For the hash obsessed, it doesn’t get much better than this: Don Kotler, owner of Toast, launched a food cart, Yolk. Wait. It gets better…they serve potato hash every day – HUZZAH! My faithful tweep, Lyndsey McBride, invited me to the pre-opening festivities and, like MacArthur, I vowed, “I shall return.”
A few weeks later, @Toast_PDX let me know that Bacon Hash was on the menu. Since I had already experienced a lovely hashcapade at Toast, I knew this was fate calling me to honor my vow. “Clark. Manifest Destiny. It’s time to return to Yolk,” thundered fate. (It wasn’t loud nor in stereo because my left ear was plugged, but that’s another story.)
And so I drove from Bethany on the northwest side to Woodstock on the southeast side. Technically, this is reverse manifest destiny, but I didn’t care. I was totally stoked to sample as many potato hashes as Yolk offered! When I arrived, the cool Yolk Breakfast logo greeted me like an old friend: “Morning, Clark! I’m glad to see you! You’re buying, right?”
Anyway, I checked out the menu and was delighted to see Toby and Mary Had A Little Lamb. In case the writing is too small, let me break it down for you. Toby Hash is a corn hash that includes summer corn, roasted potatoes, spinach, heirloom tomatoes topped with a sunny side up egg with 3 pepper cream. Don mentioned that one of his old roommates, Toby Jones, would whip up all kinds of potato hash, thus the name. Mary does indeed have ground lamb, roasted potatoes, braised greens (chard that day), zucchini, tossed with mint & herbs and a sunny side up duck egg. Yes, duck egg!
Most people would choose one potato hash or the other, but not I. Nope. Hashcapades are serious adventures requiring stamina and conviction, the kind that Lewis and Clark embodied as they surveyed the Louisiana Purchase! So when I walked up to the counter, I ordered both – Manifest Hashcapade!
Ariel took my order like a pro, as if people would order double potato hash every day. Her cook, Patrick, fired up the grill in the background while I explained my terrible potato hash affliction and that I’d blog about Yolk. After taking some more pictures, I returned as the corn hash was being plated. “Make it pretty,” urged Ariel to Patrick. I had to smile. They made me feel like a king!
Patrick’s presentation of the Toby Hash was stunning. He used a food ring for the yummy bits, then topped the corn hash with two eggs (I pulled them back for the photo), and swirled saba and chipotle cream around it. The sweet corn, tomatoes and potatoes, when combined with the egg and spinach, were a pure mouthful of summer goodness – unbelievable!
I knew I would simply hoover the Toby Hash off the plate if I didn’t pace myself, so I stopped halfway through and moved on to the Mary Had A Little Lamb Hash. Can I just say what a brilliant combination of veggies, fresh mint and ground lamb Mary, a lovely zucchini hash, is? There were hints of yogurt sauce and perhaps a bit of curry that really hit the spot! Thank you Ariel and Patrick for a lovely hashcapade 🙂
Happily sated, it was time to make the trek back to the western reaches of Portlandia, to fulfill a different kind of destiny – a nap!
Happy Hashcapades,
Clark
I want. Now.