Portland

To See

  • Portland Rose Garden - hundreds of rose varieties in a beautiful setting, the rest of Washington Park is also very nice

  • Columbia River Gorge - gorgeous (pun intended) drive/view of the Columbia River...stop at Vista House (~30 min east of town) for a great view, and there are various waterfalls/hikes along the way

  • Shopping

    • Powell's Books - perhaps the best bookstore in the world, both used & new

    • North Mississippi Ave has a bit of a SF Valencia Street vibe

    • Pet lovers: lots of great spots like Furever Pets on the East Side

To Eat

  • Olympia Provisions - awesome charcuterie, other tasty locavore stuff, interesting industrial space

  • The Observatory - nice burgers (esp. lamb), chicken liver pate, cheese plate, etc. “fry bread” was a bit dough-y...nice, casual spot on the East side

  • Tasty N Sons - great brunch, inventive American food, fun neighborhood

  • Nong’s Khao Man Gai - good, casual Thai (mostly food cart), known for chicken

  • Bete Lukas - great Ethiopian place, on 50th & Division

    • also nearby but we didn't go: Pok Pok (Thai), Mi Mero Mole (51st & Division, “good Mexican street food”) http://mmmtacospdx.com/, Roman Candle (“good Italian American food, lovely burrata”) http://romancandlebaking.com/, Xico’s (“nice Oaxacanish Mexican”) http://www.xicopdx.com/, Cibo (gluten free Italian) http://cibopdx.com/

  • Wildwood - farm to table place we loved closed in 2014

  • Places we didn't go but were talked about:

    • Voodoo Doughnut - cult doughnut shop

    • Ned Ludd - “hipster cabin-in-the-woods”, hearty dishes from brick oven, rec’d NYT nedluddpdx.com

    • Castagna - fancy NW cuisine

    • Meat Cheese Bread - locavore sandwiches/salads (near Woodblock Chocolate)

    • Screen Door - Southern food with NW twist

    • Beast - prix fixe, heavy on meat/charcuterie, no substitutions, female-owned/chef

    • Evoe - Euro-vibe, sandwiches but also changing menu

    • Paley’s Place - rec’d on Zagat, NW portland, locavore NW fare with French twist, did this sort of thing before it was popular

    • Park Kitchen- looks nice http://parkkitchen.com/

    • Le Pigeon - fancy but very nice, chef Gabriel Rucker won James Beard Award

    • St. Jack - French cafe, northwest Portland, stjackpdx.com

    • Little Bird Bistro - very popular

    • Andina - Peruvian/Tapas, NW Portland, andinarestaurant.com

    • Mediterranean Exploration Company - Mediterranean/Middle Eastern food, "industrial-chic", www.mediterraneanexplorationcompany.com

    • Veritable Quandry - oddly named romantic American/northwest cuisine veritablequandary.com

    • Little Big Burger - miniature burgers

    • Apizza Scholls - Thrillist sys they're one of the "best pizzas in America"

    • Nostrana - fancy Italian

    • Bamboo Sushi - supposed to be the best sushi in Portland