Portland Weekend

We left late Friday evening for our annual Christmas Shopping trip in Portland, Oregon. It is a three-hour drive straight down I-5 and we arrived around 11:00pm.

Breakfast December 20, 2008: On Saturday we woke, got ready, and walked down the street looking for a fun place for breakfast. We went up the street from our hotel to The Park Bistro. It’s a wonderful-looking café with large windows facing the street. When we entered we felt completely comfortable and had our choice of places to sit. We picked a table for four along the side wall – bench on the wall, two small but sturdy chairs on the other side. The barista greeted us and took our drink order. The coffees – cappuccino for me, mocha for son, Elliot, and dopio for my husband - came in white cups and saucers and all were deemed delicious. Other son, Zac, ordered a soda; Izzy’s root beer. It came in bottle with a glass to drink it from. Perfect. The menu had a nice variety of breakfast items. I chose the Mediterranean Frittata with a side of fruit. It arrived on a beautiful platter and I was pleasantly surprised that it was the perfect size for one person. Good flavors – the fruit consisted of two small slices of cantaloupe, two of green melon, two of orange, and a small bunch of grapes. I’d order it again without hesitation. When Elliot took his first bit of his Brioche French toast with Tuaca-spiced apples and Vermont maple syrup, he immediately exclaimed that it, “tastes like Christmas”. He was right – it did. Delicious! Zac ordered the Jack cheese and egg panini with roasted potatoes. Both the sandwich and the nicely browned potatoes on the side looked, and tasted delicious. Larry had the special from the blackboard, black bean and guacamole omelet with Jack cheese. He chose toast as his side. Again, the items were well prepared and tasty. We asked for water and it arrived in tall glasses with no ice. I was pleased since I had failed to ask for no ice and generally in the States it is added.

All in all it was a fabulous breakfast and we will certainly eat there again. Recommended.

Dinner December 20, 2008 Fratelli’s. Well, it had been snowing the entire day and when it came time to leave for our dinner reservations, it was still snowing – how festive! We walked from our hotel – The Paramount on Taylor Street - to the tram (several wonderfully-snowy blocks) and then waited at the tram stop for 5 minutes. The tram stops here have digital displays that tell you when the next tram will arrive. We hopped on the tram when it arrived and sat down for the ride to the Pearl District. We got off a stop early so we could shop at Sur La Table and Whole Foods before walking several blocks to the restaurant located in the Pearl District on Hoyt Street. We entered the restaurant and were guided to our table. Our water glasses were filled immediately and our server arrived with a smile. From that moment on, the evening was magical. We were all in good cheer, fat, fluffy flakes were falling out the window, the interior of the restaurant reminded us of some of our favorites spots in Europe, and our waitress felt like a friend. To top it off, the food was wonderful – all of it. We started with appetizers: chicken liver mousse crostini with house-made pickled vegetables; herbed farro with roasted red bell peppers, ricotta, and toasted pine nuts; eggplant caponata with smoked mozzarella and fennel crackers; salami; and their three varieties of bruschette – with shaved beef, mascarpone and truffle oil; cured salmon, olive tapenade, and allepo pepper aioli; and lentils, sage, and pecorino cheese. We drank a barbera-syrah blend recommended by our waitress. Yum! After casually consuming the antipasti we were ready for our next courses. Elliot decided to order gnocchi with duck confit and a fall grape sauce as his primi and the house-made pheasant sausage with dried cranberries, served with potato roesti and a roasted corn and hazelnut sauce. Larry also ordered a primi – his being the risotto with Gala apples and fennel salami followed by a secondi of grilled Cattail Creek leg of lamb with aged balsamic vinegar caramelized onions and pistachio ailade. Zac ordered their flat iron steak rubbed with cocoa powder and served with roasted winter squash and speck (medium rare), and I too skipped the primi and went straight for the secondi with their special that night of black cod that I can’t for the life of me remember the details of other than to say it was delicious and I was rather stingy with my ‘shared’ portions (we always taste each other’s food and generally share rather liberally around the table). We finished the evening with an apple tart with gelato and a chestnut mousse with another gelato. Needless to say, the food was fabulous and the entire evening magical. We’ve been to Fratelli’s in the past, and we plan on returning in the future! Highly recommended.

The Paramount Hotel: Our favorite place to stay in downtown Portland. Location, location, location. It's close to or within tram distance of everything we love about Portland. The lobby has recently been "re-decorated" and while the paintings are still the same, the new furniture in the lobby is not to our taste (looks like a cocaine-addicted decorator went wild). We much prefer the original, traditional furnishings that are hopefully in storage somewhere and will be returned to their proper place as soon as the current fog is lifted from the taste buds of the people in charge. Other than that, the rooms are nice and clean and well-furnished. There is a charge for internet service in the rooms.

We left early on Sunday (usually we stay until very late to take in one more nice meal before our Christmas Shopping Weekend is over) because the snow was predicted to turn into an ice storm farther north and create an ice rink out of interstate 5. We couldn't leave without visiting our favorite Portland wine shop however, and after a quick call to be sure they were open (many shops were closing because of the weather) we drove across the bridge to Great Wine Buys. Not only is Great Wine Buys a nice little store, but they offer a case of the month that we have found to be quite enjoyable and a way to expand our repertoire of interesting wines. This month's case featured several wines from Portugal that we are anxious to try.