For 75 years the community of Verboort has been making sauerkraut and sausage, to be sold every year on one magical day in November. It’s like some kind of meat filled version of Brigadoon… From the sausage-scented mists of Forest Grove there appears the Visitation Catholic Church, a stand of Sequoias, Fancy Work, a beer garden. For one day the vision remains, and then is gone, disappeared into the surrounding suburban landscape.

The Verboort Sausage and Sauerkraut Festival kicks off tomorrow morning at 9 AM, the highlight of which is a $15 all-you-can-eat sausage and sauerkraut dinner with all the fixings. From what I’ve heard, the festival has become a yearly tradition for families from across the region. People come from far and wide to line up for sausage sales as early as 3 AM on Saturday morning.

You may not be that committed to Verboortian sausage, but I understand the dinner is an event not to be missed. It's also robustly attended. So, while you’re waiting to get into the dining hall, the community has set up a few pleasant distractions including a beer garden at the Verboort Rod & Gun Club, Bingo, a quilt raffle, and a plant booth.

What more do you need?

Map your way to Visitation Catholic Church at 4285 NW Visitation Road.

The Little Red Bike Café [4823 N. Lombard St.] has been a charming culinary force in North Portland since its opening just over two years ago. Since making their first breakfast sandwiches for a soon to be adoring public, owners Ali and Evan have been maintaining a blog on which they mark the progress of their venture (and their lives) through vibrant photography and jocular posts.

Of note is recent entry “If in Fact,” which includes the description of a few intriguing menu items:

Wasabi & Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs
(trio with cilantro, chives, and fish sauce)

"Spaghetti & Meatballs"
(spaghetti squash gratin topped with spicy harissa tomato sauce and Spanish meatballs)

Autumn Punch
(Buffalo Trace bourbon, apple cider, ginger beer, fresh mint)

Last week sciencenews.org reported this really scary story about how junk food alters the pleasure sensors in rats' brains causing them to act the same as rats addicted to heroin. According to a study by the Scripps Research Institute:

After just five days on the junk food diet, rats showed “profound reductions” in the sensitivity of their brains’ pleasure centers, suggesting that the animals quickly became habituated to the food. As a result, the rats ate more food to get the same amount of pleasure. Just as heroin addicts require more and more of the drug to feel good, rats needed more and more of the junk food. “They lose control,” Kenny says. “This is the hallmark of addiction.”

If that's not gross enough, it continues:

To see how strong the drive to eat junk food was, the researchers exposed the rats to a foot shock when they ate the high-fat food. Rats that had not been constantly exposed to the junk food quickly stopped eating. But the foot shock didn’t faze rats accustomed to the junk food — they continued to eat, even though they knew the shock was coming.

Throw this on the pile of scientific studies that tell us upsetting things we already know but pretend we don't. Now I'm sad. Sad and hungry.

• Just melt this on some tortilla chips and this little guy's ready to chase the dragon.

Hat tip to grist.org

Man, what a bitch of a weather system rolling through, eh? Must be Fall in Portland. Am I right? But you know what they say about Portland weather... "You don't like the weather in Portland? Then go back to wherever the hell it is you came from!"

If you're sticking around, Black Cat Cafe [1203 NE Alberta] would like to give you a free cup of joe untill noon today, and AGAIN tomorrow from 8 AM - Noon. Get on your fixie and fix, little sister.

I’ve never used a real pumpkin as an actual cooking ingredient. Usually when there’s a pumpkin in my house I’m cutting the top off that mother-effer, carving a whimsical face in the shell, and then putting a candle inside to turn it into a lantern of sorts, called a jack-o-lantern. They’re said to ward off evil spirits, but I’m not buying it—my wife still comes home every night! Eh? Can I get a rim-shot? No? Whatever…

So, the other day I’m listening to Terry Gross interview Ruth Reichl on NPR (yep, I just wrote that), and Reichl starts talking about this pumpkin soup recipe in which you scoop out the pumpkin and all that, but instead of carving a funny face into it, you fill it with bread, cream, cheese, and then throw the sucker into the over oven for a good long while. Once it comes out of the oven, you have this soup in a lovely orange edible container! Mind? Blown! [The recipe from “MMMMM: A Fiestiary” here]

During this season of pumpkin bounty, I’m curious to know if there are any Blogtownie home cooks that are using the gorgeous bulbous gourds as an ingredient?

