Bayside Ramblings: Dining in Portland, Oregon

When it comes to dining in Portland, the city seems to have a relatively large number of good places to eat, and I was most interested in finding places with local character.

I tried a couple of local brewpubs, a "haunted" pizzeria, the airport outlet of a place that claims to be a Portland institution, went to a fine-dining Andean restaurant, and finally did a drive-by of a doughnut shop.

Quick summaries of the places I went to:

Peruvian:

Andina (1314 NW Glisan Street, Portland, OR 97209): This Peruvian establishment in the Pearl District was by far the priciest and most upscale establishment where we ate. But the food was excellent, ranging from the rack of lamb to the elegant canutos de quinoa y maracuya dessert (cannolis with passionfruit mousse, mango-lemongrass sorbet, and caramel). To my surprise, I also really enjoyed the lime-juice "cooked" ceviche (raw seafood).

Micro-Breweries:

BridgePort Brewpub (1313 NW Marshall Street, Portland, OR): Portland has a number of micro-breweries and BridgePort in the Pearl District was the first that we tried. The beer was good (I had their signature India Pale Ale) and the food was decent. It was happy hour and a lot of the dishes were offered for between $4-$6, which was a pretty good deal.

Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (929 N. Russell St. Portland, OR 97227): Another microbrewery, but with a German Gasthaus theme in a historic building on the east side of the river. I had the pork schnitzels and spaetzle as well as a weisswurst. I loved the spaetzle (small extruded German dumplings) and the schnitzel was tasty but a bit too thick of a cut. The weisswurst was all right but it was grilled instead of boiled as I expected and they also served it with spicy mustard instead of the traditional sweet mustard. The sauerkraut was surprisingly bland. I decided to try their handcrafted root beer which I liked a lot, though I did also sample an interesting (but very spicy) experimental beer.

Korean:

Number 1 Bento (SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): This Korean cart is parked in an open paved lot with about 10 other trailers, which were open for lunch on Saturday. I had some fresh and tasty bulgogi with kimchee and potstickers (though the latter were fried a bit too hard).

Haunted Pizza:

Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis, Portland, OR 97209): The pizza here is pretty good if you like it with a lot of cheese and I really liked the hazelnut Italian soda I got at the bar, but the real attraction here is the building, which was built as a hotel in 1880. Old Town Pizza occupies the former hotel lobby and supposedly is "haunted" by the ghost of a lady of the evening who was thrown down an elevator shaft there. Tunnels also lie underneath the building, where sailors were Shanghaied to the dock (perhaps after being dropped down a trapdoor elsewhere on the block, now another restaurant called Hobo's).

Doughnut Drive-By:

Voodoo Doughnuts (22 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204): I didn't actually sample the famous doughnuts at this downtown establishment because the line was too long and time was short, but I did get a picture of a Froot Loop doughnut. They're supposedly open 24 hours.

At PDX Airport:

Rose's Restaurant and Bakery (Portland Airport/PDX): I ate at the airport location of this local Portland chain. I had their signature reuben sandwich, a huge triple-decker of corned beef, turkey, cheese, Thousand Island, and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was pretty good but a lot of food.

Places I'd Like To Try
A couple of other places were recommended to me but I didn't have time to try them.

Portland City Grill (111 SW Fifth Avenue, 30th Floor, Portland, OR 97204): This Pearl District place supposedly has good food at a moderate price, but the real attraction here is the view from its 30th Floor location. They supposedly also have a nice happy hour.

Jake's Famous Crawfish (401 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): Opened in 1892 and now owned by McCormick and Schmick's, Jake's is a downtown institution that some say has the best seafood in Portland.