Hello, Portland!

I've always heard nice things about the Pacific Northwest, but I've never been there.  When I went to Portland, OR for not one, but two work events, I was happy to visit and experience a new place.  Since I was also going to be there on my birthday, I did a little (very little) extra research on a good place for a birthday dinner.  I probably didn't do enough research...

My birthday was on a Wednesday and I didn't really take into account that it takes FOREVER to get out to Portland, or else I wouldn't have made a 7pm dinner reservation.  I flew to Minneapolis, had a longish layover, then flew to Portland.  I got in around 4:30pm, Pacific time, then took a cab to our Airbnb.  The ride from the airport took quite a while and the cabbie couldn't quite find the address.  My GPS wasn't having any problems, but my cabbie's was.  Once we finally found the place and I figured out all of the lockbox issues, it was almost 7pm already.  I briefly toyed with the thought of not going out for my birthday dinner, but I forced myself to go.  

After a really long Uber ride (this is where my research was lacking - Portland is spread out over a wide area and I didn't check to see how close things were to each other), I finally made it to a Cena, which is highly rated on Open Table.  When I looked at their menu, there were several dishes that I wanted to try, not to mention their housemade limoncello, so I made a reservation.  By the time I got there, I was really tired and not all that hungry anymore after all the travel.  But they were very nice to me and gave me their special window table.  The pre-meal focaccia and bread sticks were delicious and my glass of nebbiolo was fantastic.  I thought about getting their special appetizer salad of fennel and apple, but I didn't think I'd make it through more than one course, and if I did, I wanted the second course to be dessert.  So I ordered the dish that my eye kept landing on, the agnolotti, which was homemade pasta filled with corn and mascarpone, and topped with butter-poached lobster.  OHMYGOD, this was so amazing!!!  Truly one of the most delicious dishes I've ever had in my life.  It was light yet rich, creamy and soft, with a bit of texture from the lobster.  They serve two sizes of their entrees at a Cena, and I'm so glad.  I got the smaller size and it was perfect.  I think the larger size would've just been too much.  But it was so amazing and sweet and savory that I didn't even need dessert.  I was completely full and satisfied.

I walked around the cute neighborhood for a few minutes, stopped and picked up a few things for the Airbnb, then called Uber to take me back to the apartment.  The description of the driver said "good conversation," so as we were driving, I asked him about his favorite restaurant in Portland.  After a pause, he looked into the rearview mirror and said, "No English."  Um, ok.  I'm thinking that Uber needs to change his bio.  It was fine, though, because a quiet ride was pleasant at the end of a really long day.  When I got back to the apartment, I had to struggle to stay awake until an appropriate Pacific time zone bedtime (I didn't want to wake up at 3am), so I sat at the dinner table and looked at all my Facebook birthday posts.  That was a nice way to end the evening.  By 10pm, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so off I went to bed.

The Airbnb apartment was very nice, with large bedrooms and nice-sized closets, a big bathroom and a huge kitchen.  I only wish I had had enough time to cook something in that kitchen.  When I woke up Thursday morning, I looked on my phone to see if there was a coffee shop nearby.  I was happy to see that there was a locally owned coffee shop around the corner!  I wandered over there and was delighted with B Street Coffee House.  The owner also takes your order and runs the espresso machine - he was kind and funny and really happy to be chatting with everyone in the place.  B Street is very small, only three tables, but it's so warm and inviting.  The coffee was great and the breakfast sandwiches were also really tasty.  I was so happy I found it and I went back every morning I was in Portland.  I was also so happy that when my co-worker arrived, she loved the place as much as I did.  

