Monday, January 3, 2011

Portland Part 1: Voodoo Doughnuts + Pok Pok !

New Year's resolution #1: blog with more regularity. Seriously.  So much happened at the end of the last year:

1) I moved.
2) Diana graduated! and moved.
3) Diana started working on a new gig!
4) I got placed on intense projects.
5) Holiday-craze and travels!

So. This will be a fresh new start for the year!  Here's to lots of good food with good friends and good pictures for you!

To start off 2011, I must write about one of our best food experiences from 2010...

VOODOO DOUGHNUTS.
They have haunting our dreams ever since we heard about them and scoped their ingenious menu.  So we knew they had to be the first thing we ate when we arrived, and we bee-lined for them the moment our train rolled into town from Seattle. We knew they had to be good when there was a line this long already at eight o'clock at night.

We waited patiently for about an hour.  We also salivated for an hour.

Once you get up to the coveted counter, the doughnut clerk is only so patient - so you have to know what you want by then  (which is like evvvverrryyythiiiinnggg)

The rotating doughnut stand featuring all the possible doughnut delights helps with the decisioning process.  Who doesn't love seeing what they are about to eat!
The Voodoo namesake doughnut - the design varies depending how the doughnut artist feels but always features a pretzel stick stabbed through the dolls heart!  Love a good pastry with some edge!
The inside of the doughnut is filled with BLOOOOOD or raspberry filling.  The filling was good but there was seriously so much of it.
We got countless others doughnuts but these are a couple of we started with.  The left is my super fave (the mustached McMinnville Cream) and the right is Captain my Captain featuring Captain Crunch cereal.
Cross-section for the McMinnville Cream, my top favorite doughnut of life, topped with maple icing and filled with luscious, fillupmybathtubplease Bavarian cream.

I don't have a photograph of it, but my other favorite doughnut was the No Name doughnut featuring chocolate icing, Rice Krispies and peanut butter drizzles.  Who knew cereal and doughnuts would be such a ridiculously fantastic pairing?  Obviously Voodoo.  Genius!


Voodoo Doughnuts definitely has ruined me for all other doughnut shops.  Their effortlessly light and fluffy yeast dough and uhhhmmaazzing combinations of flavors and fun are a tough act to follow!

After going hogwild with doughnuts, Diana and I headed to Pok Pok to meet our old high school friend Maureen for dinner.  Pok Pok primarily offers authentic Thai dishes, with some dishes heralding from other Southeast Asia countries.  We selected a few plates to share and had the waiter confirm that each dish would complement the other (because that's what they do here)

Kung Op Wun Sen: thin glass noodles with wild caught prawns, pork belly cilantro root, Chinese celery and black pepper served in a clay pot.
This clay pot was basically everything I love: noodles, shrimp, pork and minimal veggies.  The skin-on shrimp was nice and fresh, the noodles bouncy and seasoned with soy.
Hoi Thawt: crispy broken crepe with mussels, eggs, garlic chives and bean sprouts

The broken crepes had a fantastic crunch

Neua Naam Tok: spicy Isaan flank steak with fish sauce, lime and chili powder dressing. 
Pretty spicy!  The steak was cooked perfectly - tender and slightly chewy.

The steak came with a dish of greens, iced to take off the meaty heat.

Dessert: Coconut Ice Cream Sandwich.

So chosen because off its hodgepodge of yummy ingredients: coconut-jackfruit ice cream served on a sweet bun with peanuts, sticky rice, condensed milk and chocolate syrup.  Love.
I really enjoyed Pok Pok and wish we were able to try more dishes because there are over a dozen more on the menu that sound just as intriguing as the ones we tried.  I guess it will have to wait for our inevitable return for more Voodoo Doughnuts, muahaha.

22 Southwest 3rd Avenue, Portland, OR
(503) 241-4704


3226 SE Division Street, Portland, OR
(503) 232-1387

1 comment:

  1. what a fantastic way to start the new year!! i miss the voodoo that is voodoo. so much. and that maple cream. and that ginormous pink box we lugged around hahahha...

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