Portland Travel Answers

You won't have trouble finding places to eat. Portland has the most restaurants per capita in the US. As a long time resident I suggest: (these are all in or close central downtown) a. Portland City Grill - on 40th floor of largest tower and has best city view. b. Ringside - the best steak house. c. Bangkok Palace - best Thai food in Portland d. Le Bistro Montage - good for meeting others/ people watching esp. late night.

I wish I had known about the Portland City Grill, oh well, next time. We enjoyed both South Park (nice wine selection and reasonable prices) and also Pazzo Restaurante at 627 SW Washington. Karl

Veritable Quandry has been on the west side of the Hawthorne Bridge for some decades now: http://www.veritablequandary.com/

Thanks all for you tips, it looks like we have plenty of choices.

I missed this post earlier. Sugar Mama's has the best Biscuits & Gravy in town; anytown, anywhere. Open 7 AM weekdays, 8 AM weekends. Closes at 2 PM or thereabout. Whatever you order, you will get a full plate. Coffee is, I think, fair trade. Fair trade or not, it is as good as any in town & better then most. Cups have no bottom. Corner of 13th & Alder. I'll try to have a phone number next time & one or two more suggestions. Where will you be staying?

thanks for the breakfast tip. we are staying at the Embassy Suites downtown.

Sugar Mama's, above, has online rave reviews. No surprise there. Off the beaten track, the surprise is that enough people have stumbled upon it to write those reviews. Their eclectic collection of coffee mugs should be enough to suit all of you. The coffee rocks. So do most of the tables, so rake care. They close @ 1 PM weekends. You can read or you could not possibly have posted your request, so you will almost certainly visit Powell's "City Of Books" on Burnside. Most visitors do. A block south on 11th is Kenny & Zukes. It was an instant hit with nearby white collar workers the day it opened its doors & has remained so ever since. If it can satisfy the voracious appetite of Homer Simpson, you should have no problems either. I still prefer to think of the downtown Embassy as the Multnomah Hotel, no more then a 5 minute walk; 7, tops. A few blocks further south from Powell's & closer to the downtown core area is the Main Library between SW 10th & 11th. Directly cross the street from the main entrance on 10th is the Virginia Cafe, with probably the longest history & most dedicated customers base of any downtown eatery. Its former home a block or so east is now a (?)illion dollar hole in the ground depreciating in value even as I write. Developers ran out of money. My best guess is that taxpayers are going to get stuck with the bill. Further east is the hub of the entire Metro area, our town square with a pretentious name too long to bother with. On the NW corner is a Starbuks, if that is to your taste. I visited one years ago & have seen no reason to return. A block further east past the Pioneer Courthouse,* after which the town square is named, is a vertical shopping mall. Underground is the sort of food court you are probably familiar with in Detroit; now commonplace in most such shopping malls. This has been fun; more later, perhaps. All of the above can be researched online except maybe the food court. When you've seen one, you've seen them all. * Don't let anyone kid you. No pioneer ever saw the Pioneer Courthouse. If they saw anything at that location, it would likely have been tree stumps.

"The Original" on SW 6th & Oak is hardly original, purporting to be a '50's style eatery, but is at least relatively new & featurs such All-American favorites as Beef Strogonoff. Menu & prices should please anyone from NYC to LA. Don't be surprised if you see NYC police cars parked nearby. The US Bank on Stark Street looks so traditional & safe, unlike modern versions that might look more like gas stations or churches, it is a favorite place to shoot commercials. "The Original" is a few short blocks from from the former Multnomah Hotel. All downtown blocks are compact on purpose, possibly because of wild rumors started by Lewis & Clark that Multnomah Native Americans here had webbed feet, The hotel is in fact situated in a nest of nearby eateries that might suit your stated needs very well. Plan ahead for a midnight snack. The VooDoo donut shop is only a few steps north on 3rd Avenue, but expect long lines daily.

Oh yes, you have lots and lots of choices. If what you have been told already isn't enough, be aware that we have a goofball free newspaper available every Wednesday in Portland called the Willamette Week. You will see their blue paper boxes all over downtown. They publish several restaurant guides every year, but the results can be found on their web site http://www.wweek.com/ in the "finder" section. It used to be just called "food Finder" but they changed that when they added a number of other activities. I'm not a big fan of the current method of organization on their web site, but looking at it should at least give you an idea of what is available in and around Portland, and what one eccentric publication thinks of various places.

I've added one last suggestion for two reasons: 1) If I eat out there, or at one of its clones, is where it will most likely be. 2) It is the only business I am aware of that that has adjusted to the new reality, that we have entered a period of deflation with no end in sight. It is not downtown, however, it is a half hour or so west in Beaverton. If you visited my VT alter-ego (IncogNeat-0) you may recognize it. I stole it from myself. Hometown Buffet is the largest family friendly buffet chain on the west coast. There are several outlets in the PDX metro area. Easiest to get to from the downtown hub, Pioneer Courthouse Square, is the one in Beaverton. Board the Blue MAX (Hillsboro) train on the north side of Pioneer Courthouse Square. Exit at Beaverton Central. Don't let the name fool you. Central Beaverton was the previous stop, Beaverton TC (Transit Center). A new concave condo fronted by a green parklike setting will greet you at Beaverton Central. Developers like to refer to it theatrically as "The Round." Nuts! It isn't even half round, it's concave, probably less then a third round. To the right is a wide pedestrian pass-through. Hometown Buffet is centrally located in a small strip mall visible from the other side of the pass through. Cross Hall Boulevard at the traffic light, then veer to the left. Ample parking. The link below can link you to a daily menu, start times, etc. Breakfast served on weekends only. Seniors get a sharp weekday lunch discount from 1-3 PM, subject to change at any time. Favorite Dish: Made to order omlets. Theme: American Phone: 505-627-0337 Address: 3790 SW Hall Boulevard 97005 Website: www.buffet.com

So next time I am in Portland I have to ask a Multnomah Native American to de-shoe to determine if, in fact, he does have webbed feet and also see if we can change the name of the building to the "curve" from the "round". A few months ago I even went to one of the food stands downtown by some park area and had periogis (sp?). One was meatish, the other cheesish, and I survived. Had I not been in Krakow a few months earlier for the VT euro meet I would not have known what a periogi was. Good eating... Karl