Someone wrote: > I will be in Portland OR next week and am looking for some > recommendations for good restaurants. Cost is not a big issue. The following assumes that one travels to other places where there is good food, so may put down some of what other Portlanders' consider good. I travel a bit, so this is a very biased view. o Nick's is the best Italian, $25/person. But it's way out of town. o Zell's is the best yuppie breakfast in town. It's good to excellent. o Avoid the overrated breakfast at the Bistro downtown. o Papa Hayden's is considered the best general yuppie food. Chocaholics' Anon official meeting place in town. o But actually, the best non-pretentious yuppie food is Marco's in Multnomah. o A number of other normal $20 yuppie food places. Skip them. o Ignore all sunday brunch places, they're mediocre buffets. My daughter liked brunch at Atwater's, but at 18 she's more easily impressed than I. Same goes for the Heathman, Benson, ... o Cajun Cafe can be great, but can also be so so. Worth trying in case you hit a great day. I have hit three bad shots in a row, so will skip it for a few years. o But next door is an ok felafel bar, Garbanzo's. o A number of Continental places, but none really worth it. All over $20/per. Most rely on sugar to appeal to the American palate. o No great Chinese, but Hunan or Chen's, downtown, are acceptable. o Canyon Pearl in Beaverton is the best lunch in the Western metro area and is $5/per. o Dim sum at Fung Chong's is pretty darn good. Not SF, but close. o Thai at the Bangkok Kitchen is great when Mama is cooking. Avoid otherwise. Very informal, downright funky in fact. All other Thai I have tried in town is quite mediocre. Get the chicken soup with coconut milk. o Vietnamese/Thai at a place at 40th and Hawthorne is good and inexpensive. o Sumida is the best Japanese, but the sushi bar at Ming Palace is quite good although the rest of the food there is the pits. o I have yet to find good Indian, Pakistani, Malasian, Mid-Eastern, et al. Plainfield's Mayur Cuisine of India is good but > $30/person and not that great. o Alexis is acceptable Greek cuisine, and middle to low priced. o The Indian food at Plainfield's is good but does not match the prices, but they have the best wine list in town. o I have yet to find a good country-style steak place or an excellent steak in town, period. o Brasserie Montmartre is acceptable yuppie/continental and the best jazz with food in town. o Jake's is the traditional fish place in town, and is pretty good. Generally, for a costal state, the fish here is the pits unless you like deep fried everything. o A lot of great local brew pubs, but avoid the so-called food. o The only non-greaseburger hamburger is the Foothill Broiler. o If we've descended to hamburgers, it's time to stop. But Portland has one thing, albeit not a restaurant, that you do not want to miss; Powell's Bookstore. New and used intermixed, a city block, eclectic, and a place to drink cofee and think/read. As good a computer section as you'll find in town, but not at the same location. It is very surprising to find such an excellent bookstore in a town the size of Portland. There's a fair bit of good food in Seattle (which I will leave to the Seattle folk to describe), but to grab a quick bite, go to the fish market at Pike's Market and have some clams for me.
Portland, OR
Any good restaurants in Portland OR?
I travel to Portland on business a fair amount and since I used to live in Europe, I LOVE good food. Two places I can reccomend without reservation are: (1) Heathman Hotel - I usually stay away from hotel restaurants but this place is something else. Wonderful food and great service and prices to match. Northwest cusine with a European flair. (2) Cafe des Amis - small not too expensive (but not cheap) French style bistro. Plenty of good food decent wine list and reasonable price. (3) Ingine (spelling is wrong but close) is an Indian restaurant but with a flair that is really original. Not the cheapest place around but worth the trip across the river. Hard to find in a small house looking place with very small sign. Always full so call ahead. This applies to all these places - they can fill up particularly on weekends - never go without calling. Hope this tickles your taste buds...
Randy B. wrote: >Someone wrote: >> I will be in Portland OR next week and am looking for some >> recommendations for good restaurants. Cost is not a big issue. >The following assumes that one travels to other places where there is good >food, so may put down some of what other Portlanders' consider good. I travel >a bit, so this is a very biased view. >o Nick's is the best Italian, $25/person. But it's way out of town. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >> I'll say it's outta town, in McMinnville to be exact, about 40 miles. >> Try the Ferwood Inn, in Milwaukie
Randy B. wrote: > > The following assumes that one travels to other places where there is good > food, so may put down some of what other Portlanders' consider good. I travel > a bit, so this is a very biased view. > > o Nick's is the best Italian, $25/person. But it's way out of town. As someone has already pointed out, Nick's is WAY out of town, like in McMinnville. HOWEVER, it is well worth the trip. I live in Berkeley, go to school in Massachusetts, and have met dozens of people (no kidding) in between who have made the pilgrimmage to Nick's. It's kind of scary, actually. > o Dim sum at Fung Chong's is pretty darn good. Not SF, but close. I disagree. Having grown up with SF dim sum, and (frankly) become a little dissappointed with its devolution (a la Yank Sing), I think Fong Chong's is better. They had some things I'd never even seen before--I got a kick out of the entire experience. > o Jake's is the traditional fish place in town, and is pretty good. Generally, > for a costal state, the fish here is the pits unless you like deep fried > everything. Huh? None of that incredible salmon I had was deep fried. And definitely check out Pike's Fish Market. Has anyone been to this _tiny_ restaurant which is near Newberg (halfway between Nick's and Portland), called something like "Tricia's" (some woman's name beginning with a T)? It's relatively new, very clean and eclectic, with a menu that varies from night to night. Great wine list, strangely-priced entrees, and clearly a labor of love for the people running it. I had some truly amazing rabbit there, perhaps even better than the bunnies raised for Buca Giovanni's in SF. Unfortunately, one or two of the other entrees were less than spectacular. Michael Wilson [email removed]
