Chris and I j
ust got back from an fun filled weekend in lovely Portland, OR. It started as a simple weekend getaway and quickly turned into one of our jam packed adventures! It was Chris' first time to Portland and he met some of my great college friends. Of course we did a little bit of research and it paid off, most of the spots that we hit were AMAZING. So we flew in Friday night, Friday the 13th, and opted for the more expensive but fool proof taxi into the city straight to the ACE HOTEL in downtown Portland. First of all, right in the lobby they have a PHOTO BOOTH! I love photo booths, we didn't get to pop into it as much as I would have liked but the few times made us giggle! The hotel is beautifully designed and decorated, simple, sparse and clean with quirky unique artistic flairs. Because it's right downtown the hotel has a reputation for being slightly rowdy and loud but we asked for a room on the rear side of the building and it was fine.
We met friends at ACE's adjacent restaurant, CLYDE COMMON shortly after checking in. YUM. And in the same aesthetic pallet as the hotel and it's design has an open, clean and simple feeling. The waitstaff was extremely knowledgeable and their drink menu was awesome. Throughout the weekend I tried the Stone Wall, the Ivy League and some nice wines. I had my brain set on trying the Viking Quest but alas there was not enough time! Later that night we hit THE GREEN DRAGON, they made us walk under a ladder to get into the bar but they had a pretty good and inexpensive selection of beverages and shuffleboard. I just have to ask what's up with Portland and shuffleboard? It seemed that that it was in many bars. Good times though.
Saturday Chris and I had an awesome brunchish meal on the other side of ACE at KENNY AND ZUKES. I had the most amazing turkey ruben called The Rachel. Their latke's were awesome and come with the most delicious homemade apple sauce and sour cream. SO GOOD. After we walked around downtown, up and over bridges, popped into POWELLS and then took a bus up to MISSISSIPPI. Such a cool little area, we grabbed a beer at AMNESIA and then poked into some great small boutiques. Then we hit up a great hidden gem bar that my friend told me the name of but had no real sign. I can remember some symbols above the door and a name associated with A Clockwork Orange... Happy hour is wonderful and this was a very comfortable place to enjoy some very inexpensive drinks and conversation.
Then it was back to the hotel to drop off some items, change our clothes and hit the ROSELAND and THE MURDER CITY DEVILS. We got there early (to purchase the special and limited edition MCD box of treats!) We ended up sitting in the balcony, the only place to enjoy adult beverages and had a great view of one of the BEST shows I have seen in years. They sounded so good and it looked like they were having the best time playing. To me that makes a show great. Post show we snagged a burger at CLYDE COMMON, good burger and open late.
ust got back from an fun filled weekend in lovely Portland, OR. It started as a simple weekend getaway and quickly turned into one of our jam packed adventures! It was Chris' first time to Portland and he met some of my great college friends. Of course we did a little bit of research and it paid off, most of the spots that we hit were AMAZING. So we flew in Friday night, Friday the 13th, and opted for the more expensive but fool proof taxi into the city straight to the ACE HOTEL in downtown Portland. First of all, right in the lobby they have a PHOTO BOOTH! I love photo booths, we didn't get to pop into it as much as I would have liked but the few times made us giggle! The hotel is beautifully designed and decorated, simple, sparse and clean with quirky unique artistic flairs. Because it's right downtown the hotel has a reputation for being slightly rowdy and loud but we asked for a room on the rear side of the building and it was fine.We met friends at ACE's adjacent restaurant, CLYDE COMMON shortly after checking in. YUM. And in the same aesthetic pallet as the hotel and it's design has an open, clean and simple feeling. The waitstaff was extremely knowledgeable and their drink menu was awesome. Throughout the weekend I tried the Stone Wall, the Ivy League and some nice wines. I had my brain set on trying the Viking Quest but alas there was not enough time! Later that night we hit THE GREEN DRAGON, they made us walk under a ladder to get into the bar but they had a pretty good and inexpensive selection of beverages and shuffleboard. I just have to ask what's up with Portland and shuffleboard? It seemed that that it was in many bars. Good times though.
