We started out East of Fred Meyer on Hawthorne, after driving past all the delicious looking eateries we decided to just park somewhere and start trying restaurants. Here was our first pick.
The funniest part was halfway through the meal when two little girls, probably about 10 years old, hopped off their bikes, helmets in hand, and strolled in asking for a table for two. They proceeded to order their meals and eat delicately with chopsticks while giggling and writing in what appeared to be a shared diary. Hilarious!
Thanh Thao - Vietnamese and Thai cuisine
We tried a salad and some curry noodles (which were so delicious we started eating and forgot to take pictures).
Here's the salad though: A delightful combination of shrimp, sliced pork, slivered cucumbers, and cilantro with a light, sweet and tangy sauce. Seriously good. I might go back just for the salad.
Shrimp, Pork and Cucumber Salad
We actually stopped at Myo Sushi at this point, but again, forgot to take pictures and went right ahead with the eating. We tried their new Mt. Rainier roll, which was pretty good, although not in the superb category. I like Myo Sushi off 23rd and hadn't ever tried this one. It was very busy so I'm assuming it's quite popular with the locals. They had a sign-up sheet for a table hanging beside the door, so they must get quite a line-up at times.
This was by far our favorite! Kabobi. I never thought much about Afghani cuisine before seeing this place. It's a great combination of Middle Eastern, Indian, North African and probably Mediterannean styles. I'm not exactly sure, but whatever it was it was awesome! Again, though, we got so excited to try it that we forgot pictures. I wasn't very well prepared for my first food crawl. I promise to get better about the pics.
In the meantime here's a description of the food. We got the special plate for 15.00. It was tender lamb kabob that was spiced to perfection, long grain rice with some kind of spice in it, lentils with sweet spices, some kind of spinach dish with a creamy consistency, meatballs in a red sauce, and garlic naan. It was all served with some kind of yogurt type sauce a little like tzatziki. The service was attentive and friendly, but not annoying. And, to top it off there was a self service chai table. Yum!
Okay, so this was a little later into the evening. A friend joined us at Nick's Famous Coney Island for a drink and, since he hadn't been on the earlier food crawl, a little snack of french fries. The drink was called a Dirty Hudson and had Jaeger sitting on the top and bottom of it so it looked like a dirty river. But it tasted like candy. Mmmm. :) Nick's has Ladies Night all night on Saturdays. Perfect $3 Lemon drops means I'll definitely be back to this diner style spot that moonlights as a comfy bar.
And then this...
Oh my! It doesn't look like much here, but this is a little parking lot on 10th and Hawthorne that opens up from 8pm -3am. It is full of little food carts with canopies, tables, heat lamps, the works. People were stopping by in cars, on bikes, and by foot. The place was quite a hangout, even on a rainy night. The choices: Belgian fries with an array of sauces, putine (the national food of Quebec, which is not actually a nation), BBQ ribs and chicken (or an option of tofu dogs), giant burritos, sweet or savory crepes, and a pasta truck with random pasta dishes.
I hope you vicariously enjoyed this Hawthorne Food Crawl. I'll be doing one in Salem soon and will be sure to post it all here. I'll really try to be better about pictures this time!
Let me know if there is an area I should check out for another food crawl for this series.
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