VooDoo Donuts

Energized from our visit to the bookstore, we began our search for the famous VooDoo Donuts.  I think this was one of the only places I specifically requested as a must see.  Walking down Burnside, through some rather sketchy streets, you smell VooDoo before you actually see it.

At that point, it's a toss up whether you see the HUGE NEON sign or the long line of people first.  Now, granted, it was only about 8pm so the line wasn't terribly long.  We took that as a good sign and quickly got in line. 

Thank goodness for smartphones because it allows you to look at the menu to help decide from the dozens of outrageous options out there.  In the end, we went a little hog wild, but we couldn't help ourselves.  This was a one time experience, so we were going to go for the gusto!

Here is the verdict.

Bacon Maple Bar- We were given mixed reviews on this donut, but were pleasantly surprised.  Neither of us are real maple donut fans, but I guess the combination of bacon and maple really did make you think you were eating breakfast in a bar.

Portland Cream Donut- This was our unanimous favorite.  The chocolate was not too sweet and the cream, thick and rich.  Neither flavor overpowered one another but rather made both tastes even better.  Nice job!

Captain My Captain Donut- This was a donut covered in Captain Crunch.  Now we are both a fan of the Captain, but perhaps by the time we got to this one, our sweet teeth were on overload.

Old Dirty Bastard Donut- Chocolate frosting, oreos, and peanut butter.  Enough said!

Arnold Palmer Donut- Our only cake donut.  This was a pleasant surprise.  It didn't really taste like Iced tea and Lemonade, but I think the tart helped to compensate for the sweet.

Cock N Balls- Now see, this is really just the Portland Cream Donut dressed up naughty.  Now, its the only donut we really duplicated, but the immature kid in me couldn't resist.  Besides, the cashier said "that's a fresh one". 

Every time we walked past VooDoo there was line. No matter what time of day it was.  I am glad that VooDoo is not local because I am sure we would be ten pounds heavier.  But I am more upset that I did not think to pick up some VooDoo Donuts for our flight home.

Portland 2013

It takes about 2 years or so to recover from one of our food adventures, so here we are, Therese and Mama's Umi going out to explore and discover our latest obsession, food trucks.  As we tried to determine the best local for this adventure, we decided to venture up north. 

Portland does not have food trucks, per se, but rather food pods.  As we arrived, we quickly surmised that empty parking lots are taken over and food truck "squatters" stake your claim (or steak given this type of blog) and set up shop.

The other thing we discovered is that while food trucks in California seem to focus on the fusion, hauty, you pay less because its not a brick and mortar place, but you'll still pay $10.00 for a burger, Portland pods are much more straightforward.  A better description is they are trying to replicate street food vendors from their homelands.  More often than not, these pods were serving comfort food items.  and perhaps due to the supply of the pods, prices were much different.  I don't think we spent more than $7.00 at any truck!

We arrived in Portland at 5pm.  Planning for this adventure, neither of us ate lunch.  I think we were in the hotel a total of two minutes before we head out to our first adventure. Downtown Pods.

We did not have very many options to choose so as we scoped the area, I was drawn to the Korean BBQ.  You see, I don't get much authentic Asian cuisine deep in the Tri-valley and frankly in my house, Asian is limited to fried rice and potstickers.  So when I am out on my own, its a free for all!

This place was $6.00 and I think we left over half of it!  Not because we did not like the food, but rather because we were stuffed!  The beef was very flavorful, full of garlic and soy. 

But I think the winner of the night was the Transylvanian  truck.  You heard correct!  Delicois was this Transylvanian cart recommended to us by the owner of the neighboring cart!  He told us he ate a Chicken Schnitzel sandwich every day for lunch.  On that type of recommendation, how could you not try it?

To say this thing was hug is an understatement!  I think the bird from which the breast was removed must have been of the Anna Nicole Smith genre.  The cutlet was fried to perfection.  Nothing greasy about it whatsoever, just perfectly breaded so that it retained its crunch while still remaining moist and juicy.  But really brought everything together was the rest of the items on the sammie.  The bun, the slaw, the dressing...it was harmony!  We slaw added another layer of texture while the acidic dressing balanced the fried food.  Each bite was more delicious after another.  We could totally imagine eating this every day for lunch.  It would never get old!  A great start to our 2013 Food Adventure!