los Angeles roots, Mrs. Burgerdogboy suggested we find an adequate-sized Mexican grocery and pick up some supplies for Mexican style “street tacos.”    She was feeling a bit nostalgic for home comfort food, and me, I’m always up for her cooking, and a little taco nostalgia myself, tho my memories of same tend to drift towards the tequila black-outs of my youth in TJ.

I Yelped for suggestions and opted for La Tapatia, at 18330 Southeast Stark Street, and ventured into a heretofore unchecked out part of Portland (for me, in any case).

It’s a great choice for buying Mexico groceries and meats, and it c0-located with a rather large “Mexican-style” flea market, a beehive of activity on Saturday afternoons.

We parked in a the crowded lot next to a taco trailer, and Mrs. BDB’s peckishness got the best of her, and we had to score a couple of tongue tacos before venturing into the grocery.  With us, it’s always best to eat prior to grocery shopping else we fall into food budget disaster.

A wide variety of tacos are offered by this cart in the parking lot, for a buck a pop, and they were delicious.

The grocery was beyond my expectations, sparkling clean, helpful employees, and a great fresh meat counter.  We picked up some marinated pork meat for our tacos, tortillas, shrimp ceviche, and a couple of pounds of chorizo and other sausages.

One often hears that Portland lacks authentic Mexican food, but such is not the case, whether you want to prepare at home, or check out the taco stands in the parking lot or within the flea market.

It’s as authentic as it gets.

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Colleague and I popped in here for a quick bite. Gilliano’s is a very family oriented pizza and ice cream establishment, with seating galore and a large game room for the kids.

We split the Gilliano’s Special, Canadian Bacon, salami, pepperoni, sausage and extra cheese, and were quite satisfied.  The crust is medium thickness, buttery flavor, ample toppings.

Order at the counter, and they deliver to your table, rather quickly.  Prices are lower than most Portland/Vancouver area independents, with most larges (16″) coming in at the $17-$18 range.

Menu.

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I’ve had awfully “good luck” ordering from d-dish.com in Portland, one of those restaurant home delivery marketing companies. Delivered Dish signs up restaurants, supplies back end ordering/menu software, and arranges delivery of restaurant menu items direct to your house for a small fee.

Most large cities have a similar service, and on a business trip to suburban Seattle recently, I checked out their version, 2 Go Services.   I don’t know if there is any relationship between the Portland and Seattle outfits, but they do use the same “back end” and your sign-on will work with either service.

In Seattle, we tried our luck with Vince’s, a 50 year-old Italian restaurant and pizzeria.

Our interaction with the delivery service went as easily as when we use the Portland company.  Quick ordering, no mistakes on the order, delivery received within a reasonable amount of time.

We ordered a pizza, the half/half pasta (ravioli/spaghetti) with a meatball, and accompanied by a side-salad, and an appetizer of cheese/potato croquettes.  I had hoped to ‘surprise’ Mrs. Burgerdogboy with the croquettes, give her a little taste memory of her favorite junk food in Amsterdam, but the similarity ended with the name.  In this instance, they are Vince’s version of fried cheese sticks, and while good, they bear no resemblance to their Dutch namesake.  No matter.

The pasta was good, and the meatball exemplary.  For the money, I personally thought the serving size could have been ramped up a bit.

The pizza, however, is one of my new favorites, and I’d order it again, given the opportunity.  I went with a medium size sausage and pepperoni, and the crust was Neapolitan style, hand-made, crispy outee, chewy innee.  The sausage was a similar recipe to the meatball, hand-pulled small chunks, and the pepperoni was small diameter thin-slices, with a nice smoky flavor.   The entire pizza experience gave me the impression of “old-timey” pizza, and I don’t imagine the recipe or prep method has changed much in Vince’s 50 years.

On the “Worstpizza.com” scale of 1 to 8 slices, this is a solid 7.

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(by Kat Stromquist, New Orleans-based correspondent)

As a Chicago ex-pat, I had long looked forward to sampling the wares of Dat Dog, an upscale hot dog stand in the revamped Freret Street corridor of New Orleans.

I’m serious about the “stand” part: just six or seven tables are crammed in and around the storefront, and last night, every single one of them was packed with customers. The restaurant’s planned move across the street, to a more spacious location, will apparently come just in time.

