Tani's and Fred Meyer

KDB wasn't sure if we wanted to have dinner downtown but I nixed that idea because I wasn't too keen on being where all the tourists were. We'd already been there and done that three years ago. Instead, I asked him if he would recommend a place near him...

After haggling over different types of cuisines, we settled on Japanese so he recommended this place, just a few blocks from where he lives in the Woodstock neighborhood in SE Portland.

Although he hadn't been to Tani's Japanese Kitchen in quite a while, he was willing to give it another go.

We were super hungry so we ordered several appetizers.


It's a small local place here...

We started off with calamari and some sort of side slaw. By the time I took the photo, several pieces of calamari had already been eaten. These weren't that great, unfortunately. Just fried pieces of squid.

Gyoza (beef or pork, I don't remember) were also ordered. Again, nothing spectacular but when you're hungry, you'll eat anything, right?

The Octopus salad that I ordered. After all that heavy food earlier today plus the donut(s), I wanted something "green" so I could feel like I was making the attempt to eat healthy. This dressing was sesame soy. The octopus pieces were nice and tender.

Here's where the dinner went downhill. The sushi pieces were sloppily rolled. The pieces were kind of big, making it awkward to eat it gracefully without it falling apart. I believe this was the salmon skin roll.

Here's the rest of our rolls - I barely remember what we had, but California was one (TC's request), caterpillar, eel, spicy scallops and something else.

It was the ugliest sushi I'd ever seen but not exactly the worst I'd ever eaten. Well, now we know. Note to self.

Before heading back to our hotel, KDB accompanied us to the local Fred Meyer, this was somewhere on 82nd (the "nicer" one he said; there are two Fred Meyer stores on 82nd). We needed to buy some waters, snacks, makeup remover and a few other last minute items. Fred Meyer is like the Oregonian version of Wal-Mart. They have everything in here, from clothes to groceries and even a gas station (cheaper gas too!)

Although it may be hard to see in this photo, they had an extensive ethnic food section, which included "Asian", "Latino" and "Russian". SE 82nd Street is quite ethnically diverse and many Asian (Chinese, Vietnamese) as well as Slavic immigrants make their home in this part of town.

I wish I could have spent more time perusing the ethnic food aisles, but we were tired from this long day and wanted to get back. We'd be spending another day with KDB later that week.

This concludes Day 1 of our Oregon trip with a few visits to Washington locales. The trip may be read in this order:
Pine State Biscuits
Tonalli's Donuts & Cream
Fort Vancouver
Pop Culture
Kalama HS aka Forks HS in Twilight
World's Tallest Totem Pole
Tani's and Fred Meyer

Tomorrow, more of the SE quadrant of PDX!