Comfort Food - Oh, the wonderful world of local produce!

I have this "Zinesters Guide to Portland" that I carry around with me everywhere I go.  And even if I'm not purposely trying to go to all the places that are mentioned in the book, it just so happens that I end up going by a restaurant or pizza joint that I recognize from having read about it!!  This has happened half a dozen times this week (I've only officially been in Portland for about six days).

A few nights ago I went to a little coffeehouse called Bare Bones, which used to be Muddy Waters Coffeehouse but went out of business is March.  Anyway, the new place is quite frankly a) adorable and b) affordable.  The artwork is welcoming and the food is fantastic!  Not to mention, the coffee is delicious.  There is a selection of regular and organic.  I had an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with a type of local bread, portabella mushroom, spinach and sprouts.

Nearly every sit-down area I've had the pleasure of dining in has served salads or a type of product from a local farmer's market. 

Yesterday

on  Wednesday I decided to have an adventure and try out the Max (electric transit) and eat at this great sushi place down at the Crown Center but got there too late and missed the lunch shift...soooo....I walked down Broadway and figured I'd find an informal sushi restaurant that doesn't close at 2 p.m.  The first place that I saw was open and I was happy to find out that it was reasonably priced.  I then realized that it's the same restaurant mentioned in the Zine Guide for the Southeast region.  The restaurant is called Koji Osakaya and sure enough, as it says in the book, they serve HUGE bowls of ramen.  They come in two flavors: Soy and Pork.  I ordered Soy but it still came with meat so beware!  Though, I must say that the meat, whatever it was (Pork??!), was deeeeelicious!!!!!

Koji Osakaya also had a decent selection of fancy shmancy sushi roles.  I ordered the Alaska and Spicy Tuna....so good.  I haven't tried the veggie roll yet because I gave into my body's craving for fleshy food about a month ago but I'm sure it is excellent!  These two rolls were less than $5 each.