Their menu, suspended above a takeaway counter ordering setup, features all sorts of interesting sausages and their origins (German brats, crawfish sausages from da bayou, even a veggie dog from the mythical land of Oxymoron), traditional and more unusual (wasabi, andouille sauce) toppings, and a few fry-related sides.

I ordered my classic beef weiner with tomato, onion, and Creole mustard, with a side of fries. My companion surprised me by going for the “chef’s choice,” leaving things up to the hot dog gods, and chili cheese fries. My dog came wrapped in a pillowy sourdough bun, with diced tomatoes rather than sliced, and chives in addition to regular white onions. The chef chose jalapenos, Creole mustard, onions and cheese to adorn my companion’s German brat.

The thick-cut fries left a little something to be desired – they were soft in some places and too crunchy in others. But the dogs were warm, generously topped, and grilled to perfection. And aside for a little snafu getting our order out, the service (attended to by both the reported owner and the employees) was both friendly and vigilant.

At a bargain price (about $20 for two), Dat Dog would be a great place to go on a casual date, if you can get past the awkwardness of saying “weiner” in front of someone you barely know. I’ll stop in next time for “Chicago Dog Fridays.”

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This is a short and (not so) sweet review.  I was intrigued by the packaging and photo, but unimpressed with the product.  The Private Selections brand (a house brand for Kroger affiliated stores) Marble Hearth Pizza, with pepperoni and roasted garlic didn’t have much going for it.  While the crust was OK, and the presence of the roasted garlic “felt”, after that, the pizza fell down.  Bland sauce, non-distinguishable pepperoni, high price point.

For the same money, I could have purchased 4-5 Totino’s or Jeno’s economy pies, and been just as happy. #Fail.  Won’t purchase again.

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Mrs. Burgerdogboy came back from an outing with her pals at ScarletGirl.com, with a most unusual rave – no, not the latest in intimate playthings for couples, but rather a tip on a pizza her husband must try!

So Sunday nite she urged us out the door as the punctuation for a week we have both been suffering from the Portland winter crud sickness – either as a very loving jesture or in fact as an excuse to pick up some ice cream – the cure all for any known feminine malady.

We motored over to Uncle John’s Market in Burlingame, long the destination of Portland pizza whisperers, but heretofore unvisited by Portland’s leading “pizza expert.” (Moi).

So here’s the drill.  There is a strictly take-out pizzeria inside this neighborhood market, offering slices or one-sized (x-large) pies to go, with your choice of toppings.

The mistress of Scarletgirl had recommended the pie as a thinner crust rendition of typical NY pizza, a two-handed slice, and she was spot on in both her description, and her understanding of what Burgerdogboy likes.

We grabbed a single slice of pepperoni for $2.75, and both enjoyed noshing on it on our way to ice cream land.

It’s thinner than typical NY pie, bordering on a cracker-thin, crispy slice, with nice cheese bubbles and a little char on the crust.

I grabbed a take-out menu, as it’s near to impossible to find details (or a phone number) for this neighborhood gem online.

For a quick slice in SW Portland, hit up Uncle John’s, or call ahead and order a large pie to go, or to enjoy al fresco (in your car) as we did!

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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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Mrs. Burgerdogboy love getting our pork on for weekend breakfasts, and this can take many forms:  bacon, ham chops, jowls, links, patties, smoked or fresh sausage.  This weekend, we picked up some linguica from Uli’s Sausage of Seattle, being sold in the Portland area at Sheridan Fruit Market.

Linguica (for those of you who didn’t click the link to wikipedia) is  “Portuguese sausage” a smoked pork link seasoned with garlic and paprika.  Outside of the Iberian peninsula, you’ll find it popular in Massachusetts, NJ, Washington and environs, and most of all, in Hawaii.  Especially Hawaii, where you’ll find it even on the McDonald’s breakfast menu.

Uli’s is a fresh sausage, that is, one has to cook it prior to consuming.  I have a habit of parboiling fresh sausage before frying or grilling, a holdover from days in the Upper Midwest and they want locals treat bratwurst sausages (parboiled in beer).

Uli’s is a very fine grind, which I personally prefer (if you’ve ever ordered andouille in France, you’ll know what I mean).  The flavors are strong, but I can’t identify them to you, as the label only lists (in addition to garlic, paprika and red wine), “spices” as an ingredient.

After some discussion on the home front, and multiple tastes, we’re gonna guess that Uli has some finely ground fennel in the links, as well.

It’s a great product.  I’ll try others of his as I run across them.

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