I'll be in the Portland/Vancouver area all next week for a meeting/conference.

While I plan on definitely visiting the Duluth Trading store to test our their No BS Guarantee, the most important question is...

WHERE TO EAT??

I've been told to go to Voodoo Donuts and an ice cream shop whose name I cannot recall at the moment, but I need more lunch/dinner options.

Voodoo donuts has a stupid long line at their main location. Like, hours long...and mostly tourists. Go find one of their less busy locations.

Voodoo donuts has a couple of locations.
Unless you absolutely have no choice I would avoid the downtown one.
About the only way you'll get me downtown is by pointing a gun at me. Even then I would probably opt for getting shot in the nuts instead.

1501 NE Davis Street
Portland, OR, 97232 is the Eastside location.

All kinds of good eats depending on where ya want to go.
Joes Crabshack is just off of the Interstate bridge in Vancouver if you want good sea food.

Hawthorn around 39th ave has all kinds of different little spots that have killer food.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Voodoo donuts has a stupid long line at their main location. Like, hours long...and mostly tourists. Go find one of their less busy locations.

Actually, skip voodoo and go to blue star. Get coffee at stumptown. You can do a free tasting class at stumptown’s corporate office on the east side.

For food, there are a ton of great options. To name a few:

Screen Door (brunch or dinner). There’ll be a wait.

Andina

Carlita’s (for tacos, whisky and tequila).

Tasty n Alder

Lardo (sandwiches).

Pok Pok

Deschutes Public House

And many, many more.

For pastry, and also food I like Petite Provence. Say what you will about the French, they do know pastry. I never got the VooDoo thing, its just regular donuts with cereal pressed into it.

I like a lot of the Hawaiian restaurants, Noho's being a good example.

Rose's Deli. Great food and even better deserts.

If you want to watch a freak show go to Hamburger Mary's (food isn't bad).

There are many places to have good food and good coffee in Portland.

Voodoo donuts is a tourist trap. Go once, check, done.

Portland has a lot of little food joints that are worth going to (far more than Voodoo).

Thai: Chiang Mai on Hawthorne--authentic Northern Thai food.

Chinese/Thai (one hit chicken wonder) Nong's Khao Man Gai: a Thai riff on Chinese Hainanese chicken. They have a sit-down joint, but also food carts scattered about the city. Nong's started as a food cart.

Ramen: Marukin Ramen. It's a chain, but if you don't have any in your city, it's worth stopping by for their Tonkatsu Ramen--creamy and rich.

Dessert: Papa Haydn's, lots of stuff to try from the heavy to the surprisingly delicate.

For brunch & pastries: La Provence (careful on weekends: long lines).

For a quintessential Portland brunch: Mother's Bistro (also long lines on the weekends).

Out of the Way:

The lodge at Multnomah falls serves surprisingly good fare for a tourist trap, if you're out that way.

Red Hills and Dundee Bistro in Dundee if you are out that way (Oregon Wine Country).

Ice Cream:

The place you heard about is probably Salt & Straw. They're also quintessentially Portland in their serving of weird flavors like pear-blue-cheese, and black-pepper-strawberry-balsamic-vinegar. Some work, some don't. When there are lines there, they are long precisely because everyone tries everything and takes forever to place an order.

If you don't want to deal with their lines, try Ruby Jewel, Cloud City, or 50 Licks, which are also Portland-specific ice creameries.

If you have to have Salt & Straw, the Lake Oswego location doesn't usually have much in the way of lines.

You can email me if there's something in particular you're looking for that's not on the list above.

Salt & Straw is the ice cream place as LDD mentioned. We enjoy going there.

I second Voodoo being a tourist trap. Not worth it in my opinion. I did enjoy Blue Star.

If you like noodles, I highly recommend Frank's Noodles. Hand pulled noodles. Really tasty.

If you like book stores, Powell's Books is a great place to burn some time.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig Sauer Kraut:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Voodoo donuts has a stupid long line at their main location. Like, hours long...and mostly tourists. Go find one of their less busy locations.

Actually, skip voodoo and go to blue star.

Absolutely!

Voodoo Donuts pays too much attention to the crap on the walls and not enough to the donuts. They just aren't that good. I don't just mean "don't live up to the crazy hype," I mean I've gotten them more than once and seriously thought they weren't actually very good donuts.

Blue Star is up there with the best donuts I have ever had, anywhere.

Forget the 'Couve, I work there 5 days a week and there really isn't anything worth your time.
I'd recommend going downtown to the classics: Jakes Famous Crawfish, Hubers, and the Ringside for the steakhouse thing.
Q is also excellent, although a little on the modern side: duck confit springrolls and other "progressive" fare. Worth it though.
Yes parking sucks... Find a parking garage.

