Portland 2016 Recap

A few weekends ago, we took a quick trip to Portland. Virgin America had a great flight deal. We paid about $200 RT for two people and a baby (no charge). Here is a summary of our 3.5 days there.

A trip to Portland is not complete without a cappuccino at Stumptown Coffee Roasters.

Must stop at Pine State Biscuits for fried chicken, biscuits, and gravy. I usually don't like heavy country foods like this but dang these biscuits were good and the gravy was great.

Don't skip on the hot sauce. I thought the Foot High sauce was really good.

I had an ice cream flight all to myself from Salt and Straw. They are known for some unique flavors. I was not a fan of most of these flavors. I found that there was usually one ingredient that dominated the entire taste. For example, the Strawberry Balsamic tasted mostly of balsamic. The Honey Lavendar jsut tastes like lavendar. It was kind of disappointing for me. Phil had a cone of the Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache which he really enjoyed.

 From left to right: Wildflower Honey with Ricotta Walnut Lace Cookies, Double Fold Vanilla, Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, Honey Lavendar

I hear everyone rave about VooDoo Donuts but Blue Star Donuts is where it's at. This old fashioned buttermilk was so perfect. 

Of course I had to try Pok Pok. I've heard so many great things about the chicken wings. They did not disappoint at all. Spicy, salty, sweet, sticky, crispy. Everything else pictured here was also spicy, espeically the papaya salad. I suggest getting the coconut rice. 

Vegan/vegetarian food was also on my to-eat list because Portland is a hipster town so why not try what the Portlandians eat. We were very satisfied and surprisingly full on the Thai fake chicken wrap and the raw nachos. My mocktail was also great.

For one of the dinners, we had Italian food at Grassa in downtown. I wasn't a huge fan of ordering at the front before I sat down. It adds pressure to the decision making process. The meatballs and carbonara were fantastic anyway.

Brunch is also a very Portlandian thing to do so we tried Tasty & Alder. Steak and duck egg on top with eggs, grits, and steak at the bottom. Yum.

We are super into acai bowls now and had to try a few in Portland. Top is from Carioca Bowls and bottom is from Moberi. Both very good. I liked Moberi just a touch better. They're a truck and there's a bike out front attached to a blender so you can blend our own bowl.

Speaking of trucks, Portland is well known for its food trucks which take up entire blocks and are pretty stationary. I tried the Bing Mi which is a crepe with egg and black bean sauce. It was only just ok.

We also explored the Portland Japanese Garden and it was a nice time.