Wanderer + Storyteller: lifestyle

, by Unknown

Annual Christmas Photos | 2016

, by Unknown

Explore Portland, Oregon: Eats & Drinks - Beer, Desserts & Coffee

PORTLAND EATS, CONTINUED

Hi everyone! Welcome to part two of all things food & drink in Portland! Since the last post was long enough, I decided to save all the fun stuff for this second post. So, if you wanna know some places to satisfy that sweet tooth craving, grab a beer or meet a friend for coffee, keep reading!

DESSERT

If you have a bit of a sweet tooth, don't worry. There are plenty of options in the city to grab a dessert. The three places we visited were Salt and Straw, VooDoo Donuts and Blue Star.

Salt and Straw has a few locations in Los Angeles, so we had already been before. Being that it's originally from Portland, we had to visit one of the shops in town. I had talked to the girl working there and asked if their ice cream was any different than the LA locations. She told me that the Portland locations use different, local, ingredients than those of the LA locations. This justified my reasoning for going, as if I needed justification for ice cream.

They had just launched their October flavors, Halloween themed of course. The two flavors I chose were The Great Candycopia and Dracula's Blood Pudding. The Great Candycopia is filled with Halloween candy. I believe she had told me that there were 6lbs of candy in each batch? I can't remember exactly but it was a crazy amount of candy. Dracula's Blood Pudding was a chocolate based ice cream blended with fall spices, morcilla sausage, and some chicken liver. Yes, it did have real blood in it. No, it was not disgusting. It was actually really delicious and no one believes me!

If you're in the Portland or LA area, I'm sorry it's too late to try these flavors. Don't worry though, Lyle had some of the Portland classic flavors, cinnamon snickerdoodle and Coava coffee & cocanu craque! They bake all of their snickerdoodle cookies in their SE Portland kitchen, so you know they're extra fresh and delicious. The Coava coffee ice cream is made from cold brew from Coava Coffee Roasters, sweet cream and handmade chocolates. Lyle is willing to go as far as saying it's the best coffee ice cream he's ever had. But don't just take our word for it, I definitely recommend checking out any Salt & Straw location. Their unique flavors are hard to pass up and they're alway super friendly!

If you're more of a donut person, VooDoo Doughnut and Blue Star are both great places to check out. I would definitely suggest visiting VooDoo if you're in the mood for a dessert-y type of donut. They have everything from cereal and candy to marshmallows and nuts for their donut toppings. Just a little tip: they're CASH ONLY so make sure you have some on hand if you're going to grab a treat from here.

Blue Star has your more traditional donuts. There were definitely some different and interesting flavors such as Passion Fruit and Pina Colada. The ones we picked up were "The O.G", Blueberry Bourbon Basil and a Cinnamon + Vanilla Sugar. "The O.G" had an horchata glaze which was pretty delicious. Every other blog I read about Blue Star had said that the Blueberry Bourbon Basil was a must try and I agree! I didn't think it would be something I would like but there was something so unique about the flavor. I would definitely recommend stopping by Blue Star and trying out one of their donuts for sure!

BEER

Fun fact: there are more than 60 breweries in the Rose City! Stopping by at least one is a must when you visit Portland. Unless you're not a beer/alcohol drinker, then I completely understand. Visiting a brewery would have never been on my list if it weren't for Lyle. Even for a good portion of our relationship, I never was in to craft beers. It wasn't until a few years ago when we were in California that we visited a brewery and he made me try a sour beer that I actually enjoyed them.

Our first stop in Portland, almost immediately after dropping off our things at the AirBnB, was Cascade Brewing Barrel House. I don't remember how I had discovered this brewery but once I saw it was mostly sour beers, I got super excited. I told Lyle this had to be a must stop while we were in town. As I stated in my previous post, the dinner items were listed with a beer pairing. The pulled pork sandwich suggested the Oblique coffee stout, while the smoked chicken sandwich paired with an apricot sour. I'm not one for stouts, so I stuck with my sour beers. The apricot sour was pretty delicious and Lyle reports that his coffee stout was very good despite it being a lighter beer. We had tried a variety of other sours and were definitely not disappointed. We ended up liking this place so much, we had to stop by for one last drink before we headed out of Portland. We recommend Cascade if you're a sour beer, or even craft beer, kinda person.

