Portland Weekend

Flew up Friday and back Monday for a quickie trip over Thanksgiving weekend to visit our son. Chilly weather so a good time for bacon and brew.

Friday went to http://lardosandwiches.com for a quickie lunch - they specialize in pork sandwiches and craft beers. Had a Banh Mi and some dirty fries - potatoes, peppers and pork lardons fried together = pretty damn good!

Multnomah Whiskey Library https://mwlpdx.com for cocktails and turned into dinner. They have a ridiculous amount of whiskeys and a really cool place to hang out for a night. Kind of a private club for whiskey lovers and they let the peasants in when there is room. We reserved in advance for $25 per head. They have a small bar downstairs - the Green Room which serves a small portion of whats available upstairs. Cocktails were ridiculously good and small plate food was very good as well - lamb tartare, Prime Piedmontese hanger (insanely good). Most seating are couches and overstuffed chairs and a real friendly vibe. We met several sets of members and really enjoyed ourselves - if I was a local I would join because i love whisky.

Booked a suite at http://www.riversedgehotel.com through Jetsetters for $140 a day which was a deal! Huge room in a quiet part south of Portland on the Willamette. 6 min uber ride to downtown. Great little restaurant on the river for breakfast if needed.

Sat we headed out to Willamette Valley and met Kelley Fox http://www.kelleyfoxwines.com at her temporary digs at Maysara Winery outside of McMinnville. Spent a few hours getting to know Kelley and tasting her 15’s in barrel and a couple of her current releases. Really elegant pinots and I am on board with her style. On way out Maysara was having an open house so Kelley invited us to check it out. Glad we did. The winery is owned by an Iranian family and they had a big spread of mediterranean food to pair with their pinots and various whites. Fantastic wines as well - they were pouring some library wines that were really showing well.

Next stop Matello in McMinnville - met Marcus Goodfellow and tasted through his wines. Good stuff and really liked his current release chardonnay (13?). Stopped next door at http://www.valleycommissary.com for a quick bite before venturing on and food was excellent including chile and fried chicken/waffles.

Of course when Heater Allen is having an open house (rare) you have to stop in for a palate cleanse. http://heaterallen.com pils was a revelation - one of the better lagers I have ever tried. Hopefully they start some distribution to socal soon. Fun chatting with them for an hour or so.

Last stop of the day was http://www.bigtablefarm.com. Holy cow these guys are located in the middle of nowhere! They have a big beautiful winery building but hold their open house in the living room in their victorian home. This is a real live working farm and there is no doubt when you pull into the property. We got there about 20 minutes after the open house was to end (middle of nowhere takes forever to find) and place was still wall to wall people. Thankfully because the wines were absolutely fabulous. Owners were very genuine and easy to get behind these guys.

Stumbled back to hotel to rest up for dinner in Portland at http://www.theamericanlocal.com. Sat at bar and enjoyed more great cocktails and small plates. Highlights were salmon shoulder, octopus skewers, delicata squash tostada, brussel sprouts with pickled jalapeños and aioli. Brought a bottle of 13 Kelley Fox Mirabai and was wonderful with food.

Sunday brunch plans got squashed so had lunch at http://grassapdx.com which is actually connected to the downtown Lardo. Very good pasta bar/restaurant with everything made right in front of your eyes including the pasta.

Sunday night saved the best for last - dinner at Le Pigeon. First time for us and after reading all of the mixed reviews was prepared for either outcome. All i can say is this place was clicking on all cylinders on this night. Opted for 5 course tasting menu and started at a table but quickly moved to bar to watch the action. For those that have not been, the restaurant is very small (20 or so seats) and the kitchen is very minimalist with a chef and 2 sous chefs and there wasn’t much room for more. Food was exquisite. Diver scallop crudo with bone marrow croutons - very light and good start. Fois Gras and Uni on rice pancake with maple syrup - spectacular! Beautiful sturgeon dish. Beef cheek bourgogne with a seriously acidic risotto/pickled onion that worked so well together. I can’t tell you what the first dessert was but it was wonderful and wolfed down in no time (kind of a deconstructed apple pie), second was the fois gras profiteroles and they were too much at this point, but good. We started with a half bottle of Bethyl Heights Chardonnay off list which was stellar and brought a 13 Kelley Fox Maresh pinot that was sensational, so very elegant and was a match made in heaven on this night. Earlier at winery wine was not quite as impressive - but with food it came alive. Very subtle and powerful at same time. Great wine, great night.
Top dinner in last 5 years for me.

Of course had to stop at Tasty & Alder on way to airport next day - solid breakfast/lunch spot downtown. Split a frittata and potatoes brava dish. Delish!

The food/drink scene is thriving in PDX - can’t wait to get back.

I guess that’s Portland, Oregon, not Maine?

