After a freakin 6 hour drive I received a city wide text alert warning people to stay indoors due to poor icy road conditions. The whole city was shut down. I was so excited, Portland, Oregon is the mecca for Craft Breweries over 53. We did end up going to a few in the following few days. You can check the full list of Portland Craft Breweries here.
The only pub that was open was Rock Bottom Brewery. I mean it was a perfectly acceptable place but, I was too pissed to enjoy it. So my apologizes to my server if I seemed a little cranky and thank you for trudging through the 5 inches of snow to come to work. Without you I wouldn’t have any craft brews on my first day in Portland.
I was not in the mood to take any pictures of their food. It wasn’t anything really special. Typical burgers and seafood chowder, I have to say though it is better than average compared to typical bar food.In that I mean it wasn’t dripping in grease and batter.
Tasty n Alder is a local favorite, with a focus on local ingredients. Expect line-ups, we went there for brunch the day after the city was shut-down by a snow storm so the menu was limited due to the lack of delivery.
Sicilian Hash with braised pancetta, arrabiata & over easy egg . Overall this was a decent dish, the hash and vegetables were still crispy. After a while this dish became way too salty.
hash- tasty n adler
Poached apple, bacon and cheese, salty, tangy, smoky and sweet, it was decent but, I would not order this again, it was too run of the mill and expensive for half an apple at $6.
The departure – hotel lounge – The Nines Hotel Food Persuasion Rating: 3.5/5 Cuisine: Japa Fusion cuisine Location: Portland OR, Downtown
This is situated on the top floor of the Nines Hotel. It really does look like a airport departure point but blinged out.
With the DJ blaring house and hip-hop music and a panoramic view of Portland from their heated patio.
Now the food,
The wings were delicious 4/5
Miso shrimp 3.5/5
Drinks…
We drank till we dropped. The most memorable moment was when we ordered a round of shots and to our pleasant surprise 1 shot is equivalent to 1.5 shots here.
Little Bird Bistro – Portland Downtown – French Cuisine
Food Persuasion Rating: 4/5 Cuisine Type: French Location:Portland, OR
Little Bird Bistro
This restaurant received so much hype, it’s Portland’s hotspot restaurant. We went on a Saturday night, it was a packed house, reservations recommended. The atmosphere was charming and cozy and service was friendly and warm.
Now the Food..
Starting with the charcuterie plate Features changes daily. Pork rillettte and pickled onions, pistachio truffle sausage and potato salad, foie gras brulee and apricot jam, oxtail terrine and onion jam, duck terrine and pickled cherries. The foie gras brulee was amazing! I could eat a soup bowl of it. 4.5/5
charcuterie plate
Duck confit, creamed corn, roasted mushroom, very good. It’s a filling and heavy dish so be warned 4/5
duck confit
Roasted lamb ribs, grilled cucumber salad herbed yogurt appetizer. Although the portion size was of an entree 3.5/5 for the food but, for the value 4/5.
Roasted Lamb
Smoked trout with almond purée. We were not a fan of the deep fried smoked trout balls. The fish itself was mashed. 2/5
Potato bacon fromage side 4/5. nice smokey flavor. everything was balanced
potato bacon fromage
Roasted short rib, bordelaise, horse radish- sliced once and the whole
thing just fell apart. it was so tender. This was by far our favourite dish throughout our entire trip. 5/5
short ribs
Spinach & cream & almond, this was reordered, the first batch had an overload of sodium to the point that it tasted bitter. The second order came out perfectly, it was smooth creamy and all together very good. 3.5/5
spinach and cream and almonds
Steak, the flavour was there but the cut of the meat was too chewy. 2/5
Steak
Stump grounds coffee, a local Portland coffee brand. It was too watered down. 2/5
Sorbet & ice-cream samplers. this was amazing. i would definitely order this again 4.5/5
Complimentary pistachio madelines, who can complain, this was good.
Happy hour gyros for $3. You get your choice of eggplant, lamb, kalamari. All of us ordered lamb which was very flavorful. We ate it in line for Portland’s famous Voodoo Doughnuts
It was a scorcher day and waiting outside in a lineup for 15 minutes for a doughnut was excruciating. By the time it was our turn to order our expectations were through the roof.
They definitely had some very interesting combinations, maple & bacon, their most popular. Which was basically, a maple doughnut with 2 pieces of bacon on top. Oreo doughnut, powdered raspberry and lemon. The doughnut was overly sweet and the portions were pretty big for $1.95/ doughnut.
They even sell a mini coffin full of doughnuts for $100. Not recommended, it that will definitely give you diabetes.
I was not in the mood to take any pictures of their food. It wasn’t anything really special. Typical burgers and seafood chowder, I have to say though it is better than average compared to typical bar food.In that I mean it wasn’t dripping in grease and batter.
