Quick Hits: Sen Yai, Alberta St. Pub, Reister Farms

"Sen Yai specializes in Kuaytiaw, the noodle dishes of Thailand. Kuaytiaw is eaten at all times of the day; as a late night snack, economical dinner, a quick lunch on the run, even for breakfast."

True to the Pok Pok ethos and like his other local eateries, Andy Ricker's brand new Sen Yai Noodles is packed with native vibe and lots of hard-to-pronounce items on the menu. To be clear, in my book that is a reason to run in, rather than away from, a restaurant.

Roasted peanuts.

I also broke one of my cardinal rules when I visited, which is to give a new place a couple of months to work out kinks, settle in and get a groove going. But when the lovely and massively talented Ivy Manning called with an invite to check it out for lunch, how could I say no? Lots of other folks had the identical urge that day, and while there were plenty of seats available when we got there, within a few minutes every tiny table in the place was taken, with a line snaking out the door.

Boat noodles.

Ivy's been to Thailand and knows its cuisine quite intimately, so I let her do the ordering. We started with the house-roasted red peanuts, which came as a small stapled packet containing the aforementioned peanuts along with lime leaf, chiles and salt…a crunchy, delicious teaser. Traditional Kuaytiaw Reua or "boat noodles" were a big hit, rice noodles in a complex, richly aromatic dark broth, three preparations of beef and "water spinach" (ipomoea aquatica) as well as dry-roasted chiles, herbs and bean sprouts.

For noodle-heads this is a must-try and, though prices aren't cheap, the preparations are terrific.

Details: Sen Yai Noodles, 3384 SE Division. 503-236-3573.

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Once again I broke the "don't go to a just-opened restaurant" rule when I decided to head up the hill to the just-opened Alberta Street Pub with the inimitable, estimable talents of Kevin Sandri (Garden State and Burgatroyd food carts) in the kitchen. I knew he'd been perfecting the stalwarts of any pub menu, a standout burger and fabulous fish'n'chips, and I wanted to stop in to both support him and check out the progress of his efforts.

Boiled peanuts.

Along with my two favorite testers, my husband Dave and our son, both Sandri fanatics, we got the only three seats left in the bar, which was packed due to a crowd waiting to attend an evening concert in the attached performance space. Sandri and his crew were handling the opening week pressure with aplomb, though, since our beverages and food orders popped out of the kitchen without delay.

We started with the boiled peanuts, a treat Sandri came across while driving through North Portland, spotting a guy selling them on a corner. Immediately smitten, he'd been obsessively working on perfecting this Southern specialty for the menu. In their shells and soaking in a dark, salty broth, they were amazing, a soft, messy, delicious counterpart to the roasted peanuts I'd had at Sen Yai (see above).

Strawberry hand pie.

Even with Sandri's mad skills at hand, I was nervous about the fish'n'chips, having been disappointed at so many other places, but one look at the plate when it arrived and my fears were erased. Three good-sized pieces of delicately battered, perfectly cooked cod were resting comfortably on a pile of crispy hot fries, sided by a slightly sweet tarragon and dill-inflected tartar sauce. And it goes without saying that the porchetta sandwich, pork shoulder and belly with salsa verde, mayo and arugula, was sublime given Sandri's sterling meat cred.

We even sprang for the Whiffies fried hand pie filled with local strawberries, a treat I'll be remembering for a long, long time. I can only hope that Mr. Sandri decides to stay in this kitchen for an equally long, long time.

Details: Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta St. 503-284-7665.

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More meat is good meat in my book, especially when it comes from animals pasture-raised on a small family farm. Which is what drew me to the awning at the Buckman Farmers Market with a hand-lettered blackboard that read "Reister Farms." Well, that and the fact that I'd just run into Mark Doxtader of Tastebud, who was eagerly devouring a lamb kielbasa dog featured on that same blackboard. So with the attitude that if Mark likes it, I probably will, too, I wandered over.

The dog, grilled before my eyes à la Foreman, was a hefty length of lamb innovatively wrapped in a pretzel roll from Fressen Artisan Bakery and smothered in fresh sauerkraut.  The salty sturdiness of the roll was a great foil for the lamb and sauerkraut, and held together till the very last bite, a good test of any hot dog bun worthy of the name.

I'm looking forward to getting to know more about the Reisters, who hail from Washougal, and their farm. In the meantime I'll be sampling their dogs and whatever other wares they're featuring the next time I'm at the market.

