(August 3rd-4th, 2013) Portland is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities. After just three visits there now, the quirkiness, localness (of food and place), and, dare I say, hipness have just won me over as a huge Portland fan. I only lament that they have no major research university within an hour's drive.
In August, I found myself returning to Portland for a conference. Sometimes conferences are in quite unpleasant locations (Orlando comes to mind due to the constant mugginess and commercialization/Disneyification), but every once in a while you luck out with a conference in a city that you genuinely want to spend time in.
The first half of my trip there was all business...catching up with colleagues, meetings, and a few presentations. But, since it was a large enough conference that was spread out over a week, there was plenty of time between meetings and presentations to enjoy some good food (surprise surprise!).
My first night in Portland was no exception as I met up with one of my British colleagues and we headed out for a night on the town. Dan, despite being from a land of bitter beers, ales, and Scotch (or maybe because of it), insisted on going for a drink of American liquor, namely his beloved Jack Daniels. A strange concept for me to fathom, but that's what he was craving. Portland, though, is known for their insanely large microbrewing scene, with over 50 microbreweries in the city, and about 100 in the county. So, it wasn't too much of a surprise as bar after bar that we entered informed us that they only served beer. Eventually we made our way into the Pearl district to a very...colorful...bar that we were able to fulfill Dan's drink request at. What Dan didn't realize at the time, though, was that it was a gay bar that we proceeded to plop down at and catch up. Normally, this wouldn't give me a second thought, but after having a few people come up behind me and put their hand on my back while complimenting me or Dan on something just indicated that maybe it was time to move on to something else, especially since Dan has a reputation as a lady's man that wouldn't be well served in this particular bar.
So, next we set out for food, and ended up at Ristorante Roma. Normally I askew Italian restaurants, I generally like my own pasta sauce (and pasta when Kim and I are feeling industrious) better than anything that I can get at an American restaurant. Roma, though, was the exception. The ravioli filled with lobster and artichoke was a masterpiece of subtlety and harmony. The light tomato cream sauce on top tied the meal together, which I savored bite by bite between sips of a Barbera. At least, that's what I wrote at the time, so no telling how much I had had to drink at that point.
The aforementioned lobster and artichoke stuffed ravioli in a tomato cream sauce, and tartufo for dessert:
After Roma we set off to the Teardrop Lounge, where astute readers may recall that I visited on my last trip to Portland since the owner is the brother of my sister's colleague from her time at Tulane. At this point, the evening transitioned into watching Dan shamelessly flirt with women; always a fun activity until you start doing some math about relative ages in your head...From there we frequented a few more bars, the highlight of which was a Habanero infused Margarita at the Vault Martini Lounge. Don't ask me to recall the rest of the night as it was more of the same. In either case, sleeping in the next morning (a Sunday) was fantastic.
After my long run Sunday morning along the Willamette River, I set off for the Veritable Quandary for brunch.
This restaurant left me in a veritable quandry trying to find the right superlatives to describe my meal. Perhaps it was the hunger unique to having just finished a long run, but I don't think that that was the case...
The blackened catfish had the right mix of Cajun spices to remind me of the South without being the typical "blackened" meal with only char. The local squash and tomatoes that it was served with were slightly grilled and fantastic! The Hollandaise sauce, house made, had a savory twang to it that complimented the Aardvark Habanero hot sauce perfectly. (Ken, I know you're reading this, so that last link is for you). All of this was served on a bed of home fried potatoes, which soaked up the poached eggs, and spinach that had been slightly stewed to almost, almost, resemble collards. So, even though I was exploring the Pacific Northwest, this quandary took me back home to the Carolinas.
After brunch, it was time to head off to meetings (I had arrived on a Saturday to make sure that I'd be on time for my meetings on Sunday), but on the way I stopped at the weekend street market on Ankeny St. The coming week was the Oregon Beer Festival (not sure on the exact wording, but you get the idea), so the normally full market was overflowing with tons of extra vendors lining the waterfront.
The other things that I truly enjoy about Portland is that, at least if you're staying downtown, how close and accessible everything is. Up until the second weekend of my visit, I was able to get by with walking and an occasional trolly ride if I was with others or in a rush. Also, the Willamette River. Downtown there's a nice, 2 mile loop that you can do without having to deal with roads. Alternatively, you can just head South for dozens of miles if you want to change things up.
