Portland | Oregon

We were in Portland for the first two nights and first full day of our Oregon trip. For me, a perfect weekend in the City of Roses ended up going a little something like this...
  We arrived from Boston on a Friday evening at 8:30 pm. After settling into our hotel we walked fifteen minutes to Little Bird Bistro, where I had not made a reservation but knew they served food until midnight. The hostess was able to seat us within 10 minutes. Our meal was wonderful. Their take on classic French cuisine is comforting and innovative.

What we ate + drank: Marrow Bones ($19) roasted garlic, char broiled squash, lentil hummus, toast /  Merci Merci ($10) Pampelaire, Aviation Gin, Aperol, Dolin Blanc /  Manhattan Noveau ($10) bourbon, Bordeaux wine, Benedictine / Fried Chicken "Coq au Vin" ($25) pommes raclette, bacon glazed mushrooms, rosemary-balsamic juice / Green Beans ($10) roasted cherries, foie gras vinaigrette.

Our Saturday morning began at Blue Star Donuts. I am still reminiscing, practically drooling over the flavors we had: passion fruit cocoa nib, blueberry basil bourbon (Bulleit!), hazelnut dulche de leche; and the ones I wish we did: marionberry jam with peanut butter powder, hard apple cider fritter. We washed down breakfast with a Stumptown cold brew coffee.

We seemed to have timed this visit perfectly as we arrived to the pristine kept, light filled space and waited in line no more than 5 minutes; but by the time we left the place was a mob scene!! And my #donut selfie? A must after laughing at their blackboard.

We leisurely perused Powell's City of Books and strolled around Pioneer Courthouse Square and the city center; the gorgeous weather adding to my affections. 

We debated taking an Uber to lunch, but I am always interested in a city's public transportation system, turns out Portland's is great. Between the bus lines and the max light rail the TriMet was a breeze.  We caught the #4 bus at Salmon and 5th which took us over the Hawthorne Bridge to SE Division and 32nd for lunch at Pok Pok. 

I read all about Portlander's braving two-hour waits, the famed spicy papaya salad and Vietnamese fish sauce wings and about Chef Andy Ricker opening outposts in NYC and LA.  I watched him chauffeuring Anthony Bourdain around Thailand on Parts Unknown. ALL THE HYPE.

I can't tell you if Pok Pok was worth the wait, because we didn't have one. (Afterwards, we walked out to a huge crowd on the street. We looked at each other all - are we really that good?! Missing all the lines?!) What I can tell you is that I loved it here at this Thailand street style inspired bungalow shack. If you are in Portland, you should go. 

What we ate + drank: Papaya Pok Pok ($9) central Thai style spicy green papaya salad with tomatoes, long beans, thai chili, lime juice, tamarind fish sauce, garlic, palm sugar, dried shrimp, peanuts / Sticky Rice ($3) / Heat Ray ($10) tequila, som celery drinking vinegar, fresh lime, Thai chili / Muu Paa Kham Waan ($15.50) boar collar meat rubbed with garlic, coriander root and black pepper, glazed with soy and sugar, grilled over charcoal, served with a spicy chili lime garlic sauce and cooling mustard greens. 

After Pok Pok we crossed the street to Salt & Straw. Again, lots of hype about this spot, and again, we somehow avoided the long line as a crowd showed up directly after us. That's three times now at popular spots!! The ice cream itself is something to write home about; perfectly smooth and creamy with creative flavors using local ingredients. I wasn't that into my Pear & Blue Cheese, though! The Bartlett pear was tooth achingly sweet and I hardly got any crumbles of the pungent blue cheese, which certainly would have added some balance. 

I was infatuated with Bob's pick of Freckled Woodblock Chocolate. Woodblock is the first bean-to-bar chocolate maker in Portland, roasting cocoa beans in a 19th century-old fire roaster. Then they add harvested Jacobson Sea Salt from the Oregon coast and use an old-school ice cream making technique called “freckling” to suspend the chocolate in an untempered state. The sea salt really made this flavor stand out. 

