Archive for the 'Restaurant Review' Category

Restaurant Review: Jade Tea House

We were contacted by the Jade Tea House a couple of weeks ago. We’ve eaten there twice now and really enjoyed it both times. The Jade Tea House is on SE 13th in Sellwood (a few blocks from Picazzo’s), so it’s a little bit of a drive from our neighborhood.

Sienna and I both thought that the Jade Tea House would make for a great place to take a first date. The food is good, the menu is interesting, the restaurant has a bright and energetic vibe, and the people watching is excellent. Almost everything on the menu is gluten free or can be made gluten free. The food is a mixture of Vietnamese and Thai with some other Asian cuisines thrown in and baguette sandwiches. Before you get excited, I have to warn you that the baguettes are one of the things on their menu that aren’t gluten free. The other items with gluten are their wonton soup and steamed Hum Bao appetizer. Pretty much everything else is gluten-free, however.

Both times we went, the place was packed, and they seem to have a thriving take-out business going, too. For appetizers, they have items like Salad Rolls (Spring Rolls), Chicken Satay, Fried Coconut Encrusted Shrimp, and Fried Salt & Pepper Squid. For entrees, dishes like Sesame Beef, Yellow Chicken Curry, Garlic Lemongrass Chicken, and Stir Fried Green Beans. For desserts they have Black Rice Pudding, Sweet Rice & Mango, Frozen Yogurt, and Assorted Pastries.

Gluten Free Coconut Crusted Prawns

The first time we went, we got the Fried Coconut Shrimp. These were served with a delicious Thai-style fish sauce.

Gluten-Free Salt and Pepper Squid

Then the next time, we got some of the Fried Salt and Pepper Squid. When asked about their fryer, we were told that they don’t fry anything with gluten in it, so that’s good news. The Salt and Pepper Squid are the best gluten-free fried squid I’ve ever had. Our only complaint was that they were a little salty for our tastes. The Coconut Shrimp was really awesome, and perfectly done.

For entries, we tried the Yellow Curry Chicken and two specials which aren’t on the normal menu. We got a Fried Glass Noodle dish and a Mango Chicken dish. I’m used to Vietnamese cooking being very simple and wholesome, and that was the way these dishes were. The Yellow Curry Chicken was like a Thai Yellow Curry with chicken drumsticks, carrots, and chunks of potato in it. We both really enjoyed it. The glass noodles had a light garlic sauce with chicken, shrimp and vegetables. We enjoyed the dish, but ended up feeling like the noodles were overdone. The Mango Chicken comes with a savory brown sauce and vegetables. The slices of mango were perfectly ripe, and this ended up being my favorite dish from both nights. I hope they put it on the regular menu!

Chinese Donuts

Chinese Donuts and…

If you ever find yourself wondering how much Sienna and I sacrifice to bring you the best restaurant reviews, look no further than this example. Since desserts are one of those things that can be kind of hard to get gluten free, we take notice when a restaurant has gluten free desserts, and for the sake of our readers, we often find ourselves with no choice but to eat dessert. Yes. We do this all for you. I’m a real fan of black rice pudding. In its most basic form, this is a pudding made from black rice, which is naturally sweet. Although it’s called “black rice” it’s actually more of a very dark purple. The black rice pudding was good, but we found the coconut milk sauce to be too sweet. The Chinese Donuts are hollow globes made of rice gluten. Inside each doughnut is a mixture of sweet bean paste and grated coconut. These were really wonderful. I found myself hoping that they start making lotus seed paste ones too!

We had very few complaints about our dining experience both nights. Our food came out promptly, and the people there were able to answer all our questions about gluten and their food. We wished that their wait staff was a little easier to get a hold of, and on one night our entrees made it to the table before the appetizer did. We barely noticed, however, because we were happy with our food and enjoying the atmosphere.

On a final note, as could be expected from a place that calls itself a tea house, they have fancy teas. We tried a pot of Oolong tea and were very pleased. The thing we liked most about the Jade Tea House is that it is a little different and fun. We really enjoyed the place and plan to go back very soon.

We want to know: Do you know of anywhere in Portland to get Chinese Donuts? Have you eaten at the Jade tea House? What did you think? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 2 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Jade Tea House
http://www.jadeteahouse.com
7912 SE 13th Avenue / 503.477.8985

Published on March 1, 2010 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: Asaase Ital Palace

Ah food carts. I love the food carts in Portland. They provide a nice, home-grown and informal food culture to Portland, which is very enriching. Them are big words, but I mean them! Food carts are the places where a lot of us grab a quick lunch. Asaase Ital Palace is located next to PSU in a little food cart lot down there. They offer African-Caribbean vegan-vegetarian cuisine. The menu is not long, but there’s a little something for everyone. The first time we visited, they were closed, even though we showed up during their posted business hours, which was a little strange. I’m thinking that may be part of the food cart experience?

I’m unclear on whether or not everything on the menu is gluten-free, but at the very least it looks like the majority of their offerings are. On the plus side, the person who was working when we visited was familiar with gluten and able to answer all my questions about our order. Everything they prepare is vegan.