The only other brewery we got to go to (sad face) was Great Notion Brewery. We had just eaten not too long before stopping by here so I was not in any mood for anything. Lyle decided to order a flight with a raspberry and peach sour, orange creamsicle IPA, and some other IPAs for himself. I'm telling ya, I've somehow taken a liking to sour beers so I had to at least have one. Lyle really enjoyed this brewery for its variety and unusual beers. He said the orange cream beer was one of the strangest, yet refreshing, beers he has ever had. We really recommend this brewery for anyone in the Alberta area.

But like I said, there are so many breweries to visit while in Portland so I definitely recommend stopping by at least one or as many as you can!

COFFEE

Last, but certainly not least, we have coffee shops. You didn't think I could write a blogpost and it not involve coffee did you? Portland's coffee game is on point, so of course we visited 4 coffee shops while in the city.

The first coffee shop we went to was Heart Coffee Roasters. I tend to stick with my go-to drink, a vanilla latte, and Lyle ordered a good ol' cold brew. We had stumbled upon the downtown location of Heart, so we sat at the window and checked out the downtown view. It's location was perfect for popping in for an iced coffee after wandering around downtown Portland. The atmosphere was definitely perfect to relax or to concentrate on work.

The next place we stopped at was Good Coffee. (PSA- I think this goes unsaid but we did not stop at all these places in one day. I love coffee, but I'm not a psycho. Carry on!) Let me just tell you, when they say GOOD coffee, they mean it! We walked up to order and when the barista asked me what I wanted, I told her I was wanting to try something different because Lyle picks on me too much. She asked what my go to was (vanilla latte) and she suggested I try theirs because they make a special vanilla syrup in house. I will go as far as saying, it is without a doubt the BEST vanilla latte I have ever had. It tasted so fresh and not too sweet or sugary. I swear I downed it in 3 minutes. Lyle had their maple & smoked orange latte. It was definitely something different but I must say it was pretty delicious. This was definitely my favorite coffeeshop we went to, 100% recommend it! Considering moving to Portland just to have this coffee in my life whenever I wanted.

Oblique Coffee Roasters is a place that Lyle had wanted to try out. It was a little colder so we both decided to go with hot drinks. Lyle had a mocha that he said was excellent and I got a hazelnut latte, which is honestly a little weird for me because I never get hot drinks, but it was actually really good. The coffeeshop itself was really cute and in the middle of a neighborhood. We didn't get to stay for very long as we were on our way out to Mt. Hood, but I definitely would say this is a great local stop for coffee in Portland.

Stumptown Coffee is accessible in Los Angeles, but we decided to grab one last taste of Portland before boarding the plane. Surprisingly, I did not order a coffee! We had eaten before heading to the airport so I was pretty full and had no room for a coffee. Instead, I grabbed a Steven Smith black tea (can't remember the exact kind, sorry!) and it was super tasty. Lyle ordered a regular ol' cold brew and we were on our way back to LA.

I apologize for not having photos for the last two coffee places, that's really not like me. Thinking back, I was probably too in the moment slash honestly probably wasn't thinking about it. Either way, Hopefully this blogpost helped you in some way and you enjoyed reading about the coffee, beer and sweet tooth places we stopped at while in Portland. If you ever get the chance to visit this lovely city, I hope you stop by any of these places or even take the time to discover some favorite places of your own! Two more blogposts are still coming so be on the look out for those! As always, thanks for reading! :)

No comments

, by Unknown

Food

Explore Portland, Oregon: Eats - Where to Grab a Bite in the City

PORTLAND EATS

Hey everyone! As you may know, Lyle and I recently went to Portland, Oregon to celebrate 5 years of getting on each other's nerves. I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, we were super excited to visit this city for this special time.

Lyle had been only once before to play a show six years back and this was my first time visiting. Of course, throughout my planning process (I say "my" because Lyle decides he likes to leave the planning up to me) I had researched all things Portland to do, see and eat. That being said, I decided to do things a little differently with my blogposts of the trip. Instead of telling you about our trip day by day, I figured I would break it down to these 3 main points. Let's get today's post started with places to eat and grab a drink in the city!

