Phở Hùng - On SE Powell Blvd in Portland, OR

A lot of Vietnamese places do either Phở good and Bún not so great or vice versa. This place does everything fantastic. Phở Hùng is one of my two favorite Phở places in Portland. The food is authentic and fresh, has lots of flavor, and the portions are just right. The service here is good, and the prices are very reasonable. Another bonus is that they have their own parking lot, which is a major bonus in a big city like Portland.

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Nuvrei Patisserie & Café - Near the corner of NW 10th and Flanders in Portland, OR

Everything I have had here is super delicious. This is one of my very favorite sandwich places in Portland. I highly recommend the Roasted Turkey Breast. The mauricette bread it comes on is like the most amazing warm, fresh pretzel you have ever had, in a sandwich roll form. The meat and other ingredients are equally as fresh and tasty. The cookies and pastries are also fresh and delicious. I highly recommend this place.

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Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant and Grill - Downtown, near the corner of Court St and High St in Salem, OR

I heard that they have a really good Binh Minh sandwich here so I decided to try it out. It was only $4.50 and it was delicious. The size was perfect too - enough to satisfy my appetite but not so much that it made me full to the point of being sick. The Vietnamese couple that runs this place are very nice, but they are even more quiet. They have a small buffet that I will go back and try someday soon.

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Momiji - On Commercial (across from Fred Meyer) in Salem, OR

The only thing I've had here is lunch-special bento boxes. They are very reasonably priced and the great thing about bento boxes is the variety - you get a little of a few things instead of a lot of one thing. The food is pretty good and the service is great. The last time we went, the server came within a minute or two, brought us our drinks and soup a few minutes later, and by the time we finished our soup, we had our food. Granted, the place wasn't very busy, so if you go when they are busy, you may or may not get your food as quickly.

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Movie - Notorious (1946)

A passionate love ignites between Devlin (Cary Grant) and Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) in this spy movie by the directorial master Alfred Hitchcock. But as the spy game of deception plays out between Alicia and the target of espionage, deception also play out between Alicia and Devlin as he endeavors to hide his true feelings for her. Meanwhile, the stakes of the game climb to compromising and dangerous heights.

Summary from IMDb:
A woman is asked to spy on a group of Nazi friends in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?

IMDb

Movie - Cria Cuervos (1976)

This is a fantastic and strange movie of a child whose perspective of life has been twisted by the death of her mother, which she blames on her womanizing father. Ana Torrent, as in The Spirit of the Beehive, plays the role of the main character like no one else could. Her eyes and her silence are fantastically unique and necessary to the role and the story.

Summary from IMDb, written by Claudio Carvalho:
In Madrid, the orphan sisters Irene, Ana and Maite are raised by their austere aunt Paulina together with their mute and crippled grandmother after the death of their mother and their military father Anselmo. Ana is a melancholic girl, fascinated by death, after seeing her mother having a painful death and her father dead in bed.

IMDb

From Wikipedia:

The title Cria cuervos comes from the Spanish proverb, "Cría cuervos y te sacarán los ojos". This translates as, "Raise ravens, and they'll take out your eyes" and is generally used for someone who has bad luck in raising children, or raised them badly. It may also imply rebellious behavior or that every bad act will return to haunt you.

The phrase "Cría cuervos y te sacarán los ojos" is said to originate with Don Álvaro de Luna of Castile during a hunting expedition. In the course of the hunt his party came across a beggar with terrible scarring in the place of eyes. The beggar explained that he had raised a raven for three years with affection and great care, but it attacked him one day, leaving him blind. The bon mot was Don Álvaro's reply.

India Palace - Downtown, near the corner of Court and Liberty in Salem, OR

The buffet food was mediocre and there wasn't much selection. The Palak Paneer, Chicken Tandoori, Gajar Halwa, and the eggs were the best of what the buffet here had to offer. Everything was lacking in flavor though, including the fruit. I was most disappointed in the Pakora. It's one of my favorites of Indian cuisine and it was a let down here. Despite all of that criticism, I "liked" the place on Urbanspoon for two reasons: 1. Because it is very inexpensive, and for what you pay, it's pretty good food, 2. It's in Salem, OR and I'm grateful to get what they are offering when I don't want to drive hours to get something better.

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Lanxang Lao-Thai Cuisine - On the corner of Commercial and Kuebler in Salem, OR

The food here is pretty good, but even more impressive is the size of the portions - a lot of food. Sometimes they get very busy and you have to wait a little bit, but it's a pleasant enough place so I don't mind waiting. The staff is nice enough. Not much for small talk though, so if that's important to you, be aware that you won't get it here.

There aren't a lot of Thai places at the south end of town. Tup Tim is very good, but the portions are smaller and a little more expensive. So if you want to really fill up on good Thai food, for the least amount of money, without having to drive downtown, this is your best bet of the two places I know of.

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Big Town Hero - On Commercial St (across from Fred Meyer) in Salem, OR

Concerning the chain as a whole, the bread is typically pretty fresh, made every morning on site, I believe. The meats are not cut when you order, unfortunately, but they are still as fresh and flavorful as is reasonable to expect. Their panini selection is tasty enough, but way overpriced in my mind. No french fries, just chips, soups, cookies, and drinks. If you ask for a pickle, they will give you a spear at no extra cost.


The one in Salem used to be a lot better. It's still OK, but not as good as it used to be with the last owners. The new owner seems to be more "business-minded" and less about customer satisfaction. He seems to be learning though. The size of the sandwiches are starting to get a little bigger again and they are tasting better.