Details: Reister Farms products can be found at the Buckman Farmers Market on Thursdays from 3-7 pm, at SE 20th & Salmon between SE Belmont and SE Hawthorne in the parking lot of Hinson Baptist Church.

Garden State's Sandri in Motion

You might say that Kevin Sandri is going back to his roots. He started out a professional musician, playing his nights away for not a lot of money but a lot of acclaim. But since acclaim wasn't something he could put on the table or use to pay the rent, and with no other discernable skills that would get him a regular job, he decided to open a food cart using dishes from his childhood in New Jersey.

It was before food carts were a dime a dozen in Portland, but customers were soon flocking to his quilted aluminum trailer in an obscure corner of Southeast Portland for his meatball hero packed with big, beefy balls and luscious sauce, and his chickpea sandwich and arancine. Within a couple of years the cart scene was booming and he'd opened a second Garden State as well as a hipster burger cart called Burgatroyd in the Mississippi Marketplace pod.

The cart boom was getting crazy with pods opening up in every vacant lot in the city, as ubiquitous as Starbucks were a decade earlier, and Sandri decided it was time to get out. After selling his carts (Burgatroyd still operates in the Mississippi pod under new ownership), he helped start up a couple of food businesses in town.

Sandri's signature meatball hero.

After a stint he called "chef rehab" working the line at Rick Gencarelli's Lardo, he said he's ready to step back into the food fray by taking the reins in the kitchen at the newly renovated and under-new-ownership Alberta Street Pub. The pub was one of the first businesses in what was then a very down-and-out (read "scary") corner on NE Alberta street. Two brothers, Eli and Django Amerson, have bought the pub from original owner Michael Beglan and are set to reopen in the coming weeks.

Customers can expect a full bar with beer and wine on tap, music at least three nights a week, and a menu with a house burger and what Sandri is calling a killer plate of fish and chips that'll put other fried fish dishes into the wannabe category. He's looking forward to calling in his former farm suppliers for many of the raw ingredients, so the city may be in for the (oddly in this food-crazy town) rare experiences of a pub with stellar food. We can only hope he brings back that hero to the specials menu once in awhile, as well as stepping up on stage with his guitar!

Livin' in the Blurbs: Shopping, Eating…and Dieting?

One of my favorite events this time of year is a garage sale. No, it's not where I get all those special gifts for the people I care about, like half-burned candles and only-slightly-worn sweaters. At this garage sale you can do some serious power shopping for the foodies on your list. Put on by contributor Jim Dixon of RealGoodFood, it was originally held in his garage. The last couple of years he's moved it to his warehouse, the better to display the stunning range of imported olive oils, salts, grains, beans and other goodies he brings in from around the Northwest and the world. He also sells many of his olive oils in bulk, and he can fill up your (clean) containers from genuine Italian fustino. Like the garage sales of yore, he'll be dishing out free homemade soup and wine to make your shopping experience that much more pleasurable.

Details: Jim Dixon's Olive Oil Garage Sale. Fri.-Sat., 12/3-4; noon to 6 pm; cash or checks only please. At 833 SE Main (corner of SE 9th & Main), space 122 (On the NE corner of the building facing the parking lot. Look for the olive oil sign on the sidewalk out front.) Please park on the street since the other Activspace tenants need the lot during the day.

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And because this is Portland, there are many opportunities to give the gift of food from our bounty of local producers. One place where you'll be able to see (and sample) many of them under one roof is coming up at the 3rd Annual Season's Eatings Local Food and Spirits Market, an event that benefits the Oregon Food Bank. Sponsored by New Deal Distillery, which is introducing its brand new ginger liqueur at this year's market, you'll also find products from pie to charcuterie and cheese to pickles and coffees. Look for the full list of fantastic vendors on their website!

Details: 3rd Annual Season's Eatings Local Food and Spirits Market, Sat., Dec. 10, 11 am-6 pm. At New Deal Distillery, 1311 SE 9th Ave. 503-234-2513.

