Tag Archive for 'SouthWest'

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

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

Restaurant Review: Family Dining at Grandma Leeth’s

Welcome to another restaurant review here at Gluten Free Portland. We certainly took our time getting around to Grandma Leeth’s. For one thing, it’s kind of all the way across town from us. For the other, it’s very much a family restaurant. In that department, it’s like Old Wives Tales on steroids. They also try to cover a lot of ground. For example, they characterize their menu as “World Comfort Food.” They also have WiFi and several different flavors of childcare. For example, you can bring your 2 to 9 year old kids and have them eat in another room – with supervision by their childcare staff. They also (of course) have a kid’s menu.

The best way I could come up with to describe the atmosphere is sort of upscale Sesame Street. There is a main dining area which is separated from a large playroom by a red wall with variously shaped windows in it. In the back upstairs they have a smaller dining area which our waitress described as “a more formal dining area.” Generally, the place has a fun, energetic atmosphere and gives a person a nice feeling of being safe. (We arrived kind of early on a Saturday night so the restaurant was a little empty. It filled up later.)

Adult Seating at Grandma Leeth's

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Play Room at Grandma Leeth's

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The menu is a little confusing as far as the layout goes, but I can’t really tell you why. On the plus side, they mark everything for gluten free, spicy, and vegetarian so you can tell at a glance what is what. We got the Dravidian Dhal as an appetizer. I ordered the gluten-free Coconut Milk Curry and Sienna had the Quiche with Caesar Salad (which aren’t gluten-free.) Strangely, their child menu isn’t marked for gluten-free items—and really only appears to have one.

Here’s The Coconut Milk Curry.

Gluten Free Coconut Curry and Rice

Our server was friendly and awesome. She did a great job of talking to us about the gluten-free items and also had suggestions about favorites.

When it arrived, we both agreed that the Dhal was only OK. I think it needed some cardamom and salt. It also arrived luke-warm, which was disappointing. The Coconut Milk Curry was awesome and properly heated. Sienna was also very pleased with the quiche, but felt like the Caesar Salad needed some zing. The Dhal was much better the next day, so maybe they just need to let it stew longer.

They have one or two gluten free desserts. One is Sorbet (which is also vegan). The other on their menu is called Marronen and is described as “An Austrian-inspired blessing of chocolate + chestnuts covered in chocolate espresso whipped cream. Ice cream, or espresso shot?” We passed on the dessert because we had a prior plan to visit Pix Patisserie.

Some final things about Grandma Leeth’s:

  • When we arrive the place was freezing cold. When we complained, they adjusted the temperature immediately. That was really nice.
  • They have live jazz every Saturday. We visited on a Saturday and although we liked the band, we both thought the music was too loud. Maybe they feel like they have to compete with the kids?
  • Did I mention that they have wine and beer?

Overall, we felt like the experience was nice, and we can definitely see why people would enjoy bringing their kids to Grandma Leeth’s. The food was good too.

We want to know: Have you been to Grandma Leeth’s? Do you have any favorite items on their menu? Let us know in the comments!

Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Grandma Leeth’s Restaurant
www.grandmaleeths.com
10122 SW Park Way, Portland, Oregon 97225 / 503.291.7800

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Published on May 12, 2009 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: The Whole Bowl

Food Cart Culture in Portland Oregon

As Sunset Magazine recently pointed out, Portland is becoming known for its fabulous food carts. I personally love the whole food cart experience. It’s the closest you can get to buying a cooked treat on a beach in Bali without leaving the state. It makes a person feel international or maybe a little lawless. I also think that at best a food cart has a certain sincerity that is missing at a restaurant. As far as that goes, I’m not really sure what can be more sincere than a bowl of rice and beans done up with a sauce and some trimmings. This is a great description of the Whole Bowl.

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The Whole Bowl is something of a one trick pony. They offer two sizes of bowl with brown rice, red and black beans, fresh avocado, salsa, black olives, sour cream, cheddar cheese, cilantro, and their secret Tali Sauce. When ordering, you tell the server what you don’t want. If you skip the cheese and sour cream, you’ve got a vegan dish. Except for the cookies, everything they serve is gluten free (yay!) There was some confusion about the cheese there, but the owner contacted us to verify that their cheese is gluten-free (hooray!) They also serve chips, water, and a couple of beverages.

There are four locations. One is downtown, one on SE Hawthorne, one in the Pearl, and one is the Mo-Bowl, which I guess travels around.

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How is the food? It’s great. I personally have a weakness for rice and beans, because they go so great together. The Tali sauce is really wonderful, and the ingredients always seem to be fresh and tasty. I’ve noticed especially that they have a better line on getting good avocados than we seem to have. The Whole Bowl is also amazingly consistent for a restaurant in Portland. There’s something strange about Portland Oregon that makes excellent restaurants have bad nights and makes horrible restaurants have good nights. (What is that? Does anybody have a theory?)

gluten free whole bowl

And here it is. This is the big bowl with the whole shebang. It ends up being very satisfying. The sauce is very tasty, and like I said before, it’s hard to lose with rice and beans. Did I mention that the big bowl is $5.50? This makes the Whole Bowl a good destination when you want to get something quick and cheap on a busy afternoon or dinner.

We want to know: Have you been to the Whole Bowl downtown? Do you have a favorite food cart in Portland Oregon? I keep trying to figure out something else that would go great with one of these bowls. Any ideas? Let us know in the comments!

Times we have visited: a lot (So we feel very good about our rating.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Whole Bowl
Rice and beans bowl with sauce.
www.thewholebowl.com
Multiple locations / 503.757.2695

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Published on March 12, 2009 in Restaurant Review. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , .

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