Cheap Drinks and Vegan Poutine at Portland's Crush Bar

Another great tasty venue that Edible Skinny got to encounter while in Portland is the bohemian bistro Crush Bar, and also the venue for the fantastic #StripForPP event produced by Workin’ The Tease that I had a hand in producing…!  

With a slogan professing, “everybody is a little bit queer; everyone is welcome," Crush Bar is a gay owned and operated, restaurant/bar/event space that welcomes every one of every sexual association.  Hosting a broad clientele of neighborhood friends (seriously for being a gay bar half the people in it were straight as an arrow...), burlesque fans (they do five, read it five, monthly shows in the back room), and travelers it’s the perfect place of a $6 cocktail (most definitely not LA prices!!!) along with a super vegetarian friendly late night snack menu.   

 

While there I feasted post show on their delightful Deviled Eggs with house-made picked vegetables (for once again the ridiculously inexpensive price of $5.00….).  And I was in heaven with their vegetarian Bombay Poutine made with sweet potato fries with vegan, gluten-free curry gravy and Indian paneer cheese (another thing that would have been twice its $6 price tag in Los Angeles…).   

So if you’ve got a hankering for tasty cocktail concoctions, vegan poutine, and a location that doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight as long as you celebrate!, Crush Bar should be your Portland watering hole of choice!  

Via the Portland Sugar Coma with Voodoo Doughnuts!!!

I was lucky enough to be in Portland and Seattle this weekend with Pin-Ups on Tour and Workin’ The Tease (the two burlesque brands that I produce and perform in) and while there I took a food tour of the Pacific Northwest.  First up in Portland was (naturally) Voodoo Doughnuts.

Voodoo Doughnuts is a cheeky sugar coma induced Portland institution.  They’re known for unusual doughnut selection, eclectic décor, and iconic pink boxes featuring illustrations of voodoo priests.  

Voodoo Doughnuts has a myriad of unconventional ingredients including Cap’N Crunch, grape flavored Tang, M&M’s, Oreo cookies, and Marshmallows.  (Two of their doughnuts, the NyQuil Glazed doughnut and the Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums doughnut, are no longer available due to order of local health officials…).  For those not looking for culinary thrill seeking, Voodoo also offers your more standard toppings such as berries, buttermilk, banana cream, sprinkles, chocolate, and sugar.  There are also a boatload of Vegan Doughnut options, apple fritters, and the famous Voodoo Doughnut Doll.   

 

The brain child of Kenneth “Cat Daddy” Pogson and Tres Shannon friends who wanted aspired to start a business together.   So starting in 2003 their product of choice was doughnuts!!!  The only problem was that neither Cat Daddy nor Tress had ever made a doughnut before.   So they set out for sunny Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, California where they met some doughnut masters and learned about dough from the ground up.   When they returned to the Rose City they created a doughnut brand that the Los Angeles Times called an "international tourism attraction."

Voodoo Doughnuts has been featured on the Travel Channel's series Anthony Bourdain No Reservations, Man v. Food, Doughnut Paradise, and was the destination in the season finale of the 14th season of The Amazing Race.

Unfortunately with a shelf life of 8-12 hours these doughnuts aren’t shippable so you have to go to one of Voodoo Doughnuts locations (5 in the US and 1 in Taipei, Taiwan) to grab this sugar high (and make sure to bring some green as they don’t take plastic)!   

Via the Portland sugar coma!!!

Sophisticated Chocolate with John Kelly

Say hello to fudge, classy style!  Edible Skinny was lucky enough to encounter the world of John Kelly Chocolates during the Holiday season and all we can say is Yummm (with 3Ms)!!!

John Kelly’s succulent candy is the perfect ratio of rich chocolate, gooey caramel, and tongue pricking sea salt.  Unlike other less superior chocolates (I'm talking to you Trader Joes sea salt caramels...) this chocolate has been balanced with Walter White precision resulting in heavenly velvet perfection!  This is chocolate that enrobes your mouth with rich creaminess that whispers luxury into every taste bud of your mouth. 

Made with high-quality Belgian chocolate and hand crafted in small batches, John Kelly opened a small chocolate factory in Hollywood in 2004. Armed with nothing but determination and a recipe for an amazing, gourmet chocolate fudge, the company have since turned John Kelly Chocolates into an award-winning national brand sold in high-end department stores, specialty shops, hotel gift shops, grocers, and online.

John Kelly now makes 17 variations on that original recipe, something they call “truffle fudge”, along with an array of other products, such as walnut caramel clusters, molded chocolates, salted caramels, chocolate-dipped fruit, and more.  Edible Skinny was able to experience John Kelly's most popular salted chocolate box Dark Chocolate with French Grey Sea Salt. 

Each piece was a glistening jewel of taste.  Truffles usually have creamy ganache centers, but John Kelly Chocolates makes its product using old-fashioned fudge instead of ganache which only takes the level of creaminess up to 11.    

And for John Kelly it’s not just about what’s on the inside, the company believes in sophisticated chocolate in sophisticated chocolate boxes. Each bite is hand-lettered in chocolate or sprinkled with salt.  And the packaging that houses their candy are paper architecture for the art of elegance. 

So if you’re looking for the ultimate sophisticated chocolate, John Kelly is your bite of luxury!