Next up: taking the Germans out for a night on the town...
In August, I found myself returning to Portland for a conference. Sometimes conferences are in quite unpleasant locations (Orlando comes to mind due to the constant mugginess and commercialization/Disneyification), but every once in a while you luck out with a conference in a city that you genuinely want to spend time in.
The first half of my trip there was all business...catching up with colleagues, meetings, and a few presentations. But, since it was a large enough conference that was spread out over a week, there was plenty of time between meetings and presentations to enjoy some good food (surprise surprise!).
My first night in Portland was no exception as I met up with one of my British colleagues and we headed out for a night on the town. Dan, despite being from a land of bitter beers, ales, and Scotch (or maybe because of it), insisted on going for a drink of American liquor, namely his beloved Jack Daniels. A strange concept for me to fathom, but that's what he was craving. Portland, though, is known for their insanely large microbrewing scene, with over 50 microbreweries in the city, and about 100 in the county. So, it wasn't too much of a surprise as bar after bar that we entered informed us that they only served beer. Eventually we made our way into the Pearl district to a very...colorful...bar that we were able to fulfill Dan's drink request at. What Dan didn't realize at the time, though, was that it was a gay bar that we proceeded to plop down at and catch up. Normally, this wouldn't give me a second thought, but after having a few people come up behind me and put their hand on my back while complimenting me or Dan on something just indicated that maybe it was time to move on to something else, especially since Dan has a reputation as a lady's man that wouldn't be well served in this particular bar.
So, next we set out for food, and ended up at Ristorante Roma. Normally I askew Italian restaurants, I generally like my own pasta sauce (and pasta when Kim and I are feeling industrious) better than anything that I can get at an American restaurant. Roma, though, was the exception. The ravioli filled with lobster and artichoke was a masterpiece of subtlety and harmony. The light tomato cream sauce on top tied the meal together, which I savored bite by bite between sips of a Barbera. At least, that's what I wrote at the time, so no telling how much I had had to drink at that point.
The aforementioned lobster and artichoke stuffed ravioli in a tomato cream sauce, and tartufo for dessert:
After Roma we set off to the Teardrop Lounge, where astute readers may recall that I visited on my last trip to Portland since the owner is the brother of my sister's colleague from her time at Tulane. At this point, the evening transitioned into watching Dan shamelessly flirt with women; always a fun activity until you start doing some math about relative ages in your head...From there we frequented a few more bars, the highlight of which was a Habanero infused Margarita at the Vault Martini Lounge. Don't ask me to recall the rest of the night as it was more of the same. In either case, sleeping in the next morning (a Sunday) was fantastic.
After my long run Sunday morning along the Willamette River, I set off for the Veritable Quandary for brunch.
This restaurant left me in a veritable quandry trying to find the right superlatives to describe my meal. Perhaps it was the hunger unique to having just finished a long run, but I don't think that that was the case...
The blackened catfish had the right mix of Cajun spices to remind me of the South without being the typical "blackened" meal with only char. The local squash and tomatoes that it was served with were slightly grilled and fantastic! The Hollandaise sauce, house made, had a savory twang to it that complimented the Aardvark Habanero hot sauce perfectly. (Ken, I know you're reading this, so that last link is for you). All of this was served on a bed of home fried potatoes, which soaked up the poached eggs, and spinach that had been slightly stewed to almost, almost, resemble collards. So, even though I was exploring the Pacific Northwest, this quandary took me back home to the Carolinas.
After brunch, it was time to head off to meetings (I had arrived on a Saturday to make sure that I'd be on time for my meetings on Sunday), but on the way I stopped at the weekend street market on Ankeny St. The coming week was the Oregon Beer Festival (not sure on the exact wording, but you get the idea), so the normally full market was overflowing with tons of extra vendors lining the waterfront.
The other things that I truly enjoy about Portland is that, at least if you're staying downtown, how close and accessible everything is. Up until the second weekend of my visit, I was able to get by with walking and an occasional trolly ride if I was with others or in a rush. Also, the Willamette River. Downtown there's a nice, 2 mile loop that you can do without having to deal with roads. Alternatively, you can just head South for dozens of miles if you want to change things up.
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