Blue Pig Cafe

As with Eli's experience below, the staff was nice and the atmosphere was a treat, and similarly, both my food and mywife's were sub-par. Her hash was just not up to her expectations. My huevos rancheros was cold. Having never had it before, I thought maybe it was just normally served that way? As my wife informed me, no, this wasn't the case. Those beans and rice shouldn't have been chilling my eggs... Maybe it was a bad day, but with as many good brunch spots as there are in PDX, sorry, Blue Pig, two chances was all you get...

Until today I thought it was impossible to ruin a potato. I was wrong. I ordered the house potatoes, bacon extra extra extra crisp, and a waffle. The waffle was unfortunately Belgian, soft and kind of chewy without any particular flavor to speak of. The bacon was also chewy, and a long way from crisp, but the potatoes were downright shocking. I'm half Irish, and I love all kinds of potatoes. Baked, boiled, mashed, fried, hashed, waffle cut, spiral cut, and so on. This was the first time in my life I ran into a potato I actually could not eat. They were coated with some sort of sour cream and onion flavor, but it was not like the sour cream and onion chips one finds at the store. It was a horrible bitter flavor that made me immediately want to brush my teeth, or scrub my tongue with a loofa, or gargle something caustic. I don't blame the Blue Pig for the Belgian waffle. Some people (although I don't know any personally) like Belgian waffles, and prefer flavorless sponge to the perfect crisp vanilla of a proper American waffle. I won't belabor the chewy bacon. It wasn't what I ordered, but it was still mostly edible. But those potatoes were an abomination. I've had English food that was better, and as everyone knows, English food defines the very worst in cooking. I'm willing to give the Blue Pig Cafe another try for three reasons. First, maybe what I ordered was just not their best work. Most places do at least a few things very well, and I may have just ordered the wrong things. Second, my waiter was excellent, brisk, friendly, and good at his job. And third, the decor was pleasant and comfortable.

The service was good but it is the food where this place really fell short. I tried the corned beef hash and was disappointed when the dish was nothing more than frozen hash-browns with some cut up luncheon meat in it. With so many good breakfast and brunch places on Hawhorne the Blue Pig just fails to bring it.