Moving to Portland: need food recs
Hey there,
I am going on a road trip with my best friend and my brother in two weeks with my ultimate destination being Portland! I have been in Moab, Utah for two months (Lord...I mean Portland, deliver me!) and need food recs. I have never been and would like a few killer recommendations for three weary, broke travelers. I guess this is a question in two parts: 1) Can you recommend some places for three people who have never been to Portland, one of whom will be returning to Montreal in a week? and 2) Can you recommend restaurants/resources for two people who are moving to Portland with no knowledge of the city? We are all relatively broke, college-age (well, just past), and enjoy "ethnic" eats. I particularly am a fan of Vietnamese, Laotian and Nonya cuisine, and would love to get my hands on some banh mi and bun. I am also going through some major, major Indian withdrawal and need to fall off the wagon...with a bang. I am also willing to splurge once or twice if the place warrants it, and think atmosphere, Portland-ness(?) and a great (and fair) wine list are all important considerations here. I am from the east coast originally and am moving to the west coast to experience the sea food, produce and love of good food. Am I being idealistic? Also, since I've written a book already I may as well throw it out there: I am a cook looking to break into/learn about baking and pastry and am looking for a baking/pastry job. I need a place that really cares about its product, with a nice atmosphere. Any suggestions? I am sorry for the chatty tone here, currently listening to John Prine if that's an explanation...
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forgot to add, as an aside check this out for lots of free music throughout the city, and for concert dates only, you can bring drinks into the park for personal consumption only
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/i...›1 Reply -
you will no doubt find alberta st while you are here, a great happy hour is at ciao vito at the corner of ne 22nd ave and alberta...and it goes until 8 pm mon-thur!
my absolute favorite mid-eastern food is north of the mcmenamin's kennedy school (great to wander thru and $3 movies, but not cheap for food/drink, but decent happy hour) ne 33rd ave and holman, the aladdin cafe connected to the foodvilla store. unlikely location but so very good! i think, and some may say this is sacrilege, but i think it is better than nicholas'
also find the food cart in the parking lot of videorama at 2310 n lombard for these incredible waffle delights! ham and cheese with maple syrup butter wrapped up in hot waffle!!
a great bakery is fleur di lis at 3930 ne hancock, hollywood district, greg mistell is a fantastic baker, cares deeply about his product and is a great community oriented guy, very dedicated, i've worked with him on a few projects and you'll see him every saturday at the hollywood farmers market shopping from the local vendors - another good place for food experience
i'm about to head out mid-june on a road trip myself to crested butte colorado, so if you have any great road food finds on that route please pass them on -
slobhan
Jun 3, 2008 02:17 PM
Not the most ambience, but Portland food carts have some amazing, cheap food and plenty of local people watching. And food carts are in all different neighborhoods around town, so you're not limited on location. There's a great blog about them here: http://foodcartsportland.com/
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pdxrox
Jun 2, 2008 02:01 PM
i would suggest toro bravo http://www.torobravopdx.com/ on NE Russell - its a tapas place where the menu changes frequently.. its pretty popular so either get there at 5pm when it opens or be prepared to wait, espeically on the weekend. another spot that is great is Pine State Biscuits, its on about 36th and SE Belmont and has out of this world breakfast sammies and biscuits.. there are a few small tables there but i think they mainly do take away business. but definately worth stopping by!
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There are a few pretty inexpensive Vietnamese places in my hood in NE/ NE Sandy. My Canh on NE 39th and Broadway is one of those places where you can eat tons and end up with a bill of about $25 for two. I like the pepper salted bean curd. Pho Oregon on NE 62nd and Sandy is my favorite place for pho, and Cafe Be Van on NE 68th and Sandy is my go-to banh mi place.
One of my favorite recommendations for a really affordable happy hour is Clyde Commons. Also, I noticed a sign there that they are doing free corkage on Tuesdays (I think--be sure to check), which could get you a good wine at an affordable price. It has a hopping bar and a younger clientele, which you might like. Another way to have great food cheap would be to go to Toro Bravo, which has to be the hottest restaurant in town now, judging from the lines to get in, and eat inexpensive tapas. Finally, Tabla on NE 28th has a 3-course option (app, and what I would call primi and secondi) for $24, which is a good deal.
As for bakeries, there are a couple of good bread places: Ken's Artisan Bakery and Pearl Bakery. I just found a reference to a new bakery opened by one of the people from Pearl Bakery (they were hiring a month ago, but I don't know about now): http://www.littletbaker.com/. Also, I like Grand Central Bakery, but it's a big operation. As for pastry, the place we always go for dessert is Pix, but I'm drawing a blank on anything else right now.
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re: AlbertaHound
SauceSupreme
Jun 2, 2008 10:22 AM
Which St Cupcake location do you go to? I live near the one on NW Flanders but I'm more likely to duck into the one on SE Belmont.
While I don't do pastries that often, I occasionally find myself in a Vietnamese bakery waiting for a banh mi and staring at all the confections on display. Those French colonials taught them more than just baguettes. My favorite Viet bakeries are An Xuyen on SE Foster and also Lanvin on 82nd.
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Rejoice, snufkin, for you are about to be delivered! You will soon be entering a poor college student food paradise.
I just got back from my first trip to Portland on Thursday night. Wonderful city with great walking access and tons of great restaurants. Super cool vibe downtown and to the west/northwest of the city, but not at all pretentious or fake. We didn't get a chance to see other sections so I can't comment on those.
The two main words you want to remember for dinner are HAPPY HOUR. I don't know why it isn't mentioned more on this board (with my limited perusal of it), but I am so jealous of the happy hour scene in Portland that I am trying to start one in Atlanta. Happy Hour deals seem to be had at tons of good places, from super casual to pretty upscale. Hours generally run anywhere from 3-7, with lots of variation. Most places seem to have discounted drinks, but the real deal is the great, cheap food. The places we went to generally had three or four levels of cost, the cheapest we saw was $1.95 for a good small greek salad, to $5.95 for more upscale protein options. With one or two exceptions, everything we had at happy hour was great. If you do a Google search on "Portland happy hour" you should find at least one site with a lot of details. They even have a book out, which can be conveniently found at Powells books in the heart of Portland.
The only problem is that eating so early left us a bit hungry because we tend to usually eat late and stay up prett y late. Leftovers from happy hour are a defiinite possibility, though, and we throughly enjoyed our boxed up truffle fries later in the hotel room. Yum...
I will post more specifics later with a detailed Portland report.
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SauceSupreme
May 30, 2008 07:29 PM
This will help:
http://www.extramsg.com/uploaded_misc...
Lots of great banh mi joints around town, my favorite being An Xuyen. If it's bun you crave, head over to Banh Cuon Tan Dinh or Ngoc Han Bun Bo Hue, both on 82nd.
Tandoor Indian Kitchen is in downtown and is one of the more celebrated Indian joints. On the more upscale end, there's also Vindalho.
You'll find a lot of Laotian creep into the Thai restaurants, but beyond that there's nothing specific or noteworthy. Really, Vietnamese and Thai are among the city's ethnic strengths.
For me, the best bang for your back is Korean food, namely because of all the banchan. But you're familiar also with Viet cuisine, and that'll definitely fill you up for cheap.
If you arrive on a Saturday, make sure you head down to the South Park Blocks near Portland State University for the weekly farmers' market.
