Portland, Oregon?

[mps23]

paley's is a nice place to eat.
all of the french bakeries in nob hill are excellent, i recommend st honore on thurman st.

mary's club is one of the better strip clubs. union jack's isn't bad either.

remember that portland's restaurants sometimes have community tables, & they're great to sit at and meet new ppl - unlike ny, where everyone keeps to themselves.

there is one nice men's clothing shop in the pearl district - i forget the name, but most of the SFers would probably be satisfied with it. it's right by the lululemon shop and the whole foods.

and if you go to multnohmah falls, walk all the way to the top, then make a left and you can go deeper into the woods. if you make a right, you end up in some touristy spot. however, none of this may make a difference now that it's the winter.

best thing of all about portland: the people are genuinely friendly and talkative.

 

[CharlieAngel]

Originally Posted by mps23

paley's is a nice place to eat.

there is one nice men's clothing shop in the pearl district - i forget the name, but most of the SFers would probably be satisfied with it. it's right by the lululemon shop and the whole foods.

Michael Allen's? I know he's moved since I lived there, but I always liked his shop.

 

[SuitGuy24]

Whatever you do, avoid the hyped 50 Plates in The Pearl. Worst meal I have ever had at an (allegedly) "upscale" restaurant. I could have save 50 Bucks and stayed home with Dinty Moore Beef Stew and Pillsbury Crescent Rolls.

 

[Xericx]

Originally Posted by mps23

and if you go to multnohmah falls, walk all the way to the top, then make a left and you can go deeper into the woods. if you make a right, you end up in some touristy spot. however, none of this may make a difference now that it's the winter.

best thing of all about portland: the people are genuinely friendly and talkative.

Last summer I went hiking up there with my college roomate, we turned left and two random hippies gave us some weed to smoke. We had our own stash but it was cool they smoked us out up there. This was all unprovoked, we were chatting with them on the way up about the hike and they just go, "hey, you guys smoke?".



I'm going to try to go to Toro Bravo sometime next week...that's if I can even get to the PNW with the weather being as bad as it is.

 

[Davidko19]

went up there a few months back for a brewery tour with a bunch of my friends. Awesome time. We didnt engage in a lot of culinary experiences outside of bar food. Though I did eat at one late night joint that had mac and cheese that was divine. Best Ive EVER had. Holy crap it was good.

Check out the brew pubs though, those are fun. And the video game place is cool, though the bartender is uber-sensitive about serving you too much. We got cut off for an hour on a sunday night - it was rediculous. But to play double dragon for a quarter, Ill take it.

 

[2Scoops]

about 5 years ago when i was still living in pdx, i remember hearing rumors of either a 1 armed or 1 legged stripper. i've always wondered if there was any truth to that.

 

[Xericx]

Made it to Toro Bravo after Blazers game. No wait!

Damn good.....

Bread with butter & olive oil
Marinated Sheep's Cheese with rose petal harissa and mint
Plums stuffed with Foie Gras
Salt Cod Fritters with aioli
House Smoked Coppa Steak with olive oil poached potatoes chopped olives & salbitxada
Seared Scallops with romesco
Paella Toro
Molten Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream
Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with beans

all very good!!!! and cheap! only $105 for all of that before tip, with some drinks, etc......4 people......

 

[Scrumhalf]

Originally Posted by nyf

As an aside, recommendations on fun stuff to do on the drive between Portland and the Redwood National Forest?

I assume you are taking the coast route, not I-5. Just did this in September. Lots of things to see on the drive - it all depends on how much time you want to spend doing the drive. We took 3 days to make it down to San Francisco.

Most important - take US 26 from Portland to Cannon Beach to get over the coast range. DO NOT take any of the lesser east/west state highways across the middle of the state. There is some crazy amounts of snow that the coast range receives since it is smack in the path of moisture-laden storm systems that roll in off the Pacific Ocean. Not too long ago, a CNET editor from SF died after losing his way in high snow in one of the smaller E/W highways across western Oregon. It might come as a surprise to a lot of people, but Oregon probably has the smallest cell phone footprint of any state in the lower 48 other than Nevada.

Once you are on 101, you can just follow it all the way down to California. If you have another 1/2 day to spare, you might want to head north to Astoria when you get to 101 - directly opposite to where you want to go but the detour is worth it to see Fort Clatsop, the final stop of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Otherwise, turn left at the ocean and head south.