I think of the Maine one as “Portland”. [stirthepothal.gif]

I love Portland Maine as well but a little more of a jaunt cross country. Have been a couple times and love the size and vibe of the city. Oh and the lobster rolls. On the other hand Portland Oregon is a pretty cool city as well especially with the world class wine country so close by.

Thanks for the great write up. I’m in the beginning stages of planning my first trip to the area for next spring, so I’m trying to absorb all the info I can.

Both are great.

I find it amusing that people title threads “Portland…” as if there’s only one.

Sort of like those who title threads “Riesling” as if German rieslings…are the only ones that matter. (I much prefer Alsace ones…even Austrian).

Good lineup of places!

In March, we plan to fly in Thursday morning and head home fairly early Sunday. 1st trip there. Is wine country plausible for such a short trip? I would also love to taste at Heater Allen after reading about it here for years. Recommended hotels in Portland and wine country?

Le Pigeon is on my very short list, but had not read anything bad. Just starting to put it together.

You should definitely do wine country, and le pigeon or little bird. Gabe the chef is at little bird. Do a search for the many, many threads on Portland including Charlie Fu’s recent trip.

Great list Tom! For even more excellent cocktails, next time hit Expatriate, Rum Club and Teardrop Lounge.

If you are even remotely into pinots, chards and other cool weather varieties (and much more apparently) give yourself at least one day in wine country - basically right next door. If you want peace and quiet and a more rural trip stay in wine country. If you want a little more action stay in town - many choices of hotels, a vibrant foodie/cocktail scene and a manageable size. McMinnville (the center of activity in wine country) is 1 hour plus a little. Lots of stop lights. We used iPhone map this time and took us a much better way with fewer lights and it was just over an hour from SE Portland.
If you can’t get into Heater Allen, his beers are available everywhere in stores/bottle shops.

A few other stops we made on recent trip -
Pitch Dark Chocolate http://www.pitchdarkchocolate.com - after ordering some from Garagiste recently thought we would stop by their shop to check it out. Really interesting operation they have - basically making it all in this tiny little storefront. Fantastic stuff and glad I have a small stash coming soon. Each chocolate (15-20 varieties) is made from cocoa sourced from different areas of the world and each one is distinctly different in taste. The proprietors brother was working the shop the day we stopped - had a great time tasting/talking with him. Very new to the industry but a natural born salesman and really enjoyed our time there.

Bluestar donuts - really good but not light years better than DK’s donuts that we have locally and priced about 3 times more.

Pine State Biscuits - 45 minute wait? Come on its the 21st century! Good but not worth the wait in line in 30 degree weather. Disclaimer - I should have ordered with gravy. It looked insane! The biscuit was a little too firm like others have noted.

John,

We were in the Portland area early last month. Willamette is an easy day trip. We went on a Saturday and it wasn’t too bad but there was quite a bit of traffic on the way back to Portland around 4:30, it took close to 2 hours to get back. If you can rent a car (Turo is great for a single day but there are mileage limits) and go on a weekday I’d say go for it.

To elaborate on Tom’s experiences, I think Blue Star’s donuts were WWAAAAAYYYY too sweet. Good texture but soooooo sweet they were hard to eat.

I liked Pine State, but their biscuits and gravy are not at all identifiable with the biscuits and gravy that I grew up with as a southerner.

Was in Portland the week of Thanksgiving and besides going to wine country, stopping in Vinopolis was worthwhile. They have a good selection of Oregon wines at competitive prices and a decent selection of California wines, but they have an excellent selection of international wines and prices can be exceptional.

Agreed, It’s not a place that carries everything, but if you go with an open mind and look for bargains, they can be found.

What do you guys think of Europa wines in Portland? I had bought a few bottles online and picked them up on our trip to drink while we were there. The website was enticing with a decent selection of Oregons, some interesting international wines and pricing was attractive.

Walked into store and was a little bit of a letdown (little dark, limited inventory, not super inviting) but still will buy from them as pricing is competitive.

I’ve never heard of them. There are a number of shops in town that have limited or no inventory and just order from the distributor when you need something. The best of that model, per board consensus, is secwines.com note he’s also got a nice vintage chart on his website. He’s got a great palate.

Small shop with more of a wine geek selection. I stumbled upon them and ended buying a case of Oregon wine that would fit in the Natural camp. I had not tried any of the wines before and half way through the case I am very pleased.

It is right across from Multnomah Whiskey Library.

Great info, thank you all. Any specific hotels in Portland or Wine Country that are can’t miss?

AirBnB is strong in Portland.

They also have a lot of interesting import selections. They try and work with small Pacific Northwest importers, which means they carry a lot of wines that don’t get much press. They do in-store tastings every Friday from 4:30 to 6:30, with often some pretty interesting wines. Loved the tasting they did with dry Portuguese wines this spring, I picked up quite a few bargains that day.

Not the biggest fan of the Ace hotels but we liked the one in Portland.