Portland, Oregon Location • Page 16

Appreciate the offer! I’d normally take you up on it but I’ve got some stuff I’ve gotta work on tonight

 

My wife and I will be in Portland in a couple weeks. I read through Jason's visitor's guide for the city and looked some other things up, but any good pizza recommendations or otherwise?

 

I really like Apizza Scholls on Hawthorne Blvd.

 

My favorite over the last couple months has been a neighborhood joint in NE called Vincenzo’s. One of those places that kinda prides themselves on using their authentic Italian family recipe, but you can really tell. Their sauce is elite. Full menu of other apps/entrees too. Be warned that they’re closed Sunday and Monday, and otherwise don’t open til 3:00.

 

+1 for Apizza Scholls, also Dimos on E Burnside

 

Both of those look awesome. Apizza Scholls, based on the name pulls on my fondness for New Haven Style. That is probably my favorite style of pizza in a vacuum. It can be hard to replicate though. The sauce being elite at Vincenzo's pulls on me too. I would consider myself a sauceman when it comes to pizza. It might just come down to what part of town we are in. We would likely be going to one of them on Friday or Saturday night. Not sure if either is tricky at those times. Guessing somewhat on a weekend night.

As an aside, I love how the city is broken up into four easy to understand quadrants. Makes figuring out relative location easy as an out-of-towner.

 

I second Dimos.

 

Adding Dimo's and Vincenzo's to my list of places to try.

 

Dimo's is also dropping apizza in their name too. I didn't realize New Haven style was out here. Very cool.

Separate question regarding bars. Are there many bars that are just bars and let you bring your own food?

 

Idk if it's like the best pizza in town but it's fun to go to Old Town brewery and book a tour of the Shanghai tunnels. It's a small lil tour but it's cute and novelty and has beer tasting included afterwards and you can order pizza and stuff. If you want an experience along with ur pizza

 

I tried to do that like two months ago and it happened the person that does the the tour left early that day lol. Been waiting til family comes into town again before giving it another shot

 

Looks like I got some Pizza places to check out.

 

Rhubarb season is upon us. This is the one time I'll be like plz @ me bro because I need to go around town and hunt for all the rhubarb things because it's tragically underrated. So far I've hit up the rhubarb themed pastry box at zuckercreme which was fantastic. And it's the time of year I go to salt and straw for the rhubarb crumble w/ toasted anise flavor. May go to Jen's pastries soon but I'm usually too lazy to get there while they're still open.

Speaking of zuckercreme, it's my fave gift type store in PDX and highly recommend. June is their strawberry museum month. Everything in there is adorable. Their pastry case is awesome with cute fun treats and they have ice cream and coffee/tea. They also have a small selection of thrifted clothing and it's where I got my cute pants that make me feel like a cozy librarian.

 

Cheese and Crack has a pretty good Rhubarb sundae going on rn. Pretty much just vanilla soft serve with cinnamon and oats and a rhubarb compote. A little heavy on the soft serve like all of their stuff but the flavors are there

 

Break Bread was a good lunch spot. It's right by our hotel, so seemed like a logical quick meal. Seems like the Rose Fair is setting up along the river. Is that any good?

 

I miss it so much.

Their old location was a couple blocks from me and they only recently moved down to where they are now. Been craving it.

 

One one hand I’m happy to not have to wait outside when weather is happening, bc it feels like they’re always behind on orders. But on the other, I definitely miss the charm of the lil window. New location is like three blocks from my office though which is daaangerous

 

Really enjoyed our time in Portland. We didn’t have time to do Mt. Hood/hiking, Beaverton, or the coast, but it was still fun. Portland has a lot of little things that remind me of other cities that I enjoy, which made for a homie feel while we were there. The general feeling and people remind me of the area I grew up in, which added to that homie feel.

Friday was Break Bread for lunch. Once we were done working we walked from our hotel in SW to Washington Park. It was nice seeing all of the old Victorian houses and the Timbers stadium. Swung on the swings in the park for a bit and then continued walking to the rose and Japanese gardens. Rideshared to the Hawthorne district for some vintage stores and walking around. Did dinner at Apizza Scholls. We then walked back to downtown and just walked around the Pearl District/NW area. Got ice cream at Cosmic Bliss and did a quick stop in Powell’s. Watched the fireworks along the river in SW. Had a couple beers at Yamhill pub before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday we drove to Eugene for the Prefontaine Classic, so that was our morning and afternoon. Had wanted to see that meet for a while and also did the short walk to Pre’s rock before driving back to the city. Did bar food and beers for dinner. Walked around and checked out some other spots.

Sunday, we got a quick 10 mile run in along the river. Made to sure to cross the river and see the convention center and Moda Center, as well as go by the Kimpton marina area that we otherwise would not have walked by. We did brunch at Cheryl’s on 12th. That wasn’t the intended plan, but multiple places were closed or had long waits, so at a certain point we just needed to find something. We made the decision to walk around the Alberta Arts District and the NE a little bit before getting a ride to Hawthorne. Had some ice cream in a mini baseball helmet at Dairy Hill. Stopped in a few places for drinks. On our walk back to SW, we had a drink at Away Days brewery. Grabbed dinner at Luc Lac and then went to the Rose City Fair, played some games, rode a few rides, and then had one last beer as the fair closed. We grabbed a seat and saw that Mt Hood finally made an appearance while the last cover band played their last notes. We just enjoyed our last moments in Portland together before grabbing our bags from the hotel storage and headed for the airport.

We both really enjoyed our time. The overwhelming positives outweighed the negatives for us. I think along with the things I mentioned doing outside of the city, I think if we had a little extra time we would have made our way up/out further in the NW to Nobb Hill, but time tends to be fleeting on shorter trips. Probably get there if we weren’t in Eugene all day. Kind of kept our footprint closer once we got back. That will be a priority next time, but I still think we got a lot done all things considered. We also traded some time walking as much as we did, but we both enjoy taking in a new place that way. Thank you for the recs and guides! We can’t wait to go back!

 

That’s a damn good day. Haha.
Also you were probably 4 blocks from me!

 

I'm still at quick 10 mile run

 

Right, that was so casually thrown in there lol. I’m proud if I’m not deceased after grinding out 3 on a treadmill

Glad you had a good time Michael! Luc Lac rules!

 

We walked most of that area. We turned around when it sort of dead ended by the curvy condos and the Fields Park. That’s a really nice area to live in general. I can definitely see the appeal. The little squares and parks are a nice touch. I told my wife it’s probably good we don’t live in that neighborhood bc I would probably be a Blazer season ticket holder lol.

 

I could have worded it better, but I thought mentioning the distance made sense with those landmarks. I do a lot of distance running and I grew up around it, so saying, “a quick run” is a habit. I try to be mindful, but it sometimes slips out.

 

Yeah they’re doing lots of construction work on that park right now so it’s basically unusable, that’s a good stopping place, you can get down to the waterfront, but basically that’s the “end” … we can almost see the park from our balcony, we live by the one you’d walk through with the little creek and grass steps.

 

i just recently moved to NW 12th and Marshall, tanner springs is my favorite park!