Screen Door

Open up your Screen Door because they're ready for business! Michael and I are in Portland right now, the kind boyfriend he is, he thought he would take me there on a mini-trip as a birthday treat.

Screen Door restaurant and bar

Michael did some digging around to see where the local hotspots to eat were, and he found a little place called Screen Door, serving many Southern classics, such as creamy grits and jambalaya. I always see Paula Deen from Food Network making Southern food and I had always wondered when I'd be able to try it out.

Screen Door is  located at 2337 East Burnside St. in Portland, near the community of Kern. Michael and I were stuck in traffic tonight and by the time we got to the restaurant we were starving. It wasn't too packed when we arrived, but we did have to wait a little.

We got to sit beside the kitchen :)

I would say the ambiance of the restaurant was hipster-grungy, it was like the restaurant was operated out of a garage which I thought was a really cool, and is something we would rarely get to experience back home. We sat right beside the kitchen and got a really good view of where the magic happens.

Pimiento Cheese

 
I needed to get an appetizer to just stabilize my hunger, and since I had a cheese craving I ordered the Pimiento Cheese ($6.50), a cheese spread that had a Southern smokey Tex-Mex taste with a hint of chipotle taste. We spread the delicious cheese on crackers with sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

Fried chicken plate

For entrees, Screen Door really know how to pull out the big guns. And of course, with Southern food I have to get the fried chicken. The order of crispy fried buttermilk battered chicken ($15.75) was served with mashed potatoes, ham gravy and collards. It was my first time eating collards and it reminded me of a type of Chinese spinach. I liked the first few bites of the collards because of the sourness, but afterwards I thought it was a little much. The mashed potatoes, however, were creamy like a pureed heaven. The chicken didn't disappoint either, it had a spicy taste and the chicken was extremely tender and juicy.

Screen Door plate

Michael got the Screen Door Plate ($13.95) where he got a choice of three house sides with a slice of corn bread. His choices were fried catfish, buttery mashed potatoes, and the smoked chicken jambalaya. He didn't realize how heavy his choices were when his plate came, but he thought the catfish was done very well, made similar to fish and chips but it seemed like the dish was cooked longer, though the fish wasn't tough, and the batter had spices added to it. Their tartar sauce also tasted unique and was a lot thicker than he expected. He thought the jambalaya tasted like Thai fried rice, which was nice. But the mashed potatoes tasted very chickeny so he assumes it's from the gravy.

My Hot Lips Cherry Soda

Michael washed his meal down with a pale ale beer and I got the Hot Lips Cheery Soda. I have never tried this before and it tasted much different other soda around - it wasn't sweet at all and tasted very refreshing.

We definitely weren't the only ones who couldn't finish

After our attempt to devour this never-ending meal, Michael thinks for the amount you pay for the food is totally worth the trip. Almost everyone we saw leave the restaurant left with a doggy bag in their hands.

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Tomahawk Restaurant

A novelty gift shop, Canadian map place mats, all day breakfast and a First Nations theme defined our experience today at the award-winning Tomahawk on the North Shore. It's somewhere that I've been wanting to go to ever since I saw it on Diners, Drive ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri. When I saw one of my favourite Food Network hosts, John Catucci, take a try himeself, I thought to myself now I really have to go!

Tomahawk is located at 1550 Phillip Ave, North Vancouver. The exterior of the place looks nothing like an ordinary restaurant and it blends in with a residential neighbourhood. The totem poles in the front are what you'll have to look for to find the place.

Once you step inside in to the restaurant there is a counter where you can purchase little novelty items such as t-shirts, hats, and a rubber duck. The restaurant decor gives the diner a cozy homely feeling, with lots of First Nations style decorations, such as dream catchers, masks, drums, and many other interesting items. When you sit down at your table, the place mat is a map laid out that shows the different parts of B.C. and how the rest of Canada relates to our fabulous province.

I had the Yukon Style bacon and eggs from the all day breakfast menu for $11.95 and thought the meal was pretty good.  I was served with four pieces of toast buttered to perfection, five round slices of bacon, egg whites and instead of hash browns I got French fries. Yum! I loved the toast, it was so fluffy and soft and it went so well with the generous amount of butter that arrived already slathered on. The bacon was interesting, it tasted like a regular piece of bacon but it was in a circular shape. It was little dry to my liking, but it paired nicely with my toast. The egg tasted good, nothing too special, after all they are just eggs. The French fries were nice and crispy and I poured a generous amount of vinegar. Absolute perfection!

Michael had the Salisbury Steak for $15.20 which was a beef steak served with mashed potatoes with beef gravy and veggies on the side. Michael thinks the beef was around 7 or 8 ounces, a generous portion considering everything else on the plate. The beef was very tasty, and inside were onions and other veggies with seasoning. Nicely marinated and easy to chew - can't beat that. The mashed potatoes were served in a huge portion, I was lucky enough to try some, it was creamy, soft and had texture. It was clearly home made and it went really well with the rich creamy gravy. Everything was so well seasoned. Michael didn't have room left for the seasonal veggies that came with the dish though. Maybe next time.

After today, we would love to come back to Tomahawk, there are so much more things we would like to try on the menu and see their heaping amount of serving sizes. Today’s lunch affair was treated by my fabulous aunt and we would both like to say thank you to her. Michael says its his treat next time! 

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