Portlandians.. learn me of your wonderous town...

So. My wife is in Vancouver, WA for a horse expo.

I don't really care to watch horses do their thing.

We're staying in Portland and I need to keep myself occupied. I'm planning on Powell's books and maybe wandering a museum or two.

Is there anything I should make sure to see while I'm here?

Anyone want to go get a beer somewhere?

Shawn.

Lots of good places for Beer in P-town and Vancouver. I'm making a junkyard trip Sunday if you want to come. Might be down for a beer too.

Cool places to check out in the area:

McMenamins Edgefield (an old poor farm converted to a restaurant/brewery/cool hang out place) in Troutdale. The Gorge and the Vista house. Brewery tours Food Carts

I had coffee and a hotdog at See See Motorcycles today. Chatted with the owner, Thor, for about half an hour. Pretty cool cat, he gave me couple other places to try tomorrow. Junkyarding Sunday is out. Have to spend sometime with my wife.

Hmm... while I live two hours south of there I actually spend little time in Portland. You mentioned powell's books, which is one of the few places I know. You had better hit Voodoo Donuts, my personal favorite is called the "No Name". Its a raised donut with chocalate and peanut butter drizzled over it then dipped in Rice Crispies.

I know there are some great microbreweries up there. I couldn't begin to tell you which is the best, so hit a couple of them just to make sure.

And an acquaintance, local circle tracker Jody Tanner, owns some strip clubs, Running Bare and Dancing Bare are a couple of them. If thats your thing, then go enjoy... Myself think of it as going to In N Out Burgers and looking at the food, all it does is make me hungrier.

Ohhhhh.... that reminds me, Portland has a few Burgerville outlets. If there is a burger in the PNW that rivals In N Out, it would have to be Burgerville. Fresh and Local is their mantra and it shows. When I am up there, that is a MUST. Edit: wife reminds me, their shakes are the bomb.

A night of sexual frustration with women who find me pathetic sounds like fun but I'll pass. :-)

I am a fan of Voodoo Doughnuts. The maple bacon bar is great.

I might give the burger joint a try.

Thanks.

Too bad there isn't a Portland timbers game going on. the atmosphere would make even the most stubborn hater of soccer a Futbol fan.

< living proof

We were there this summer, after a Lemons race near Seattle. It was great!

Some places we enjoyed that I can think of now:
-Cascade Brewing Barrel House, had lots of very interesting beers (try some of the sours) and super nice people working there
-Dove Vivi: Corn meal crust pizza, way better than you think it would be, soooo good
-Eastside Distillery: part of the micro distilling area, awesome rums and other spirits. There's an awesome place with lots of pies right next door that is awesome
-Any good gellatto place: there are a bunch, and we enjoyed them!
-There's a random place in the arts district (Alberta St, specifically at 11th) that sells grilled cheese sandwiches out of a school bus, they were delicious! There are lots of food trucks around, we tried a few and all were very good!
-Hawthorne St (we called it the Funky District) in general is a good place to go and walk to see the interesting shops and people watch for some of the interesting real Portland sort of people watching and lifestyle/culture.

Talk to locals to ask for more. We were blown away by how genuinely friendly and helpful the people were.

I missed this. Sounds like you've already come and gone?

Bryce

Crap, I didn't see this until now as well :/

Here's some links for the future, if it helps you or anyone else:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/places-to-stayeat-in-portland/63186/page1/

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/things-to-do-pacific-northwest/9269/page1/

I'll see if I can find some more links, but if you're into Chicken Wings (whether chicken or tofu, seriously) there's Fire On The Mountain. For Dessert there's Pix Patisserie. If you want a simple, but excellent burger? Little Big Burger. Blows In-n-Out away (of course Burgerville does that). Pizza? Flying Pie or Guisseppe's

Beer? Micro-brews are everywhere, but any McMenamins, Lucky Labrador, Widmer or Laurelwood pub will be a safe bet to have tons of local brews and of course the resident major brews. Food is generally good, service can be hit or miss, so your standard Pub where you can't be in a hurry.

Yup, come and gone..

Laurelwood is a favourite of ours, the espresso stout they have right now is killer.

We usually stop at the Alibi for some atmosphere but missed out this year.

Stopped a Southern Kitchen in Tacoma on the way home for dinner. The food was awesome, the mango iced tea is killer. Collard greens were a little salty for my taste and the fried chicken was great.

There are zero food establishments in my town like Portland has. I think if someone opened a pub / BBQ joint / Soul food restaurant up here in Canada they would clean up.

Shawn

Wife says: next time, make the 90 min trip south to Eugene, and we'll hook you up with Hawaaian BBQ and Ninkasi Brewing's new tasting room.