A modest suggestion to those food vendors who write and say “Hey, why don’t you visit my place,” well, I may, I might, but (hint, hint), you should stay open the hours that are stated on your website\/blog\/tweets. I kinda take them literally and believe that you actually mean it. I may pass by again, sometime, but yesterday I missed two of you, and after debating just getting a slice from Pizza Schmizza near Nordstroms, but witnessing the pure anguish and effort the server was going through with the customers in line in front of me, I got bored with waiting and wandered down to Portland’s “front porch”, Pioneer Courthouse Square. The first vendor I stopped at was far too busy on the phone to wait on me, so I ended up a few carts east at “Jean’s Hot Dogs on the Square,”, which offered a pretty simple straight-forward menu of hot dogs and a few sausages, all at very modest prices.<\/p>\n
I immediately took a liking to Jean’s because her prices were inclusive of condiments, and I see too many places lately charging for that. The only “extra” she offered was if you wanted extra kraut, she charged for that, but ‘basic’ kraut was included, and if you judge from my pic, I’m not sure where ‘extra’ kraut would have gone!<\/p>\n
I ordered a polish with yellow mustard and kraut, and the sausage was straight forward, moderately seasoned, could have been any brand, Johnsonville, Sam’s, whatever, it was fine. She loaded it up with my condiments and served it on a paper plate cradled around the dog, and offered me a roll of paper towels to serve myself napkins.<\/p>\n
It wasn’t what I set out for, but it was a beautiful sunny day, and there’s nothing like eating a dog outside, in the sun, and shooing off pigeons and panhandlers to make one’s day!<\/p>\n
(Is that the Mayor in front of the stand trolling for a sausage?)<\/p>\n