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Modern Times

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This week we are featuring a brewery! While it isn’t a super local hot spot, it has certainly found its home here in our beer centric city.

Modern times has a great list of beers. Ranging from year round favorites, like the hazy IPA and tropical fruit Gose, to the experimental and seasonal like the fresh hop double IPA or the Pistachio-coconut stout. You are sure to find something that you love here.

The staff are very friendly, knowledgeable, and the bar decor is decidedly hipster. You can find a giant piñata of a macho man hovering over the entire dining room, floppy discs in a colorful display adorn the bar front, and string art with dioramas line the walls to the bathrooms.

Whether you are a native Portlandian, a new transplant, or just visiting, this is a great place to get a taste of the new portland while you drink some delicious beer.

Let us know what you love about this place in the comments! And be sure to subscribe to the blog so you can stay up to date with all our favorite places and top tips. Talk to you soon!

Pancakes

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It’s National Pancake Day and we are HERE for it! But what are the most scrumptious spots in Portland for a stack, you ask? Read on for 5 of our faves.

  • Arleta Library Bakery Cafe 5513 SE 72nd Ave All of the baked, sauteed, or griddled grub here is phenomenal and the Semolina Griddlecakes are no exception. Plus, sometimes they have amazing seasonal pancake specials. Check the blackboard! https://arletalibrary.com/
  • Broder Multiple locations If you are looking for something outside of your traditional flapjack comfort zone, look no farther than the Æbleskiver (Danish pancakes) at one of the fantastic Broder locales. They are fluffy and delightful and served with lemon curd and lingonberry jam. https://www.broderpdx.com/
  • Gravy Locations in N Portland and NE Portland Breakfast foods are the focus at the two locations of Portland staple Gravy. They have several options to scratch that pancake itch, including Banana Chocolate Chip and Blueberry Pecan. http://gravyrestaurant.com/
  • Jam on Hawthorne 2239 SE Hawthorne With an extensive menu that features delicious breakfast options for all dietary walk of life, Jam even has Oatmeal Chai Blueberry vegan pancakes (that you may just order even if you aren’t vegan). Head there on a weekday to avoid the line. http://www.jamonhawthorne.com/
  • Slappy Cakes 4246 SE Belmont If your pancake proclivities lean towards the DIY but without the prep and clean-up, Slappy Cakes is the place for you. You can choose your batter and sweet or savory toppings, and then make your own fun pancake shapes on your personal griddle. https://www.slappycakes.com/portland

Did we miss your secret spot for the best pancakes? Let us know in the comments!

October Events

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This month is jam packed with great things to do! Check our list of events that we are most excited about for the month and be sure to subscribe to the blog to get this list every month! We will also be posting a list of best pumpkin patches and best haunted houses as we get deeper into the fall.

First Thursday in the Pearl

  • October 3rd 6-9pm
  • Portland Pearl district
  • 1321 NW Hoyt st, Portland

Free

Join us for an art walk through the Pearl District. Vendors line NW 13th ave, and many shops and galleries stay open for you to enjoy the art. We will be at our office pouring wine and would love to see you!

Portland Greek Festival

  • October 4-5-6th
  • Fri/Sat 10-10
  • Sunday 11-8
  • 3131 NE Glisan St, Portland

Free

Come experience the joy of living Greek! Three days of authentic Greek cuisine, music, dance, family and much more!!!

The Wedge

  • October 5th 12pm-6pm
  • 100 SE Alder St, Portland

Tickets here $20 advance

Taste and buy hundreds of cheeses, specialty foods, and craft beverages from more than 75 artisan producers.

Hood River Harvest Fest

  • October 11-13th
  • Friday 1-6
  • Saturday/Sunday 10-6
  • Hood River Event Site

Tickets sold at door $8

You can load up on boxes of Hood River favorites, including fresh pears, apples, pumpkins, berries and flowers, and a wide variety of local foods, from pies and jams to smoked salmon and chocolate-covered cherries.

Oddities and Curiosities Expo

  • October 19th 11am-6pm
  • Oregon Convention Center
  • 777 NE MLK Jr Blvd, Portland

Tickets here $10

Local and National vendors with items such as: Taxidermy, wet and dry preserved specimens, antiques, jewelry made from bones, skulls and insects, original artwork, skulls and bones, curiosities and all around creepy, strange and bizarre items

Haunted Beer Mansion

  • October 19th
  • Daytime party 1-4:30
  • Evening party 6:30-10
  • Jupiter Hotel
  • 900 E Burnside st. Portland

Tickets here $35-$40

Inside the mansion guests can imbibe in unlimited samples of over 30 craft beers, ciders, potions, and witches brew all while mingling with the tormented and the dammed who still haunt the mansion

Giant Pumpkin Regatta

  • October 19th 10am-4pm
  • Lake at the Tualatin commons
  • 8325 SW Nyberg St, Tualatin

Free

The West Coast Giant Pumpkin Regatta is one of the most anticapted events in the Northwest. Watch as costumed characters paddle enormous pumpkins across the Lake of Tualatin in a series of races.

