We spent last weekend in Portland. I love Portland; I love all the little neighborhoods with amazing coffee shops, restaurants, bars, shops and live music EVERYWHERE! Usually when we go down we spend time with family,
relax, eat delicious homemade meals and maybe go out to breakfast. It can be insane to take all three kids (Lily, Sam and Jasper) out to eat. You know how it is, even if the number of adults outnumbers the amount of kids, the adults are still outnumbered, always. It has nothing to do with Mathematics, if you have kids, you know what I’m talking about.
Since Greg’s birthday is coming up and there are always a million places Greg and I want to try when we are in Portland, we decided to splurge on a mini-overnight date without the kids. Yay!
Greg and I pretty much mainlined our way through SE and NE Portland eating delicious meal after delicious meal, and drinking amazing beers, wine and coffee. I’m still coming down from the high. I love my kids, but boy is it nice to get away once in awhile and not be the mom, the housecleaner, the laundry lady, the cook, you know, all good things, but sometimes the person I get to be with Greg, when no one else needs anything, gets lost in all of those other parts of me.
The weather was perfect! I mean are we having an amazing Pacific Northwest summer or what!? I know we need rain, but I have been warm since April. That’s almost four straight months of not frozen toes; I’m loving it!!
After we left the kids with Kevin, Tricia, Sam and my dad, Greg and I had a late mini lunch at Ground Breaker (formerly Harvester) all gluten-free restaurant and brewery. We discovered their beers up in Everett last year and they are amazing!! They use chestnuts and teff and sorghum and honey and all kinds of interesting, tasty ingredients to make their beers taste like real beers.
We stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton in NE Portland right next to the Convention Center. Initially I thought we wanted to stay in Downtown Portland because we never have. But the cheapest hotel we could find was over $500/night. Yes, $500/night for a hotel in Portland, Oregon. I kind of expect to pay that in Manhattan or Napa Valley, not Portland. The DoubleTree was less than half that and it’s a really nice hotel in case anyone is interested. It’s also right next to the Max Light Rail which makes it easy to get around the city. But Greg and I didn’t use the Max at all because we took Uber everywhere.
I’m probably slow to catch up when it comes to things like Uber, because I live in Everett where nothing happens and there’s nowhere cool to go (can you tell how much I love Everett?) but it made our night in Portland, bopping around from one place to the next, super easy.
You request a car through the Uber App on your cell phone, a driver shows up and chauffeurs you to your destination, and then your credit card is charged. No hassle, no cash involved, no worries about parking, and you can leave the designated driving to Uber in case you are drinking. We used it three times that night and each time the driver picked us up within 2-3 minutes of our request. For all three rides we spent about $30.00 total. I know Uber has absolutely nothing to do with food (my obsession) or drinks, or live music, but it was one of the best parts of the night for the simple reason that it removed all the stress of driving in busy traffic, parking in a city with limited parking, and we could both enjoy the spectacular wine pairings with our dinner at Roe.
If anyone is in Portland or visiting and can splurge on dinner at Roe, do it. It’s a tiny space in the back of Block & Tackle on Division. We did the four course dinner with wine parings and it was one of the most amazing meals of my life. If you’re looking for a large menu with huge portions of cheesy burgers and fries, this is not your place. Aside from the bread and dessert, each course was fish or seafood, some of it raw, some of it barely cooked or poached with all kinds of flavors bursting forth thanks to things like wasabi tobiko, wild onion blossoms and melon-sake gazpacho. And the wines were amazing!! I love it when someone else tells me what to drink with what I’m eating and it pairs perfectly. Amazing meal, seriously worth the price!
After dinner we took Uber to Revolution Hall to listen to Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and honestly I’m not sure which was better, the dinner at Roe or the live music at Revolution Hall. Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans was outstanding!!! One of the best musical acts I’ve heard in my life.
The next morning we went to Tasty n Sons in NE Portland for breakfast and another spectacular meal. The chicken liver mousse on the bread board was so amazing I wanted to buy some to bring home. Alas, they wouldn’t sell me any. Guess I’ll have to go back!
The kids had a blast with their cousin Sammy, playing, watching Sponge Bob movies, having water balloon fights and eating Uncle Kevvy and Aunt Tricia’s homemade cinnamon rolls the next morning. They were in Heaven.
I took absolutely no pics of the food from any of the restaurants because I didn’t have my camera with me or my phone out at all, and you know what, it was awesome. I just enjoyed eating great food and talking to Greg.
Tricia says
Loved our time with you and the kiddos 🙂 I’m so glad your night out was so great 🙂
Sara Ohlin says
Tricia! Let’s do it again soon! You and Kev can escape!!