Babe and I decided to check out the city of Portland to get a taste of life there (figuratively and literally!) and to see if it would be somewhere we'd like to live in the future. Almost everyone I had mentioned this trip to told me "It's rainy and gloomy!" And it was so, for part of the weekend. But Portland also has a reputation for good food; I made sure to take advantage of that, making reservations via OpenTable or through the restaurant's website.
Friday, we arrived into Portland airport around 11:30pm, picked up a rental car and headed to the hotel, about 30 minutes away. Car rentals are a breeze when you are a
Hertz #1 Club Gold member. In most airports, you just look up your name and stall number on the Hertz marquee board, get in your designated car, and drive off; no need to wait in line or fight persistent offers to buy liability insurance or a tank of gas from the sales agent. I have a free membership through work, but there are other ways to get it for free if you search online for "
hertz gold club free". Work also provided me a discounted leisure rate code (you can easily find some online, like on
flyertalk.com), and once I stacked on a coupon code from the Hertz web site, the car cost ~$53 for the entire weekend, all taxes included. Not too bad considering they assigned me a Nissan Altima when I reserved a compact Nissan Versa. :) I could have saved a few dollars by booking through Priceline, but the convenience of driving off the lot was worth it.
I did use
Priceline for our hotel at the
Marriott Courtyard in Beaverton. It wasn't downtown Portland, but the price was cheap ($42/night) and no hefty parking fees. The room was clean and comfortable, with a sliding glass door facing an interior courtyard with a pool. (which we didn't use, since it was overcast/rainy...)
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| I like triple sheeted beds |
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| gee, are they sparkling clean??? |
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| it's funny when they repackage generic toiletries to look "luxurious" |
Saturday morning, we went to
Tasty n Sons for brunch. There was a slight wait, so the hostess took down my cell number to call me when the table was ready. A great idea as this allowed us to stroll over to nearby
Pix Patisserie for a warm beverage to pass the time. I enjoyed a nice cup of Earl Grey tea, with a smooth flavor. The hostess called 20 minutes later, so we headed back to enjoy some brunch. With "Tasty" in the name of the restaurant, you bet I had high hopes for the cuisine. It didn't disappoint!
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| I think they handpacked the tea bag |
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| Tasty n Sons |
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| sweet biscuits |
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| "Fughettaboutit" omelette |
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| egg and cheddar biscuit with fried chicken inside, mmm |
We originally wanted to go to
Multnomah Falls today, but as it was overcast and occasionally drizzled, we decided to pass and did some shopping instead as Oregon has no sales tax. First we stopped at Kohl's to use up a $10 bonus cash that was about to expire, then we went to
Washington Square near our hotel.
For dinner, we went back downtown to eat at
Simpatica. This communal dining restaurant is open Friday and Saturday for dinner along with Sunday brunch. It has fixed seating times and a set menu, changing daily. We arrived a few minutes earlier than seating time, as we left early to make sure we weren't going to be late. It was also hard to find the restaurant as it is located in the basement of a building, but thank goodness they had a sign on the sidewalk outside.
We were the first diners to arrive. There was a long table that could seat twelve, plus a couple of two-tops on the side. I think you have to be a regular to sit separately, as I noticed the servers greet those guests by name when they walked through the door. Babe and I were able to snag the seats facing each other at the edge of the table, ensuring some elbow room at least on one side. Eventually everyone trickled in during the next 15 minutes, and then dinner began. The lighting was really dim inside, so the pictures aren't as appetizing as they should be...
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| tonight's menu |
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| some local brew |
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| yummy duck breast |
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| tomato and melon sorbet intermezzo, topped with basil |
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| salad with pear |
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| flat iron steak, quite tender |
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| fig tart |
We didn't have any interruptions during our meal, as the couple next to us seemed to be on a first date; they were totally engrossed in each other, not talking to anyone on either side. The guy was also a bit nervous, as he kept nearly knocking over his water glass and bottle of Mexican Coke. I thought the dinner was good but not eye-rolling good. One memorable moment was when Babe took his first bite of dessert and said, "This tastes like a big Fig Newton!" We got a chuckle of agreement from our neighboring couple as well as the party of three seated on their other side. I think we all had expected it to have a more fresh fig taste.
Our adventures continued on Sunday, starting with 10am brunch at
BEAST. BEAST was also a prix-fixe communal dining restaurant with fixed seating times, with a fetish for pork. :) The place was decorated with quotes all over the walls.
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| think we found the restaurant |
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| piggy |
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| today's menu, love that last line |
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| quotes written on the walls |
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| yeah, why? |
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| fresh ingredients |
We were seated side-by-side, with a couple on either side of us. The couple to my left weren't interested in conversing with anyone, not that I didn't mind, but the lady actually had her back mostly turned towards me, so even if I had wanted to start up a conversation, it wasn't welcomed! The couple to Babe's right seemed to be true foodies, as I overheard the gentleman speaking about food. When the first course was served, the foodie couple noticed we had shown immense enjoyment with our first bite, so we started talking. (a test of worthiness?) We got a lot of good restaurant tips from the gentleman as well as interesting stories about the art world from the lady.
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| that bacon was nom! |
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| poached duck egg was so good |
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| very good cheese |
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| chocolate cake hits the spot |
I think I licked every plate clean. The meal was very delicious. There was a wine pairing offered, but I think it was a bit early for that. (though not for the group of 3 at the end of the table!) After brunch, as the weather seemed to be merely overcast with no signs of rain, we decided to chance it and head over to Multnomah Falls. It was about a 40 minute drive east from downtown. It was slightly drizzling, but that wasn't enough to stop us from doing some sightseeing.
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| I'm sure this view would be awesome on a sunny day |
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| famous landscape |
There wasn't tons of water coming down the falls (as seen on Google images), but it still was picturesque. We still had some time to kill before our dinner reservation, so we did some more sightseeing, turning off at an interesting exit called "
Bridge of the Gods". Why not? The toll cost $1 each way, crossing the state line into Washington. We stopped at the city right after the bridge (Stevenson, WA) and checked out the waterfront.
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| getting my $1 worth |
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| glassy lake |
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| in case you were lost |
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| again, probably awesome on a sunny day |
We crossed over back to Oregon state and stopped at a farmer's market set up across the street from the bridge entrance to pick up some fresh huckleberries. I've never had them fresh before...only in ice cream on our Yellowstone trip.
It was raining harder when we drove back into Portland, so we were fortunate to have seen the falls without getting super wet. We made it to our last food venue,
Le Pigeon. Our reservations were at 5pm as we had to catch a return flight around 8:30pm. Everything there was nom! I highly recommend eating there.
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| mmm...butter with salt |
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| local brewski |
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| foie gras pate with fresh figs |
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| sweetbreads |
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| braised pork |
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| cantaloupe sorbet |
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| to-die-for foie gras profiteroles |
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| look at that richness |
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| complimentary dark chocolates |
Le Pigeon was also a communal dining restaurant, but the food was a-la-carte. Since our reservation was so early, we had the table to ourselves for much of the time until a group of two couples sat down. Even then, we had a lot of elbow room, so it was fine. We overheard their conversation and found they were worked at our company's Portland site. We decided not to volunteer that we shared the same employer. :)
After dinner, we headed back to the airport, returned the rental car and had an uneventful flight back home. In summary, Portland is a great town to grab some tasty food, but I'm not sure if I'd become a fan of overcast skies and/or rain. I like to wear sweaters and boots, but not all year.
My next trip is to Chicago for a conference...stay tuned and thanks for reading!
