Pine State Biscuits

Pine State Biscuits first launched its kitchen in 2006 as an outdoor stand at the Portland Farmers Market. Soon after, its popularity started to grow and the three founders (Walt, Kevin, and Brian) decided to open up a permanent spot to offer breakfast seven days a week to their loyal customers. Pine State now has four different locations in Portland - NE Alberta, SE Division, NE Schuyler, and Farmers Market.

On our trip to Portland, we decided to try out their NE Schuyler location (since it was closest to where we were staying). We stayed at the Quality Inn close to the Moda Center, so the restaurant was only a 10 min walk away.

We went to the restaurant on a Sunday morning. The restaurant had been recommended to us by a friend who had recently visited Portland. This location was situated in a mixed residential/industrial area of the city. As we were walking there, I remember making a comment about how it was an odd place to have a restaurant. However, it seemed to be working for them. As soon as we got there, we noticed several people standing outside the restaurant drinking beer (it was 10 am). We later discovered that it was non-alcoholic ginger-flavoured beer. Their classic red and white Pine State Biscuits sign is anchored above the entrance to their semi-exposed kitchen. Their kitchen is actually set up inside what looks like a refurbished warehouse garage that is connected to their restaurant. The actual sit down area of the restaurant is not very big. However, the high ceiling helps make the space feel bigger than it is. As with their kitchen, the seating area gave off a very industrial and warehouse-y feel. Everyone orders their food at a stand in the front and you can either have your order "for here" or "to go".  I noticed that a lot of people came in to pick up food they had ordered in advance for pick up ... which was very smart since there wasn't a lot of seating. My guess is that they were likely locals. We were lucky enough to find seats right away (although our group did have to split up 2-3). There's no table service, you have to clean up after yourself when you're done. I didn't mind it and actually thought it worked well with their casual, eat-and-go vibe.

I ordered The Moneyball, while everyone else ordered The Reggie Deluxe.

The Moneyball

The Moneyball is their biscuits and gravy dish that is topped with an over-easy egg. I had a choice between sausage gravy or shitake mushroom gravy. I wanted to go more "traditional", so I opted for the sausage gravy. Everything about The Moneyball was deeeeeelicous. Their biscuits were perfectly buttery and flaky. The gravy was creamy, but not too thick; flavourful, but not too salty. YUM. I inhaled the whole thing within 15 minutes.

The Reggie Deluxe

I tried several bites of The Reggie Deluxe ... and it was amazing as well. At first, I was a bit iffy about the idea of fried chicken and bacon sandwiched between a biscuit. However, it turned out to be a great combo. I have never craved fried chicken for breakfast, but I think I will now.

Another highlight of my meal was the coffee - Stumptown Coffee Roasters coffee. They had two choices there: 1) Trapper Creek Decaf and 2) Guatemala Finca el Injerto Bourbon. Stumptown is the coffee of Portland and is well-known for their focus on refining coffee drinker's palates and their use of high-quality coffee beans. Each of their brews feature certain "tasting notes". The tasting notes for Trapper Creek were "caramel, raisin, buttery" and "citrus, milk chocolate, clove" for Guatemala Finca. Being the caffeine lover (addict) that I am, I went with the non-decaf Guatemala blend ... and was not disappointed! Unfortunately, I didn't have time to visit Stumptown's flagship store in Portland. In hindsight, considering how much I love coffee, the missed opportunity probably saved me a lot of money.