Asaase Ital Palace Food Cart

They serve a tofu scramble, smoothies, a salad, and fried plantains. For entrees, they have more interesting offerings. #1 Ofie ne ife – “Steam ground spinach in a savory red oil sauce with boiled plantain or rice.” # 2 Red-Red – “Black eyed peas in a savory tomato sauce and palm oil with fried plantain and Gari” #3 Ites Gold & Green Plate – “Red beans stewed in tomato & coconut milk over yellow rice with greens. #4 Waakye – “Cook-up rice and peas with traditional spices.” They also have a Jerk Veggie Chick-un, which is vegan chick-un marinated in sofrito grilled with spicy sauce. Last, they have some soups.

Ites Gold and Green Plate

Red-Red

This is a cuisine that I have no experience with, and so I end up having to judge it with no context other than whether it tastes good or not. The top picture here is the #3 Ites Gold & Green Plate. The bottom is the #2 Red-Red. Everything about the Ites Gold 7 Green Plate was good. I am a real sucker for rice and beans. The rice was delicious, and so were the beans. The flavors were unique and interesting. The #2 Red-Red wasn’t quite as good. Except for the plantains, the dish was a little monochromatic and dry. On the plus side, the plantains were freshly fried, and delicious! The food took a little longer than I am used to with food carts, but everything was well put together. The food had a very wholesome feel. As mentioned above, the friendly person working the cart answered all my questions.

They have two sizes of most of their dishes, a large and a small. The small is definitely enough to feed one person. You might get a large if you’re going to pick up a few dishes to share between a group of people, which would be an ideal way to get this food. It is very interesting food, so it’s fun to sample more than one dish.

If you’re looking for a small adventure with some take-out food then it’s fun to check out the food carts in town, and you could do much worse than checking out the Asaase Ital Palace. We enjoyed our dishes and if we lived down near PSU and/or were vegan, we would probably visit them regularly.

We want to know: Do you have any favorite food carts in Portland? Have you eaten at Asaase Ital Palace? What did you think? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Asaase Ital Palace
Asaase Ital Palace Facebook Page
1600 SW 5th and College / 503.851.2511

Published on January 18, 2010 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: Seres Restaurant & Bar

Many of you probably know Seres as Sungari Pearl. It is in the same place. I’m not sure what motivated the name change. Their “About Us” page says that they are still under the same owners, and our waiter for the night was one who had waited on us back when it was Sungari Pearl. Although Sienna isn’t exactly mad about the place, I had always liked Sungari Pearl. So you can imagine my excitement when they announced that they had a gluten-free menu.

You can check out their gluten-free menu here. There’s a little bit of something for everyone. From Prawns with Snow Peas and Bamboo Shoots, to a Curry Claypot, to Fried Rice. We were a little disappointed that two out of three of their appetizers involved tofu. I was interested to see that they had Buddha’s Delight, because that was like comfort food to me back in San Francisco (back before “comfort food” meant Southern Food). In fact, when people ask me what ethnic food I would choose if I could only eat one on a desert island, my answer is Chinese. I love Chinese food!

Hot Tea

I also love sitting down at an Asian restaurant and getting hot tea, even in the summer. We decided to go “family style” and share our orders. So we ordered the Curry Claypot with Chicken, and the Vegetable Fried Rice.

gluten-free fried rice

gluten-free curry claypot with shrimp

The food was well-prepared, the vegetables seemed fresh, and everything was done just right. We ended up with a bunch of complaints, however. Here’s the list: One of our plates was dirty when we sat down. The Curry Claypot was rather spicy. This wouldn’t normally be a problem except that the menu has little stars next to the spicy items, and the Curry Claypot wasn’t marked as spicy, so it was kind of unexpected. It wasn’t too spicy for me, but it wasn’t to Sienna’s liking, so we ended up not being able to share, which was a bummer. The Vegetable Fried Rice was impressively good, but would probably have been better with some gluten-free soy sauce in it (I hope the restaurant owners know that you can get gluten-free soy sauce). Finally, our waiter did not seem to know what we were talking about when we asked him if any of the desserts were gluten-free. This made us a little nervous. If a waiter doesn’t know what gluten-free means, then we start wondering if the chef does.

Chocolate Mousse

Here were the good things: As we mentioned above, the menu has a large selection, which is awesome. All the desserts were gluten-free! We had a chocolate mousse, which was really excellent. The food came out promptly and was hot. The service was great. Also, the hostess seemed to be in-the-know about gluten and was able to give us information about the desserts. Also as mentioned above, all the ingredients were fresh and cooked just right.

So to sum it up, despite the problems, we are curious to know how the other dishes at Seres are, and will probably go back to find out. I’m hoping they’re good. It’s nice to have a local Chinese place that has a gluten-free menu. I say give it a try!

We want to know: Are there other gluten-free friendly Chinese restaurants in town? Have you tried any of the gluten-free dishes at Seres? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Seres Restaurant & Bar
http://seresrestaurant.com/
971 222 7327
1105 NW Lovejoy Street, Portland, OR 97209 / 971.222.7327

Published on December 10, 2009 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .