Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Man, this thread hurts. I lived there for 30 years and you folks know the food scene better than I ever did. Lots of Brew Pubs and McMenamin's is the best of the lot, imho. They actually got me to drinking beer (with a meal) when I pretty much never indulged in beer, ales, ports or stouts my whole life. They are one of the things I miss. A good burger and fries along with a Hammerhead or my favorite Terminator Stout.

Note to all vising Portland:

When parking on the street the parking receipt clearly says "Place in curbside window" That does not mean place on dashboard!

I did go to court Friday morning and argued a $45.00 ticket down to $6.00.

Laughing! Yeah, they do mean exactly what they say on that downtown parking meter thing. Nice feature is the "Fareless Square" which means that you can take the light trolley around most of downtown and up almost to the Portland State University campus for free. Buses are the same in the downtown area, free. So it's easy to shop or hop from one area downtown to another for a bite to eat and no hailing a taxi or finding a parking spot again for your car.

If you love books, you need to visit Powell's Bookstore. It's fun, there is a Sur La Table across the street (and a pretty good Italian Ice Cream shop - or used to be), NY Pizza by the slice is within walking distance. Jakes Famous Crawfish is a historic watering hole and pretty decent restaurant a few blocks away - a bit far for a walk from Powells but close to the Main Post Office. Maine Lobster is available at Jake's between 2:00 p.m and 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. for a very low price, about half the evening menu cost. I used to treat my mother to that once a month or so while she was alive. Dan and Louis Oyster Bar is another historic place that is okay, but not quite the same par as Jake's food wise, but if you wanna name drop historic restaurants, it is in there.

Lastly, for the more mundane, high cholesterol killer Italian Beef sandwich is Michael's Italian Beef & Sausage on the east side of the river (Willamette River, not the Columbia River). He has reputedly been seen to chase food providers out of his place at knife point should they displease him. He is a an interesting mix of food and attitude but his sandwiches, if not haute cuisine, are pretty darn good. French fries are excellent if eaten there, but don't travel well. The Meatball sandwich, not my thing, was very popular with many of my co-workers.

Oh, the Willamette River is pronounced Wi-LAM-ette, not WILL-ah-mette.

Not sure the same one is there, but there is one.



Do you mean Escape From New York Pizza? If so, they've downsized, reduced quality, and closed their Portland branch. For pizza in Portland these days, Hot Lips is the place to go. Not only do they have all kinds of wiggy gourmet pizza (and even gluten-free and/or vegan in some locations), they make their own sodas from fresh fruit.



Jake's has become a bit of a tourist trap. I wouldn't assume they've maintained the same quality without corroberation.



I used to annoy the heck out of Portlanders by calling them "Orgonites" instead of "Oregonians".

Other miscellaneous recommendations:

• Portland has a large arabic-speaking population. The selection of Lebanese, Syrian, Iranian, and other Arabic restaurants is excellent, and quality is really good. Most of these are in the neighborhoods.
• That being said, Habibi, once the Lebanese mainstay of downtown, has declined significantly in quality over recent years.
• Most of my recommendations here are still valid: http://www.fuzzychef.org/archives/Gourm ... -2008.html
• Portland bars now often sport obscure beer brews which you can find nowhere else. Make sure to try new stuff. Or come to the beer festival in July.
• Unlike a lot of former Portland residents, I don't find McMenamins beer to be better than mediocre, and their pub food is often quite tasteless. However, they now operate several excellent low-priced hotels, such as the Kennedy School.

Restaurants I've tried and liked:

• Mother's
• Old Wives' Tales (70's vegetarian vibe)
• Bijou
• Le Pigeon
• Higgins
• The Heathman (at the hotel)
• Papa Haydn (dessert cafe, very crowded)
• Two Brothers (serbian)
• Petite Provance
• Nostrana
• Screen Door
• Aladin's (syrian)
• Le Bistro Montage (warning: noisy, crowded)
• Burgerville (imagine a gourmet McDonald's) (fresh fruit shakes)

My favorite food cart is definitely the Czech one, in the food cart cluster near Big Pink.

Why, yes, I've visited Portland many times.

Jake's has always been something of a tourist trap or maybe more of a meat market, at least the bar side. Best verification is try it, particularly their signature dishes and I always enjoyed their calamari.

I did mean Escape from NY, and how I missed mentioning Hot Lips is simply another sign of impending Alzheimer's, I think. I ate at Hot Lips for lunch many many times. It was, in fact, the only pizza place I could eat without taking Tagamet ahead of time. All other chain pizzas required medication, which I routinely did because: 1) I love pizza and 2) I was oblivious to gall bladder problemos. I thought it was just "stress".

Orgonite? Heh heh, rich from a Friscoid. ("Joke Lang" as they say here) Emperor Norton is rolling in his grave.

Easiest way to remember this..."it's the Willamette, damn it".

Sigh...I need a trip to Portland. Haven't been there in 15 years.

Amy

DH travels for work (42 or 43 states in the last 12 years) and has never been to Oregon. Now I want him to go.

My funniest Portland story was encountered in the courthouse as I was waiting to see the clerk to get on the docket in regards to the aforementioned parking ticket, I sat next to an early 20's young lady, paraphrased it went something like this:

Her: Where ya from?
Me: Texas.
Her: It shows...you’re a big fella with a very nice accent.
Me: Thank you.
Her: I've been to Austin...I really like it. What do you think of Portland?
Me: Kinda like Austin on steroids.
Her: (chuckling) I can see that. A lot of girls I know go to Austin when they can't find a man here.
Me: Really, why?
Her: Because most of the girls here have more testosterone than the available guys.
Me: Chuckling...
Clerk: Next Please!

Tatoosh,

Friscoid? Wow, that's a new one on me. I think I'll start using it ...

My GGGrandpappy Mathew Patrick Bull started the East Oregonian Newspaper in Pendleton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Oregonian back in 1875, still can't find where that rascal is buried tho.