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Clark Lewis

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This week we tried the farm-to-table restaurant Clark Lewis. They just recently remodeled and reopened for dine-in service so we were thrilled to try it out! The first thing we noticed was how open the restaurant felt. Like many other restaurants in Portland they have taken up some parking spaces to use as a patio, but they also have massive roll up windows that allow the whole restaurant to be an open air dining space.

It isn’t often that we have a lunch this classy so we decided to really treat ourselves and test out many of the items on the menu. We, of course, started with a half dozen oysters while looking over the rest of the offerings and deciding on a cocktail. Because Clark Lewis focuses on fresh and local ingredients I decided to try the marionberry margarita. It was perfectly tart and tasted exactly like you would expect limes and fresh marionberries to taste. There was a slight tequila kick to remind you that you were having a cocktail and it was very refreshing on this hot summer day.

The Food

For lunch we decided to share a couple of different salads and a wood-fired pizza. We tried a watermelon and beet salad with a horseradish vinaigrette, a frisée salad with black plums and a dill vinaigrette and a salmon salad with kale and mama lil’s peppers. All of the salads tasted as though you had just picked the vegetables from the garden and the vinaigrettes were subtle enough to just pull all of the ingredients together. The salmon with the Kale salad was some of the most tender and flavorful salmon I have ever had and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

For the pizza, we decided on the loaded veggie. With a garlic oil base, green olives, mushrooms, artichokes and Parmesan cheese, this pizza was delicious. It was a little salty, but in a way that just made you want to eat more, kind of like a potato chip!

There were also pastas and paninos on the lunch menu and with the food as good as it was, we will definitely have to go back and try it again. The dinner menu also looks to be quite impressive. Let us know if you have been here yet and until next time, Cheers!

Ecliptic Brewing

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This week we are featuring one of our favorite breweries and restaurants. With space themed decor and beer Ecliptic Brewing is just a fun place to visit for the whole family. They are currently only offering patio dining, but they have converted the entire parking lot into space for tables so there is plenty of space (pun intended).

Ecliptic also offers a wide variety of beverages, there is a full bar and some local wines to choose from. The real star, though, is of course, the beer. John Harris has been an important NW brewer since his early days at McMenamins. He then moved to Deschutes and Full Sail before finally opening his own brewery.

He doesn’t play it safe with his beer either, depending on the time of year that you visit, you can get almost every style of beer available. I love a fruity sour, there were multiple choices on the menu so I tried the the Carina Peach Sour. With the hot weather we also wanted to try a crisp and refreshing beer so we opted for the Ecliptic-Ruse Collab Pilsner. Both beers were refreshing, delicious, and exactly what we were expecting of the style.

Ecliptic Beers

Ecliptic has by far the best food menu of all the breweries. They focus on fresh and seasonal ingredients and switch up the menu often. This summer they are offering little gem salad, street corn and seared albacore tuna. You can also order one of their many burgers or sandwiches. They always have a great burger, but they are currently also offering a beet melt with goat cheese and granny smith apples and a salmon burger with avocado and jalapeño aioli. Head over to the website to see the full menu.

If you aren’t quite ready to head out to a restaurant you can order the food to go or have some beer delivered! You can order your beer HERE. Have you tried the beer/food yet? What did you enjoy most?

Want to check out our other hotspots? You can find those HERE

Tamale Boy

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This week we are once again highlighting one of our favorite restaurants, Tamale Boy! After searching for restaurants that were offering both dine-in service and patio tables we were left with very few options. Most dine-in restaurants have very few tables and are only seating with a reservation. We didn’t plan far enough ahead for that, so when we saw Tamale Boy on the list, we knew exactly where to go. They have 2 locations, one small location attached to Labrewatory on N Russell, and a larger location on NE Dekum. Ne Dekum has a huge patio and was just what we were in the mood for.

