PDX- In laws coming to town- where to eat?

[wundermunk]

All of my in-laws are coming to Portland from Missouri. And one night we are taking the siblings and spouses out to dinner. So here is my quandry. My husband's brother will be game for anything. He lived in Tokyo and has travelled extensively and is pretty adventurous. On the other hand his step-brother and his wife are very nice but pretty conservative and live in the land of resturant chains.

We want to show them a good time and make them feel like they had a great Portland experience... wow the brother but not overwhelm the others...

I'm thinking we'll do drinks one place, dinner another and dessert at a third to give them a good variety. Suggestions?

[trillium]

I don't know what your price range is, but if it were me, I'd take them to Wildwood. Plenty of local and seasonal, done well. My second choice would be Higgins, but I haven't had as many great meals there as Wildwood. The restaurants in the ripe empire have good food, but the atmosphere/menus/vibe might be a bit too intimidating to make your Missouri relatives comfortable. Pix is nice for desserts, I always take visitors there, and there's something for everyone.

regards,

trillium

[wundermunk]

I don't know what your price range is, but if it were me, I'd take them to Wildwood.  Plenty of local and seasonal, done well.  My second choice would be Higgins, but I haven't had as many great meals there as Wildwood.  The restaurants in the ripe empire have good food, but the atmosphere/menus/vibe might be a bit too intimidating to make your Missouri relatives comfortable.  Pix is nice for desserts, I always take visitors there, and there's something for everyone.

regards,

trillium

←

Thanks, Trillium. I was leaning toward Wildwood for dinner, and pix is a great suggestion for dessert and would be a whole different scene which would be fun. So maybe cocktails in North or Northeast which is where we live.

[Raoul Duke]

Papa Hayden for dessert.s

[syrah girl]

Wildwood is a great suggestion. We dined there on Fri. night and had been before for lunch. Just love the menus here, had a very friendly server and they serve Patricia Green wines! I had the tuna entree here that was delicious.

We passed on desserts here (tho I hear they're wonderful) and went to Papa Haydns for dessert. Very yummy stuff here. I would like to go for lunch next time we're in the Nob Hill area.

Higgins is also very good. Not as innovative as Wildwood, tho. Had a really good Wild Salmon entree here and it is a Portland classic in a sense. Enjoy Portland and please report back.

[Chris Cholakis]

Hmmm,

For Drinks - Noble Rot (SE) (if you are into wine) otherwise Park Kitchen(SW) sitting outside with a couple of small plate to pick at.

Dinner - Wildwood(NW), Cafe Castagna or Ken's Place (SE) Fife (NE), Jake's or Heathman (SW)

Dessert - Have to go with Pix on SE Division.

Enjoy

[Chris Cholakis]

[wundermunk]

Thank you all for the great suggestions. We had a fun time all in all, though it ended up being harder than I thought to get the in-laws out of their comfort zone (long story there). So, we ended up having cocktails at their hotel's free happy hour (one of the airport chains, which should clue you in to our framework) because they didn't think it made any sense to go "Out" for what we could get for free. Ugh. But our son enjoyed swimming in the pool and watching cable tv and being pampered by the grandparents. We did convince them to go to "Burgerville" over Mickey D's with the kids! Yay. Unfortuanely, they had all kinds of problems with their order there and were unimpressed. Doh!

The grandparents implied that they'd meant Mcmenamins when they suggested we take the siblings out- but we convinced everyone that we could stop in Kennedy school so they could see the concept, and that the food we were going to have was much better. THen it was off to Wildwood for dinner, which was lovely. We just had salads and entrees. I am a little fuzzy about the details (I drank a little too much and am alchohol lightweight- don't worry we had a DD).

A friend of mine works there, so he sent over some lovely desserts. A Nectarine Tart Tatin, and a berry soaked bread pudding. So we didn't end up going to dessert anywhere either. Which was just as well, as our guests were perfectly happy which was the point after all.

It didn't end up being the cool taste of Portland tour I'd wanted to give, but that was about me anyway, and everyone was happy. So it was a success.

[syrah girl]

Glad Wildwood worked for you. I'm a huge fan of Burgerville. No In n Out's in Oregon, so that's my burger-fix place when we're in the PNW. Just love those Walla Walla onions rings!