Eat Salem New Year's Resolutions

Where I'll eat in '08

I will do my best not to eat at any Salem restaurants that have more than two dozen franchises, except for Baja Fresh, Taco Del Mar, McMenamin's, Panda Express and Starbucks(only for the wifi).

I will venture out to Stayton to try Apizza and write a post about it.

More reviews of restaurants on Lancaster, If I can find any that aren't mega chains.

I will eat at Tong King's for lunch if there are more than two cars in the parking lot.

Fewer donut reviews.

I will order Maynard's Meatloaf at White's

I will stop picking at my wife's meal from across the table.

I will look for restaurants that have healthy and delicious choices on the kids menu.

I will work on my spelling and grammar.

I won't feel guilty when I don't leave a tip in a tip jar.

I will work harder to try and get a Trader Joe's to Salem.

I will go to Maverick's now that they've had time to work out the kinks in the system.

I won't complain about doing dishes when my wife cooks at home.

I will eat at Buster's more often because my children love to go there.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee

One thing I love about living in Salem is that there is always a coffee shop nearby. Several of the downtown coffee shops are great for hanging out, having a snack, reading a book or surfing the web. The main players for downtown coffee shops, at least the ones I've discovered, are Starbucks, The Beanery, Coffee House Café, and Governor's Cup.

There are two Starbucks on the same block of Liberty, one at Court St, one at Chemeketa. I like the Chemeketa one, since it's larger and has more tables. Even so, it's Starbucks. Nothing unusual or different, and certainly not unique to Salem. The coffee's decent, the pastries are made who knows where, and the music is decent. Can you even get real coffee mugs for your drink at Starbucks anymore? So even if you're going to sit there for an hour, you'll still be drinking from a paper cup unless you bring your own. You also have to pay for the wifi.

There are two Beaneries downtown, one on Liberty, across from the Starbucks on Court, and one on Court Street between High and Church. I really like the Beanery on Liberty. Other than being a bit on the noisy side, it's clean, spacious, has good lighting, and big windows where you can watch the world fly by. The food is ok, and the wifi is free (I think--never tried it there). The bus mall Beanery doesn't have a lot of character, other than the characters that come through. The clientele is an interesting mix of bus patrons, county and state workers. It's pretty basic, more there to serve coffee than act as a local hangout.

Coffee House Café is also on Liberty, between State and Court. I like how spacious it feels inside, with high ceilings, plenty of tables and several couches, and a large, long bar. The coffee is good, the pastries and cookies seem fresh and are quite tasty. The background music is good, and they also have live music many evenings. I've often had a hard time getting the attention of a barista, or the wait is long, but once I have my coffee (and often a very good snack), I'm quite content.

Governor's Cup seems like it's a bit on the grungy side. It's got a very narrow storefront on Court St near High. They roast their coffee on site, and when they're roasting, the smell of cooking or burning beans is almost too strong to bear. The pastries are all wrapped tightly in saran wrap, which make me think they're neither local nor fresh. The place seems a bit too worn out. The couch cushions all have rips, the place seems dusty and the carpets are filthy. Even so, I sort of like the scene. It seems like a younger crowd there, the music is fun, and the upstairs balcony provides more privacy if you need to study or wander the web (free wifi here as well). The staff people are very friendly, chatting with you like you've been friends for years. In fact, Governor's Cup was the only coffee shop to recall my order after going in a few times.

I'm sure there are more coffee shops downtown. Where do you like to go for a good cup?

SFNY Pizza Opening Night

Did anyone get a slice or a pie from the new Straight From New York Pizza Monday Night? The good news is the pizza taste the same as the downtown location. The better news, it's a more convenient location, at least for me, and there's tables to dine in. I got mine to go.

David Versus Goliath

Coffee lovers in Salem are blessed with many choices for their morning brew especially on Commercial St. SE. You may have noticed across the street from The Northern Lights Theater a new drive thru Starbucks has opened up. Of course you noticed, you've probably purchased three lattes from there since it opened. I know for sure my wife has bought at least one. I guess the Starbucks folks have figured out what the Dutch Bros have known for awhile. People in Salem don't like to get out of their cars when consuming caffeine. Let's see, 2 Starbucks downtown, 1 next to Hollywood Video, Fred Meyer, 1, Lancaster, 1, I think, at least 2 Safeways have them. Do they have any in Walmart yet? My guess is there are around 10 places in Salem to get a cup of Starbucks coffee. So what are the chances of survival for the little coffee stand next to the new Starbucks called the Espresso Road. Just opened a few weeks, SBs already has a long line and the ER not much of a wait. I'll be optimistic and say that I never noticed ER until the SB opened next to it. Maybe SBs overflow will boost business next door and that side of the street will become a coffee destination. I wonder what would happen if you ordered from ER and walked over to SBs and drank at one of their tables. Drinking an Espresso Road is like voting for a third party candidate. It's like a protest against the system, a small gesture of disobedience. If you do buy your coffee from ER, display your cup proudly. Walk around town without the thing that keeps your hands from burning and show off to everyone which side you are on in the coffee wars of Salem. This is truly a test for Salemites to pick between a mega chain and a mom and pop.

Straight From New York Pizza Opens Monday

Hello Eat Salem,

Thank you for the kind words about our pizza shop on your blog. We wanted to give you the inside scoop on our new shop.

It is slated to open Monday. It took us a long time to complete this project due to some tricky engineering issues, but we are really happy with the result.

Due to the location, we designed it to be a neighborhood establishment with a small dining room, and when the weather gets better we plan to install a cover over the back patio with built in lights and heat.

