After a solid 800+ days of plotting and planning and designing and programming, it’s exciting to announce that eat.shop has its first app available for sale on the iTunes app store. It seemed appropriate to launch with the latest edition of Portland (Oregon), since this was the city where the series began.
And to celebrate our launch into the app age, this first one is priced an introductory 99¢. Less than a scoop of gelato from Capogiro in Philadelphia, less than a yard of ribbon from French General in Los Angeles. Less than the $3.99 that the apps will be in the future. Okay, enough of this less stuff. Let’s talk about more.
The new eat.shop portland 5ed app is more than pretty, it’s useful. It allows you to do all the useful app type things: note which businesses you covet, show what’s around them, show what’s nearby your location, call the businesses lickety-split. Need we say more? Only this - Get thee to the app store
Even though I dislike this song, it is hard to not hum “It’s a Small World After All” while walking around downtown Portland during lunchtime. For a town often described as Honkeyville USA, the cart scene is undeniably diverse and multicultural. Add to the mix the economic downturn, where it is less risky to open a food cart than an actual restaurant, it makes for a burgeoning cart world offering some of the best eats going. One of the finest is the fairly new Nong’s Khao Man Ghai at SW 10th and Alder.
Nong serves one dish only, Khao Man Gai, not because she is lazy, rather because it kicks some serious butt. This Thai street food specialty is simple: a perfectly steamed chicken breast, tender and juicy, on a bed of scented rice served with a small cup of delicate broth and winter squash soup. Wrapped in white butcher paper with a side of soy, ginger and garlic sauce, your lunch arrives literally looking like a birthday present. And what a gift! The flavors are subtle yet punchy—the combination is perfectly balanced. If this is the food they eat in Thailand everyday, thank goodness it is a small world.