Stop at Newport to catch the Aquarium if you are into that sort of thing - it is pretty good. Consider stopping somewhere around Florence at a place called the Sea Lion Caves. There is an elevator that takes you down to a glass window view of a sea cave where sea lions hang out. It is a bit of a tourist trap but I think worth seeing. Also, probably a highlight for me is taking a dune buggy tour of the Oregon Coast Sand Dunes, one of the biggest such geological formations in the world. I took a tour with an outfit called Ultimate Dune Tour Rides (Telephone: 1-877-271-0369) based in Winchester Bay, OR. DO NOT MISS the dunes. It is spectacular. One warning - it is COLD. Get bundled up like you would in Chicago in January - believe me, I froze my a** off in September. There are lots of beaches along the way that you can stop at, but winter in Oregon is no picnic. It is cold and wet but the coastline is spectacular, so I would recommend at least stopping in some spots along the way and doing some short hikes in the coastal forest if you can. Take rain gear. An umbrella just won't cut it. Once you get to California, spend time in the various coastal redwood forests. Google for Avenue of the Giants - there are some pretty spectacular drives in some gigantic old growth forests.

Clothing warning. It is wet and cold pretty much all the way down the coast. Take lots of rain gear and cold weather gear. There is nothing like being wet to mess up a vacation drive. Maybe you'll get lucky and catch a dry spell, but the odds are against you.

Also, check weather updates as well as highway closures. The Oregon Dept of Transportation (ODOT) has a good website with highway information. Landslides are not uncommon along the coast highway due to the high rainfall in winter and they can take days to clear by the road crews, so check before you go so that you are not stuck in some village on the coast.

Good luck and PM me if you want some specific information. Also, Google for Oregon Coast to Redwood drive and you will get a list of other stuff to see. There are lots of lighthouses worth seeing if you are interested, as well.

 

[brimley]

Originally Posted by mps23

best thing of all about portland: the people are genuinely friendly and talkative.

Originally Posted by Scrumhalf

It might come as a surprise to a lot of people, but Oregon probably has the smallest cell phone footprint of any state in the lower 48 other than Nevada.

Post trip, these are the two things that I agree with most. Although I have ATT, and my brother could get service on remote Redwood trails with Verizon.

Originally Posted by Xericx

Its going to be rather cold, I'll be in town too...maybe you'll see me in that APC coat I bought from you last week.

Hope it made it in a timely manner! Not USPS's finest effort.

 

[Spintherism]

Originally Posted by Eason

Eat at Andina on 13th & Glisan, it's Peruvian tapas that's amazing. Order the Sachsayhuaman, it's habanero infused vodka with passion fruit puree and dusted with cane sugar. Their mojitos are also excellent. Also, bring a flamethrower to kill drug addicts, gutter punks, and hippies.

+1 on Andina. Best tapas ever.

 

[Xericx]

Originally Posted by nyf

Hope it made it in a timely manner! Not USPS's finest effort.
It did, but I had to move my flight up a bit in light of the snowstorm...so iI didn't get a chance to go to my mailbox.....USPS was actually way more reliable than UPS, which absolutely blew it this season. eagery anticipating getting it next week though!

 

[Xericx]

Oh yeah....Marios downtown had some nice sales going on. I almost bought a pair of prada loafers for about half off, but decided against since I've been getting too many shoes recently.....but they had other things in their winter sale as well ( I was being rushed by others ). Looks like they were renovating John Helmer, again...didn't get a chance to drop by. Nice stuff at the Adidas Originals store, if you're into that thing....sale 30-50% off much of the stuff.

 

[A Y]

Resurrecting this thread ...

I was in Portland this weekend, and got to try out a few of the suggestions:

Andina: meh. The two tapas I had were bland: the fried quinoa chicken, and the roasted octopus kebab. I expected more concentrated flavors, but instead I got two small portions of larger, bland dishes. The dessert sorbet, a grapefruit-lavender, tasted like sweet soap. And to top it off, the Inca Kola looked like piss-colored cream soda. I would pass the next time.

Pok pok: excellent! I arrived about 25 minutes before their 5PM Saturday opening, and saw no one. Went for a walk, and came back about 20 minutes later, and there was a big line! I had the wings, and they were really good. The Pok pok affogato --- Vietnamese coffee over condensed milk ice cream, and Chinese donuts (the long kind that you usually dip into a savory soup) --- was OK, but I think just the normal Vietnamese iced coffee would be much better. Definitely have to go back and try again. It's not fusion, but slightly elevated Thai street food, which is a good thing.

Southpark Seafood: good, but I didn't have any seafood. The duck confit risotto was good, with the crispy duck skin contrasting against the risotto. Would order again. It's also near the theater district, which is convenient.

Walked around the Pearl district, and liked some of the urban design I saw. It was great exploring Powell Books, and my wallet did not escape unscathed as I found a couple of OOP books I'd been looking for a while. Stepped into Marios, and the staff was friendly, but nothing really to write home about their selections.

There was something about the people there that I can't quite put my finger on. It's like a weird hippy-hipster-yuppy-redneck blend.

--Andre

 

[leftover_salmon]

My **** of an ex-girlfriend is from Portland. So I hate Portland.

 

[Benzito]

By the way, the weather last weekend was quite unusual for late Feb / early March. Don't let that fool you. All the homeless are standard year-round, though.