I just spent a week eating my way through Portland led by great
tour guides, and I don’t even know where to begin. I am very lucky to have
food-centric friends in food-forward cities, and Portland is one lovely-such
place with a very specific food scene. So much originality and FUN. A lot of
counter-service restaurants. You know, the kind where you bus your own table.
Self-serve water stations in an amazing array of spigots and jugs and even one
large, stainless-steel fusto. I’m not going to lie – a week without ice was
pretty rough – but I embraced it…and it was wonderful.
I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when I
ventured to the west coast. I knew I would be sampling a lot of the local fare,
and I was armed with a few recommendations from Food Network-watching east
coasters. But nothing could have prepared me for the sweetness and delectation
that is Portland. Everything is fresh. Interesting. Full of pop and zing. In
seven days of nonstop eating (no, really), I had only two mediocre meals…and by
standards everywhere else, “Portland mediocre” is still pretty good.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be reviewing these restaurants in
standard “Average Jo” fashion, asking the core question, “Would I come back
here?” Or, as my friends Chris and Nathan quipped, “Would I second-date this
place?” It’s true that I treat restaurants like potential lovers, and while I
have no immediate plans to move to Portland, I would second-date a lot of these
restaurants. I want to share them with you, in the hopes that you develop a
romance with food and with Portland. A city where everyone smiles. Where
strangers are helpful. Where you’ll never get kicked off a table when you’re
lingering too long.
Get ready for a sexy food adventure…welcome to Portland.
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