The Grey Ledger Society

Sign in Subscribe

Topic

Gastronomy

Meals are more than sustenance. They are rituals of relation, memory, and place. This tag archives the moments when food became story—when a cookie wasn’t just a cookie, and the café became a minor shrine.

A Ledgered Snack: Staccato Gelato

Portland’s Sweet Pocket on SE 28th SE 28th is a buffet of bars and restaurants — a two-pod food cart corridor with every global craving covered. But when it comes to dessert, your options shrink fast. With Fifty Licks sadly torched out of its Burnside anchor spot, and Cheese &

Super-Kali-Frag-a-Listic-Exploda-Deliocious

When Divine Feminine Meets Catastrophic Culinary Carnage Recently unearthed in the ruins of a forgotten dimension (or possibly an abandoned Panera Bread), this oil painting depicts the legendary moment when the Goddess Kali, high on cosmic caffeine and low on tolerance, stormed the mortal plane to reclaim her rightful lunch

Damn, It's Vegan

Field Notes on Queer Kitchens, Diaspora Burgers, and Edible Resistance Last autumn, I visited Helsinki for the first time. My wife had been there twice previously, and one of the eateries she frequented was Junk Y Vegan—located a stone's throw from the main railway station and a

The Costco Hot Dog: A Cultural Checksum

In an era where prices float ever upward and the familiar quietly erodes, the $1.50 Costco hot dog remains a fixed point in a spinning world. It's more than just a cheap meal—it’s a cultural checksum, a tiny ritual that verifies we're still

A Ledgered Meal: Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Café

We didn’t need to check if Mario’s was still there. Some places you trust will outlast the algorithms. Tucked at the corner of Columbus and Union, at the threshold between North Beach and Chinatown, Mario’s holds its corner like an old regular at a window booth—calm,

A Ledgered Meal: Wanda's Cafe + Bakery, Nehalem

Just a block north of Nehalem's modest main drag sits Wanda's Cafe + Bakery, a small-town cornerstone that’s weathered its share of coastal storms, both literal and economic. Born in 1999, Wanda’s not only survived the pandemic’s chokehold on independent eateries—it’s thrived.

A Ledgered Meal: Cavalli Cafe, North Beach

In a quiet quadrant of San Francisco’s North Beach, where Chinatown’s bustle fades just enough to allow for morning reverie, Cavalli Cafe holds its modest post. The café’s credo—“Drop the gun, take the cannoli”—reads less like a kitschy Godfather nod and more like a philosophical

A Ledgered Meal: Old Oregon Smokehouse, Rockaway Beach

Filed under: Gastronomy, Companion Tables, Fry Baskets & Flag Poles Location: Rockaway Beach, Oregon Date: May 2025 Companions: Halibut, tie dye, and the distant hush of Pacific breakers There are places that feel curated. And then there are places like Old Oregon Smokehouse—which feel lived in. No artifice. No

A Ledgered Meal: Pizza A’ Fetta, Cannon Beach

Filed under: Gastronomy, Companion Tables, Coastal Communion Location: Cannon Beach, Oregon Date: May 2025 Companions: A’Fetta salad, tourist chatter, and crusts with convictions Cannon Beach may not exactly be a pizza town. But every town has that place—the pizzeria that knows it’s not just feeding people, it’

A Ledgered Meal: Cheese & Crack, Portland

Filed under: Gastronomy, Companion Tables, Dessert Devotionals Location: SE Belmont Street, Portland, Oregon Date: May 2025 Companions: Soft serve, indoor light, and Dolly’s watchful gaze We used to go for the cheese plates. Slices of Brie and aged cheddar laid beside cornichons and chocolate ganache like a mise en