Portland

[seawakim]

I will be making a quick trip to Portland next week and would like some suggestions for dinner and nice hotel. I will be there 2 nights so I'll be able to enjoy two different dinners and a couple of lunches.

Where are the top spots?

Thanks for any and all advice!

[ExtraMSG]

Don't know your preferences really but, my preferences for nice hotels w/ nice restaurants:

Heathman/Heathman

Hotel Vintage Plaza/Pazzo

Riverplace/Lucere

The first two are located in the heart of downtown near the light rail line if you need to venture out without a car (it's free in downtown, too). The last is on the waterfront in downtown. There are others in this class, but none that are clearly better, I don't think. It just depends on your preferences.

As for food outside these hotels, I would suggest something that you may not be able to get in Seattle like Cafe Azul's premium and truly authentic interior Mexican. Or maybe Bewon's wonderful fixed-price Korean dinner (at least two people must order it, but they have an extensive ala carte menu as well). Both places are nice inside, not dives at all.

If that's not your thing, my perennial recommendations are Wildwood and Caprial's. I think both provide distinct NW style cuisine consistently executed well.

[chuck]

Took a trip to Portland a couple of weeks ago. Ate at Genoa (good food but sort of weird), stayed at a hotel on 16th and Salmon (small rooms and sort of weird), but spent most of my time in the Hawthorne district at Powell's Books For Cooks.

If you go to Portland, you have to go there. The sale table is unbelievable. And this doesn't sound too inspired, but the McMennimin's pub across the street and slightly to the west has impressed me over and over. It's basic food, but the service is always attentive and the food is always delicious. Plus great local beers. Really, delicious. If you're in the neighborhood after dark there's a cool little place down a side street called Greater Trumps. Very small, swanky (Portland-wise) cigar and liquor place. Three blocks west of these places is Imelda's Shoes, the greatest goddamned shoe store I've ever been in.

God, I love it there. Why don't I just move already?

[ExtraMSG]

What do you mean by "weird" for Genoa?

Portland certainly has it's neighborhoods with a lot of character: Hawithorne, Laurelhurst, Clinton, Belmont, Alberta/Freemont/NE, NW/Nob Hill, Sellwood, etc, etc....

[chuck]

Whoa, there.

I had a hell of a good experience at Genoa, but the whole situation there is a little kooky. The door opens into the dining room (a dining room without dividers, planters, or nothin', just one big room) and everyone looks at you as you enter. Not a big deal, but Portland is the place where cableknit sweaters are dress-up, and an inspection upon entering is a little disconcerting.

We insisted on having a drink in the lounge area, a back room with no windows (come to think of it, the restaurant doesn't have any windows) and David Lynch decor. Then on to a meal with great highs and a few lows sitting next to trysting couples trying to whisper without the benifit of background music. I spent concious moments trying not to listen, which led to awkward silences all around. "So, what do you think about...stuff?"

The evening ended with an involved conversation with our waiter, a really great guy, who, unfortunately, had the job of describing in excruciating detail every dish that he set in front of every diner in the place. On the other hand, he did recommend a fabulous bottle of wine for $40 less than I was willing to spend.

I loved the place, but it is a little odd don't you think?

[ExtraMSG]

I should try to find my report on Genoa. I do think the main dining room could use a little of an overhaul. I think my main complaint about decor was actually that they don't use that little "David Lynch" sitting room well enough. It really should be what you enter into almost, or be just to the side of what you enter into, and then you should be encouraged to hang out there and drink before or after your seating.

The description of dishes and ingredients is pretty typical at high end restaurants that are so focused on the food. Places like The French Laundry, Chez Panisse, Charlie Trotter's, etc, especially when dealing with a tasting menu, will have the waiter go into great detail about the dishes and they can often answer detailed question about sources and such. They know that they're dealing with a lot of foodies at that level and they're also often educating their clients. Some places will even recommend how to eat an item.

I don't know if Genoa is weird, but I think it could definitely be improved. Which seating did you have and how full was the place? What did you think of the food and what was on the menu?

[Schneier]

I'm also going to Portland in January.

Is Wildwood still worth going to?

What about the restaurant in the Avalon Hotel? What about the Avalon Hotel in general?

Bruce

[Jim Dixon]

a hotel on 16th and Salmon (small rooms and sort of weird)

That sounds like the Mallory, which I've recommended before since it's cheaper than most of the other downtown hotels. I'd ask about a suite if you want a bigger room.

There are also food and hotel recommendations on this thread about Portland.

I've also written about Genoa's outdated dining room, but Portlanders generally care less about ambience if they're getting really good food (and I think dress-up fleece under goretex has actually replaced the cable knit as stumptown formal wear).

The restaurant in the Avalon is called Rivers, and it's getting good reviews since Rollie Weisen took over as exec chef. He's got food cred of his own, but is best known as Jacque Pepin's son-in-law (I think Claudine is now working the dining room as well).

I still think Higgins is one of the best spots for sampling the local cuisine and culture of sustainability (disclosure: I sell them olive oil). I'd also recommend one night on 28th (like extramsg's Laurelhurst event) sampling the small plate trio of Tabla, Navarre (customer), and Noble Rot (ditto).

There are too many good spots to make the choice easy. You'll just have to come back.

Jim

[MsRamsey]

Chuck, if you happen to find yourself in a McMenamins pub in Seattle, stay far, far away from the food. Glad to hear it's better in Portland.

[Joni]

A friend of mine dines all the time at Higgins...loves to eat in the bar and order the pastrami sandwich or the hamburger.

[ExtraMSG]

Wildwood is still very good.

[Coop]

I found the Vintage Place / Pazzo combo to be much like Vintage Park / Tulio's. I found the Seattle hotel to be a little nicer, but Pazzo seems a little better then Tulio's. Both are worth a visit.

[LEdlund]

When we went to Portland last month we stayed at the Fifth Avenue Suites. It is a Kimpton Hotel, as is the Vintage Plaza. I really like Kimpton Hotels, they have a sort of european feel to me.

We wanted a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel so we ended up at Higgins. It was a very uninspired meal and, in hindsight, we should have gone to Southpark or Bluhour.

[Coop]

Kimpton Hotels have always been my favorite, until we stayed at the W Seattle. Thier rooms are at least as nice and they have better facilities. Just for a cozy place though the Vintage Park / Place are great. The evening wine tastings can be a great thing too. Once at the Vintage Place Mike Hogue just showed up and poured a bottle of his 1995 reserve blend.

[trillium]

The Mallory is the favorite of all the hotels I've stayed in in the US, but I like quirky. I mostly liked that the rooms had real furniture and bed linens, not hotelish. Never ate there.

I don't love the food at Higgins the way Jim does. I've eaten in the bar 3 or 4 times and the restaurant once. It's been underwhelming to me. As for the burger, if I'm going to pay 10 bucks for a hamburger, I want fried potato products, damn it, not mesclun. However, we frequently end up there for a drink when we're downtown at night waiting for the next bus. I like the bar as a bar a lot. Quietish but not stuffy, no tvs, no smoke, rare Belgians on tap, good bourbon = perfect.

regards,

trillium

[ExtraMSG]

Okay, I've been hanging out in downtown Christmas shopping too much lately. When you said "no tvs" I thought what's Trillium's beef with transvestites. Maybe I'm working too much.

I too find Higgins underwhelming. I'd really like to eat there with a group that loves the place so they can explain it to me. For me, Heathman just a block or so away is a meaningful step up in quality.