Persian House Restaurant

Portland $$ ****
Why is this place always so empty?? My friend and I have been here twice, both on Friday nights, and it's either completely empty or occupied with one or two other tables.
Persian House is a cozy, dimly-lit Persian restaurant in downtown. The service is warm, and the food is delicious, although a bit on the small side. We started with bread (is it called naan in Persia?) and Persian tea, which is very floral. I ordered the lemon chicken. it came with a large serving of rice with saffron and some vegetables. So much flavor! The chicken had just the right amount of lemon and spices.
For dessert I ordered baklava. It was the best baklava I've ever had! Light, crispy layers of phyllo dough filled with nuts and honey - now that is how baklava is supposed to taste. My friend ordered the Persian ice cream, which had cherry rice and pistachio ice cream in it. Also amazing.
This is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Portland. We'll have to try the lunch buffet sometime.
Persian House Restaurant (Downtown)
1026 SW Morrison St
Portland, OR 97205
Mon-Fri 11:30am-3:30pm, 5:30pm-9:30pm
Sat 12pm-3:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm

Little T American Baker

Portland $$ ***
After driving past this bakery multiple times and hearing me complain that we should go there each time, my friend finally parked the car and told me that today is going to be the day we're going to try it.
The interior is the reason I've been wanting to try it. Whoever decorated did a nice job. It looks part Swedish, part Californian - if that makes any sense. Light woods, huge windows, concrete floors. I had a croissant, and my friend ordered some apple pastry. Neither of us were impressed. Everything looks better than it tastes. Oh well. My friend doesn't have to hear me complain anymore.
Little T American Baker (Clinton)
2600 SE Division St
Portland, OR 97202
Daily 7-5, Sun 8-2

Karahi Indian Cuisine

New York $$ *****
Amazing Indian restaurant in the West Village, and a nice place to conclude our trip to New York. My friends and I tried some interesting dishes, including murg tikka masala, which is Tandoori diced chicken in mild gravy and Indian spices. The food was flavorful and quite filling, while the restaurant was nicely decorated with adorable utensils and water cups. I'd love to come back next time.
Karahi Indian Cuisine (West Village)
118 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014
Lunch: Mon-Sat Noon-3pm
Dinner: Mon-Sun 5pm-10:30

Hot & Crusty

New York $ ***
After suffering through "Where the Wild Things Are," my friend and I definitely needed some chocolate. We both walked straight into Hot & Crusty, which seems to be a New York chain. There were two huge cases of pastries. We were in heaven. We both ordered some crunchy chocolate pastries that I forgot the names of. Pretty good, but nothing amazing. However, we did slightly recover from the movie. I'd have liked to try their bagels, which must be good since people kept coming in for them, even late at night.
Hot & Crusty (Upper East Side)
1276 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10028

Wok 88

New York $ ****
Another Chinese restaurant during our stay in New York! This one is called Wok 88 and is located on the Upper East Side. They offer a variety of noodle dishes at reasonable prices. Clean place, decent service. And fortune cookies at the end. Perfect!
Wok 88 (Upper East Side)
1570 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10128

Ko Sushi Japanese Restaurant

New York $$ *****
This is definitely one of our favorite restaurants we tried during our visit to New York - and I will gladly take credit for it, since I had spent about an hour doing research in search of a decent sushi place for our fifth night. Located way east on York Avenue, it is pretty out of the way for most. However, the journey is well worth it. $13 for a plate of some of the best sushi I've ever had?! How can anyone say no? We came late at night, so by the end of the meal, the waitress was practically kicking us out. Besides the semi-rude service, everything else was perfect. Clean atmosphere (although, I do wish Ko played some Japanese music instead of American love songs), and the sushi was some of the best I've ever had (and I've had a lot!) -- both in taste and in price. It will be hard going to another sushi place after this.
Ko Sushi Japanese Restaurant (Upper East Side)
1619 York Avenue
New York, NY 10028-6259
Mon-Fri 11:30am-10:30pm
Sat-Sun Noon-10:30pm

Juliano's Espresso Bar

New York $ ****
Alright, we admit it - my friend and I went to Starbucks every day while in New York. However, we did manage to go to a non-chain (at least, that's what I hope) coffeeshop. On our way from our hostel on the Upper East Side to midtown, we popped into Juliano's, a small, cozy espresso bar. My hot chocolate was delicious and cheaper than Starbucks. Plus, the old Jewish baristas were adorable.

Juliano's Espresso Bar (Upper East Side)
1378 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10128

Dan Japanese Restaurant

New York $$ ****
On our second day in New York, we wanted Asian food again. This time, we were on the Upper West Side, so we walked down Broadway. After passing some pricey sushi places, swanky Italian restaurants, and unappealing Greek diners, we found Dan. Another success!

Dan Japanese Restaurant is tastefully decorated, and the food was pretty good but not spectacular. I ordered the beef sukiyaki. It probably was not the most authentic -- it sort of reminded me of Koji Osakaya in Portland, but a tad better -- but we were satisfied. The best part about the restaurant was the conversations we heard by sitting right next to (hey, this is New York) a very interesting couple of guys. Uhh... I think that's all I should say for this.

Dan Japanese Restaurant (Upper West Side)
2018 Broadway
New York, NY 10023
Mon-Sat Noon-2pm, 5pm-11pm
Sun 4pm-11pm

Pick Up Stix

New York $ *****
The first thing my friend and I wanted to do when we arrived in New York was eat - and of course we wanted to eat Asian food. We were staying in the Upper East Side, so we had a little difficulty finding an Asian restaurant. In fact, when we went into a bodega to ask for suggestions, he kind of looked at us, smirked at our apparently glaring "tourist" stamped on our foreheads, and told us, "Madison Avenue does not have that." So we kept walking, finding our way to Lexington Ave. There it was! A little hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant called Pick Up Stix. Looked authentic, i.e., the waiters were Chinese and it looked a bit dirty. Success.

This place definitely satisfied our Chinese food cravings. We shared dumplings and noodles. Delicious! Maybe we were just extremely hungry. Nevertheless, the food was steaming hot and tasty. What a perfect way to start our trip!

Pick Up Stix (Upper East Side)
1372 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10128

Bread and Ink Cafe

Portland $$ **
My friend and I were not very pleased with this place. We were on Hawthorne and wanted to try something new instead of going to our usual, Pho Van. We've always walked by Bread and Ink, so we decided to try it. Right away, we got the feeling that it was not going to be our type of place. As soon as we walked in, we were seated by some person in grungy black clothes and tattoos. Now, I'm not judging her style (I have nothing against black clothes, trust me), but when I want a cozy dinner, this is not the person I want to have serve me. Plus, our menus were paper. That they reuse for each customer.

Okay, now the more important part: the food. The food was also unimpressive. My friend had an oily burger; I had a beef brisket sandwich. Both were mediocre, and they had gotten my order wrong: I wanted fries but they gave me a salad. So they brought my fries eventually.
Service was alright, atmosphere was alright. In conclusion, I probably won't come back here. Bread and Ink is not awful, but it's definitely not worth it for me. I hear their breakfasts are pretty good, but I doubt I'll come back when there are so many other breakfast places I love.

Bread and Ink Cafe (Hawthorne)
3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
Sun-Thu 8am-9pm
Fri-Sat 9am-10pm