Four Days in Portland

Over the Thanksgiving long weekend in Canada, we headed to Portland, Oregon. I was attending The Hello Sessions blog conference and we decided to stay down a few days after. I haven’t been to Portland since I was a kid and keep seeing all these great restaurants, shopping and landscapes of Portland. Here is a short recap of our long weekend and what we got up to.

Curtis and I drove down Thursday morning and arrived around 2pm. Checked in and headed out to explore the downtown part and grabbed lunch at one of the many food carts in the Alder pod.
I had a cocktail party to attend that night at Schoolhouse Electric. What an amazing space! They took over a whole steel mill by the river and their first floor is their showroom. Everyone kept commenting on how they want to purchase everything in that store and I agree. Goody bags, free wine and food, it was a great night. Icing on top of that was making new friends that have the same interest as you.
Friday was the conference all day for me; Curtis was then left to himself to explore Portland. After a great day, I had a nap and then we headed to dinner at Clyde Common and our second dinner, yes second dinner, at Saucebox. Both places were great, but I preferred Saucebox and their pan-Asian menu. Clyde Common was a nice space, quality ingredients but I personally thought it was a little pretentious. Saucebox had fantastic cocktails like this coco colada one below!
Saturday Curtis and I slept in a bit and then headed to SouthEast Portland. We waited in a shortish lineup at Pine State Biscuits. Each minute was so worth it, plus that opportunity to people watch was priceless. In the area was an Urban Beer Hunt and teams were zipping past in costumes. We kept encountering them all day over there, but there was a group at breakfast who I thought was part of this hunt, but nope they were just Portlandians. The biscuits were light and fluffy and that gravy is to die for! We also shared fried green tomatoes and grits. It was a great start to the day.
We spent our day wandering that area, eating ice cream at Salt & Straw (a must eat), shopping, afternoon drinks at Doug Fir Lounge and Ubering. I’ve fallen in love with Uber and hope that it is brought to Vancouver. That afternoon we explored Hawthorne division, SE division and Old Town. We walked over the Burnside Bridge and back into downtown. Voodoo Doughnuts was passed and I personally would not wait in an hour long lineup for a donut! No thank you, plus I’ve heard from locals it is overrated. I was exhausted and needed a break before dinner. We ended up eating at Imperial, shared a few dishes including a fresh carbonara with truffles!, parker house rolls and a wonderful kale salad.
Sunday was all about the NorthWest neighbourhood. We enjoyed breakfast in bed and then headed that way. What a pretty area of town! The trees were full of shades of fall, the streets and shops were quaint. I really loved the houses and architecture in that area. Donuts were consumed again at Blue Star Donuts (superb! they use a brioche dough), bagels were had and purchases made.
We made our way back to the Pearl District and checked out the industrial area lined with bars, restaurants and shops. I wanted to stop at Powell’s Books again and do a little bit of shopping. Famished, we ended up at Kure Juice Bar because I was craving healthy! We actually walked into Lardo across the street and I couldn’t convince myself to eat anymore carbs. What a great choice. We each had a Mission bowl full of quinoa, black beans, cilantro lime ranch dressing, lettuce and salsa fresca and avocado. I could eat that bowl every day, EVERYDAY.
Our last dinner was at Departure at the Nines Hotel. After every long day we felt tired and lazy that we didn’t feel like venturing to the hip eastern part of Portland. Downtown is quiet at night and isn’t too exciting but we didn’t eat badly. Departure sits at the top of hotel featuring 360 views of the city on their patios. It was a nice way to end the weekend.