P I C N I C

Met Amber at 3rd and Stark. Jeez, the pod down there is huge. It stretches across two parking lots along 5 or 6 city blocks. We both got sandwiches at the People’s Pig. Cliff is now making lemon sodas and slaw.

I met Elle and Lindsey downtown for lunch at Violetta, a food cart at SW Taylor and 8th, in director park. This is a new park, and it’s stunning. It’s one large seating area for Violetta, which will soon be opening a little restaurant in the park. The food is American comfort food, very similar to McDonalds (or perhaps I should say Burgerville), but it’s local and delicious. Elle got a lentil burger, Lindsey got squash and coconut soup, and we all split freshly fried beignets with chocolate sauce for dessert.

Joel is opening a coffee shop! It’s in the old half and half location, at W Burnside and 10th. As you can see, he’s in the demolition phase. I was offered a snack of some pasta when I stopped in, but I had just eaten.

In the bathroom are many little cartoons of various figures peeing and pooping. I love this one. Unfortunately I’m sure it’s destined to be repainted.

$7 bought an all you can eat pass for single bite samplers from 30 food carts. $2 PBR tallboys was the only option for beer. From PBJ’s I had a thai peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a sandwich made out of slices of french toast, with peanut butter and bananas; at Pyro Pizza a white pizza with pistachios and carmelized onions; at Garden State bruchetta with arugula, cod, and tangerine; Koi Fusion had a sweet and sour beef taco with kim chee; at Potato Champion some crunchy fries; Violetta made beignets with chocolate sauce; Fifty Licks had bacon and maple syrup ice cream.

Lindsey stopped by yesterday and dropped off some bacon jam from a Seattle food cart called Skillet. It’s kind of an unappetizing name. Why don’t they just call it rillettes? I had it for breakfast. It’s pretty good, although the smoke in the bacon seems out of place here. Skillet makes burgers where they use this in place of mayonaise. I should give that a shot.

Lindsey is very connected with all sorts of foodies. A week ago we had dinner at Suzette with Marlowe, later stopping by her homestead. She has a compost with a green roof above where she grows herbs, 2 bee colonies, irrigation in the garden, pullets in the basement, and a large quantity of jam tucked away from last fall. Her green tomato chutney is totally delicious. It’s got a BBQ sauce character, with cinnamon, cloves, and possibly soy sauce in there as well.