You will notice a jillion food carts catering to an endless variety of edibles, some great some not.
Pick up a local paper like Willamette Week or the Mercury for reviews of those

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
I'll be in the Portland/Vancouver area all next week for a meeting/conference.

While I plan on definitely visiting the Duluth Trading store to test our their No BS Guarantee, the most important question is...

WHERE TO EAT??

I've been told to go to Voodoo Donuts and an ice cream shop whose name I cannot recall at the moment, but I need more lunch/dinner options.

There are so many great places to go eat in Portland. What area of the city is the conference at and what will be your availability to travel from there?

Most importantly, be aware of your surroundings and avoid the downtown river front areas.

My favorite restaurant in Portland:

https://www.shalomyallpdx.com - Amazing Israeli/Mediterranean food

I spent a week there a few months ago and this was my favorite place. Also very good:

https://pokpokrestaurants.com - Great Thai food, love the Khao Soi and wings

https://screendoorrestaurant.com - Southern food

quote:

Deschutes Public House

I highly recommend their elk burger, garlic cheese fries and trying a Black Butte Porter (if dark beer is your thing).

In downtown Vancouver, Woody's Tacos. Great shrimp tacos.

Tasty n Alder

Great Notion has excellent craft beer and food.

https://www.dinersdriveinsdiveslocations.com

I am a fan of Diners, Drive in's and Dives TV show. They seem to always have tons of neat locations in the Portland area. Check out there website and maybe get some ideas.

There is a German restaurant off the freeway as you leave Portland heading towards Salem. Have eaten there twice years ago and loved it. Great food. Sorry, sister was driving so I wasn't paying attention to where it was at.

quote:

Originally posted by Ox190:
Tasty n Alder

I ate lunch there last time I was in Portland and it was fantastic.

Any McMenamins restaurant. Good food and they brew their own beer. There are better restaurants, but McMenamins is a signature Oregon chain.

Edgefield Winery is probably the most pleasant McMenamins to visit. Its on your way to the Multnomah Falls just off the 84 and on the outskirts of the Portland Metro area. Its really a property with a hotel and a golf course. Its got a main restaurant with other bars within the property.
https://www.mcmenamins.com/edgefield/edgefield-winery

Other McMenamins restaurants worth checking out are the Grand Lodge (I live 10 minutes from there), and Oak Hills Brew Pub.

Their communication breakdown burger is really good.

McCormick and Schmicks, Golden Valley Brewery and Thirsty Lion are among our favorites.

If you're looking for a good cheesesteak, Grant's Philly Cheesesteak restaurant is a good hole in the wall.

Off the beaten path is Helvetia Tavern. It's just a mile or two from Roloff Farms (The little people on the TLC show). The Helvetia Burger is very good.

If you're looking for little dive (there are plenty), eat at Pambiche cuban restaurant in Northeast Portland. Seats about 10 people in the restaurant with a line around the corner.
https://www.pambiche.com

I loathe downtown Portland and try to stay out of it. The street system there horrid. Very easy to get lost and very frustrating to find your way back to where you're going.

I'm no fan of Voodoo doughnuts. Not impressed.

For an amazing breakfast, Babica Hen in Lake Oswego. I can't stress this enough.

I also give a +1 for Le Petite Provance. One of my wife's favorites. There's one in Lake Oswego.

Tony.

All kinds of good ideas so far.

Hell with Voodoo donuts, then.

quote:

Originally posted by lude4life:
If you like book stores, Powell's Books is a great place to burn some time.

Hell yes! Is that a rare book store? I love those.

quote:

Originally posted by TAP:
There are so many great places to go eat in Portland. What area of the city is the conference at and what will be your availability to travel from there?

Most importantly, be aware of your surroundings and avoid the downtown river front areas.

I'll be staying at the Hilton Vancouver Washington, so mostly on the north side. I'll have the evenings free, but most of the day will be spent at the meeting going to presentations (and I have to give one). I will have a rental car, so I can go anywhere I like. I also prefer to avoid downtown areas, but if the food looks good enough, I can be convinced.

Unfortunately, OR doesn't recognize my NM carry permit. Plus, I'll be hitting up the local brew scene in the evening, so there wouldn't be much point.

Go visit the Benchmade knife factory. Take lots of cash! They give military and emts etc discounts if you are eligible. I dropped 3-4 hundred there and could have easily spent much more. Food? No ideas.......