Foodsteps of Anthony Bourdain

Hot Coco at Pambiche

We decided to drive up to Portland, Oregon over the July 4th holidays. An avid Travel Channel fan, I automatically look up what to eat at Portland and with my husband being a true Anthony Bourdain fan, we decided to follow the footsteps of Anthony Bourdain. A quick check on Travel Channel, we noted that Anthony visited only two restaurants in Portland, which was do-able for us as we are staying in Portland for just 2 days. With that, we planned for dinner at Apizza Scholls and a doughnut dessert from Voodoo.


Apizza Scholls

We made reservations for 7:30pm and was seated on time. A great start. :) I noticed that there were a crowd coming in without reservations and the wait is approximately 45 minutes. Thus, I highly recommend you making reservations before dropping by, especially if it's the weekend and you have a large group.

Margherita & Tartufo Bianco

Upon settling into our seats, the waiter was quick to inform us that we could order "half & half" which means we could get half of two different pizza. This is great as we wanted to try both of their famous pizza - the Margherita and the Tartufo Bianco. Note that there is no meat in both pizza. With a meat eater husband, we added anchovies to the Margherita and sausage to the Tartufo Bianco.

Verdict - Our anchovies Margherita pizza was unique. The anchovies added a taste of sea and saltiness to the Margherita. However, without the anchovies, it's just a good tomato based pizza.

The sausage Tartufo Bianco was a burst of truffle goodness. My husband had no idea what I had ordered. Clueless, he took a bite and immediately, told me that there's an aroma that's enhancing the cheese in the pizza. I believe the truffle oil added to the pizza improved the taste of the pizza, you get a more distinctive taste of the cheese with each bite.

On the overall, the pizza are not mind-blowing. It was a busy night and we were served promptly. A night ending with good food and service - a great ending before we left Portland.

Voodoo Doughnut

Voodoo Doughnut

Our next stop was to Voodoo Doughnut. Anyone who had watched travel channel, would have heard of Voodoo Doughnut. I mean Andrew Zimmerman (Bizarre Food) and Adam Richman (Man vs Food) had visited this joint. With such fame, no true travel channel fan would leave Portland without a visit to Voodoo.

Voodoo, Bacon, Oreo Cookie and Rice Krispies

There was already a line when we reached the shop. We quickly got into line and finally, after a 20 minutes wait, it was our turn. We got the famous Voodoo doughnut, Bacon doughnut, Oreo Cookie doughnut and Rice Krispies doughnut.  

The Voodoo doughnut is fun but there's too much jam for my taste. There is a good mix of sweetness and saltiness with the bacon doughnut. The Oreo Cookie and Rice Krispies doughnuts are too sweet for my taste.

Verdict - On the overall, I don't find the doughnuts any tastier than Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Doughnuts. However, Voodoo doughnuts does has a lot of variety. So if you like doughnuts, it's worth a visit.

Off Anthony's Track... Pambiche

After a quick check on Yelp, we decided to make a stop at Pambiche for dinner on our first night. Pambiche is a Cuban restaurant and I never had Cuban food before, so I was excited. Upon arriving at Pambiche, it was vibrant and colorful with a crowd already waiting for table. After putting our names down, we waited for 30 minutes before we got seated. There are both indoor and outdoor seating. We were seated indoor.

Plato Cubano

We ordered two entrees - Plato Cubano and Camarones al Ajillo. The roast pork in Plato Cubano tasted like dry Japanese cha-siu and the Camarones tasted like overcooked garlic prawns. Needless to say, I was not impressed. However, my husband loves the food. He like to fresh, limey and minty spices used in the food. He says the spices whet his appetite, making each bite refreshing. Hmmm ... I guess food is very subjective.

Camarones al Ajillo

Overall - The food is good and the environment is fun. If you like Mexican food, you probably enjoy the food as much as my husband. :)

Have you ever follow Anthony's steps? Where did you go?