Saturday Chris and I had an awesome brunchish meal on the other side of ACE at KENNY AND ZUKES. I had the most amazing turkey ruben called The Rachel. Their latke's were awesome and come with the most delicious homemade apple sauce and sour cream. SO GOOD. After we walked around downtown, up and over bridges, popped into POWELLS and then took a bus up to MISSISSIPPI. Such a cool little area, we grabbed a beer at AMNESIA and then poked into some great small boutiques. Then we hit up a great hidden gem bar that my friend told me the name of but had no real sign. I can remember some symbols above the door and a name associated with A Clockwork Orange... Happy hour is wonderful and this was a very comfortable place to enjoy some very inexpensive drinks and conversation.
Then it was back to the hotel to drop off some items, change our clothes and hit the ROSELAND and THE MURDER CITY DEVILS. We got there early (to purchase the special and limited edition MCD box of treats!) We ended up sitting in the balcony, the only place to enjoy adult beverages and had a great view of one of the BEST shows I have seen in years. They sounded so good and it looked like they were having the best time playing. To me that makes a show great. Post show we snagged a burger at CLYDE COMMON, good burger and open late.
Saturday we took one of our epic "let's explore a new city" walks and walked from the downtown area across Burnside (way over the bridge and up and over and over and ...) to our destination that was sooooo worth the walk, SCREEN DOOR. When we got there it was an hour wait for a table so we put our name in and then wandered around to the shops across the street, my favorite being MOXIE.At Moxie I purchased the most divine black party dress that I can not wait to wear on Oscar Night!
Anyway,
SCREEN DOOR, the most wonderful breakfast/lunch/brunch/ FOOD, EVER! I started with a corndog (really a sausage dog, with maple dip)and then I followed it with eggs, bacon, cheese grits, a fluffy biscuit and sausage gravy. Checkers went all out. At first when we got there I saw a woman eating this so I wanted it but it looked too big. NOT for Chex, he ordered the sweet potato waffle and buttermilk fried chicken plate. The thing came with a STEAK KNIFE skewering it. Amazing.
So post gluttonous meal we walked back down Burnside and hit some great vintage shops, then GRASSHUT where I purchased a super sweet J. OTTO print that makes me smile and I am so happy to have. Popping in ZENO I grabbed a few cool postcards and prints I plan on giving as treats. Then we made the decision to hit up the other side of town and check out the 23rd/22nd St area. Again some funky lil spots, we grabbed a beer at LAURELWOOD. Then we trekked back downtown to COMPOUND to the La Jolie Poupee (the pretty doll) show, holy cow what a great exhibit. Four French female artists who have never shown in the US before! AWESOME. I'm in LOVE with Lostfish. And across the street at UPPER PLAYGROUND we saw koralie's show, haiku, such great dolls, prints and images.
Ok, quick pop in back at the hotel and then we rode the rail back out to MISSISSIPPI so that I could have my romantic dinner at LOVELY HULA HANDS, which I really wanted to try. What a beautiful place. It's a converted single family home gloriously decorated in a soft wonderful decor and style. The drinks were so delicious and the food...for the second time that day Chris had the fried chicken but I partook in the boudin blanc with whole grain mustard accompanied by homemade sauerkraut and duck fat fried potatoes. My drink, The Lovely Hula Hoop was a pineapple infused treat!
Instead of taking the rail we took the bus back down into town and met friends at GROUND KONTROL. Now why do we not have this in Boston? It's a arcade filled with authentic 1980's video games, pinball games (and yes they cost 25c) and serve beer. We happened to go on Sunday and hit their METAL NIGHT, 2 great DJ's spinning sick 70's and 80's metal hits whilst I drank beer and played games such as... oh... four person Track and Field, TRON
, BurgerTime, QBert, Star Wars, Ms. Pacman, Tabletop Pacman, Pole Position and many many more... Ok, so our plane leaves at 7am, it's 1 am, should we go back to the hotel and try to sleep? naw, let's hop over to VOODOO DOUGHNUTS. For $8.50 I was given the most diverse box of crazy donuts ever. Triple Chocolate Penetration, Voodoo Doughnut, Apple Fritter, Portland Creme and then there are some covered with C'Ptin crunch. I brought the box back with me and am in doughnut heaven right now.
Thus concludes my Portland rant. I am very happy to be home but that was a very fine food, friend, drink and fun filled weekend!
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