syrah girl

I think you will enjoy the Heathman, we had a great dinner there last summer. We stayed at the hotel which was really cool, also enjoyed a nice brunch there the next morning. Yummy crab cakes and poached eggs, a real fun buzzy atmosphere. Enjoyed another great meal in Portland this past Fri., Ten 01 in the Portland Pearl is doing great things right now. We had the soup of the day which was a Spring Vegetable soup, I enjoyed the arugula salad with lemon pressed EVOO, champagne vinegar and sua maesta. Garden fresh and unique flavors going on in the salad. My entree was amazing, the risotto with roasted sweet garlic, thyne, almonds & bread crumbs. Very creamy and I savored every bite of this. My husband had the entree salad of the tenderloin, grilled and served over greens tossed with blue cheese dressing and topped with the house made onion rings. I had a small bit of the tenderloin which was melt in your mouth perfect and full of flavor. For dessert we shared the black and white creme brulee which was perfectly prepared. Beautiful building and the inside ambiance is very upscale and contemporary. We will be back!

Sounds like a nice time! We were in Portland this past Fri. and enjoyed a very nice lunch at Park Kitchen and "lovely" dinner at Lovely Hula Hands on N. Mississippi, I had wanted to try this place for a long time, glad we finally made it there and we were very pleased with our meal. Looks like we will have get over to Pix when we're back in Portland later this week. We're considering Ten 01 for lunch.

Busboy, I agree about Ken's bread, we had some really yummy bread at Park Kitchen for lunch yesterday. It was Ken's Bread with good olive oil. Our lunch was fantastic as was our dinner at Lovely Hula Hands on N. Misissippi, I have a new love with that place which I'll post more in detail later on!

Glad you enjoyed Fleming's, Swicks. We have enjoyed 3 nice meals at the Fresno location over the past few months. We were given a very nice gift certificate for Christmas from a client. We still have one or two dinners there left. How are they with seafood? I'm considering the Scallops next viist to Fleming's.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at clarklewis, some of the best sea scallops in town there. Last summer we stayed at the Heathman Hotel and had a nice breakfast there the next morning. Yummy crab cakes and poached eggs, fresh fruit and whole wheat toast, great service here. Our dinner the night before was very good, the Black Cod was perfectly prepared and the desserts were also very good. We have dined at Silk when it was Pho Van Bistro and had a great experience there, one of my husband's favorite places in Portland thus far. Enjoy your trip!

We were in SF last May on a Saturday, the Ferry Building Marketplace was great fun to stroll through before our lunch at the Ritz Carlton. We enjoyed a very nice meal at Boulevard that evening. I would love to hear about your experiences in SF when you return, we are considering Gary Danko for a special occasion in May. The General's Daughter is very good, we dined there last March when we stayed in Sonoma at the Sonoma Mission Inn. the girl and the fig is a very nice choice for lunch, it's the first place we hit when we visit Sonoma. I love their lavender-infused Creme Brulee, but last time we were there it wasn't on the menu. Enjoy your culinary journey! Domaine Carneros in Napa is a very nice place to wine taste. A stunning building with beautiful views of the surrounding area from the top of the steps there.

We will be in Napa Valley in a few weeks, I have made lunch reservations at Redd, your review just confirms all of the great things I have been reading about this place. We will also be dining at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen (finally) Ad Hoc, and Cyrus this trip. The Villagio is where we will be staying, also!

Nice report, we will be dining at Cyrus this Spring, I'll post back here how it goes!

Terra and Bistro Jeanty are both very good. You may want to consider Auberge du Soleil for a meal, we have had a couple of very nice lunches there out on the back terrace with the gorgeous views. We have also enjoyed nice lunches at Domaine Chandon in Yountville on their back patio. We will soon be in the wine country, we usually stay in Sonoma but I'm leaning towards Napa Valley/Healdsburg this trip. I still haven't made it to Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen where I would like to go for lunch, Ad Hoc sounds very interesting also. A must this trip will be Cyrus in Healdsburg. Cheers!

There is a great 6 pages article in the Feb. issue of Sunset magazine on Portland dining. Kimberly & Vitaly Paley of Paley's Place are featured with a nice photo of them, several other PDX restaurants are mentioned, very nice read for those coming to Portland for great dining experiences. Enjoy!

Hi Ling, there is a very nicely written article on Podnah's on the Portland Food and Drink website that I enjoyed reading today. We've added it to our list for our next visit to Portland this Spring. I think you will enjoy clarklewis, we have been once for lunch and it was outstanding, some of the best Sea Scallops I've had in the area. Carlyle in the Portland Pearl also does some nice ones. Too bad you can't make it to Park Kitchen, they do great things there, also. We also enjoy Verdun in the Pearl District for some really yummy chocolates and truffles. The space they are in is very nicely done, we call it the Portland jewelry store for candy. Our meal at Higgins was good, the regular menu items are rather common fare, but the King Salmon special I had was very flavorful and nicely presented. I love the service at Higgins, we had a boisterous waiter that had been there for a long time and obviously loved what he was doing! For future reference, some places we have enjoyed in Portland include: Paley's Place, Wildwood, the Heathman, Hurley's, clarklewis, Gotham Building Tavern (now closed) Fenouil in the Pearl, Bluehour, Pho Van Bistro, Carlyle and Higgins as previously mentioned. We hope to try Lovely Hula Hands, Ten 01 and Olea and we must hit Pix from all I've been reading lately about it. We did enjoy the desserts at Papa Haydn's awhile back, which were beautifully presented in a cozy little dining room in the Nob Hill District of Portland. Cheers and enjoy your dining excursion next month!

