An Exploration of E 28th

I've known for a while that there is a wealth of amazingness on E 28th St.  I had only been to Ken's Artisan Pizza (amazing) and Esparza's (not my favorite food, but excellent margaritas if you get the better tequila).  In the past few weeks I've made this area a focus. 

First - Coalition Brewery, which is in the old Noble Rot location on Ankeny, just West of 28th.  I've yet to try the food, but the beer is awesome.  They brew most of the beer themselves, and the cream ale is super yummy.  The prices are great too.  I love beer bars, and when summer comes they'll be able to open the garage door and the whole place will feel like you're outside.  LOVE!

Second - Pambiche - where have you been all my life?  I love cuban food, and this place is great.  They have tons of great outdoor seating, which will be so great in the summer.  I started with the Sangria, it was different than a lot of Portland sangrias - it tasted like it had pureed fruit instead of the chunky fruit floating in the drink.  The flavor was excellent.  A second sangria was an easy decision.

Sangria

We also had the chicken corn empanada.  WOW - it's tough to make a bad empanada, but the flavor of this thing was so great.  I want one now.  My sweetheart had the Pescado con Coco (Red Snapper) - it wasn't our favorite, he definitely should have gone in the shrimp direction.

Pescado con Coco

 I got the Fricase de Pollo (Chicken in Tomato Sauce). It was super great.  I think next time I would get Pollo Criolo (Creole Chicken)  It's a more savory dish, where the one I got was sweeter.  I prefer savory chicken. 

Fricase de Pollo

All in all it was so great. I think we'll like it even more once we've tried more of their dishes and have some favorites.  Have you tried it?  What's your favorite?  The dessert case looked amazing, but after our meals there was just no room left.  Speaking of which, they also do wedding cakes - we are definitely considering it for our wedding later this year.  Yummm.

Third - Another Beer bar Migration, just across from Pambiche on Glisan.  The best part was their excellent patio.  We got sandwiches which were quite respectful for bar food.  The beer was also really good.  The people were friendly, and dogs were allowed outside.  There's nothing really significant about this place, except their amazing patio.  I can see us spending some good quality time at Migration come summer.  Hooray!

There are still a lot more places to try.  I'm headed to Bamboo Sushi for happy hour tomorrow, Navarre, Dove Vivi and Fonda Rosa will all come soon.  I love research!