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He rocked the Portland food scene with one of the first carts in the city, and Kevin Sandri's Garden State quickly became known for its amazing take on East coast Italian-American classics like a to-die-for Meatball Hero and crunchy arancini, always served up with some Jersey attitude on the side. It eventually moved to N Mississipppi Avenue from its original Sellwood location and spawned a burger cart called Burgatroyd. Recently, much to the chagrin of his throngs of admirers, Sandri decided to close GS down and take a 9 to 5 job with a new business called Farm to Fit. A "chef prepared meal service," it's the brainchild of Dre Slaman and G. Scott Brown and features an all-organic menu that caters to the weight-loss crowd. Sandri's challenge is to breathe some life into usually drab diet meals…perhaps a low-cal version of the Hero? We'll see!

Details: Farm to Fit, 503-688-9248.

Garden State, Big Time

Ever since Kevin Sandri opened his Garden State food cart in Sellwood, I've been a devoted fan of the Italian-American dishes he learned from his mom and brought with him out West. Cranky, sweet, irascible and genuinely funny, this guy puts out some of the best food in PDX, period…yes, even counting sit-down restaurants.

I'm not intimating that GSNW got there first (in…ahem…'07), but it seems that Garden State's gone big-time with a rave from James Cunningham of the Cooking Channel's Eat Street.

No, I'm just happy that Kevin's moved the cart to the Mississippi Marketplace cart pod, which means I can take advantage of his meatball subs, arancine and crazy-delicious burgers any time I feel like it. And maybe get a little spiritual lesson in the bargain…after all, as Monsignor Sandri said on the show, "The higher the burger, the closer to God."

Details: Garden State, 4233 N Mississippi on the corner of N Mississippi and Skidmore. 503-962-9265.

A la Cart: Heavens to Burgatroyd!

I loved the xiao long bao at the now-defunct Asian Station food cart. And when I had Cliff Allen's porchetta at his then brand spanking new People's Pig, the skies opened and angels sang. So when I heard that Kevin Sandri, who wooed and won me with his Jersey-goes-left coast Garden State cart, had opened a new cart called Burgatroyd, I had to check it out.

The burger at Burgatroyd.

With both carts in a pod called Mississippi Marketplace on the corner of North Mississippi and Skidmore next to the Prost! bierstube, he's putting out some of the best cart grub in the city. Burgatroyd is a fiendishly simple concept: take a healthy patty of really good burg, slap it on a substantial brioche bun and let people choose from a vast list of condiments.

Sauces? They've got 'em!

Calabrian chile aioli? How about caramelized onions? Or maybe a pickled gardiniere is more your speed. Mushrooms, a pineapple slice, an egg, pancetta and various cheeses are all there, too, just waiting for you to create your own monster-burger for a few extra dimes. Plus as much sauce as you can take, including some of David Barber's incendiary Picklopolis habanero and jalapeno sauces.

Plus he's figured out that with their burgers, people like a little libation that can be had, and even consumed with your food, at the pub next door. Like I said, the guy is fiendishly clever.

Details: Burgatroyd, 4233 N Mississippi at Skidmore. 503-962-9265.

A la Cart: Sicily in Sellwood

They're all over Portland, scattered from parking lots downtown to abandoned lots all over the eastside, and featuring cuisine from as many countries as you have fingers (and maybe toes). This is the first installment in what will be a regular feature called A la Cart, and you're welcome to add your nominations for those you consider to be the best in the region.

First up is a little wagon that calls itself Garden State ("Italian street food from the Willamette Valley"), a first venture for owner Kevin Sandri, and he's offering some outrageously fabulous fare that is almost all organic and locally sourced. His little quilted aluminum cart sits on a corner in Sellwood that is being developed specifically for food carts, and he's already been joined by a taco cart with a pan-Asian cart rumored to be on the way.

On our first trip there we tried his saffron-flavored arancine stuffed with either sausage or mozzarella that comes with a fresh tomato dipping sauce, then a sausage and sautéed pepper sandwich that had caramelized onions, peppers and a slightly spicy grilled sausage stuffed into a ciabatta roll.

The arancine were crisp on the outside and meltingly moist inside, though the dipping sauce was a bit bland and would have benefited from the addition of something to kick it up a notch. The ciabatta sandwich was fantastic, a nice handful that fills the stomach and warms the soul.

There's always a soup on hand, and the chicken looks amazing. Kevin says he'll update the menu occasionally as seasonal produce changes. And I'll be going back to check this out more thoroughly in the near future.

Details: Garden Sate, corner of 13th and Lexington in Sellwood (5 blocks north of Tacoma). Phone 503-705-5273.