For my last meal in Portland, we headed to The Country Cat in the southeast. I really wanted to go to this food truck called Kim Jong Grillin’ because, honestly, I couldn’t think of a food truck with a better name. But alas, it was closed that night. The Country Cat is a neighborhood restaurant specializing in Farm-to-Table food, where everything in prepared in-house. It’s got a good sized dining and a bar. There’s also a chef’s table at the open kitchen, which is where we dined. It got really hot there!
The mixed salad of local greens with a really zesty house dressing. This was a big plate of greens, just greens. Would it have killed you to throw in a tomato? A piece of carrot? It was just too… green for me. And the dressing, while good, was a bit too much. They need to lighten up on the amount of dressing. The greens were nice and fresh.
The soup of the day, which was some kind of sweet potato or butternut squash type of creamy concoction (sorry I forget!), topped with a whole lotta bacon, croutons, and fresh cream. I love creamy and thick soup like this. When it’s cold out, there’s really nothing I love more. And this was a nice sizable bowl! Plus, bacon! Any soup with bacon is a winner in my book.
Here’s the cast iron skillet fried chicken with bacon braised collard greens, served with a honey drizzled sweet cream biscuit. It’s delicious! It’s extra delicious because I got to watch them make everything. I think they cook this chicken twice in the skillet. It’s hot and juicy. I’m not the biggest fan of greens, but I definitely liked these, as they weren’t bitter at all. And I absolutely love biscuits, especially when they pour gobs of honey over it… I can see why this dish is so popular. Service was good and I enjoyed the free show!

For my one brunch in Portland, I met up with B and his wife in the Pearl at Byways Cafe. This is a very popular brunch spot, and they told me there’s usually long waits here. I hate long waits. Since I got there a bit early, I put our name in and wandered around the shops a bit. I was assured by the hostess that our name would not be taken off the list if we weren’t there at the time she called it. So once we were all there, we didn’t have a wait at all. It was glorious! On the weekends, they’re only open for brunch and you can only order from the breakfast menu. This wasn’t going to be a problem. It’s a pretty small place and it’s like a kitschy diner, but without the neon lights or waitresses in funny little uniforms. We got to sit in one of the booths and we promptly got to ordering.
B got a scramble special of the day with prosciutto, veggies, local cheese, potatoes, and all kinds of good stuff. Yes, it’s as much food as it looks!They’re a bit famous for their blue corn pancakes here, so I definitely had to get that. But they also had a ricotta pancake on special which also sounded damn good, so I had to get one too. I wanted to try several of the pancakes so I asked if I could pick three separate ones, and they said sure. So that’s how I ended up with a ricotta, blue corn, and blueberry pancake. They were served with an almond butter and genuine maple syrup. The almond butter is awesome! I also got some strips of super thick bacon and an egg of my choice because our server recommended the sunrise special. What a great deal! Three ginormous pancakes, bacon, and egg, with even a couple wedges of orange. Speaking of orange, I also had a little glass of some delicious fresh squeezed oj. The service was fine. The other plate of pancakes took a bit long coming out, well after B’s scramble and my plate of pancakes. But other than that, we had no complaints. I have to figure out how to make my own blue corn pancakes now!

Since I was still on east coast time, I woke up super early, with the birds! And since nothing much else was open, I went for a very quick walk to Sterling Coffee Roasters, which was just a few steps behind where I was staying. I thought it would be a shop but it’s actually more like just a window! And it’s right next to Trader Joe’s. This place is super snazzy.
They roast their own beans and everything is just plain adorable and classy.
The menu is simple and sparse, which I love, because sometimes I just get overwhelmed with too much choice.
On this cool morning, I thoroughly enjoyed my little latte. Since it’s just a window, everything is to go! I usually put sugar in my lattes, because I’m a low-class weenie, but this time I just got lazy and decided against it. And you know what? It was absolutely perfect, just as is. It was strong, delicious, and sweet enough on its own. This particular espresso was made with beans from Colombia. The barista had forgotten to update the sign, so he made it a point to tell me as he gave me my latte. When I say little, I do mean little, it was quite small. So for the amount I got, it was a tad on the pricey side. So just pay the extra quarter or two and get the bigger one, because you’ll definitely want more! If I lived in portland, this would definitely be my go-to coffee window!