Portland for Gluttons

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A.K.A. Long Live the Bacon Maple Bar

Jeremy and I headed to Portland, Oregon for the long Presidents' Day/ Valentine's Day weekend. Neither of us have spent much time in Portland, even though it's only a few hours away from Seattle, so we wanted to see a little bit of everything, and as always we mostly love to eat and drink things.

We enjoyed the drive through Washington and then battled the traffic through the southwest Portland area to experience a few wineries. We stopped at August Cellars, where we tried at least 4 of their wines, as well as 4 more from another winery that was housed in the same facility. This was really our first foray into Pinot Noirs (which Oregon is known for), and we were a little slow to warm up to them. We're getting there. We did really like August Cellar's Port, and bought a bottle of that before we made our way down the road to Rex Hill. I was glad I wasn't driving...

Rex Hill had a very interesting set up, with a large wooden bar where you can learn about the wines you'll taste, and a large table in the middle with 15 or so different ingredients in glasses that you can smell to bring out the flavors of the wines. Everything from chocolate to anise to coffee beans. As we tried a variety of Rex Hill pinot noirs, we were given jelly beans to try with the wine. The first was rasberry, so a fruity flavor. With the second glass we were asked to guess the jelly bean flavor and Jeremy got it pretty quickly-- pepper! It had a very earthy flavor that was interesting with the wine. And finally, we got a yellow jelly bean to try. It was almost woody (but still with sugar, so it didn't taste bad at all) and we couldn't place the flavor. Pencil shavings! It was really interesting to try with the wines and think about, which quickly made Rex Hill our favorite experience.

We quickly hit one more winery for a quick four more pours, and had to fight crowds to get that far. Realizing we wouldn't be able to drive back to Portland if we kept going, we cut our losses and headed back to the city where we checked into our hotel. Hotel Modera is a boutique hotel that was recently remodelled, and now very swanky. Sleek lines in the lobby, a cozy fur throw in the room and even fire pits in a garden area if you want to congregate outside. It was very cute, and well placed in the city so that it was in a quiet area that was still walking distance from most of everything. We decided to catch a streetcar/trolley and head to a Lebanese restaurant we had scouted out ahead of time. Habibi occupied a split level storefront and was already full of diners by the time we arrived. We sat up in the loft area and had a view of the whole restaurant as well as the hookahs that lined the staircase. I had delicious chicken shawarma on the lightest, most creamy hummus I've ever had. I might have licked the plate if I thought no one could see me. Jeremy liked his choice as well, and we capped off our Valentine's evening with some flaky baklava.

The next day (Sunday) we decided to target some breweries that make Oregon's microbrews famous. We headed toward the Pearl District on foot because we knew that Deschutes Brewery was a must-see since we love their beer. On the way, we stopped into a few stores and did a little window shopping as well. We stumbled upon Rogue Brewery and decided to make it our first beer stop. As soon as we looked at the menu at Rogue, we realized we were going to have a problem. The food looked good-- really good-- and we realized we were about to eat as much as we were going to drink. After splitting a fantastic spinach artichoke dip (with fresh grated parm on top!) we dug into an amazing Kobe beef hamburger with wasabi mayo. As for beer, we tryed a sample each of the Sesquicentennial Ale (Happy 150th Birthday Oregon!), Jeremy polished off an Imperial Stout and I had a Hazelnut Brown Nectar. The food and beer were fantastic, and we left as members of the "Rogue Nation" with a t-shirt and a foreboding feeling that it was going to be hard to beat Rogue Brewery.

We picked up a map of the Pearl District and noticed Bridgeport Brewpub and Bakery on the north end of the PD, so we headed in that direction. We walked in and knew we'd be sticking to our beer mission this time-- we were already too full. Jeremy and I split a flight of beers, and then tried them all slowly but surely. We definitely tend to like the darker beers better, and Bridgeport had a great porter and I liked their "Beertown Brown". The waitstaff here was very busy and not quite as friendly, so we moved on into an unusually sunny Pacific Northwest day.

We decided we needed a break to savor the sunshine, so we stopped in a park with an amazing sculpture made from rusted railroad tracks that formed an undulating wall on one end of the park. We got a boost from a Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks, shopped for some denim, then moved on to Deschutes Brewery . We love their Black Butte Porter, as well as the Buzzsaw Brown, so we knew this would be a winner. The inside of the brewery/restaurant is huge and accented by brick and carved wooden poles around the dining area and local art, photos and brewery awards on the walls. Jeremy's day wouldn't have been complete without some chicken wings, so he ordered that while I ordered carrot cake-- hey, a girl needs some dessert with her beer. I ordered their Sesquicentennial beer, which is made with nothing but Oregon ingredients. It wasn't my favorite, because it had a fruity blackberry/marrionberry flavor to it, but it would be great if you're in the mood for a fruity beer. We only got through one beer each because our bodies could not possibly ingest anything else. In fact we decided that we had eaten our quota for the day, so we shopped a bit more, then headed back to the hotel to watch TV and crash early.

On Monday morning, President's Day Holiday, we stopped on our way out of town at Voodoo Doughnuts, which Jeremy has been talking about since finding a review for the sugary confections online. It wasn't hard to find-- there was a line out the door and the smell of fried dough all the way down the block. The wait took about a half hour, but when we stepped up to the counter, ordered a dozen doughnuts plus two Bacon Maple Bars, it was all worth it. Now, for any of you who might turn your nose up to a maple bar (doughnut with maple icing) topped with two crispy stips of bacon, for shame. The doughnut was soft and tasty, and the bacon was crispy which all added up to sinful. We would have to wait until we got home to dive into others, like the one with chocolate icing dipped in rice crispies and drizzled with peanut butter. YUM.

Feeling refreshed (and mostly full) we waved goodbye to Portland and entered Washington state again, only to stop 5 miles into WA when we found a Del Taco. Yes! It's true! If you've been following the blog, you'd know that I have deemed Del Taco as one of the best bad-for-you fast foods out there. I usually have to wait until a trip to California to satisfy this craving, but there it was right in my own state. How could we not stop? Jeremy and I made a pact over some chicken soft tacos that the gluttony would stop when we arrived home. Well, except for the leftover doughnuts, of course. ;-)

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Photos

Rogue Brewery
Delicious food and brews at Rogue!

Beer Flight
A taste of all the beers at Bridgeport.

Public Art
The railroad track sculpture makes a striking visual in a small city park.

Bacon Maple Bar
This Bacon Maple Bar wants to get out. And get into my mouth.

Comments

[CJ]

Baaaaaconnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dude I laughed out loud! Bacon on top of the doughnut. I'm not kidding, between that and the beer, I want to move to Portland!