Bay 13 Restaurant

We had a goodbye dinner for one of my workmates at Bay 13 last night and I have to say it served the purpose. It was a beautiful summer night, so ideally we would have sat outside, but we didn't make a reservation in time, so we sat in the dinning room. They also have two long "community" tables, but we weren't up for sitting next to people we didn't know. We started with a selection of their sushi rolls, which were good, but not great. It was fine as an appetizer, but does not stand up to other restaurants in town. If there was a stand out it is the Ahi "Poke." We then worked our way through several other appetizers: the crab legs, clams, snap peas and shitake mushrooms and the gnocchi which were all great. Of the group, the crab legs were the star. To finish, we had one each of the deserts. Again, all very nice, but the warm brownie sundae killed. They also have a nice full bar. I would recommend this place if you have a large group. The outside seating is great. I have heard it can be a bit of a meat market on weekend nights.

Bay 13 Restaurant

701 NW 13TH AVE

Portland, OR 97209

503.227.1133

Warren Zevon - Excitable Boy

For some reason the first Warren Zevon record I bought was Bad Luck Steak in Dancing School. I don't know why I bought this record, but I really liked it and it led me to check out some of his older records. Luckily I got hold of his 1978 release Excitable Boy before too long and wore it out. Most of the songs on this record are on the seemingly endless greatest hits records that have come out: "Johnny Strikes Up The Band," "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner,"Excitable Boy" and his biggest radio hit, "Werewolves Of London." Zevon lived a pretty hard life (he battled demons as they like to say) with two extended bouts with alcoholism. Bad Luck Steak was actually the first record back on his first sober stint in 1980. Although he always garnered critical success, sales did not follow, which led to him falling off the wagon and a few lost years. Unfortunately Zevon's hard living seems to have caught up with him. In 2002 he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He decided to record one more record with a bunch of his famous friends called The Wind. I have included this record in this review in case you flake out and buy a greatest hits record. You should buy this for no other reason than to hear him sing Bob Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door;" this song is a lot more powerful when you hear it from a person that knows he only has a couple of months to live.

What do you think about on the bus?

I ride the bus to and from work almost every day. This morning I saw a sign on the bus that said, "Tell us what you think about on the bus." They were offering free bus passes as rewards and had examples like, "I shouldn't be ease dropping" and "What am I going to eat for dinner."

Here is what I think about on the bus:

What is that smell?
Is that guy going to throw up on me?
Is she crazy or just high?
Why is this person touching me?
Is it better to get off and walk the rest of the way to work or hope this guy gets off soon?
Why is he yelling at his cell phone?
How many cans one person fit on the bus?

I'll let you know if I win a free pass.

Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel 3 Melt

Peter Gabriel is a difficult person to wrap your arms around. He was clearly the best musician in Genesis. When he left the band the music became insipid pop songs, but they exploded and had huge commercial success. Rumour has it that he was super jealous. Worse yet, Genesis drummer Phil Collins becomes a big solo star and sells more records than Gabriel. Still the best music wins in the end. Phil Collins and the Genesis of the 80's are forgotten and Peter Gabriel lives on as one of the best of his generation. And the best of several great records is Melt. You may love So because it had more hits, but Melt has stood the test of time better. There is no better song than "Biko."

Oregon Brewers Festival

Barbara's favorite event of the year is the Oregon Brewer's Fest. Celebrating their 21st year this is one of the premier beer fests in the world. This year there were 72 craft breweries serving beer from 18 different states. Admission is free, but you have to buy a mug for $5 and tokens cost $1 each. One token gets you a taste of the beer and four tokens get you a full glass. A good strategy is to try a few different brews before you commit to a full glass.

All the beers are from mico-brewers, so no big guys like Miller or Bud. The breadth of choice is pretty amazing with everything from light summer pilsners to watermelon flavored beer to hoppy ales and dark stouts.

One of the keys is to get to the event early as it gets really crowded as the day goes on. This year there were already a few thousand people there when we arrived at 2:00 PM on Friday. It also gets a little rowdy as the night goes on, although there are a lot of "alcohol monitors" and they close at 9:00 PM.

We were missing a few regulars this year. For the last dozen years Barbara has met Mark Ebsen and Jeff Foster there on Friday afternoon, but they were both absent this year (this is like the Lakers missing the playoffs, we were pretty shocked). These two are both beer affectionados and home brewers, so we called Ebsen a couple of times to taunt him.

While beer is the main attraction, there is also food and live music at the festival as well as home brewing info, etc. The best part however is the crowd. The brew fest attracts some pretty interesting people. If you are into utility kilts you will have plenty of company here. There are also a lot of great t-shirts: "Beer, helping ugly people have sex since 1862." Instead of "I (heart) beer" they had "I (beer can) Beer." Barbara wants to design a shirt for some of the bigger guys that says, "Beer Baby."

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

How to choose one Bob Dylan record without freaking out all the Bob fans? I am going to leave myself an out and say I might add another one later. First I have to admit I am not the hugest Bob Dylan fan. Like the Beatles, he is revolutionary and he changed the way we listen to music, but he also put out a lot of crap. I love Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks and Time Out of Mind, but there are a lot of filler songs on all of them. I am going to give the nod to Highway 61 Revisited because it has my favorite Dylan song of all time - "Like a Rolling Stone" - and it has a great rocking sound. I would say Dylan is at his best when he's rocking out, in fact the best Jimi Hendrix songs are all Dylan songs, i.e., "All Along the Watchtower."

My Brother's Crawfish

My Brother's Crawfish is a new place that just got mentioned in the Best of Portland section of Portland Monthly, so we tried it out. It is in a crappy strip mall off of 82 St. (or Ave. of the Roses if you like), strike one. When we got there all the folks cooking the food were Asian (I like to see a black guy or a scary looking white guy when it comes to Cajun food), strike two. We ordered a bunch of sides: jambalaya, gumbo, crawfish etouffee and some boiled crawfish. The good news is that the food saved the day. Apart from the fact that there is oregano in the jambalaya it was all really tasty. If you are a big crawfish fan you are going to have to adjust your expectations. It is not boiled in Zatarain's, they had a spicy sauce on the outside that was nice, but to expensive to order again. They have three different Abita beers which is a nice bonus. You also get a lot of food, we ate well and had a lot to take home. It's not a NOLA substitute, but not bad for PDX.

My Brother's Crawfish
8220 SE Harrison St

Portland, OR 97216

Phone: (503) 774-3786