Lueders Haus Blog

John’s Le Pigeon post (below) doesn’t mention our other open-kitchen dining experience on Saturday: Lunch at Amnesia Brewing Co. on Portland’s rapidly gentrifying North Mississippi Avenue. We noticed they were open for lunch when we checked out Mississippi Pizza a couple weeks ago, and decided to swing by for a little al fresco lunch on a rainy afternoon under their giant parking lot-sized tent. The menu is limited by what can be cooked on the big charcoal grill in a corner of the outdoor seating area — burgers and sausages (both veggie and meaty). John chowed down on a Hungarian sausage, while I tried a Tofurky beer brat. The food was all right, but really, it was about sitting outside sipping an IPA (unfiltered and not unlike a less-sweet Mac and Jack’s). The outdoor seating area is huge, like a few other memorable patios in Portland – there just aren’t comparable chances to sit outside in Seattle. Portland’s luxury of expansive patio seating seems to be a product of so many converted warehouses with parking lots being converted into bars and restaurants — and the parking areas have been transformed into outdoor seating. I’ll take a patio over a parking lot any day.

On Saturday night Sherry and I took a break from our usual dining out location in Portland to try something a little more French. The chef from Le Pigeon made the list of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs along with the chef from Seattle’s Sitka & Spruce. We passed on the headliner squab but our food was still excellent. That stretch of Burnside has come a long way from when we first visited Portland and dined at “The Farm.” Since then a hip hotel, a club, and a few restaurants have all opened up within a few blocks.

Almost forgot to blog about this Op-Ed from Wednesday on why Amtrak sucks. Anyone who has spent any amount of time on an Amtrak train knows who has “priority” on the tracks: freight.

The college dance major on the cellphone behind me was in tears. She urged her relatives to go ahead with their planned activities without her and she would meet them in Chicago later. Maybe.

That’s a familiar scene. Senators Frank Launtenberg and Trent Lott (of all people) are pushing legislation to give the Surface Transportation Board some teeth in getting Amtrak moving.

The Times ran a series of articles, buried deep in the Science Times, on the effects of climate change and the inequality between rich and poor nations. It includes first hand accounts from Malawi, Australia, India, and the Netherlands. (Where they are building some cool sounding floating houses that are not house boats.)

We head out to see the “Lives of Others” last Saturday night. This movie was a fantastic movie and definitely tops my list of best movies I’ve seen this year. (Even if that list is fairly short so far. The only other movie on it is “The Departed” which was good as well, Leo can really act.)