For a belated birthday treat, my girlfriends toughed out one
of Portland’s most notoriously long wait brunch destinations...Tasty n Sons.
Typically my girlfriends and I are pretty good planners. One or two of us
usually gets to our Portland brunch destination about an hour ahead of time to
get on the list, then the text messages fly and the rest follow. Shout out (do people still do shout outs?) to
Trina and Elizabeth who are usually our early birds. Seriously…I don’t know
what I would do without them. I can roll out of bed…put my hair up, throw on a
giant $3.00 pair of sunglasses and show up just in time for the coffee to be
poured and to disclose to the waiter that our table loves coffee and loves
cream and sugar even more. (Love my
girls!)
In this particular case though this was a marathon wait,
longer than the typical 1 hour wait in
Portland and I am happy to report it was 98% worth it. How long you ask? Well…I
showed up about 45 minutes after the first of us arrived and I am pretty sure
we waited at least another hour after that. They are kind enough though to call your cell when
you table is ALMOST ready, so you can bum around a bit in the neighborhood.
We were all seated at the big, family table in front of the
windowed garage door that was, at this time of year, closed. I have never
minded family style, it’s pretty popular in a lot of Portland restaurants and I
like the camaraderie of it. I know people who hate it though. So fair warning.
Considering how crazy the place was the service was great.
The server was so pleasant, didn’t come across as a food snob server and didn’t
miss a beat. The menu was full of tons
of great options and we ordered many of them.
The style of service was what the server described as “family style”. Now
this was the only thing that didn’t quite sit right with me. When I think
family style, I think we all pass the plates around and take a little on our
plates. Tasty n Sons version of this was…whatever is done cooking first gets
put on the table for everyone to pick at until the next thing was done. Huh.
Alright. “Family Style” I couldn’t help
but think “I don’t want to eat a little of everyone’s, we always take bites from
each other’s plates but come on now…back away from my French Toast.” Also…one
of the most impressive things to me about brunch is the kitchen’s timing
ability. I have always been impressed by a smooth running kitchen when it comes
to the eggs, toast and bacon thing. Timing is everything. It kind of made the
food brat in me go…”now where is the skill in that?” I could serve a dinner
party and be like…okay mashed potatoes are done…coming up…turkey. (Actually I think I have done that before.)
Really though my group was down for it and we are all about sharing (guess I am
the one who needs to learn) and it was not a problem. So as long as you really
like the people you are eating with and don’t have deep seeded, selfish, don’t
touch my food issues (ahem)…then you will be fine.
The food came out fairly quickly (well yeah…it’s not about
timing so of course a plate came out quickly)…a plate here and there. Two
plates, a couple bites and then the ohh and ahhhs. First the English Breakfast
came out, which was two fried eggs, baked beans, bacon and an English Muffin.
The baked beans were really great. Then out came the Sweet Biscuits. They fully
took first prize and were only the second on stage. WOW. They were amazing.
Light, fluffy and perfectly lovely. They
were drizzled with a warm berry compote and topped with a quenelle of whipped
cream. A few of us ordered the Bambino
Plate, which was a small plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and a biscuit with
honey butter. I also ordered a half order of French Toast. (I am always on a
French Toast mission.) The French toast was good but next time I will switch
out for the Sweet Biscuits. Also served
were the Potatoes Brava topped with eggs. Those potatoes were also really
delicious. They were tossed in the Toro Bravo sauce. Toro Bravo is the sister restaurant
to Tasty n Sons that serves Spanish tapas. The sauce is a Spanish style tomato
sauce and it must be tossed in last minute because the potatoes that were
either roasted or pan fried are still really crispy when they get to you.
All in all it was worth the wait. Only one more teeny tiny
(or to some… BIG) complaint…the bacon. (Gasp!) I like my bacon thick and smoky. Their bacon
was thin and crispy. To each their own.
Tasty n Sons
3808 N Williams
Portland 97212
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| The English Breakfast |
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| Erin's Sweet Biscuits with warm blueberry compote |
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| Bambino Plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuit & heather's honey butter |
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| Potatoes Bravas with over easy eggs |
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| French Toast...wait weren't we talking about the Sweet Biscuits? |
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| Maggie aka Sunny from Lemony Snicket |