About my two work events - one was a conference of writers and one was a playwriting intensive.  Both of the events went very well; I met many nice people and I think everything went smoothly.  I'll just talk about the food and fun of Portland from here on in.  Oh, and the plays we saw.  Thursday night, we ate dinner at a restaurant recommended by a mutual friend, Clyde Common.  I got a very delicious cocktail with mezcal, lime, and jalapeno bitters (among other things) - it was very yummy, though the tiniest bit spicy.  I liked it.  My friends and I shared a charcuterie plate that had amazing mostarda with it, a burrata appetizer that had an amazing pear butter on it, and then I had the roast chicken dish.  I only ordered that because I wanted the creamed farro that came with it.  WOW!  Creamed farro is incredible!  The chicken was moist, the skin was crisp, the cippolini onions were deliciously carmelized, and marcona almonds added a nice crunch.  I loved this dish.  I was so full, however, that I didn't order dessert.  Thankfully, I did order a spoon, because my friends each got an incredible dessert and I got to try them.  One ordered the donuts and the other ordered the pavlova.  Both were yummy, but the pavlova was out of this world!  And a work of art as well!  I'll share a photo below.  It was an amazing meal with two lovely friends - a great night.

Friday night, after our long workday ended (though I should also mention that we had a delicious lunch at the Driftwood Room inside the Hotel Deluxe!), we were headed to Portland Center Stage at the Armory, so there wasn't a lot of time to eat.  We ended up at Life of Riley, which was a cute pub nearby.  We were there during happy hour, so I got a huge basket of tater tots for $4!  It even included a yummy spicy ketchup!  I had to run over to the theater to distribute our group's tickets, so I didn't have a cocktail, but I did enjoy those tater tots.  After eating, we were so lucky to be able to see Dael Orlandersmith's fabulous Until the Flood, which I had seen at Rattlestick last year (you can remind yourself of my rave review HERE).  I don't really have anything to add to my rave - the show is still a powerful piece of theater, with empathy and truth in every pore.  But this time the post-show talkback came with Dael Orlandersmith herself!  She is a kind and generous soul, and she gave our group her undivided attention and deeply introspective answers to their questions, for about 45 minutes after the play ended.  I can't express how grateful I was that she shared so much of herself with our group.  And I was so happy to be able to share the experience of seeing that amazing play with my co-workers.

Saturday was mainly work work work, though my co-worker and I did sneak out at lunchtime to try some famous Portland food truck cuisine.  About four blocks from our venue was an entire city block of food trucks.  After walking around and trying to figure out which would be best, we were offered a sample of the lamb being served in lamb wraps.  But then I saw the Danya truck, offering tonkatsu.  Choice made for me.  And oh my goodness, that was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had!  The piece of fried pork was crispy on the outside and moist on the inside (and not greasy at all), the bread was toasted perfectly and the tonkatsu sauce was simply one of the most delicious sauces I've ever had in my entire life!  It was sweet and salty and rich and light, all at the same time.  Eating that sandwich on a gloriously sunny spring day was a true delight.

After our Saturday work event, we were going to see another play, but we had just enough time to get some ice cream at Ruby Jewel.  When I saw they had a flavor called Brown Sugar Sour Cream with Rhubarb Jam, I knew what I wanted.  I love rhubarb and you just don't get it that many places.  And it was perfect in that ice cream - the brown sugar part of the base was sweet, the sour cream was a bit sour, and the rhubarb was tart.  The three flavor sensations together were fantastic!  As I write about it, I wish I could try it again!  All of the flavors looked delicious; one of my co-workers was surprised I didn't try the meyer lemon option, since I love lemon, but rhubarb season is so brief and rare, I just couldn't pass it up.  And I'm glad I didn't.

photo credit: David Kinder

Saturday night's play was at Artists Repertory Theatre - Wolf Play by Hansol Jung.  Here is how the playwright described her work (from Artists Rep website):  "A Korean boy is ushered into a new house by his adopted American father. This new house belongs to an American boxer and her wife. American father un-adopts boy by a single signature on a piece of paper. But just before he leaves the new house, ex-father finds out that the new couple to whom he has "re-homed" his ex-son, is a lesbian couple. American Ex-father spends the rest of the play trying to get the boy back. In his corner is Ryan, the Boxer's coach, and Wife's brother. Ryan has insecurities about being the protector, the alpha male, and he doesn't like the new Korean boy who is a bit weird.  The boy is actually not a real boy. He is a puppet. The puppeteer is the Emcee of the evening, and spinner of the night’s tale: a lone wolf who slips in and out of the story as is needed.  Yes, the puppeteer is a wolf. At least he believes that he is. Because wolves are a god figure in many Eastern myths, a frequent villain in many Western tales and biologically famous for their adherence to pack mentality.  Wolf Play is a messy funny disturbing theatrical experience grappling with a wolf, a puppet, and a very prickly problem of 'what is a family, and what do we need from them, today? Is it very different from the things humans have needed from families before?'"