*Disclaimer: Not a food critic WHATSOEVER. Just my opinions of some places we stopped at.*

BREAKFAST

Let's start off with breakfast. I'm not much of a breakfast person, but every once in a while I crave a good meal in the morning. The first place we visited was Pine State Biscuits in the Alberta Arts District. Holy cow, so amazing. Lyle and I both ordered "The Reggie" which was a chicken sandwich topped with cheese, bacon and gravy. YEAH, I KNOW. When I got my plate, I had no idea where to start with it. I cut into the sandwich, took my first bite and died a little. It was so delicious, so full of flavor. I highly suggest stopping by for breakfast if chicken sandwiches are your thing! Ps, the line was out the door when we were on our way out. If that doesn't scream "Eat here!", I don't know what will.

The second place we stopped at was called Stella Taco. Now, this place caught my attention on Yelp! because they claimed on their website to be Austin style tacos in the Northwest. I was pretty surprised to see anything Texas related this far north. Although, we did see quite a few Texas license plates there, no surprise. The restaurant had some "meh" reviews so at first I decided against trying it out. Lyle finally said we should just check it and see if it was good.

Walking in, I almost felt like I was back in Texas. There was a giant mural on the wall spelling out "Greetings from Stella" with Austin scenery in the background. I ordered potato, egg and cheese tacos that also came with BBQ sauce and avocado. I decided to 86 the BBQ sauce and keep the avocado. Lyle ordered brisket and egg tacos. Overall consensus: 10/10 would recommend. Nothing compares to good ol' Tex-Mex, but it was delicious and definitely worth a try!

LUNCH

During our time in Portland, we never really ate lunch. We usually stuffed ourselves with a good breakfast so that we could last until dinner. However, I feel as though our dinner options could work for lunch as well. Even though we stopped at the food trucks for dinner, I figured I would throw this one into the "lunch" category because if you're in the downtown area, there are plenty of food trucks to choose from to grab a quick bite for lunch.

The place we chose to eat at was called Chocolate Authentic Mexican Bistro. I'm not sure why I keep trying to trust Mexican food this far from Texas but I do. I ordered a burrito and was pretty disappointed with it. I don't really care for frijoles, pero like, my burrito came loaded with them (and it didn't say on the menu either). Lyle ordered some classic carnitas street tacos and was overall satisfied with them.

I'm not saying you have to try this place or don't try this place. You can give it a shot for yourself and see how you feel! Or, like I said, try one of the many food truck options downtown.

DINNER

Our first stop after dropping our things at our Airbnb was a brewery. Cascade Brewing Barrel House specializes in sour beers, which is the main reason we wanted to stop by. Of course, we went for the beers, but dinner was a plus. I'll get into the beer details in another post, but as far as dinner we were pretty happy with it. I ordered the smoked chicken on a brioche bun, while Lyle got the pulled pork. He pretty much dove straight into his sandwich before I could document it, sorry! We ended up cutting our sandwiches in half and sharing. Aww. Also, each item on the menu came with a beer pairing suggestion, which was A+ perfection.

After adventuring around the Oregon coast, we were in the mood for some good BBQ. We headed back to the city and dropped in at a restaurant called Reverend's BBQ. I had actually found out about this restaurant through Instagram! I think our eyes were bigger than our stomach this evening because we definitely ordered too much food for just the two of us.

The brisket was super delicious. It was full of flavor and really tender. The pork ribs were just as tasty and the meat practically fell off the bone, which is always good! I had ordered the sausage and it came with 3 different flavors. Sadly, I can't remember them right now, but I do remember they were mild, medium and spicy. I personally didn't care for the spicy one, but the other two flavors were delicious. Lyle, being the chicken lover he is, had to order the fried chicken. According to him and his sophisticated palate, the fried chicken had a unique combination of spices and was overall very tasty.

Last but not least, the mac and cheese. To say I love mac and cheese would be an understatement. I could eat it everyday, if there were no consequences. Before this sounds like we went here solely for the mac and cheese, let me just say that it was delicious. A+ for creaminess and the added bonus of crushed up BBQ chips on top. I probably would revisit JUST for that though. *Drools*

I applaud you if you got this far in the post. I'm sorry, I just have so much to say! If you plan to visit Portland one day, I hope this mini city guide helps you decide on some places to check out for food! Since this post was already pretty lengthy, I decided to put some dessert, coffee and beer places in another post. As always, let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading! :)

No comments

, by Unknown

lifestyle