Wandering through downtown Portland with the intention of finding dinner, Maria, Derek and I strolled down Oak St. (a small side street near L.L. Bean). While I was preoccupied peering through the window of a closed restaurant, Maria discovered one that was open. “This place looks cute,” she said. Lured her way, I spotted a posted menu and investigated its contents. “Herb’s Gully — Mmm, a burrito joint,” I thought unimpressed. Though uninspired by the prospect of another burrito place, the cheerfully painted walls spoke to my aesthetic senses, urging me to enter. “All right, let’s try it,” I said.
Though outside the evening was dreary and damp, and the roads were soggy with drizzle, the inside Herb’s Gully was reminiscent of an exotic getaway vacation. The walls were painted vibrant fiesta colors — yellow, orange, and red. Add a few thatched umbrellas and pina coladas and it could have easily been transformed into a faux island retreat.
However, Scott, the owner, was the misplaced variable, looking like he just arrived from the slopes of Vermont, his hair pulled back in an elastic and his bearded face smiling. Scott was helpful and willing to chat, offering suggestions and claiming everything was good. “We’ll see about that,” I thought turning to my menu.
Exploring the ample menu, which offered equally vegetarian and non-vegetarian friendly items, I was surprised to discover an alluring selection of smoothies made with ingredients to please the purist, like soymilk, honey and spirulina. Trying to decipher the relationship between a smoothie and burrito has kept me up nights. Quesadillas and tacos are offered at reasonable rates ($5.50 to $6.50, and more for extras). The menu was a source of amusement as I identified multiple marijuana references (guess I was right about the Vermont thing). The burrito section Scott named “Hand-Rolled Fatties,” which included “The Burner” ($6.50), a bbq chicken burrito with blueberry salsa. and “Sweet Mary Jane”($6), a vegetarian burrito with garlic and basil flavored sweet potato as the main attraction. I opted for Scott’s suggestion, the “Loco Pollo”($6.50), which swayed me with its feature ingredient, mango salsa.
Derek and Maria ordered the taco salad ($6.25), which at first I thought was a bland and non-adventurous selection. When the food arrived, I was proven wrong.
Peering over at Maria and Derek’s plate, I figuratively kicked myself chastising my choice which appeared much less interesting all wrapped up in its wheat flavored wrap than their large camping plate full of greens, chips, beans, tomatoes and other fresh ingredients. They were already completely absorbed in their feast, so I turned to my burrito.
Hoping for the best, I approached my somewhat clumsily wrapped burrito with skepticism. The first bite proved uneventful, all white rice and beans. “Ok, where’s the mango salsa and sour cream?” Digging deeper into my burrito’s depths, the next bite was like striking gold.
Juicy mango salsa, chicken, tomatoes, sour cream — it was all there.
Overcoming my burrito skepticism, I joined Maria and Derek in their complete submersion into the meal, and we forwent any conversation. Huddled over our plates, we probably resembled savages gnawing on our freshly caught evening meal.
Halfway through our meals it was like an alarm sounded and we simultaneously slowed in our consumption settling back and picking at our plates. The size of the Gully burrito competed with the size of Granny’s (huge), and I struggled unsuccessfully to finish off the last few bites, which wasn’t such a loss as I approached the bottom, because it was drippy with bean juice and my hands were covered.
As Derek and Maria discovered the bottom of their salad plate, they suggested Scott invest in some kind of drainage system because their leafy greens were floating in a pool of watered down sour cream and bean juice. Yuck! Unperturbed they finished their meal.
Herb’s Gully is a worthwhile venture for any burrito seeking individual. Its ingredients aren’t as exotic as Federal Spice’s, but each menu item successfully combines the traditional with a twist of the unexpected. Its atmosphere is energizing and comfortable, and Scott is an approachable guy. Next time I’m in the neighborhood, I’ll make it a point to stop in and try a smoothie. Heck, I might go out of my way to try one.
Christy McKinnon can be contacted at [email protected]