BIG tiny World Travel

You’ve gotten the preliminary tour.

You’ve seen the local highlights.

Now, let’s talk about food.

Portland is known as a big foodie town.  We love our food.  And living here as long as we have, we have found our favorite spots.  So when we have guests, here’s where we take them.

Best Burgers

For the initial introduction into all that is Portland, we like to start gently with something somewhat familiar.  Therefore, we love Von Ebert.  A casual brewery, we can be social and chill over a couple of brews while nomming on burgers with bacon, bleu cheese, and balsamic blueberries (hey, it’s still Portland).

Honorable mentions: Deschutes, Dick’s Kitchen

Best Atmosphere

We love a joint where we can just hang with friends, have a drink or two, and chat about the good ole days.  In the summertime, the back patio of Teote simply can’t be beat.  With a fire pit, bowls of Latin American, meaty goodness, and tasty sangria, we can easily while away hours.  Try the diablo – it’s our favorite.

Note: Due to covid, Teote sadly stopped renting their back patio to save on costs. We hope that as things return to normal, perhaps they’ll reacquire it.

Best Happy Hour Food

I feel this needs to be split into two sections, as it’s hard to get both food and drink in one place.  For cheap eats, we frequent the Thai street food specialist, Khao San.  With a host of bites to share, it checks the box when we’re in the mood for some comfort food.

Best Happy Hour Drinks

Now this place is just fun.  Boasting an offering of at least 100 different kinds of martinis, Bartini has everything from sweet to savory, spicy to adventurous.  In the mood for a classic?  They have over 20 selections of gins and vodkas.  Want to try something new?  How about the Bird of Paradise (one of our favorites)?  Like it hot?  Try the Spicy Mango.  Ready for dessert?  We love the Snickertini.

If you find yourself a tad peckish, the adjacent sister restaurant, Urban Fondue, caters light fondue to their thirsty patrons next door.

And the best part?  Nearly all of their martinis are almost half off during happy hour.

Best Drinks

Now there are happy hour drinks, and then there are drinks.  While these don’t come at a happy hour price, they are done right, and they’re sure to make you quite happy.  By far, Jake’s (not to be confused with the related Jake’s Grill a few blocks away) has the best drinks in town.  Known for their Spanish coffees, they make a mean long island, and an even meaner Moscow mule (complete with ginger candy!).  When we want a good drink, we come here.  We’ve never eaten in the upscale restaurant, but we have visited their bar many a time.

Honorable mention: Huber’s

Best Breakfast

Now, if you survive your night on the town, you’ll be quite hungry in the morning.  I’ll warn you: Portlanders don’t eat breakfast.  This is a terrible disappointment to us, because we most certainly do.  In Portland, it’s all about brunch.  But take our advice: bust the doors on these places, because the later they open, the busier they are when they do.  Many will even have a line.

We love breakfast, and we have learned where we can go to have little to no wait.  Our go-to – for their menu that is entirely vegan (unless explicitly stated otherwise) and almost entirely gluten-free – is Off the Griddle.  Our favorite is the Feast Waffle.

Honorable Mentions: Besaw’s, Cheryl’s

Best Pizza

We are both gluten-intolerant.  Additionally, we’re mildly allergic to dairy.  So you can probably imagine pizza doesn’t enter our diets too frequently.  Fortunately, Portland really knows how to do gluten-free right.  So when we have a hankering for a pie, it has to be Mississippi Pizza.  They have the best gluten-free crust in town, they offer a tasty dairy alternative, and the rest of their toppings are artfully applied into delectable pies.  Our favorite is the Heart Stopper, though we’ll often go with our classic standby of pepperoni and pineapple (pineapple ALWAYS belongs on a pizza!).

Honorable Mentions: Sizzle Pie, Hotlips Pizza

Wow.. so much food!  And we still have so much more to share. Think we missed your favorite restaurant in town? Be sure to check out Part II of our favorite restaurants!

What are some of your favorite restaurants in your city?

Psst… do you love reading about food?  You might also enjoy these:

• A Glimpse of Italian Food
• A Culinary World Tour – 17 International Recipes
• Komakata Dozeu: Our Favorite Japanese Meal

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