Oregon Part One: The Food Scene

Our week of eating hard --- and walking harder through Oregon exceeded anything we had imagined. Our days were long, but every day brought new adventures.  This will be the first of a trilogy of posts. One for food, coffee & beer. One for water. And lastly one for land. There is really no way to fit it all in fewer. We saw some pretty spectacular things that I can't wait to share with you. Our trip to Oregon was a trip of a lifetime. It certainly was worth the long days of work, each picking up extra jobs and saving everything  we could to go and really enjoy. We've (ok me) already started dreaming our next adventure--- with the lil peanut in tow. Our adventures in life are only really beginning.   I was so silly to think this was the last one--- it's really just another one in our life of exploring and seeing this incredible world. I'm so lucky to have the  greatest travel partner in life. 

Ok. Enough mushy stuff time to get to the first post.

Eating our way through Oregon.

A voodoo doll donut that gushes its  red "bloody" jam when you bite in, probably exemplifies the eccentricity of Portland perfectly. The amount of food options in one city  is really mind boggling. It was really really hard to pick places to eat. We lucked  out though and had some  great eats. Everything from biscuits and gravy to Vietnamese wings.

Let's start in the city. If you can imagine  there is a coffee shop on literally  every block. Not just any coffee shop though. One that probably grew their coffee beans  on the roof and then roasted them inside. That might be a stretch---   but it's not far from the truth. Right off we would  say stumptown coffee was the  best. If you visit us in the next week we will probably brew you a cup. The atmosphere and the  flavor just couldn't  be beat.


I loved this little shop at the beach--- it was called sleepy monk. They made me the most amazing latte with caramel and chocolate whipped cream. HOMEMADE chocolate whipped cream. It was fabulous. We grabbed our coffee and headed to the beach. It kept us warm and was delicious!


We also had coffee which was ok at circleE. Doppio was a delightful shop in Hood River that we highly recommend. I especially loved  the leaf and chocolate Spoon on my latte. 



GRAVY was another coffee favorite--- you'll here more about it soon. It also had my favorite meal.

As far as donuts go, voodoo donut was not over rated. The maple donut with two huge chunks of bacon were hard to beat. The chocolate icing on my voodoo doll  was delicious and  yes, the  captain crunch berry was on point. 


We also checked out Blue Star Donuts and found a more refined donut. The were nice. Lighter and more "normal" flavors. But sometimes you just want that giant terrible donut. And it's SO good.



Mirror Lake certainly wins the award for BEST VIEW while EATING A DONUT!!!

While on the subject of sweets--- let me just say that Salt & Straw is awesome. SOOOOOO good and SOOOOO worth a trip. Go. If you are in Portland swing by. Its delicious, and they have great flavors.

Food trucks are everywhere in Oregon. We ate at 4! The  dump truck served up some stellar dumplings. "Cheeseburger"  was certainly  a notable  one. Ryan ordered an amazing lunch at one, with the  best chicken and rice I may have  ever tasted. We had the  best fries of  our life at a truck in Bend where Ryan also  had a burger/Reuben sandwich.

The Portland restaurants we ate  at were--

4)  Por Que No (tacos. Decent margaritas) seriously though, I can get better tacos and a much better margaritas a mile from my house---- I'm spoiled  though. Asheville is awesome.

3) Tilt. ("American food") Burgers. Biscuits. Etc. Its "Food for the working man" a local recommended it to us. It was really great food with a Cool industrial vibe.

2) GRAVY. (Stellar breakfast. 100% best biscuit of life! Yes. Better than biscuit head)

Finally the favorite: pok pok (Vietnamese type) this was on Ryan's list of go tos. It has won some  huge awards in the  food industry and did not disappoint. The menu is all original. If you go--- get the wings. Just do it and  enjoy. Oh get lot  of water too. It's spicy!

We hit up five breweries over the week all serving  up their own killer beer. Hard to say which was Ryan's  favorite, but I must admit the early had their own perk for  me! In Portland  we  went to Rogue. They make their  own cucumber soda. It was perfectly refreshing! Deusheutes brewery is good-- but was so busy it was hard to relax and enjoy. We also went to this super cool restaurant/bar/hotel in an old school! The school had been renovated to be saved into a hotel. They had a few different bars inside, The Honor Roll, Detention, and the Boiler Room. For whatever reason we ended up in the Boiler Room. It was a really cool spot where we just relaxed and enjoyed a drink (mocktail for me!).

 

At the coast  We went  to pelican brewery where they served the most incredible oysters of our life. We aren't  kidding.  These guys were fresh caught and  locally. They were huge! Beer battered and  fried. Oh man. It was Ryan's  favorite  meal of  the trip! If you find yourself in Tillamook, Or. check it out! 

The last brewery was in Hood  river. The  town Ryan and  I would  move  to...if it wasn't a solid  2,000 miles from family. We went to the favorite  brewery of the trip: double mountain. They made a killer root beer! And apparently a great saison beer. We picked us up a lil souvenir here that you will have to see  in person. They also make an amazing  pizza so certainly a great spot even if beer Is not your thing.

Shhhheesssshhh. That's a lot of food.  It really was all great. We had a huge realization though--- our food in Asheville is pretty stellar. Certainly on par with all the  places  we went. Makes us proud of our food scene at home.

So we ate a ton of food.... but we also walked a ton of  miles. Our motto: eat hard. Walk harder. Coming up will be the places we talked and  the incredible things we saw.