Portland List

Frank & I spent 5 days in Portland, OR during the 2nd week of Dec. We stayed with friends, Gregory & Krisha, and we did our best to eat & drink our way through the city, while checking it out as a place we're considering moving. We really had a great time! Loved the city, the vibe, the food, the beer, everything. Plus, we had kick ass company along for the ride. Thanks again, Greg & Krisha, for not only letting us stay at your place, but for being patient, fun tour guides!

(Pictures will be in a separate post because blogger is being a pain in the ass!)

Here's a list of all the places I can remember that we hit up.

Stumptown Coffee - http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/ - There are a bunch of locations, but we hit up the one attached to the ACE Hotel. It's tiny, but Ace has a great lobby to chill in. The coffee is awesome and they have great tea too. Plus, it's authentic and non-automatic. You know, like the baristas actually have to make your drinks vs. pushing a button on a machine.

Powells Books - http://www.powells.com/ - This massive book store takes up practically a whole city block downtown & is multi-storied. A great place to wander, peruse, shop and explore. Plus, the rare book room is awesome!

The Kennedy School - http://www.kennedyschool.com/index.php?loc=57 - One of the McMenimans brew pubs. Originally a school, back in the day. There are a bunch of little bars inside- we hit up the Boiler Room for cheap Happy Hour snacks & the Honors Room for drinks afterwards. This property is also a hotel. It has a movie theatre and a garden enclosed heated mini-pool. Take a walk through the halls and check out the photographs and artwork. A very funky, fun place.

Pambiche - http://www.pambiche.com/ - Awesome little Cuban spot with great Happy Hour food specials. Everything is fresh & delicious. We weren't even that hungry when we arrived, but managed to stuff ourselves with Ropa Vieja. I wish we'd had room for one of the desserts!

Pirate's Cove - http://www.piratescoveportland.com/ - This tiny little strip club is near our friends' house & is in the shape of a jug! Naturally, we had to check it out. Ahhh, good for a reasonably priced drink and a chuckle.

Magic Garden - http://www.magicgardenportland.com/ - Another strip club. hey, what can I say!? Portland's famous for them! This one is downtown in the heart of "Old Chinatown". Not a bad spot. Plus, they've got cheap ass bar food & good drink prices.

Dante's -http://www.myspace.com/dantesportland - A cool venue downtown to see bands & have drinks. We paid $8 to get in on a Sunday night and saw 2 bands and the vaudeville/burlesque show. The bands I could've done w/out, but the vaud/burly show were pretty damn cool and the reason we went. I'd def. check it out again.

VooDoo Donuts - http://voodoodoughnut.com/ - Practically a PDX landmark. We went late night and got a maple bacon bar, the cock & balls donut (filled with cream!), the VooDoo (filled w/ raspberry "blood") and the Tex-Ass. They were delicious AND fun and that's my kind of combination! I wish I had one right now.

Gustav's - http://www.gustavs.net/ - A good spot for some wurst, fondue, spaetzle, pretzels and beer! A cool little German restaurant w/ a great food HH menu.

LaBonita - NE Alberta Street - Small, family run, reasonably priced and damn tasty. I had a fabulous shredded beef enchilada here & the hubster had killer carne asada tacos. There's also Mexican favs like tamales, tongue tacos and menudo on the menu.

Alibi - A tiki-bar that's known for awesome kareoke. IDK why, but we *had* to check it out. They've got good drink specials, cheap beer & cheap HH food specials. Plus, the chairs are really comfy. There were hardly any people there when we went & the decor is definitely tacky, but apparently the place gets packed once kareoke starts.

Ground Kontrol - http://www.groundkontrol.com/ - Another combination I like: 80's arcade & bar...hell yes. They've got tons of your fav. video games from the 80's + a whole upstairs area w/ pinball machines. Add in a good downtown location & HH beer specials and you've found a fun way to kill an hour or two!

Shanghai Tunnel: The Bar - Portland is famously known for it's underground "Shanghai" tunnels. This bar is located both downtown & underground, though there is a street level entrance. :-) It's dark, funky, a little creepy & VERY cool. Plus, they've got pool, video games and lounge chairs. Watch out for the restrooms though - they've got 2 "stalls" but no doors & the sink is right in the middle of both stalls. Fortunately for me, my friend Krisha was my stall companion - it would DEF be awkward with a stranger. :-)

Kell's - http://www.kellsirish.com/portland/index.php - A little Irish joint downtown w/ live music, a cigar bar and a pretty decent HH food menu w/ $2 oyster shooters. Plus, the hubster's Guiness had a clover on it, which made him very happy. The service was a little crappy, but it didn't ruin our good time.

Jake's - A great seafood joint downtown. It's now owned by McCormick&Schmick's, but it's been in PDX forever. They have a kick ass late night HH food menu.

24 Hr. Church of Elvis - http://www.24hourchurchofelvis.com/ - A very odd, quirky little window diorama to be found in downtown just around the corner from China Town.

Alberta Street Public House - We had some tasty Irish food & a couple of pints here one night, while listening to some great live music.

Hollywood Vintage - http://www.hollywoodvintage.com/ - Only the coolest hat/glasses/costume/vintage store ever! We had so much fun wandering through here, trying on all the crazy hats & glasses n'at. If it hadn't been so damn cold in there we probably would've stayed another hour!

Mother's - http://www.mothersbistro.com/ - Awesome breakfast downtown. Everything we had was delicious & the service was great too! The decor here is really cool, in an eccentric wealthy grandmotherly way.

Salvador Molly's - http://www.salvadormollys.com/ - We had to head here to try the habenero fritters that Frank saw on Man vs. Food. We both love spicy food! Wow, they were def. hot as hell! The killer was the sauce though. I ate mine w/out sauce and thought it was pretty damn tasty, but I don't think I could've had more than one. Other than that, they've got a great menu w/ a wide variety of interesting entrees.

Pittock Mansion/Rose Garden/Japanese Gardens/Washington Park - We mostly drove through the Washington Park area w/ a quick stop at the Rose Garden, then onto Pittock Mansion. Because it was *freezing* we didn't spend much time outside. Though we did walk around the Mansion to check out the incredible views. This whole area was gorgeous & I can't wait to get back to Portland in warmer weather, so we can spend some time outside enjoying it.