Yeah, I’m sure there are pumpkin pies and pumpkin muffins and such, but I’m looking for recipes like this one from Becky Hogle found at Pumpkin Nook’s Cookbook:

Pumpkin Stew

Ingredients:

1 10 - 12 pound pumpkin
2 lb. Beef stew meat
2 tbs. Oil
1 Bell Pepper
1 Onion
4 Medium potatoes
3 Carrots
2 Cloves of Garlic
2 Sticks of Celery
1 15oz. can of diced tomatoes
2-3 cups Water
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Preparation Directions:

Carve a hole in the top of the pumpkin and remove seeds, and stringy insides [DO NOT CUT A FUNNY FACE INTO THE SHELL!! — PAC]. Set pumpkin aside. In a Dutch oven brown 2 lbs of stew meat in oil. Add in 1 bell pepper (sliced into inch thick slices), 1 onion (sliced), 4 medium potatoes (cubed), 3 carrots(cubed), 2 cloves of garlic(diced), 2 sticks of celery(sliced), 1 - 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 - 3 cups of water. Let simmer for 1 hour. Place pumpkin in shallow pan, and place stew inside pumpkin. Brush the outside of the pumpkin with a light coating of oil. Bake pumpkin and stew at 350 for 2 hours, or until pumpkin is tender. Serve wile [sic] hot. Be sure to get chunks of pumpkin in your stew, as they enhance the flavor of the stew.

Sounds quite tasty, actually. But I’m not the only one with pumpkin fever. Matt Davis has his own pumpkin soup recipe on his blog.

So what about you? Feel like sharing?

There's a hip new coffee shop in town. Heart just opened its doors at 2211 E Burnside Street (yep, that's just a few blocks from both Blend and Ruby's, and just next door to the pet store Meat). And because the ecosystem of Portland coffee shops requires that orders of hipness be quantified, let's say that it's classy hip a la Intelligentsia as opposed to cutesy hip or dirty hip (don't worry, I kind of want to stab myself for typing that sentence, too). It's actually a really nice space with big windows and beautiful dark wood floors, and there's a Random Order apple pie under glass just waiting for someone to order a slice. And bring it back to the Mercury office. For me.

I'm drinking a mocha that tastes like a latte but hell, it's day one, and at least the espresso is good. Someone who is not on deadline/trying to think of a new way to say "Jonathan Lethem blurs genre boundaries" could go drink a cup of real coffee and report back in the comments with more details, if they're so inclined. Heart does not yet exist on the internet, but I believe its hours are 7-4.

UPDATE! Hours are 7 am to 4 pm this week, and 6 am-7 pm after that.

UPDATE AGAIN! Website located.

• From a Series of Anti-Soda Posters in NYC

"This study that we did with UCLA showed that regardless of income or ethnicity, adults who drink one or more soda a day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight or obese,"

That’s Dr. Harold Goldstein, from California’s Center for Public Health Advocacy, speaking with NPR’s Kelley Weiss. Right off the bat, the statistic seems pretty startling. But it’s designed to be startling. Goldstein is advocating for a soda tax to help pay for the nation’s healthcare overhaul.

Dan Savage had a bit to say about this awhile back. He supported the tax. Me? I’m not so sure.

A quick search for “soda tax” reveals that this idea has been around for quite awhile. But recently, proponents of using a soda tax to reclaim costs of major healthcare reform have grown even more vocal. The idea follows the same logic of other “sin taxes”: People are enjoying a product that is unhealthy for them. Their poor health is driving up medical costs. Therefore we should tax what they’re enjoying so they’ll enjoy it less and by default, become healthier. Meanwhile, the tax revenue will pay for the increased healthcare cost we already have. The sin here, I guess, is gluttony.

Smokers, you know the drill: Quit smoking, or take it with a nicotine smile.

Let’s get back to that “27 percent” statistic. Yeah, you drink soda and you’re more likely to be obese. But you know what? If you eat Doritos, you’re more likely to be obese. If you eat fried pies, you’re more likely to be obese. If you don’t get up and move your ass every once in awhile, you’re more likely to be obese. If you are poor, you’re more likely to be obese. If your job is going out to eat three to four times a week so you can publish your opinion in the food section of an alt-weekly, you’re more likely to be obese. There are, of course, exceptions.

