Punchbowl Social

During the Christmas Party season, D and I found ourselves somewhere in downtown Portland, looking for supper. The "Find Me Gluten Free" app suggested a place called Punchbowl Social, and it wasn't too far away, so we parked at Pioneer Place and went up to the restaurant. 

Several company holiday parties were going on. Several area of the restaurant were roped off for private parties, and there was a wait for the rest of the dining area.

I like a busy restaurant. 

That tells me the food is probably pretty good. 

Our waiter came over and I went through my polite song and dance about needing to be GF and DF, and he was really cool about it. There wasn't much I could safely order, unfortunately, so I had a burger. 

Don't get me wrong, I like burgers, but I end up only being able to order a burger at half of the places we go to, so I eat a hell of a lot of burgers. 

It gets old. Really old.

On the other hand, I consider myself a sort of connoisseur of GFDF burgers. 

Which is why I started this blog.

...that and it was getting hard to keep track of who gives good beef.

(That came out wrong. You know what I mean.)

SO... onto the burger. I ordered a basic burger, to be safe, with a GF bun and fries. I didn't ask about cross contamination in their fryer and assumed there was cross contamination. I wanted fries dammit, and preferred to not know. 

Drinks were served up in Mason jars, dinner was served up in a frying pan. Cute.

My GF "bun" was two slices of GF bread, and they disintegrated about 2 bites in. I flagged down the waiter and asked for a fork, I also showed him the problem and suggested he tell the manager there are better GF buns out there. I even went so far to tell him how much better WOW Burger is (I'm ballsy like that) and that what makes Wow so great is their bun. (Wow uses Jensen's buns. They're like buttermilk biscuits, only better. And they hold up. Do you hear that Slide Inn? They hold up!)

The Verdict: 

It was a burger. I ate it.

The atmosphere seemed really fun. If there were more options for me to eat, I'd love to go back. 

But a Meh Burger with a fally-aparty bun doesn't get me really excited about the idea.

Here's their menu, anyway.

I'm writing this post a few months after the fact. Maybe there's slaw or kraut on the burger. I don't remember. 

Apparently it didn't blaze itself in my memory as the best burger I've ever eaten. 

That trophy goes to Bend Burger Co. 

Only 168 miles away from my home. 

Sigh. 

I'd like to go there today. 

A burger sounds kinda good right about now.

Petunia's Pies and Pastries

Valentine's Day.
I wanted cake, dammit, and I didn't want to get sick. Plus, it had been a very rough previous 6+ weeks (my dad became very ill then passed away) so this was an especially big treat.

We entered the beautiful shop and studied the menu. 

Grilled cheese sandwiches? I know this is a 100% GF place, but cheese? Is it vegan or not?

I asked the girl at the counter about the cheese. She said, "Yes, it's grilled 'cheese,'" giving me air quotes with the word "cheese." Ahh, THAT kind of cheese. Okay. This place is 100% GF and 100% vegan That means no dairy. 

Yay! I don't have to think, and every single thing on the menu is safe. 

It's very hard, being both GF and DF. Once I find out what the GF options are, I have to further narrow them down to find the DF choices within my limited options. When it comes to dessert, this usually means I get nothing. Even at fully GF places like Ground Breaker, there are no dairy free dessert options. 

So. I got the Champagne Cake. As expected, it was heavier than traditional cake, and a little beany, but the frosting made up for the bean flavor of the cake. It was pretty good, considering it was GF.

Dave got the chocolate cake. Again, it was very dense. The chocolate flavor masked the bean taste, but we both agreed it could have used a little more sugar. He ate about 6 bites and said I can have the rest. It's not his thing. 

We spent about $29 for two slices of cake plus a mocha and a latte, and a tip for the very helpful girls at the counter. I was a little disappointed that so-so cake was $7.99 for a slice. Yes, I realize that GF ingredients cost more, but for that price I'd expect cake that didn't have so much bean flavor. ( I can make a GF cake without so much sorghum or other bean flavored flours, but maybe keeping the eggs out makes other flours more difficult to use?) Anyway, it was just okay. It was cake. I'm impressed by the bakery, not so much by the cake.

Maybe someday we might return for cupcakes or other bakery, but we're not in any rush to do so.

Here is Petunia's Pies & Pastry's menu. It is very easy to order GFDF here.