Tamale Boy Patio tables

While we were deciding on what to order we started with a side of house-made guacamole. I love Tamale Boy’s guacamole because they add a dried chile oil to give it a bit of spice, and roasted sunflower seeds for a nice crunch. For dinner I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and actually order a tamale. I decided on the Norteño tamal frito. A deep fried tamale with chile verde, served with black beans and 2 over-easy eggs. The flavor in the tamale itself was absolutely divine and with the beans and eggs it was a very filling meal. If you want to check out the menu or order ahead, you can do so HERE

We loved Tamale Boy this week, have you been to support this business yet? We definitely recommend you visit, whether you are ready to venture out or wanting to get some take-out for home. What have you been loving? Let us know your favorite local spot in the comments so we can support them (and our tastebuds)!

Cooking

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We are still stuck inside and with dine-in restaurants being closed for the foreseeable future in Oregon, now is the perfect time to pick up a cooking hobby! I am a total foodie, and while I prefer to have other people cook for me, I can also whip up a pretty tasty meal. Below are some of my favorite recipes for cooking, baking, drinking, or throwing yourself a mini dinner party! You could even have your friends cook the same meal and do a virtual dinner party via Zoom, Skype, or Google!!

Easy Meals

I’m a mom of a toddler, so easy is basically my go to these days. These recipes taste delicious, are quick, and don’t involve too much prep work!

  1. Salmon Bowls
  2. Super simple grilled salmon, tossed with healthy veggies with a Mediterranean flair. Easy and super healthy too!

Recipe

  1. Shrimp Tacos
  2. Grilled shrimp topped with simple fresh ingredients for a great punch.

Recipe

  1. Chicken and Dirty Rice
  2. Super flavorful one-pot meal with chicken thighs and andouille sausage.

Recipe

Slow Roasts

Sometimes you just need to let things simmer. I love my Dutch oven and firmly believe that everything just tastes better after it has cooked for 3 hours. These are my top slow-cooked choices!

  1. Pork Green Chile Verde
  2. Slightly spicy, super meaty, crazy tender pork, just the way a good green chili should be. Pro tip – shred up the pork after its cooked, it’s even more tender that way.

Recipe

  1. BBQ Pot Roast
  2. This pot roast came out so much better than I anticipated. It is amazing on its own or fantastic on sandwiches!

Recipe

  1. Braised Short Ribs
  2. Wolfgang Puck knows how to cook, so you can bet that this will be one of the best meals you have ever had.

Recipe

Dinner Party Ideas

It is almost my birthday, and because we are still social distancing, I plan to have a little dinner party for myself. Here are 3 multi-course meals that I have made before that turned out phenomenally! You could always practice some of these recipes and then have a celebration with friends when we can finally see each other again!

  1. Traditional NW Meal
  2. 4 course meal with pretty simple recipes to help ease you into hosting a full blown party (for yourself or your family)

  1. Mexican Inspired Meal
  2. 4 course meal with some of my favorite Mexican flavors. This is one that is simple to pull off but is sure to impress!
  1. Citrus and Seafood Meal
  2. This one is easily my favorite, but it does require some cooking skills to pull off the protiens. This can be done as the full 7 course meal, or you can take out one salad and one entree to make it 5 courses.

Baking

Maybe cooking isn’t really your thing and you would rather whip up something sweet? Here are some of my favorite things to make when I feel like spoiling myself.

  1. Lemon and Raspberry Macarons
  2. These aren’t exactly easy to make, but they are delicious and I have total faith in your baking skills.

Recipe

  1. Key Lime Cheesecake
  2. Key lime pie, and cheesecake are easily my 2 favorite desserts, so why not mash them up? Also DO NOT use regular lime juice, you will do this dessert a serious disservice.

Recipe

  1. Amaretto Apple Crisp
  2. This is so so so good, I think I have made it 6 times. Pro tip – add some Amaretti cookies to the crisp to really make the amaretto flavor shine!