Hey, you know what really makes people fat? Bacon! That shit is like a fat injection right into your fat ass. But we’re not going to tax bacon, are we?

Am I wrong to feel that a tax on soda seems both desperate and misguided? Am I?

Proponents suggest that the projected revenue from a small soda tax could bring in $150 billion dollars in revenue in a scant 10 years. And although it’s essentially conceding that less soda would be consumed, detractors say that a soda tax will lead to a $22 billion dollar loss in economic output.

When it comes down to it, it might be that my opinion is linked to directly to my own self-preservation. There is no way I’m coming to work if there’s a tax levied on soda. Fact is, the day that Erik Henriksen can’t afford to pay for his Dungeons and Dragons themed Jones Soda to chase down his daily smoothie made of Kit Kat bars and Where the Wild Things Are Berry Wild Slurpee™… Well… On that day the walls will run red with the blood of anyone who gets caught in the path of his blind rage.

But what’s your opinion, Blogtownies? Do tell.

Two of the fun lovinest places in NE North Portland are having anniversaries this month, and that means you get celebrate with them and reap the benefits.

First up is Saraveza [1004 N Killingsworth St.]. This bottle shop, pasty purveyor, and beer hall has been a Midwesterners Northeastern Shangri-La for one full year now. It’s also been embraced whole-heartedly by the beer community, becoming a kind-of sudsy social club for brewers and drinkers alike.

On October 17th the Killingsworth beer-joint will be celebrating a great first year with cake, bratwurst, a Russian River Consecration toast, and server selected taps. It’s a full day event, so make sure you stop in.

Next up, Flavour Spot [2310 N Lombard St. & the corner of Fremont and Mississippi] launches into SPOTfest:09 on October 24th to celebrate their anniversary. The beloved waffle stop has been keeping the denizens of Mississippi fed with all things sweet, hot, and cold for three years now and they are still going strong.

To make sure you know how strong they are, they’ve committed to serving you free waffles (!!!!!!) from 9 am to 3 pm [at the corner of Fremont and Mississippi], followed by a make your own sundae bar, followed by the Ms. Pac-Man tourney finals! All they ask is that you provide a can of food, a new pair of socks, or an unwrapped toy. An easy fee to enter into waffle Nirvana.

If you think you’re bad-ass enough at Ms. Pac-Man to rule the tournament, prelims start at Flavour Spot, October 17th at dark. Hey, maybe after you rock some Ms. Pac-Man you could go to Saraveza and eat some cake!

HEY!!!! I'M FUCKING FAT!!! AND I WANT MY FUCKING CHICKEN!!! Wait… what? NO, I DON'T FUCKING CARE IF THERE ARE CHILDREN ALL AROUND ME!!! I… WANT… MY… FUCKING… CHICKEN!!! 'CAUSE I'M FAT! AND I DON'T HAVE MY CHICKEN YET!!!
CHICKEN!!!!!

Do you ever ask yourself, "Why am I so fat?" Well, it could be because you eat fat. Your fat intake outweighs your fat outtake, rendering you fatter than a fattie-fattie-fat-fat. Check out this (fat) video for reducing (fat) fat from your (fat) diet. Fat. Fat. Fat.
Fat.

Hat (fat) tips to Everything is Terrible!

• From yakuzalounge.com
• Yakuza

Well, better late than never. I just today received word from the Micah Camden empire about the block party they'll be throwing tonight, 7 pm, at NE Killingsworth and 30th. The celebration commemorates three years of operation at Yakuza, one year at DOC, and the opening of the new Brit inspired Fats.

There will be free food at all three locations, and cheap booze. Given those two things, I completely expect it will be a madhouse (madblock?). But if you've never had the opportunity to see what's going on in Camden's steadily expanding food hub, you won't get a better chance to jump in... Mouth first as it were.

Two weeks ago when we set up the Mercury branch office outside City Hall to celebrate Parking Day, we met a lot of interesting passerbys. But one of the most memorable was this very confident young man, Jonah Levy, who claimed to be one of the best tour guides in New York and was exploring Portland by bike. We asked Levy to critique Kenny and Zuke's, the downtown deli that serves pastrami so good that some critics claim it'll make you forget about the Big Apple.

By God, only two weeks later and the NYC tour guide has sent in his review. Here's a New Yorker's (condensed and edited) take on Portland's most prominent deli:

I found the space to be far from a New York style kosher deli. Where were the sweaty hordes of bickering couples? Replacing them were mild-mannered families.

