Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [260]
Otto’s appeal has a lot to do with its casual ambience. Dining facilities are simply a bunch of wooden tables arranged on the sidewalk outside, as well as a handful of places to sit indoors. It’s a neighborhood picnic every lunch hour.
Pacific Oyster
150 Oyster Dr.
503–377–2323
Bay City, OR
BLD (closed Sat) | $$
Attached to a very large oyster-processing plant on the ocean side of Route 101 is a charming little bare-table dining area and fish market where you can find a table and feast on Northwest seafood.
All kinds of raw oysters are available: mediums, petites, or the alluring little Kumamotos—freshly opened and served on the half shell or in shooter glasses for easy gulping. And of course, there are oyster stew, fried oysters, and even an oyster burger (four fried ones on a bun). Dungeness crab is available in a crab melt made with Oregon’s own Tillamook Cheddar cheese. Another treat is a salmon stick, a staff of salty/sweet smoked salmon that is like beef jerky, but easier to chew.
Reo’s Ribs
17385 S.W. Tualatin Valley Hwy.
503–356–1452
Aloha, OR
LD | $$
Although we weren’t looking for it, and had no idea it was there, it would have been impossible for us to drive past Reo’s Ribs in Aloha without noticing that there was some serious barbecuing underway. Appetizing smoke signals were emanating from huge black cookers at the side of the front parking lot, where the pit man used a garden hose to spritz the exterior of the metal drums so they smoked all the more.
Lured in by the scent, we found spectacular barbecue: certainly the best ribs we’ve eaten west of Chicago, maybe the best ribs anywhere. They are big, muscular spare ribs, not the weenie-size baby backs that, by comparison, seem all too easy to eat. Meat does not fall from these bones. You tug it off with your teeth or pull it with sauce-drenched fingers. It comes off easily, though, and is a pleasure to chew, deeply flavored with Reo’s vibrant sauce.
Beyond ribs, Reo’s is a bonanza of soul-food barbecue that reflects the proprietor’s southern roots. Side dishes include collard and mustard greens simmered with ham hocks, fried okra, red beans and rice, butter-sopped yams, and macaroni and cheese, plus big hunks of freshly made corn bread for the side and sweet potato pie for dessert.
Voodoo Donuts
22 S.W. 3rd Ave.
503–241–4704
Portland, OR
B | $
When Roadfood.com user Mr. Chips wrote to tell us that Voodoo Donuts, a block away from the estimable Dan and Louis Oyster Bar (Oregon), was a “great place to view Portland’s strong Goth culture as well as sample tasty donuts,” we were intrigued. We generally don’t think of Goth culture as a source of good eats, and while we cannot say for sure if the ambience of this brick-walled ex-warehouse indeed is true Goth, we can tell you with certainty that the donuts are dandy.
There are beautiful old-fashioned cake donuts with crunchy crust and creamy insides, puffy raised donuts, one glazed behemoth as big as a pizza labeled a Tex-Ass donut (and costing $3.95), and donuts topped with powdered sugar, multicolored jimmies, and all sorts of flavored glazes. The menu listed many mysteries that we shall have to return to explore, including a no-name donut, a dirt donut, a dirty snowball, and a diablos rex. Our favorite item on the menu above the counter was “nonexisting fritter,” its cost null. We suspect that may be Goth humor.
The one pastry we shan’t forget is a bacon-maple bar. It is a substantial buttermilk long john frosted with maple glaze and festooned with strips of bacon that somehow, magically, retain a welcome crunch. What a great all-in-one breakfast!
Washington
14 Carrot Café
2305 Eastlake Ave. E
206–324–1442
Seattle, WA
BLD | $
Ownership of the 14 Carrot Café has changed a few times since we first wrote about it back in the late 1970s, but its character (and menu) remains familiar and eater-friendly.