Tasty n Sons

Ian was off to the zoo today with his pre-school buddies on a special Saturday outing. This left K and I to do what all Portlanders love to do most: Go out to breakfast! We chose Tasty n Sons on NE Williams, a weirdly named offshoot of Toro Bravo, a fine Spanish restaurant up on NE Russell. We ate tapas, essentially: potatas bravas w/fried eggs, bacon wrapped dates, candied yams, sweet biscuits w/ strawberries and cream, and shakshuka (a red pepper and tomato stew with baked eggs). All was swell except that they left the lamb sausage (optional) out of the shakshuka. However, to compensate, they removed the dish from our bill, which was much appreciated. We quite liked the place--typical of new NE Portland (I will not call it NoPo!), with its neo-modern/industrial decor. If you go, prepare for a wait. Luckily there are coffee shops and boutiques in the immediate vicinity, including Pix, an excellent bar/dessert/coffee place.

Here's Tasty n Sons' page: http://www.tastynsons.com/. Why oh why would anybody put even an ironical "n Sons" in the name of their restaurant? Puts it in a league with TGI Fridays, Corky Romano's Macaroni Grill, and Stiffy McFriggin's Wiener Emporium. Are there not enough wonderful Spanish expressions to choose from? Or is it that the pretzel-knotted ironies of uber-hipness have finally brought us to a kitschy appreciation of the stripmalls we so loathed back in the 80's?

~CD