The menus arrived and my impressions immediately inflated. Naturally, the drink menu was glorious. Extensive doesn't begin to describe the soda menu, which had a promise of quality control as a pre-cursor (Ah, Portland. How seriously you take your beverages). I went with a Henry Weinhard's Black Cherry and I was offered ice. What a treat! I graciously accepted.

My dish came shortly and to abate your desire for NYC approval, I'll say now that the pastrami was terrific. Perfect sized strips piled nice and high on seeded rye...it was well done. On the other hand, its tenderness in no way touches Katz or Carnegi. I could have gone for steamy when what I received was lukewarm. The potato salad was at some times tasteless and at other undercooked, and the pickle was laughable (see attached photo). But hear me now and repeat it forever: the pastrami at Kenny and Zuke's easily meets NYC standards.

There are few foods that I love as much as I love sauerkraut. The reasons for my affection are numerous. Among them are the facts proper sauerkraut is a live food made with beneficial microbes, it keeps for a very long time, and it pairs ridiculously well with encased meat products.

If I could I’d put sauerkraut on just about everything, but timidity and a sense of decorum prohibits full-scale sauerkraut abuse in my everyday life. I’ll use kraut on sausage, of course, but it’ll also accompany many other meats and meaty dishes. My favorite application is using it to top slices of pepperoni pizza. I haven’t tried it on the pepperoni pizza from Wy’east (reviewed in this week’s Last Supper), but thoughts of kraut paired with the funk of Otto’s Sausage Kitchen pepperoni and sharp Pecorino Romano cheese produce a powerful hunger.

September is the beginning of a kraut-lovers favorite season. As trees color-up, here and there the cooling air is thick with the smell of grilling Bratwurst and warming Oktoberfest Beirs. Make no mistake, I love the summer fruit festivals, but I feel much more connected to the fall and winter fests dedicated to vegetation more accustomed to the cold and dark, and the meats meant to add insulation for the frigid months.

That’s why I’m beside myself with excitement about attending tomorrows Scappoose Sauerkraut Festival. It’s like some kind of dream come: Booth after booth of kraut dishes and kraut related products from 10 am to 6 pm. Though sponser Scappoose Community Club fails to give an address for the event on its webpage, I’m assuming it’s in Heritage Park, which also hosts the Scappoose Farmers Market.

The website does, however, include this tantalizing sentence “Come try the special Scappoose Sandwich and see what all the fuss is about. Expect to wait in line, but it’s worth it!” Consider it done.

While the Scappoose fest is the only one during the season solely dedicated to Sauerkraut, there are a bevy of krauty festivals happening around the region, most of them Oktoberfests.

Hit the jump for a short list of Best Bets.

It's back to school time [look for the Mercury's Back to School Issue to drop this Thursday!]. I’m always a bit jealous of students around this time of year. As much I bemoaned the necessity of school as a kid, as an adult I found that I loved learning. There’s nothing quite as satisfying to me as discovering new things about my world. So as people go back to class in September, I often wish I was going with them—that the next few months for me would also be filled with books and study. I guess that makes me a true nerd. NNNEEEEEERRRRRDDDDD!

Thankfully for us nerds (I know I can’t be the only one), there are several places in town to get our learnin’ on as we slip into the fall season.

Beginning tomorrow, Grand Central Bakery is offering free monthly baking demos at their Fremont store. Run by co-owner Piper Davis and Cuisine Manager Laura Ohm, the demos will cover a variety of savory and sweet concoctions that participants can make at home (from tarts to the unfortunately named “hand pies”).

There is, however, a catch. If you want to learn what is arguably the most important aspect of these creations—the pastry—you’d better look elsewhere. The Grand Central Baking demos will focus on creating dishes with their own “U-bake” pie shells and puff pastry, the bonus being that you’ll walk away each week with some puff pastry or pie crust to practice what you’ve learned when you get home.

November’s classes will focus on using the “U-bake” crust for “perfect holiday pies.” You’ll have to reconcile your own guilt for cheating on your Thanksgiving feast, you “U-bake” cheater, you.

Classes run the second and last Wednesday of every month at 4 pm in the Freemont Grand Central store [714 N. Fremont]. No registration required, and walk-ins are welcome.