Ichi Sushi

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 4
Price:  $74
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Yakisoba, fried rice, rainbow, philadelphia, california, spicy tuna, oregon, lobster (free) rolls, hotate, tamago, tobiko nigiri, wakame salad
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

It's our last day in Newberg and I wanted to check out Ichi Sushi, a Japanese restaurant located in the old home town Italian restaurant's building.  I once bought a Honda CRX from them for $100.  What a car...

Anyway, now there is a Japanese restaurant run by some nice Chinese Americans.  The menu includes mainly sushi, but there are some noodle based dishes and fried rice and such.  There must be steak on there too, but I didn't notice.  They have a generous happy hour menu from 12 to 4pm and we ordered several things off of that menu.  Also, there was a special where if you spend at least $20 you got a lobster roll free, nice!

As this was my grandmother's first time in a long while to eat Japanese food we got her some yakisoba as she had heard of that before.  My son got some tobiko and tamago nigiri, along with a fried rice.  My wife and I ate wakame salad, along with philadelphia, california, spicy tuna, oregon and the lobster rolls.  Also I got some hotate nigiri to see what that would be like.

Over all, we enjoyed the philly, cali, and spicy tuna rolls the best.  The oregon roll was a bit of an abomination, lacking any rice and smothered in sauce...oh and deep fried.  The rainbow roll was just a fancy california roll with more fish on it, and the lobster roll was also a bit fancier than we prefer (but it was free!).  I didn't much care for the hotate as they put shiso leaf with it, and the rice by itself (not sauce covered) wasn't that great.

Still, for what it is, it was very good, so that's what I'm giving it.  Remember, this is a sushi restaurant in a small American town and shouldn't be compared with the places back home, or fancier places in bigger cities.

Yakisoba

Fried rice

Oregon roll

Lobster roll

Grain Station Brew Works

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 4
Price:  $?
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  3 blue cheese steak salads, a maple bacon burger, a beer flight and 3 beers
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Yesterday my aunt and uncle who took us out to Ancestor Brewery took us to a place they like in McMinnville, a town just a bit down from Newberg.  The restaurant and brewery is called Grain Station Brew Works, and they had some decent beer and tasty food.

Blue cheese steak salad

Three of us got the blue cheese steak salad, while my wife opted for the maple bacon burger with sweet potato fries.  The fries were very good indeed, and the maple bacon burger tasty, though a bit sweet for me.  I really liked my blue cheese steak salad and the steak, while small, was tender.

Maple bacon burger with sweet potato fries

We also tried a bunch of their beers and while overall pretty good there were only a couple that stood out to me.  But this isn't a beer review blog so I won't bore with the details.

Overall another Very Good spot!

Bert's Chuckwagon

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  $28
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Half pound of pulled pork, brisket sandwich, mac'n'cheese
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Newberg has a new BBQ spot since we lived here called Bert's Chuckwagon.  We'd heard it was pretty good, so we stopped in for a bite.  They were out of a few things (common in a BBQ place I've come to find), but I just wanted meat, and their menu has options for just getting hunk of meat, so I ordered some pulled pork.  My wife went for the brisket sandwich while my son, of course, had the mac and cheese.

Brisket sandwich

We all loved our food, and my wife liked hers too, despite handing over the fatty bits to me (yum!).   Great spot and good prices.

Mac'n'cheese

Half a pound of pulled pork

Al Jebal

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  $50
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Baked lamb, Tandoori chicken combo, tabbouleh, falafel
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

We were driving along the road in Corvallis the other day when my eye spotted a "middle eastern" restaurant and market sign.  We stopped and I bought some spices from the market which is very well stocked, and vowed to return to try the food, which we did today.

Falafel

The restaurant bills itself as "middle eastern" but the food is pretty standard lebanese/arabic fare, despite the use of words like "indian tandoori".  My son ordered the chicken tandoori combo which consisted of two different types of yoghurt marinated boneless chicken pieces on a bed of rice with a small salad included.  We tacked on some extras to each dish and to his we added labneh, a thick yoghurt sauce.  I had the baked lamb, which was very tender lamb falling off of the bone.  My extra was called baba ghanouj, but we would have called it moutabel in Kuwait as it was the roasted creamy eggplant dip.  Baba ghanouj is more the fresh, vinagery eggplant dip over there.  Anyway, it was delicious.  The rice can be either kabsa (based on a Saudi Arabian rice) or yellow rice, basmati either way.  The kabsa was the  more spiced and flavorful of the two.  My wife decided to eat off of our plates and ordered some falafel and tabbouleh salad, which we all agreed was unnecessary as the portions were so enormous, but it was nice to taste those things again as well.

Tabbouleh

Overall we were super thrilled with it and if we lived here we'd be eating there every other week probably.  Corvallis is lucky to have such a great spot in town.

Baked lamb with moutabel

Chicken tandoori combo with labneh

McMenamin's Corvallis

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 5
Price:  $94.75
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Shepherd's pie, mac and cheese, salad, pita, burger, beers and a whiskey flight
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

McMenamin's is an Oregon establishment with many outlets all over Oregon and Washington (and maybe elsewhere by now).  They started a number of years ago, buying older buildings and renovating them in their own interesting artistic style.  They also brew beer, distill liquor and make wine.  They are all in the English "public house" style wherein kids are usually welcome most places and the atmosphere is the opposite of the gross typical American bar.  We love them and while in Corvallis visiting my sister-in-law and her husband they took us to the local McMenamins in Corvallis for lunch.

The food was delicious, as usual, and we all had some beer to go along with.  I was also interested in their whiskeys so I got a 3 set taster and we all tried them.  Great spot, for sure.

Ancestry Brewing

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 5
Price:  ?
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Burgers, salmon salads, and a reuben sandwich, and a beer flight
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Some of my relatives asked to take us out to a lunch in Sherwood at the Ancestry Brewing Company's pub.  This place is one of the many new brewery's and pubs that have sprung up since we were last here.

The place is really nice and welcoming, and the beer and food were quite tasty.  I'd really look forward to coming back here at some point in the future.

Martha's Tacos

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 3
Price:  $20
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Wet burrito lengua, wet burrito chicken, pork quesadilla, horchata
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

Martha's Tacos in Lafayette, OR is one of my favorite little Mexican joints.  Of particular note is their wet burrito sauce, which is darker and perhaps more "mole" flavored than tomato or tomatillo.  Of course, we had to stop by for lunch when the opportunity presented itself, and sure enough, it is still there, and still just as good I remembered.  The lengua in particular was super tender and better than Gonzalez in Newberg I think.