We walked with our ice cream in the warm sunshine about half way down SE Division Street, eventually deciding to hop back on the #4 bus a few stops. It was time to get our brewery crawl on! From small batch handcrafted beers that started as garage experiments at Baerlic, to the emerging style of barrel aged sours at Cascade, to European style brews with a focus on Northwest grown ingredients at Commons, these beers and their tasting rooms are so incredibly unique and thoughtful. Enjoy a photo montage of our afternoon, and look for a complete list at the bottom of this post.

I won't get into specifics of each and every beer we drank but I will mention our bar snacks at Hair of the Dog - which were excellent and much needed at this point in the day. We had Pork Toast ($5.25) with tender bits of pig, warmed on grilled bread and a Pickled Vegetable Sampler ($4.50). I had never had pickled broccoli or brussels sprouts and I loved them.

Around dusk we headed for the hotel which was a solid half hour walk. Our 9:15 pm dinner reservations allowed us time to meander back, relax and freshen up. We then hopped the TriMet to Irving Street Kitchen. The large rustic-urban space enveloping us in a warm glow, we settled on glasses of wine and main courses each. I am still thinking about this meal. Dreaming, lusting, swooning. It was fantastic.

What I ate: Beet & Ricotta Cavatelli ($19) / black truffle Stracchino, Ras El Hanout breadcrumb, roasted carrot

After dinner we wandered The Pearl District taking in the abundance of trendy bars and shops. We settled on watching football games at local haunt Life of Riley Tavern and closed out the evening at Deschutes Brewery. The next morning we cheered on marathon runners near the finish line. We had no idea there was a marathon going on until we arrived, so that was fun!

We also spent a half day and night in Portland on the back end, which worked out well for fitting in a couple of things we didn't have time for on the front. Since I mentioned a lot in this post, but omitted certain things too - below is a handy recap. A quintessential guide to Portland for beginners if you will: books, beers, donuts, roses. 

[My Portland top 5]

5) Northeast Alberta Arts District. Inevitably you will find yourself downtown and in The Pearl District. And hopefully in SE Portland. Northeast has a flare all its own. Funky graffiti artwork on walls and benches, hip coffee shops, art galleries and laid back bars. We got a cappuccino at Just Bob, walked around for a bit, then got cocktails at the trendy but low key hangout The Knock Back.  

4) Powell's City of Books / 1005 W Burnside St. You just don't see bookstores like this anymore. Powell's is inspiring. I could have spent all day perusing the shelves. 

3) The Rose Garden / 850 SW Rose Garden Way. Do your best to get here. We skipped it initially but I was so glad we went on our last day. Portland is the city of Roses, after all!

2) The Food. It can be extremely overwhelming with so many acclaimed restaurants from which to choose. I researched and debated a lot but in the end was really happy with our choices.

Lunch: Pok Pok / 3226 SE Division St

 Bunk Sandwiches / 211 SW 6^th Ave  

Dinner: Little Bird Bistro / 215 SW 6TH Ave 

Irving Street Kitchen / 701 NW 13th Ave / Pearl District

Departure / 525 SW Morrison Street / Meier & Frank Building 15th floor

Sweets: Salt & Straw / 3345 SE Division Street

Blue Star Donuts / 3459 SE Hawthorne Blvd

1) A brewery crawl in Southeast Portland. There is an abundance of unique

breweries within walking distance in this residential meets industrial neighborhood. Tasting barrel aged sour beers on the sun drenched Cascade patio was a favorite trip moment. All of the breweries are listed in order of our crawl. Note: Deschutes is not in SE Portland but in the Pearl District. We fittingly ended our night here!

Baerlic Brewing / Hosford-Abernathy neighborhood / 2235 SE 11th Ave.

Cascade Barrel House / handcrafted sour beers / 939 SE Belmont St.

The Commons Brewery / traditional European beers w local ingredients / 630 SE Belmont St. 

Hair of the Dog / small batch bottle conditioned beers / 61 SE Yamhill St. 

Deschutes Brewery / award winning, distinctly Northwest craft beer / 210 NW 11th Ave.

Thank you for sticking with me on this adventure. I know these last couple posts have been much longer than usual. The Columbia River Gorge is up next!