Hey. My name is Heath Saraceno. I play guitar in Senses Fail. I go on tour. I eat food. This is the food that I eat while on tour.

Email suggestions to heathlovesfood@gmail.com if you know of a sweet spot I should try.
April 2
MARCH 31, 2009 Portland, OR THE DOUG FIR - BLACKBIRD SCRAMBLE I had been to the Doug Fir Lounge years ago on a day off from tour.  The restaurant is attached to The Jupiter Hotel, which was a former crack house that had been renovated to a modern, environmentally conscious motel.  The restaurant portion of the lounge is decorated in a mix of backwoods log cabin meets big city arts space meets typical 70’s diner ambiance.  It gives an immediate feeling of warmth and comfort. The breakfast menu boasts sandwiches, biscuits, lox, benedicts, omelettes, and pancakes - all sorts of standard fare.  I remember getting the Blackbird Scramble years ago so instead of taxing my already throbbing brain, I went straight for that. The Blackbird Scramble is tofu, portabella mushrooms, oven roasted rosemary potatoes (a favorite side dish of mine at any meal), garlic and onion.  I haven’t had a good tofu scramble in a while, and the cleanliness of it really enticed me.  Unfortunately, it was really boring. The tofu was softer than I remembered it being, and it was also kind of bland.  The potatoes had great flavor, but some of them were not cooked thoroughly.  The scallions added a nice extra flavor to the already present onions, but I had to be very careful with the garlic. I LOVE garlic.  I cook with it all the time at home, and I even know that I have a heavy had with it.  But I pulled between eight and ten whole cloves of garlic from my potatoes.  I love that they used fresh garlic as opposed to garlic powder, but I think they overdid it a little bit by placing whole cloves of it in with the potatoes. If it had been later in the day I would have definitely gone for something else, perhaps a burger.  Playing off the name of the restaurant, the signature burger is called “The Fir Burger”.  They offer complete customization of it with options like what kind of meat you want (beef, buffalo, black bean, or chicken breast), what kind of cheese you want (Tillamook sharp cheddar, pepperjack, crumbled Oregon blue cheese, and gruyere), and additional items such as mushrooms, caramelized onions, or pepper bacon. I wasn’t too enthused with this Blackbird Scramble, but I appreciate the vibe of this restaurant so I’ll definitely check them out again.  I’ll definitely order something else though.

MARCH 31, 2009

Portland, OR

THE DOUG FIR - BLACKBIRD SCRAMBLE

I had been to the Doug Fir Lounge years ago on a day off from tour.  The restaurant is attached to The Jupiter Hotel, which was a former crack house that had been renovated to a modern, environmentally conscious motel.  The restaurant portion of the lounge is decorated in a mix of backwoods log cabin meets big city arts space meets typical 70’s diner ambiance.  It gives an immediate feeling of warmth and comfort.

The breakfast menu boasts sandwiches, biscuits, lox, benedicts, omelettes, and pancakes - all sorts of standard fare.  I remember getting the Blackbird Scramble years ago so instead of taxing my already throbbing brain, I went straight for that.

The Blackbird Scramble is tofu, portabella mushrooms, oven roasted rosemary potatoes (a favorite side dish of mine at any meal), garlic and onion.  I haven’t had a good tofu scramble in a while, and the cleanliness of it really enticed me.  Unfortunately, it was really boring.

The tofu was softer than I remembered it being, and it was also kind of bland.  The potatoes had great flavor, but some of them were not cooked thoroughly.  The scallions added a nice extra flavor to the already present onions, but I had to be very careful with the garlic.

I LOVE garlic.  I cook with it all the time at home, and I even know that I have a heavy had with it.  But I pulled between eight and ten whole cloves of garlic from my potatoes.  I love that they used fresh garlic as opposed to garlic powder, but I think they overdid it a little bit by placing whole cloves of it in with the potatoes.

If it had been later in the day I would have definitely gone for something else, perhaps a burger.  Playing off the name of the restaurant, the signature burger is called “The Fir Burger”.  They offer complete customization of it with options like what kind of meat you want (beef, buffalo, black bean, or chicken breast), what kind of cheese you want (Tillamook sharp cheddar, pepperjack, crumbled Oregon blue cheese, and gruyere), and additional items such as mushrooms, caramelized onions, or pepper bacon.

I wasn’t too enthused with this Blackbird Scramble, but I appreciate the vibe of this restaurant so I’ll definitely check them out again.  I’ll definitely order something else though.