Thanks again and hope to see you at the new shop.

Michael Rice & Ian Jacobson
Owners
503-363-SFNY
(phone not up until Monday)
Photos courtesy SFNY Pizza

Charley's Grilled Subs

"Wit cheez", that's how they order them in Philadelphia when the locals want a spray of cheese whiz on top of their steak sandwich. At Charley's Grilled Subs in Salem on Commercial St SE, the cheese is provolone but the sandwich looks the same. I've never eaten a cheese steak sandwich in Philly so I was looking forward to eating one at Charley's. What I found was a messy sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, mayonnaise, cheese, grilled onions and steak made to order. I should have paid attention to how they were making the sandwich because I wasn't expecting the lettuce, tomato and mayo. The mayo especially made this already greasy sandwich a diet buster of epic proportions. All that it says on the menu for this sandwich is "steak, grilled onions and provolone" and it would have been a lot better if that's how they left it. The fat content of the sandwich may not have been so noticeable if it hadn't been for the greasiness of the french fries. By the time I got home, the oil from the fries was soaking through the paper bag they were in. They advertise that the fries are fresh and they were. I would say these were easily some of the tastiest fries in town. It's kind of a trade off to get another chain store like Charley's to town because they're sharing a building with Bigfoot Bar and Grill. The Bigfoot which claims to have world famous burgers, is expected to open in January.

DaVinci's

DaVinci's, next to the Elsinore Theater on High Street, is by far, my favorite restaurant in Salem. It's not cheap, but the food is spectacular. I've happened to go on two different Thursday evenings, and they had a jazz trio playing in the bar area. With the main dining room upstairs, the music is a wonderful accompaniment to the meal without being too loud or overpowering.

The menu has a few entrees, several pastas, and a large appetizer and salad menu. The pastas, they warn you, are quite small—about half an entrée. But it's really nice to order a salad and pasta, and share an appetizer with your date. That's exactly what we did the last time I went. I ordered the Caesar salad, pasta with Dungeness crab, and we shared a shrimp appetizer in a green curry sauce.

The Caesar salad was one of the best I've had in ages. It was a real Caesar—be warned—with 4 skinny anchovies lying across the lettuce. In addition, there were thick slices of Parmesan, homemade croutons, and a great Parmesan dressing. The shrimp was so-so, the green curry sauce was flavorful, but it overpowered the shrimp. The pasta was divine. I can't remember everything that was in it, but I do recall Dungeness crab, pancetta, and lemon zest. An odd sounding combination, but it tasted wonderful. The server said that they're perfectly willing to prepare any of the pastas as an entrée size for diners who'd like a larger order.

My date had a New York steak with roasted fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, and a tomato-based sauce reduction. The steak was full of flavor and perfectly cooked. We've never had an appetite for deserts, but I bet they're quite good too.

When I tell people I love the food at DaVinci's, often times I get odd looks. Evidently, the service there used to be terrible—terrible enough to not want to ever go back, no matter how good the food is. Well, I've been three times since October, and the service has been, at a minimum, decent, and at the best, quite good.

Pastamichi Italian Restaurant

(Pastamichi is now closed. This post was written in 2007.)
The best thing about Pastamichi in West Salem is it's location. When you cross over the Marion Street bridge into Polk County, Pastamichi is the first thing you see. Veer left at the bottom of the bridge and pull into the parking lot on the right. I say this because it's always difficult to figure out which way to go when you get to that intersection. Inside, Pastamichi is clean and modestly decorated with photographs for sale by local artists. When you first sit down, you feel like this could be a good experience. The menu has an array of modern Italian classics like pizza margherita, fettucini puttanesca, and chicken piccata along with a number of steak and veal entrees. On this visit I ordered the spinach tortellini with pesto sauce. It was a nice portion and cooked just slightly al dente but I wouldn't say it was mouth watering. This was the third time I've eaten here, each time thinking that I must be ordering the wrong thing. Now, I've concluded that the food is not worth driving over the bridge to eat. I feel bad about this place not being very good because the food looks right but it just doesn't taste authentic. I even tried a meatball from the kids meal and again was very disappointed in the flavor. The service is fine, but I've never eaten at this restaurant when there was more than a couple of tables. Another reason Pastamichi is having trouble attracting a crowd is while we were dining, they started mopping the floors so they could get out early. I may not have noticed but my wife and her super sensitive sniffer gagged at the smell of the chemicals in the industrial strength floor cleaner. She was so upset by this, she said I had to mention it in the blog. I don't want to say Pastamichi is bad but it's definitely not great.

The Wild Pear

On a recent trip downtown to the Wild Pear for lunch, I ordered the turkey and havarti sandwich and a cup of coconut curry squash soup. The sandwich had a tangy herbed mayonnaise and was served on foccacia. I'd never tried their squash soup, but now that I have, I'll be getting it often. It was great combination of spicy and sweet. The soups vary frequently, though the coconut curry squash soup is on the daily menu. I've tried the clam chowder and found it tasty and different from the usual chowders you can find on the coast. Theirs was much thinner, more like a soup than chowder, with large chunks of clams and potatoes.
Some days the lunch rush can be hectic and finding a table can be nearly impossible. And since you place your order at one counter, then pay and get your drinks at another, by the time you're ready to look for a table, there often aren't any left. Sometimes they seem short a staff person, which means that tables don't get wiped down or dishes removed quickly enough for customers waiting for a table.
I'm glad the Wild Pear going strong in their downtown location. I was surprised to see their South River Road location close this summer. According to their website though, the downtown location will soon be open for dinner.
Reviewed by JCB
tubagurl@gmail.com