Portland Night Market

  • October 25th – 26th 4-10pm
  • 100 SE Alder st, Portland

Free

Join us for the Fall Edition of the Portland Night Market! Over 175 vendors with great food, drinks, music, art, makers, merchants and community! 

Portland Mac and Cheese Fest

  • October 27th 1:30 or 4pm
  • Castaway Portland
  • 1900 NW 18th ave, Portland

Tickets Here $45

Unlimited gourmet mac & cheese offerings from some of Portland’s best chefs, restaurants and food carts! Food for both cheese lovers and vegans alike!

Vault

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This week’s Hot Spot is one of our favorite Portland destinations for craft cocktails: Vault Cocktail Lounge. Located in the Pearl district, this spot mixes up meticulously perfected drinks, from the classics to an array of seasonal features.

No matter what you order here, from the Vieux Carre (rye, cognac, sweet vermouth, benedictine, and bitters) to the Endless Summer (mezcal, Campari, passionfruit, and lime) you are bound to be delighted. And if nothing on their extensive cocktail list strikes your fancy (HOW?!?!?) the bartenders here know their stuff and can make you something amazing based on the flavor profile you are going for.

And speaking of bartenders, just one of the many charms of this place is Dan Dufour, one of my all-time favorite bartenders in town. It’s a big claim, yes, but just spend about 5 minutes chatting with this fella and you’ll understand. And if you need even more of an incentive to check this place out, every third Wednesday they host an event called Suit n Sip, where all are invited to don their finest duds and mingle in style. In quintessentially casual Portland, this is an opportunity to flaunt that fabulous suit or cocktail dress that may have been gathering dust, and is not to be missed.

Have you been to Vault yet? Is there somewhere we should check out next? Let us know in the comments!

Pix Patisserie & Bar Vivant

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Hot Spot of the Week

With the most extensive sparkling wine list and one of the finest dessert selections in town, Pix has been one of our favorite stop-ins for many years. Previously located in a Victorian home on SE Division, it was practically impossible to get in due to the small size and large popularity. Thankfully, a few years ago they moved to the larger space they currently inhabit on 22nd and E Burnside. We were recently reminded just how much we love this spot when we hosted our monthly Champagne meet-up on an evening that cleared up perfectly to allow us to mingle on the expansive patio.

We started out each choosing a different glass of sparkling, but quickly moved on to choosing assorted bottles to share so that we could compare and contrast the different regional flavors. The sparkling list at Pix is so long that we could easily come here for months and never repeat a bottle! Plus the costs aren’t prohibitive. While you could buy a bottle for a couple hundred dollars, there are also bottles as low as $28 that are still quite tasty.

A few of our group decided to indulge in some of the delicious tapas provisions from Bar Vivant before proceeding to dessert, including a perfect Spanish tortilla and a few quail eggs wrapped in prosciutto. Once our savory nibbles were done, it was time to sample some of the famous desserts. First off, the macaron selection here is incredible. They make somewhere around 30 different flavors and I have loved every one I have ever tried. This visit we went with the Fleur de Sel, Strawberry Balsamic, and Passionfruit, which paired surprisingly well with our Brut Champagne from the Loire region. If macarons aren’t your fave though, they have many other delectable sweets, like the fig filled with creme brulee and topped with gold leaf pictured above (hurry, it’s seasonal!).

Can’t wait until our next visit! Is there somewhere we should check out next? Let us know in the comments!

Farmhouse Kitchen

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This week’s Hot Spot is the delicious Farmhouse Kitchen. I have been wanting to try this restaurant since it opened back in 2017! I have been pretty scared by bad and mediocre Thai food however, so it can take some time before I am ready to jump in again. Luckily, I thoroughly enjoyed everything we tried!

The restaurant has an amazing patio mostly under a pergola adorned with wisteria flowers. Upon closer inspection the flowers are fake, which honestly is genius. They look perfect year round and there is no chance the petals will fall into the perfectly plated food. The tablecloths are vibrant and inviting, all set in a casual atmosphere to make you feel very welcome while you are dining.

We started off with an appetizer called Ahi Scoops. The pan-seared Ahi was topped with a chili lime sauce and some dill and served over sliced cucumbers and seaweed salad. They had a really nice spicy kick without being overpowering and was the perfect way to warm up our palettes for dinner.

We chose to share the fried rice with pork and Run Juan Seafood Sizzling, a plate of assorted seafood in a spicy sauce served with blue jasmine rice. The fried rice was mild and delicious and we were given a hearty portion. The seafood sizzle was quite spicy, but not to an excessive extent. The curry paste imparted a very deep and rich flavor that helped give the dish some real body. I do quite well with spice, but the rice was a much needed accompaniment.