That description is pretty perfect, and yet it doesn't describe the depth of emotion and spirit and theatricality that was portrayed on stage.  The play begins with the wolf narrator speaking some lines that at first seemed very meta-theatrical and self-aware, but as the play unfolds, they lose that self-awareness and by the time we get to the end of the play, the powerful emotional punch of those words very nearly made me sob in a grotesquely loud (but good theatrical) way.  I was incredibly moved by Wolf Play, by the situations and the characters, by the topicality of the plot, by the puppet and the way it was used.  I always find puppets to add such a profound quality to a play, but this puppet really moved me.  And I thought the actor playing the wolf narrator was spectacular.  He is giving one of the best performances I think I've ever seen, he was that amazing.  I adored Wolf Play and I hope hope hope that a theater in New York picks it up so I can see it again.

Sunday, we had a half day of work, then when it was over, my co-worker and I headed back over to the food trucks.  Well, first we stopped at Blue Star donuts - most people had told us to try Voodoo Doughnuts, and we planned to, but all of our Uber drivers told us that Blue Star was better.  Plus, it was on the way to the food trucks, so that helped us make our decision.  I got a Mexican hot chocolate doughnut - YUM.  That's all I can say.  Those doughnuts are absolutely amazing.  The cake is tender and not-too-sweet and the frostings are wonderful.  I can't recommend them enough.  When we made it to the food truck area, a lot of them were closed because it was Sunday (darn, we didn't get to try the bao).  We ended up getting some delicious pork dumplings and eating them in the sunshine as we walked over to Powell's books.

Everyone I know said I had to go to Powell's.  It's a huge incredible bookstore, with zillions of titles and lots of cool branded products, too.  After our long work weekend, it was actually a little overwhelming to be in such a huge bookstore; there was so much to choose from.  I did get an adorable t-shirt and a couple of books, but we didn't linger all that long.  We probably should've gone there at the beginning of the weekend instead of the end, but we'll know better next time.  After Powell's, we took an Uber over to Twisted, a famous yarn store.  They had a very comfortable couch where I could rest while my chum shopped, though I did pick up some very pretty yarn for a knitting-crazy friend.  We had hoped to find a coffee shop nearby before heading to another play, but we couldn't find one that was open.  We just sat outside the Portland Playhouse in the beautiful weather and waited for the house to open.  

One of the participants in the playwriting intensive we presented was having a production of her one-act at the Playhouse.  Since my co-worker and I were flying out on the red-eye, we had plenty of time to check out her play, which was sweet and delightful and was being given a lovely production.  By the time the play was over, though, we were starving, so my co-worker and I walked over to Pok Pok, yet another recommendation from a mutual friend.  We sat at the bar, had a delightful ginger beer (on tap!), and ordered delicious Thai food that we suddenly realized we wouldn't be able to finish (big portion/small amount of time before going to airport) and that we wouldn't be able to take with us on the plane (too fragrant).  We did get the leftovers wrapped up and coincidentally our Uber driver used to live in Bangkok and loved Thai food.  Woo hoo!  He took our leftovers with delight and told us very interesting stories about living in Bangkok.  

Actually, all of our Uber drivers were fun - one guy wanted to share his vape with us and our doughnuts with him; one gent was knowledgeable about all liquors so we talked about the merits of mezcal vs tequila vs bourbon; our driver to the airport was just a doll and laughed and had fun with us all the way to the airport.  I don't usually use Uber, but I think I will start to.  We'll see if NYC drivers are as universally fun as Portland drivers.  

I had a wonderful time in Portland, even with all the work we had to do!  I am already dying to go back - there's so much I didn't see and apparently there's a lot of food I didn't eat.  I'll have to find a time and reason to get back there soon.