MIXing It Up, Pt. 2: Best Market Meals

This month's issue of MIX magazine is jam-packed with lists of don't-miss summer pleasures, from the 50 Best Summer Drinks to PDX's best ice cream scoops to sussing out the hot spots of Vancouver and McMinnville.

It's also got a list of the 10 best farmers' market meals, which is helpful if you're like me and the sight of all that great food (not to mention the aromas drifting over the aisles) makes your stomach growl. The best part of these market meals? Despite the fact that they're as good or better than you'll pay for in a sit-down restaurant, they won't make a big dent in your budget.

Outtakes from my contributions to the Big Ten:

• Ate-Oh-Ate: Ben Dyer's satellite version of his East Burnside restaurant features authentic Hawaiian-style grub like the Loco Moco (top photo), a pile o' pleasure with fried rice, a seared hamburger patty, shiitake mushroom gravy and two eggs over easy. Hollywood Farmers' Market.
• Bingo Sandwiches: Portlanders won't be surprised that King of Brine David Barber's BLT of the Week isn't your usual bacon sandwich. Look for market-fresh meats, veggies, Picklopolis Pickles and even an egg to make an appearance. Portland Farmers' Market at PSU.
• Domo Domo: Sidney Ayers (above left) brand new biz plan is to take over the world with a Japanese pancake called okonomiyaki. Plate-sized, its flour and egg batter's secret ingredient is grated nagaimo, a Japanese yam, and comes topped with bacon or veggies for just $6. Interstate Farmers' Market.
• Feastworks Sausage Sandwich: Ethan Bisagna, formerly head butcher at Clyde Common, and his lady-love, chef Ashley Brown, are deeply committed to each other and the quality of their homemade meats and sausages, which you can buy direct or eat on the spot in their sandwiches, including the Choripan, made with their Chistorra sausage wrapped in crusty French bread drizzled with chimichurri sauce. Sandwiches and meats at the NW Portland Farmers' Market and Woodstock Farmers' Market; meats only at the Beaverton Farmers' Market.
• Gloria's Secret Tamales: This outpost of Gloria Vargas' teeny Beaverton café offers her lighter-than-air tamales wrapped in the traditional Salvadoran banana leaves rather than corn husks. Filled with hearty chicken or pork, there's also a vegetarian version. All come with a salad of shaved cabbage and fruit and a kickin' salsa. Beaverton Farmers' Market.
• Thai Mama: Look for market-fresh curries, pad Thai, crab wontons and chicken satay flying out of Lisa Barber's market stand, but it's her legendary homemade egg rolls that make for long lines of salivating customers here. Choose from traditional pork or portabella mushroom and tofu. Montavilla Farmers' Market.
• Savory et Sweet Crêpes: The French came up with the original "wrap," and you can always find an eclectic yet solid variety on Chris Douglas' menu. Check out the Scary Good, softly scrambled eggs, bacon, blue cheese, avocado, tomatoes and spinach, or the Menagerie Plate, a sampler of delicious bites—usually nuts, cheese, fruit and a slice of bread slathered with hummus finished off with a mini sweet crêpe on the side. Lloyd Farmers' Market, Oregon City Farmers' Market and Hillsdale Farmers' Market.

Get the full text plus additional reviews of Tastebud, Verde Cocina and Enchanted Sun Breakfast Burritos in the current issue. Find the complete schedule of Portland-area farmers' markets with maps and links on the GoodStuffNW Oregon Farmers' Markets page.

Ate Oh Ate? Man Oh Man!

The menu for a restaurant dedicated to the foods of my childhood would start with a list of appetizers that included large cheese balls rolled in walnuts with Triscuits alongside, a brick of cream cheese smothered in cocktail sauce and sprinkled with little pink shrimp (more Triscuits) and, of course, the crack…er…dips my mother made from sour cream mixed with instant French onion soup or canned clams.

The entrée list would lead off with tuna casserole à la Campbell's (bien sur!), then meander through Spanish rice, hamburger casserole (we called it goulash), chipped beef on white bread, hamburger tacos and fried-to-death pork chops. Desserts would come from a box (cakes, puddings) with the occasional made-from-scratch fruit crisp or ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and salted peanuts and called a Tin Roof.

You can thank your lucky stars that Ben Dyer came from much more interesting culinary roots when he decided to open a restaurant dedicated to the foods he remembered from a childhood spent in Hawaii. Add to that the high-quality ingredients he's become known for at ventures including Simpatica Dining Hall, Viande and Laurelhurst Market, and Ate Oh Ate…a pun on the area code for Hawaii…looks like a sure winner. Especially when you factor in that a plate full of food rarely runs over $10.

Though when my friend Ivy suggested going there for lunch I was a little hesitant, since the only Hawaiian food I'd had consisted of a large platter of white rice topped with cubed chicken breast that had been drowned in sweet teriyaki. But when our order arrived my fears evaporated like the rain after a tropical storm, the Lau Lau pork shoulder and house-cured salt cod steamed in taro leaves (left, above) achieving a miraculous melt-in-your-mouth quality. (Note: don't forget to eat the taro leaves…with a flavor similar to kale, they add a slightly bitter green note that brings out the sweetness of the pig.)

Even Dyer's side of macaroni salad was great, probably the best I've ever had of that much-maligned and rarely successful chestnut of barbecue and Hawaiian joints. The poke (pron. POH-kay) daily special of raw fish tossed with green onions, shoyu and ginger (top photo) was amazing, and the fire engine-red chile sauce on the cucumber kimchi (right) took me back to my college trip to Seoul.

So until I can arrange a trip to Hawaii to sample these island specials for myself, I'll rely on Ben to guide me through the finer points of his native land. And rest easy. Unlike Mr. Dyer I don't have any intention of recreating my childhood in restaurant form.

Details: Ate Oh Ate, 2454 E. Burnside St. 503-445-6101.