We will definitely be venturing back here to try more dishes and check out some of the cocktails. Have you been to this great restaurant yet? What was your favorite thing you tried?

Is there somewhere that you think we should feature? Let us know in the comments!

Pizza

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There are few things in the world better than a good pizza. Portland has plenty of delicious places to get a good pie, so here are some of our favorites!

Oven and Shaker

1134 NW Everett St
Portland, OR 97209

This restaurant by 4 time James beard nominee Cathy Whims tastes as delicious as it looks. She uses local and fresh ingredients on her wood fired pizzas.

The Crown

410 SW Broadway
Portland, OR 97205

This New York style pizzeria by Vitaly Paley does sourdough crust better than anyone else in town. They have both classic pizza flavors and some fun northwestern twists.

Sizzle Pie

multiple locations in Portland

This is easily the best greasy pizza you can get in town, plus they are open very late! They always feature a vegan pizza, a specialty pizza, and the classics.

Lovely’s Fifty Fifty

4039 N Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR 97227

Lovely’s specializes in fresh locally sourced ingredients that are in season. Plus her pizza’s are frequently adorned with flowers making them look as lovely as they taste.

Ken’s Artisan Pizza

304 SE 28th Ave
Portland, OR 97214

These thin crust, wood-fired pizza’s are frequently touted as the best in Portland. Though they have long been in a battle with Apizza Scholls for the battle, I will let you decide.

Apizza Scholls

4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97215

These wood fired pizzas have won the hearts of many Portlanders, and for good reason. The dough is made fresh every morning and perfectly charred in the wood fired ovens. The pies are simple and classic, but delicious.

Pizzeria Otto

6708 NE Sandy Blvd
Portland, OR 97213

These Neapolitan pizza’s are covered in northwestern ingredients. You can find pizzas with foraged mushrooms, tails and trotters ham, and fresh heirloom tomatoes.

Char

4144A SE 60th Ave
Portland, OR 97206

This Foster Powell Neapolitan style pizzeria does wood fired pizzas all named after cats! They use fresh and local ingredients and change the menu frequently.

Did we miss your favorite? Let us know in the comments!

September Events

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Fall is coming to Portland or (hopefully) just a bonus month of summer! Here are some fun events around the city to keep you smiling no matter the weather.

  • Saturday/Sunday 9/7-9/8 Mini Maker Faire An awesome yearly event of tinkerers, creatives, crafters, and enthusiasts of all varieties, there is something for everyone to enjoy at this celebration of curiosity. OMSI 9:30am-5:30pm $16/day adult, $10/day youth https://portland.makerfaire.com/
  • Saturday/Sunday 9/7-9/8 Portland Dragon Boat Festival Hang out at the waterfront and watch as teams race stunning dragon boats along the Willamette. Beer garden and food vendors will keep your various appetites satisfied. Tom McCall Waterfront Park 8am-5pm Free
  • Wednesday-Sunday 9/11-9/15 FEAST Portland’s largest food event of the year is here, and includes classes, dinner series’ by celebrity chefs, ‘Drink Tank’ panels and much, much more. It’s also a fundraiser to combat hunger in Oregon and abroad. Locations, times, and ticket prices vary. https://www.feastportland.com/category/all-events
  • Friday-Sunday 9/13-9/15 Rose City Comic Con All things sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, cosplay, and delightfully nerdy pop culture, this event is fun for all ages and some of the best people-watching in town. Oregon Convention Center Fri 1pm-8pm, Sat 10am-7pm, Sun 10am-5pm, ticket packages vary. https://rosecitycomiccon.com/
  • Sunday 9/22 Sunday Parkways The final event of the Sunday Parkways series will explore a 7.6 mile loop in Northeast Portland. Bust out your bikes or ‘blades and enjoy live music and vendors as you wheel around the streets sans traffic. Jump in anywhere along the route, 11am-4pm Free. https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/67623
  • Friday/ Saturday 9/27-9/28 Oregon Burlesque Festival A festival of titillating teases, the Friday showcase features circus acts, neo, and comedy, while the closing Saturday evening show is the competition portion. Alberta Rose Theater, doors at 8pm, show at 9pm. $25/night or $40/two-day pass. http://www.oregonburlesquefestival.com/home/
  • Saturday 9/28 Oktoberfest at the Zoo A family-friendly celebration of all things German, there will be an Alpine band, games for kids, and vendors of German food and beers. You might even catch a glimpse of the Unipiper as he peddles past the penguins. Oregon Zoo, 4pm-7pm, adults $20/ youth $12.95. https://shop.oregonzoo.org/#/SpecialEvents/SpecialEvents

What events are you excited about in September? Post them in comments below!