The Hot Knives (in LA) interview Joel Domreis of Courier Coffee (PDX).

There is a print interview with Joel Domreis on BikePortland which links a Willamette Week article that labels Joel a “purist”, a Portland blogger calls Courier the “best in Portland,” and right here on UrHo the Half & Half talks about moving to Courier Coffee.

Special thanks to the Hot Knives and friends for asking the questions and putting half the video together and also to Joel for sitting down with Steve and I in the wonderful Palms Motor Hotel.

File this under “travel writing.” One of us recently drove the California coast in a semi-monthly pilgrimage to Cambria to see family. The stretch of rocky beach north of Santa Barbara, from Pismo Beach to Monterey, is earth magic. The ocean edge here is all ash-colored cliffs, Japanese painting-sized waves and pebbly remnants of land that must have seen dinosaurs, volcanic eruptions and other weird humanless history.

This pristine area, where So Cal ends, has quickly become a wonderland of rich old vines and small batch vineyards where the wealthy can get their drink on. Cambria is still a quant little town without a PR person, but nearby Paso Robles has become an indie star of the wine tasting world. Sure, the wine is great. Especially the zinfandels and cabernet francs. And a number of the wine makers here still sell at reasonable prices. But for the most part it now makes sense to find new food activities and grub stops along these coastal villages. The richies have raised the rent on a cheese plate too high.

On this most recent visit, while window shopping in town we found a stoner dude in a neon fruit apron rolling out hundreds of perfect, massively sugary, and nearly vegan cinnamon rolls (his assertion that there’s “some milk in the margarine we use” is bordering on nonsensical but we’ll take his word on it). This seaside bakery and gift shop at Morro Bay knocks out surely the sweetest, gooiest cinnamon buns we’ve ever had. Watching the action from through a window is always fun with industrial baking, the fact that you can slide the window open and talk to the teenager manning the booth is a bonus (*note what this dude is rocking on his stereo). This sleepy town known most for its gigantic rock and reasonable wet suit rentals is a nice change in pace from the ritzier parts of San Luis Obispo. It also boasts a sweet, gourmet slow food restaurant called Hoppies that does veggie and vegan, as well as meat, for garden lunches. That’s if the buns ain’t enough.

Directions: Exit Highway 1 at Morro Bay.

On July 5th, 2006 I wrote about an epic conflict between Lemon and Pineapple. On that day it was clear that Lemon was the winner. But much can happen in the span of nine months, and so today the Lemon will face it itself...

It's Lemon Month again, and now the New Lemon Month must face off against the Original Lemon Month. Will the lack of surprising new flavors make Lemon Month dull? Or have the sands of time ground down my taste buds enough to experience Lemon Month again for the first time? Can they replicate their own winning formula, or even, as crazy as it may seem, improve upon it? Let's take a look:

(Rankings - The ranking system follows the five-star Netflix formula. 1 - Hated It, 2 - Didn't Like It, 3 - Like It, 4 - Really Liked It, 5 - Loved It. One difference is that we will be using small lemons instead of stars.)

Summer Lemon with Spiced Pecans

Originally this dish rated a four. This time I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Perhaps it was expectations? It tasted fine, but it felt like I was eating at someone else's house. You know that feeling? Where it's the same dish but their Mom makes it different and it tastes a little funny?

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Lemon Rice with Cashews

The only food to ever get five lemons at a Sweet Tomatoes, and the dish that secured Lemon's destruction of Pineapple, I was excited to try it again. Even with the high expectations the cool, refreshing, and Zesty flavor won me over again.

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Lemon Chicken Orzo

I have to say, this vat of soup looked disgusting. It was too full, and I think perhaps it had been sitting a while? The rice got all stuck together in the creamy sauce, making for odd lumps. It tasted fine, but the appearance made me wary the whole time I was eating.

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Lemon Cream with Capers

They need to rename this and add the word "pasta" in there somewhere. While this is still the best pasta at Sweet Tomatoes, that's like being the least corrupt Republican.

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Tangy Lemon Muffins

I am not a lover of the muffin. I like them, but I don't love them. Perhaps this is why the Tangy Lemon Muffin (or TLM) only scored a three originally, or perhaps they have improved the recipe for the TLM, because this time around, I really liked it. It was moist like a cake, but not too sweet, and tasted really tangy.

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Hot Lemon Lava Cake

Sweets are not my cup of tea, so I tend to not rate cake and candies as high as something smothered in BBQ sauce. The original HLLC rated three lemons, and I'm very tempted to let that same rating apply here except that I really enjoyed the HLLC this time around. The problem is, it has little to do with the HLLC, and more to do with next item on the list, The Lemon Cream Mousse, or as I call it, Lemon Foam.

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Lemon Cream Mousse

Lemon Foam. It's new. It's weird. It's not really that tasty. I mean, it's sugar-free because it's made with Splenda, and is billed as being only 40 calories per serving. It really lacks a distinct flavor, just giving a hint of lemon aftertaste. But the texture is amazing. It's like whipped sticky butter and if it wasn't for the texture and spreading it over the TLM and HLLC I might not have liked it at all.

Original Rating: n/a
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Lemon Gelatin

C'mon. Jello? Ugh.

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Strawberry Lemonade

Why did this only get two lemons? It's pretty good!

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Conclusions

Clearly the food scientists at Sweet Tomatoes have been spending a lot of time in the lab. Lemon foam? This gets me excited about the other flavor months, such as strawberry foam and pineapple foam! I really expected to like the food less this time around, but most of the foods I rated I higher the second time around. Certainly there is some randomness to this battle, as the food is better when it's fresh, and there is no way to determine how long the food has been sitting (for the LCO and the LCC I suspect quite a while), but you can't argue with the numbers, the new Lemon Month is the winner!

Following the advice of local vegan warriors Food Fight, we spent today's lunchtime scopin' out the latest addition to Portland's veg-friendly mobile cart restaurant scene, Veggielicious. When I say "latest addition," I mean it: this spot just opened its shutters this Monday.

V-licious serves up the kind of sandwiches that vegans all over town probably already make at home: you know, maybe some cool wheat bread, veganaise, the good Trader Joe's sprouts, veggie cheese slices, a healthy slab of grilled tofu and the lettuce-tomato standards. It works, though, because it's food you already know you like -- and it's somehow more pleasant to eat it when it's handed to you in a nostalgic plastic burger basket by a really nice tattooed guy.

Some menu items are a little fancier: The "Big Mock" is a tasty veggie burger, and the "Egg" Salad Sandwich is a fluffy, cruelty-free pleasure. Steve Schroeder, Veggielicious first-timer, said, "going against my innate inclinations against mayonaisey salad sandwiches proved fruitful," adding that his "egg salad sandwich was delightful, a soft and simple lunch treat."

The cart is inexpensive, too: a sandwich, bag-o-chips, and soda combo will only set you back six bucks. We're heading back this weekend to try the "Egg" Mock Muffin.

Veggielicious is located on 3315 SE Hawthorne Blvd in Portland, OR.