We like the cookbook we picked up at the Stephanie Inn by John Newman before he opened his own restaurant in Cannon Beach. Good stuff and lots of yummy recipes!

Thanks for the report back on Andina, it sounds like a good place to try. We're compiling a list for our next visit to PDX in a few weeks! A few new places have opened since our last visit in August that sound interesting!

Boulevard and Farallon are nice places for a gift certificate. Has anyone been to the new Ame in the St. Regis? Opened by the owners of Terra in St. Helena which we also love!

We really prefer the Paso region for Syrah, but Kunde in Sonoma does a nice Syrah and there is Matzanas Creek in the Santa Rosa region that also makes good Syrah. A nice place to taste is the Castle tasting room, right off of the Sonoma Plaza, they also do a pretty nice Syrah there. Two years ago we made our first batch of Syrah, thus the screen name. We are now aging Alicante Bouschet, we picked the grapes ourselves at a local vineyard in Sanger called Sequoia View Vineyard. These wines are sold in fine restaurants in our area. Merry Christmas!

I have been to both General's Daughter and Farmhouse Inn, tough decision. I believe Farmhouse Inn was recently Michelin rated as was Cyrus which is on the top of our list of places to try this Spring. I think I would go with the Farmhouse Inn. Aside from the food being outstanding, the service and ambiance are also very, very good. It's kind of unique, being a bit far removed and off the beaten path. We also enjoyed the Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. Other places we enjoy in Sonoma include girl and the fig, El Dorado Kitchen, Swiss Hotel, The Harmony Club and Cafe La Haye. The Sonoma Mission Inn has a great bistro/cafe called Big 3 Diner if you wanted some great lemon pancakes, it is actually in Boyes Hot Springs, about a 5 minute drive from downtown Sonoma. Lots of great places to wine taste in Sonoma, Gundlach-Bundschu is very good, Sebastiani, Ledson, Kenwood, BR Kohn, Kunde, Chateau St. Jean are some of our favorites in the area. Merry Christmas!

There were places that were closed and being renovated when we there there. I believe Top of the Cove was the name of the place now being renovated. They were right next door to George's. The server informed us that they are going after a Las Vegas type decor, updating and making George's more "hip" so to speak. We loved it just the way it was!

The drive over the Coronado Bridge is gorgeous, we really enjoyed our meal at 1500 Ocean at the Del Coronado Hotel. It was one of my favorite meals while we were in San Diego and Laguna Beach a week ago. Also, in La Jolla, George's at the Cove was excellent. Warm Puntarella & Winter Squash Salad, Loch Duart Salmon with Beet Risotto and the Red Wine Braised Prime Shortribs were some of the items we enjoyed here. The Mexican Chocolate Creme Brulee was very good, served with Warm Churros at George's. Enjoy!

I would check out Fenouil in the Pearl. We had a very yummy lunch there this past summer, it is very elegant inside and the food was very good. We have enjoyed nice meals at Paley's Place, Wildwood, Park Kitchen, clarklewis, Higgins, Bluehour and Silk (Formerly Pho Van Bistro.) Our dinner last summer at the Heathman Hotel was excellent as was our brunch the next morning. You may also want to consider Hurley's for a nice dinner in Portland. My son will be eating his way around Portland soon! There is also a place called Lovely Hula Hands that has recently moved into a new building, we haven't tried it yet but I have heard good things from those who have. Happy Holidays!

We wished we would have had longer in SD, 3 nights was too short. I have also heard good things about Chive and Cafe Pacifica in Old Town.

1500 Ocean was excellent, we made our reservations in advance on OpenTable for a Saturday night. I don't know what kind of reputation the place had when it was the Prince of Wales, but everything we ordered was very good and the server was very attentive and fun. George's at the Cove in La Jolla was also very nice for a fine dining experience in La Jolla. The Loch Duart Salmon with Beet Risotto was perfect with a glass of the Chehalem Ridecrest 2000 Pinot Noir. Save room for the Mexican Chocolate Pot de Creme with Warm Churros for dessert at George's.

In Laguna Beach, there is The Loft at the Montage Resort. We dined at The Studio on Tues. night which was amazing, it is more formal than The Loft. If you've never been to the Montage, it's quite stunning. There is a piano player (Steve Siu) who plays there and is quite good. I'll post a full review on our meal at The Studio later.

Domaine Carneros in Napa is amazing. Beautiful grounds, excellent Pinot Noir, it is a destination winery. We like Bistro Jeanty for lunch in Yountville. Domaine Chandon is also a "showplace" winery and not to miss, we have enjoyed lunch here as well. I would also consider Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford for a lunch. For a nice dinner, Terra in St. Helena is one of my favorite places. Cheers and have a great trip!

We enjoyed a very nice dinner at Boulevard last May. Our lunch was at the Terrace at the Ritz Carlton, highly recommend this place. The Fixed Price lunch was around $25/pp for 3 courses. We also love Farallon for seafood in Union Square. Request a table in the main pool room. Union Square should be amazing during the Christmas season. Have fun!

For Viatnamese, check out Silk (formerly Pho Van). It is located in the Portland Pearl District. Great food, nice ambiance and family-friendly. They do a really great Ginger Creme Brulee there.