Fireside Cafe: Vancouver, Washington

Fireside Cafe is a restaurant in Vancouver, Washington that recently opened. They are occupying the space where Cafe Divine used to be located. Our family is friends with friends of the owners and we heard it was a pretty good place to eat. More importantly, we heard they served mountainous nachos on a pizza dish. I'm a sucker for nachos so we decided to go there for dinner.

Mom is the healthy eater in the family and she got a salad. I don't really know what kind it was, looks like there was vegetables, fruit, bacon and dressing.

Joshua, Dad and I decided to share a plate of wings and the legendary nachos. The boneless wings were okay, nothing special. However, we did get them with barbecue sauce. They may have been better with hot sauce.

This is the glorious plate of Fireside Nachos. It is a 14" pizza pan filled with nachos that were at least 6" tall in the middle. The chips were multi-colored which added a lot of flair to dish. The nachos had cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, black beans, chicken and guacamole (on the side). The chips also had some sort of seasoning on them but since it wasn't listed on the menu we're going to assume its some sort of secret ingredient.

This picture probably doesn't do these nachos justice. There was a LOT of food on that plate. We were able to get through most of the plate but it was tough. These monstrous nachos could easily be a meal for 4-5 people and could be a snack for 10. They are a great value at the low price of $12.99.

Fireside also has more "traditional" cafe dishes such as sandwiches, soups, and burgers. They also have a wide selection of beverages from coffee and smoothies to wine and beer. It's a nice quiet atmosphere and they offer free wi-fi. Whether you're in the mood for coffee, want to try something new, or want to feed nachos to a small army you should definitely check out Fireside Cafe.

Mo's Chowder: Cannon Beach, Oregon

Everybody loves going to the coast. We love going to the coast so much that we went on a day when it was 55 degrees and misting. In July.

After the long drive on Highway 26 we were ready for lunch. Luckily there weren't too many people at Mo's and our food came out quickly. It was a glorious moment when that bowl of clam chowder landed on on the table in front of me. From what I remember it was REALLY good but you probably shouldn't take my word for it since I ate an entire bowl in less than a minute...

If you go to Mo's you've got to try the chowder. The grilled chicken cesar salad is not worth trying, but the chowder is great.

Voodoo Doughnuts: Portland, Oregon

Portland is known for being a very "eccentric" city. One of the best examples of the Portland culture is Voodoo Doughnuts. You can visit their website at http://voodoodoughnut.com/ I had heard about this place many times previously but never visited until this morning. We decided to sample a number of different doughnuts and weren't disappointed with any of them.

Voodoo Doll

The Voodoo Doll was a yeast raised doughnut with raspberry filling and a pretzel stake through the heart. This was my personal favorite of the group for its originality and flavor.

Bacon Maple Bar

The Bacon Maple Bar is a commonly known doughnut at voodoo. I was excited about this doughnut because of the sweet and salty combination. I also love bacon so I thought it would be pretty good. Unfortunately the maple bar was EXTREMELY sweet and overpowered the saltiness of the bacon. I was a little disappointed but my aunt and cousin both thoroughly enjoyed theirs.

Glazed Doughnut

The Glazed Doughnut is a staple of all doughnut shops. We figured this would be a great way to compare the Voodoo Doughnuts to other shops. The yeast raised dough and thin layer of sweet frosting make this one of the best glazed doughnuts that I've had.

No Name

The No Name doughnut was the same yeast-raised dough as most of the doughnuts but was covered in chocolate frosting, Rice Krispies and peanut butter. This was a really well done doughnut with just the right amount of peanut butter and chocolate with a nice crunch from the Rice Krispies.

Marshall Matters

Marshall Matters was a cake doughnut covered with vanilla frosting and M&Ms. I personally didn't get to sample this doughnut but my cousin assured me that it was really good.

Portland Cream

The Portland Cream was a yeast raised doughnut filled with Bavarian cream, covered in chocolate with a couple of vanilla frosted eyes. Personally I'm not a big fan of cream filled doughnuts but this one was as good as any that I've had.

Grape Ape

The Grape Ape was one of the less conventional doughnuts on the menu. It was a yeast raised doughnut covered in grape powder and sprinkles. I enjoyed the taste of this one but it was definitely a novelty, not something that I would want to eat regularly.

Triple Chocolate Penetration

Triple Chocolate Penetration was a chocolate cake doughnut, covered in chocolate frosting with Cocoa Puffs on top. This one was actually really good and wasn't over the top like I assumed it would be with so much chocolate.

Orangutang

The Orangutang doughnut was the typical yeast raised doughnut with Tang powder and sprinkles. I thought this one would be a novelty like the Grape Ape but it was surprisingly one of my favorites of the batch. The sweet doughnut contrasted the sour punch of the tang powder to make a really good doughnut.

Chocolate Cake Doughnut

The Chocolate Cake Doughnut was another doughnut that I wanted to compare to "normal" doughnut shops. It was a cake doughnut covered in chocolate. The cake doughnut was moist and the chocolate wasn't too sweet or melted.

Overall we were very impressed with the quality of the doughnuts. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes which wasn't particularly fun. However, we did get to enjoy some of the weird characters in downtown Portland. Our custom dozen (two were repeated so there are only 10 shown) doughnuts cost $18.75 was a little expensive but as they say, "you get what you pay for."

Danish Baker: Dannebrog, Nebraska

There's a tiny town in central Nebraska called Dannebrog. It has a small Danish bakery and on Thursday nights they make pizza. It just happens to be some of the best pizza in the world. At our family gathering we had three pizzas. One was half sauerkraut/sausage, one was meat lovers and one was supreme. On my plate I have one piece of meat lovers, half a piece of the sauerkraut and some mixed fruit to "balance" the meal a little bit. The pizza was amazing, extremely thick, well cooked with good ingredients.

Gates Barbecue: Kansas City, Missouri

Gates Barbecue is my favorite restaurant in the whole wide world! The wonderfully cooked meat plus their signature sauce combine to create the best barbecue ever. Sadly this chain is small and only lives in Kansas City so I don't get to go there very often. However, this summer on our family vacation we were able to make the all important stop. What you see here is a Burnt End on Bun with a side of Fries and a sampling of Original and Spicy sauces.

Oklahoma Joes Barbecue: Kansas City, Missouri

Everybody in Kansas City knows that they have the best barbecue in the world. However, not a lot of people outside of KC know about the barbecue there. I grew very fond of Kansas City's barbecue in the 12 years I lived there and every time I go back there are always a couple of places I have to go. Gates Barbecue is our family's number one, all time favorite. However, on this trip we tried out Oklahoma Joes because we were told it's the best barbecue in the city. This little gas station turned restaurant is actually really good. If you can't tell by the picture I had pork ribs, barbecue beef (brisket), garlic toast and a side of fries.

In-N-Out Burger: Temecula, California

My summer began with an 18 hour drive from San Diego, California to Brush Prairie, Washington. It was a long haul and wasn't particularly exciting. However, a couple hours into our drive we stopped at an In-N-Out for lunch. This little beauty inspired me to create this blog of favorite foods. Yes, it tasted just as good as it looks.