One time I watched an employee drop some packaged meat on the floor, pick it up, and put it on the cutting board. True, it was packaged, but now he has transferred what was on the floor to the cutting board, where he proceeded to make a sandwich... I was displeased, to say the least. Ever heard of cross-contamination there kiddo?? But I guess there's a price to be paid for hiring cheap labor/high school kids.

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564 Powell St E Monmouth, OR 97361
I used to eat at the Monmouth store regularly while I was attending WOU. The quality is consistently good, the service was very fast, and the employees were all very nice. They went out of their way to remember who I was and make pleasant conversation while I decided what I wanted to eat.

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11 E Ash St Lebanon, OR 97355
I've been to the one in Lebanon a few times, usually on the way back from cutting firewood down south. It may be my favorite of the three I've been to. The one in Monmouth, however, is a close second.

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White's Restaurant - On Commercial St SE (just south of downtown) in Salem, OR

One of the few good diners still around. Sometimes diners seem like an endangered species in this country. Chains like Denny's and Village Inn have sullied the profession in the same way that McDonald's sullied the art of ma-n-pop burger shops.

There are better places in Salem for breakfast, but this is one of the few old-school places that's any good. If you want a hearty meal done right, and you aren't expecting them to list the calories on the menu, then this is your place. Sometimes you have to wait a bit for a seat, and it's not the cleanest place around, but it's clean enough.

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Gold Dust Meridian -  On SE Hawthorne Blvd in Portland, OR

I was surprised at how good the happy hour food was. I liked it a lot and it was reasonably priced. The bartender was pretty cool. He took the time to perform the absinthe ritual for me, which I very much appreciated because I could tell he was busy. The ambiance here is great. The dim lighting and the candles on the tables set a fantastic mood for couples. The fact that it's on Hawthorne really is a bonus for me because you are close to so much other great stuff - shops, food carts, etc. A really great thing to me was that the patrons seemed more chill and not nearly as obnoxious as they are at a lot of the bars on the west side.

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Phở Jasmine - On N Killingsworth St in Portland, OR

This was my favorite Phở place in Portland for a long time. It's been bumped down a few slots, but it's still toward the top of my list. The Gỏi Cuốn (Rice Paper Rolls: shrimp, bean sprout, cilantro, lettuce, rice noodle, and peanut sauce) the Phở, the Hot Pot, and the Bún are all very good. I personally think that they do Phở better than Bún.

- Parking is a major hassle in the area
- The place is clean enough, I guess
- The staff is very friendly
- I got my food in a reasonable amount of time
- The prices are reasonable

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Hanoi Kitchen - On NE Glisan St in Portland, OR

There are two Vietnamese places in Portland that contend for the pedestal of being called the best in my mind. Hanoi Kitchen is one of them, Pho Hung on SE Powell Blvd is the other. The food at Hanoi Kitchen is authentic and delicious. The presentation is fantastic, the ingredients are fresh and cooked very well, and the portions are the perfect size. Additionally, the place is very clean and the staff is extremely friendly. Our waitress even brought us some complimentary Asian apples from a tree that she said is growing behind the restaurant.

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Clarklewis - On SE Water Ave in Portland, OR

This was a fantastic eating experience! A friend and I went for a walk one day after work and decided to eat here. As we walked in, we noticed the pleasing ambiance and decor. We sat at the front of the building, which was completely open. The summer air came and went at it pleased. We ordered off the happy hour menu, which was very reasonably priced, especially for what we got. We loaded up the burger with a farm egg, Oregon bleu cheese, and pork belly. The arugula and pickled red onion were a great touch too. It might have been the best burger I've ever had. The staff was friendly and professional, and the place was very clean.

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Dick's Kitchen - On NW 21st Ave in Portland, OR

The "Non-Fries" were pretty tasteless, I prefer the good old fashioned unhealthy ones. The burger, on the other hand, was amazing. It's one of the best I've had in Portland. The Bleu cheese was very flavorful and rich, the house-made potato bun was not dry, airy, or tasteless (as is the case at many places), the Nueske's cured bacon was sweet and substantial, the patty was juicy and cooked just right, and the dressings were fresh. Wow, what a delicious burger!

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Dick's Kitchen Website

Kornblatt's New York Style Delicatessen - On 23rd Ave in Portland, OR

The food here is pretty good. The only problem is that I expected more from a New York style deli. Once you say that you're a New York style deli, I automatically hold you to a higher standard. If this was any other sandwich shop, I would probably say it's really good, which (more objectively speaking) it is. The bread seemed a little airy and dry and the meats seemed like they had been sliced hours ago instead of when I ordered it. I thought that my Empire State Sandwich, which the menu warns "No Wimpy Appetites Allowed" about, should have had more meat and more flavorful dressing on it too. I guess I'm saying the New York style sandwich didn't measure up... It was weak in comparison.

I will say, however, that the place has a great atmosphere to it and the staff was colorful and friendly. And I say that even though the waitress pointed out to us that there was a parking enforcer across the street giving her a parking ticket as she watched. Not very professional, but not enough to keep me from going back if the food was amazing, which it wasn't. It was simply good.

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Laughing Planet - On the corner of NW 21st and Lovejoy in Portland, OR

This is one of those super healthy places that would happily sacrifice flavor for their cause. That said, it has more flavor than some of it's competitors. I did like that the ingredients seemed fresh and are unique. It's not boring, like so many chain places whose menu items are all the same as each others. It's definitely not my favorite place to eat, but it was good. If you are a health nut, you'll love it.

The prices and portion sizes were really good and the place was clean, so kudos there.

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