Adventures in Portland Round 2
We were just in Portland a minute ago, but our friend took a road trip from Seattle to Los Angeles so we decided to accompany him for the leg to Portland. We found some cool new things - a charming Airbnb cottage, a straight-from-Tokyo ramen place, the butteriest, flakiest homemade biscuit, and an Australian-run cafe with the BEST brunch and the chicest staff. First stop: Ace Hotel to pick up Ned.
ACE HOTEL PORTLAND
The Ace Hotel Portland is probably one of my favorite in their collection. It's in the beautiful old Clyde Hotel building with high ceilings, those walnut paneled walls, crown moulding, and this very relaxed, but elegant vibe.
ALBERTA ARTS DISTRICT TREEHOUSE
Our Airbnb is called the "Alberta Arts District Treehouse." It's next door to the owner's house, so we got to chat with him a little when he was out doing some yard work. I found out that he manages a winery outside of Portland and he was kind enough to leave us a bottle in the fridge for our arrival. He tore down the garage behind his property, which was also street facing, and built this adorable two-story loft cottage in its place. It was a Pinterest dream, with its butcher block countertops, scallop tiles in the powder room, rain shower, and even this book about Portland on the coffee table. Everything was so easy right down to the electronic keys we received through the Kevo app they day before.
AFURI RAMEN
In the evening, we went to the Central East District for dinner at Afuri Ramen in Portland. It is the restaurant's first location outside of Japan. It was featured recently on Bon Appetit's Top 50 Best New Restaurants for 2017, and now we know why. Let's just say we have a very picky eater in our group and even he was blown away. The ramen was the perfect amount of citrusy, salty, and fatty, the pork buns and the gyoza dumplings were indulgent, and even the vegetable sides had a nice smoky, roasted crunch.
PINE STATE BISCUITS
On Saturday morning, we went to a restaurant that I can only justify on vacation. Pine State Biscuits is a restaurant started by three dudes from North Carolina seeking to make the perfect biscuit. Well they did it. We each got a different one - southern fried chicken with pickles and honey, seared flank steak, and fried chicken and gravy. We are not dead, but that probably shaved a few years off and it was totally worth it.
PORTLAND GEAR
By the time we finished eating, a street fair had formed outside of the restaurant and the first thing we saw was Portland Gear's VW Camper. The sales guy said they bought the van on eBay for $6k and then added the decals for another $4k. I like to bring Josh presents when I go places (Filipinos call it "pasalubong"), so I thought a running hat could be good for those days when he just wants to shield his face from the sun (we totally have those in Seattle).
PARACHUTE HOME
Lyle forgot his sunglasses at his new friend's house, and since he may never see said new friend again, we had to get replacements from Warby Parker. When we arrived, I looked across the street and the heavens parted. Parachute Home, which does crazy good data-analytics-based advertising on social media has been coming through my Insta feed for awhile now, and WHAT DO YOU KNOW, they have a store that just opened in Portland and I was standing right across from it.
PROUD MARY'S COFFEE
Proud Mary is as hip as Portland gets. Because it's from Australia. Behind its anonymous charcoal gray facade is this beautiful open space where all the people who work there are all chic AF. Like celebrity daytime chic. Or Yohji Yamamoto fashion show chic. For example, our effervescent waitress was wearing a slouchy white tee, silk, high-waisted, accordion-pleated trousers, and a black bucket hat. And the blond surfer-looking host slicked back his hair, wore an oversized, rolled-up, denim jacket, long black shorts, what were probably Yeezy sneakers, and black athletic socks that barely covered his tattoos. Scene aside, THE FOOD WAS BOMB. I had the grilled asparagus, soft parmesan pudding, grilled corn bread, and poached free-range egg, but I would have died happy eating anything there.
In short, I LOVE Portland.