Recipe

Cocktails

Lastly, if you really don’t actually want to spend a bunch of time cooking in the kitchen, we have you covered with some of our favorite drinks! If you don’t want to go and buy special things to make drinks, we also have you covered. THIS WEBSITE will send you recipes that match what you already have at home…it’s a game changer.

French 75

Literally what your dreams are made of.

  • 1.5 oz gin
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • 1 oz simple syrup
  • 1/4 C sparkling wine
  • Shake gin, lemon, and simple syrup over ice for 30 seconds, top with sparkling wine.

White Peach Sangria

It’s the perfect no fuss sunny day beverage.

  • 1 bottle pinot gris
  • 1/2 cup Peach Vodka
  • 1/2 cup Peach Schnapps
  • 1 cup soda water
  • 3 sliced peaches
  • 1 cup raspberries
  • combine all ingredients and serve over ice. If you want it to be more boozy, soak the fruit overnight in the peach vodka.

Perfect Margarita

Honestly, this one is hard to beat.

  • 2 oz white tequila
  • 1 oz cointreau
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • 1/2 oz agave syrup
  • combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Strain and serve over fresh ice with a lime wedge.

Hopefully this will all keep you busy for at least a week while we put together another list of great things for you to do! If you missed the last couple weeks we did: Netflix Binges, Books to Read, and Running Playlists.

As always please stay safe and healthy and know that if there is anything we can do for you, we are definitely still here to help!

Pizzeria Otto

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We headed out to try some pizza this past week, and in a city that has SO much pizza, we really dug this place! Located in the hip Foster-Powell area this Neapolitan pizzeria does things a bit differently. The crust is soft and very thin. We typically think of thin crust pizzas as being slightly crisp, or perhaps chewy, but you can hardly even call the dough of this pizza a crust. They flash-cook the pizza in an incredibly hot wood-fired oven. This results in a crisp bubbly ring around the edges and a slightly gooey center.

Pizzeria Otto, neopolitan Pizza

We wanted to see what else they had to offer so we also tried a beet salad and one of their lunch paninos. The beet salad was fresh with a bright citrus dressing and a creamy goat cheese. It was everything that you have learned to love and expect from a good beet salad. The panino was surprisingly more like a pita made of pizza dough, but so delicious! They stuff the bread with salami, Italian dressings, Lil Mama’s peppers and tons of arugula.

The food wasn’t the only thing that we liked about this cool new location. The dining room is spacious, minimalist, and they have huge windows which let in tons of natural light. I could easily spend all day in this restaurant because it has a great vibe.

Pizzeria Otto Dining Room

We enjoyed everything that we tried and definitely plan on going back to check it out again. We went for lunch and learned that they offer happy hour pricing from 11am to 5pm. So go and get a personal pizza and a glass of wine for cheap for your next lunch date!

In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, Pizzeria Otto is offering takeout pizzas and salads, just call ahead, order, and support your local businesses through these hard times!

Website, menu, and order number can be found here.

Voysey

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This week we checked out the elegant speakeasy cocktail bar Voysey! This basement bar can be found by following the red light down the stairway at the back of Loyal Legion. If you don’t have a curious mind, you may not have even known this plush cocktail lounge existed.

Voysey Portland, that portland life

Voysey is run by veteran female bartenders and bar managers serving up their own personal cocktail recipes as well as fun twists on some of the classics. As a result, everything on the menu is very thoughtful. If you are not in the mood for cocktails the menu is simple – 5 beer choices and 5 wine choices with a little something for everyone.

Voysey speakeasy in Portland

There are lots of cozy seating areas and a strong vintage vibe. Pink and red lights add to the ‘old-world’ vibe of the space. The bartender who served us was incredibly friendly, checked in on us just often enough to keep our drinks full, and was super knowledgable about all things cocktail.

We will definitely be going back to check out more of the drinks! If you want to keep current with what they are doing, check them out on Facebook!

Have you been yet? Had you even heard about it? Let us know what you think in the comments!