A few days ago I wrote: > Someone wrote: > >> o Jake's is the traditional fish place in town, and is pretty good. Generally, >> for a costal state, the fish here is the pits unless you like deep fried >> everything. > > Huh? None of that incredible salmon I had was deep fried. And definitely > check out Pike's Fish Market. Now as anyone who has been to Seattle will be able to tell you, Pike's is located there and NOT in Portland. Why I typed Pike's instead of Jake's is anyone's guess (must've been those cool new "Button-your-fly" Levi's ads featuring the guys at Pike's). So visit Jake's, or Couch St. Fish House (fairly spendy but quite good; great crab cakes and lobster bisque), and visit Pike's if you go to Seattle. Michael Wilson [email removed]
Someone wrote: [stuff deleted about PDX's restaurants] >As someone has already pointed out, Nick's is WAY out of town, like in >McMinnville. HOWEVER, it is well worth the trip. I live in Berkeley, go to >school in Massachusetts, and have met dozens of people (no kidding) in between >who have made the pilgrimmage to Nick's. It's kind of scary, actually. > Nick's is a fun adventure, but you really must have reservations, and it takes about 45 minutes to drive to McMinnville. If you can't make it to Nick's and you absolutely must have Italian, consider the new Italian restaurant in downtown Portland called Pazzo's. It's attached to the Vintage Hotel. They do a better job than Genoa, our expensive ($40 plus wine) and disappointing northern Italian restaurant that has acquired--but does not deserve--a name for itself. However, I still have to rate Pazzo's as average when comparing it to Italian restaurants elsewhere. It's just that Portland doesn't do too well in the Italian restaurant department. For example, Delphina's is a restaurant that makes and sells its own pasta. But when they cook a pasta dish to serve you at the table, they make mush. Sending it back to the kitchen doesn't do much good. >> Jake's is the traditional fish place in town, and is pretty good. Generally, >> for a costal state, the fish here is the pits unless you like deep fried >> everything. > >Huh? None of that incredible salmon I had was deep fried. And definitely >check out Pike's Fish Market. Bzzzzzt! You're both out!:-) Jake's serves great salmon, as do a number of restaurants around here. Seattle and Portland have THE best salmon anywhere. Hrmph! And if you're gonna check out Pike's Fish Market, be sure you start in Seattle because the market is about 3.5 hours from Portland... OK, I missed the first part of this thread, but I'm always willing to offer info about PDX restaurants. The Zagat review of the Pacific Northwest ranks Cafe Des Amis as one of the premier restaurants. Cafe Des Amis usually does a fine job, the whole restaurant is a non-smoking environment, and the service is exceptional. They deliver a well-prepared dinner in an amiable environment. On the whole, their food is more or less classical and they are not very adventurous, but neither is their clientele! You should call them in advance if you want to eat there; reservations are essential. If you like Thai food, Portland is your kind of city. For blow-your-socks-off hot Thai food, go immediately to Bangkok Kitchen. For a wonderful green curry with subtlety and elegance, try Tara Thai in Beaverton. For yellow curry served over rice noodles with cucumbers, carrots, etc, go to Apsara in Beaverton. And Lamh Thong in Beaverton has a deep red curry that packs a punch. (Why 3 Thai restaurants in a small suburb of PDX? I dunno, but I ain't complainin'!) For the most unusual Japanese food in town, go to Restaurant Murata downtown across from the Civic Auditorium. They have a fish custard to die for. Unfortunately, it's an extremely small restaurant and the non-smoking tables aren't always completely free of smoke. They have two tatami rooms for larger parties. Get some people together to go there; you won't be sorry. We don't order sushi there, we order cooked items, because they have such sensational offerings in that area. Sandy G. [email removed]
Sandy G. wrote: > consider the new Italian restaurant in downtown Portland called Pazzo's. Thank you. I too find the Genoa overrated, and long for nearby decent Italian. But if it turns out to be yet another of Portland's grease and tomato paste joints, I'll forge a sendsys in your name. :-) > For example, Delphina's is a restaurant that makes and sells its own pasta. > But when they cook a pasta dish to serve you at the table, they make mush. And they sugar everything, a disgusting hack that seems to appeal to enough folk that it is not uncommon. Bzzzt! I was recommending Jake's, but warning about the general poor preparation (e,.g. deep fry!) in J Random Oregon fish-house. Jake's is the standard place to take out of town guests who want a bit of NorthWest. McCormick's (sp?) tries to imitate, but fails, but is ok for biz lunch if your guests don't know better. As in most fish places in the States, the fish lover will probably wish to ask the wait* to please ask the cook to 'undercook' the fish, yes, even at dear Jake's. > And if you're gonna check out Pike's Fish Market, be sure you start in > Seattle because the market is about 3.5 hours from Portland... Bzzzt! Again, please reread. And you drive slowly. :-) On that line, has anyone found a Portland place of similar price/quality to Eugene's Zenon's? Or how about competetion to the bread from the Metropole in the 5th St. market down there? When you next go to the Bangkok Kitchen, be sure to try the hot and sour chicken soup with coconut milk, and then the whole fish with fennel or basil chili sauce. You'll forget about Beavertron's suburban Thai. > For the most unusual Japanese food in town, go to Restaurant Murata Thanks! Sounds nummy. The Japanse Marinopolous/Sushiland chain of conveyor belt sushi fast food restaurants opened a test in Beavergrad a few months back, block/2 W of Natures in the midst of that mall. Not great sushi, but ok if you avoid the kinky inventions (tamago maki with canned tuna and mayo!!). But where else can you get a sushi meal for $6-8? Hmmmm<tm>. Made me hungry. Maybe a little midnight snack ... randy