My East Coast Tour: First Stop, Boston

I just had the joy of taking 12 days to travel down the East Coast, Boston to NYC to Washington, D.C. When people asked why I was going, I answered, "Because I can." I wanted to visit my friends and bookstores and cupcake shops and food trucks in these cities. So I did and here's what I found.

Pomodoro: [website]
Upon arriving in Boston, my friend Kristin and I (sans her husband Eric who was studying) had dinner before hitting the "Leave It To Bieber" at the Improv Asylum. I chose a pasta dish with Tuscan white beans, arugula, tomatoes, etc. It was delicious and worth the price.

In A Pickle: [website]

I needed a lunch spot on Friday and Eric recommended this local place in Waltham. I made Kristin jealous by going there; she hadn't been there yet (which has since been remedied). Being on a grilled cheese kick lately, I got the Wasabi Grilled Cheese without the bacon. I took it across the street to the common. It was like having a picnic in Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls, anyone?).

Peace o' Pie: [website]
Kristin had a Groupon for this vegan pizza place but she forgot to use it. It's a good thing that we loved the pizza; she and Eric can go back and have more pizza. We had two pizzas and I think one of them was the White Pizza. (Harveys, do you remember which we had?) Either way, they were delicious!

The Friendly Toast: [website]
This might have been my highlight of this Boston trip. Because the toast is amazing. Seriously, best toast I've ever had. I ordered the Egg-In-A-Hole, eggs in toast. I couldn't eat all the toast, though I really, really wanted to. I would have even wrapped it up and taken it with me. Why didn't I?

This restaurant is fun and kitchsy. And there's a wait on weekends. And the toast is too friendly.

Harvard MIT Coop: [website]
The first bookstore in my bookstore tour. I found my nieces' next book in the Good Night series, Good Night Boston.

Meadhall: [website]
Saint Of Circumstance IPA, enough said. One-of-a-kind brew, never to be duplicated.

Harvard Coop: [website]
Off to Harvard Square we went and to bookstore #2, Harvard Coop. No books purchased but I did find Press Here, a book I purchased later on my trip for my soon-to-be 5-year-old niece.

Pinkberry: [website]
Kristin's inaugural visit, which was hard to comprehend. I had the Original with kiwi and strawberries because sometimes it's hard to pass up what I know. (Though now they have the Salted Caramel flavor, and I might need to try that ASAP.)

Raven Used Book: [website]
One last bookstore for the day, in Cambridge also. It was small but had a good selection. And it was nice to hear the shopkeeper (is that word too dated?) talking books with the folks who came in.

Brookline Booksmith: [website]
We continued the bookstore down in Coolidge Corner. Loved this shop too with good bargain books in the basement. We spent a good deal of time poking around here.

Finale: [website]

Before dinner we stopped for dessert. Mmmmmm. Finale has a good selection of delicious looking pastries. I had the coconut cream tart. It was good but I think Kristin extra chocolatey goodness won the dessert war.

Green Dragon Tavern: [website]
For dinner we trekked downtown to the Green Dragon Tavern. On its sign out front, The Green Dragon says that it's the Headquarters of the Revolution. We ended up doing some Google searches via the smartphones (iPhone & Android) to get more information. We discovered this wasn't the original location of The Green Dragon were the headquarters were located; that pub was demolished. But we could still imagine the revolutionaries meeting in the basement of this tavern that's off the main street.

I had the Martha Washington Burger, substituted with a veggie burger. It was delicious.

Eric, Kristin and I continued our tradition of taking a window seat to watch the people go by. And to play our game of stare-people-down-and-see-if-they-look-back. Always fun. We believe that our presence in the window seat, eating delicious looking food and having a good time laughing, drew the crowd in because when we got there, it was quite empty. But when we left there was quite a crowd.

Also, there was a wooden Minuteman out front. And it was quite funny to watch the people walk by and take pictures of the tavern and take pictures of themselves with the Minuteman. I did too!

Thinking Cup: [website]
A new favorite! This coffee shop is across the street from Boston Common. Good coffee and good atmosphere. My cafe au lait was delicious.

This concluded the Boston portion of my East Coast tour. Monday morning I jumped the train to New York City. Thank you, Amtrak, for a quick (4-hour) and easy ride to Penn Station.

Portlandia, Visit #2

My friend Leslie is a photographer. [website] A real good photographer. Though I might be biased. But I don't think so.

Leslie had to travel to Portland, OR, to do a photo shoot with the founder of Imbibe magazine, Karen Foley. And I am Leslie's TOP lighting assistant and free to travel as I please, so I joined her. We worked a total of two hours on a Saturday afternoon. So the remainder of our time together from Thursday afternoon through Tuesday morning was spent eating, drinking and vintage shopping our way through Portland. I actually arrived a couple days earlier to spend time with my friends Shelby and Russ who we stayed with.

Let me recap some of the great places we visited...with some of Leslie's photographs to illustrate...

MONDAY, JAN. 10

Bagdad Theater & Pub: [website]
It was the BCS Championship Game between the Oregon Ducks and Auburn Tigers. I wasn't for either team but being in Oregon, I was caught up in Duck Fever for one night.

Bagdad is one of the McMenamin's in Portland. Therefore, we had beer and the cajun tater tots. While seated around one of the pool tables as real estate was at a premium for the night.

Going to a McMenamin's? Get the tater tots.

TUESDAY, JAN. 11

Tin Shed Garden Cafe: [website]
Today's brunch was provided by Tin Shed. I loved the menu: customizable for vegans and vegetarians. I love eating in Portland. I needed protein so I went with the basic two eggs over easy. But they came with some delicious vegan sausage, biscuit and potato pancake.

The setting is really casual. Get your own coffee. Delicious food.

"Hood to Coast": [website]
We went to the premiere of the documentary "Hood to Coast" at a local Regal. (Later in the week we got to a smaller local, non-franchise theater.)

The movie was well-done and inspirational for runners, like my novice self that is training for the Country Music half-marathon. It tells the story of the famed relay run from Mt. Hood outside Portland to the Pacific Coast, following four different teams. Check it out if you can.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12

The Dragonfly Coffee House: [Yelp]
Russ had a physical therapy appointment so Shelby and I visited The Dragonfly for our morning coffee and office time. Shelby swears by the honey & cardamom latte; I tried a sip and it was delicious. I normally only ever drink black coffee or an Americano but for some reason when I get to Portland, I have lattes, all the time. Maybe because baristas there know how to make them. So I tried the honey & almond latte; it was very good. And I needed a snack so I went with the gluten-free energy bar, which was an excellent choice.

The Dragonfly has pretty good seating options and the staff was friendly.

Piazza Italia: [website]
We did Italian for lunch in the Pearl District. It appeared to be a popular lunch spot among the businessmen crowd in the neighborhood. Fancy table settings with random decor. The vegetarian options were a bit limited as Italians like to add proscuitto and such to their pasta. I tried the penne with pesto and it was just OK.

Cool Moon Ice Cream: [website]
We decided we needed a sweet dessert after our lunch. At the end of the same block as Piazza was Cool Moon. They have handmade ice cream which include some unique flavors. I had the Kulfi flavor, which was pistachios and cardamom. Real good.

THURSDAY, JAN. 13

Pine State Biscuits: [website]
Leslie arrived! And with her a list of new food and drink and vintage shops. She consulted a "Best Of Portland" list before flying out and we knew we needed to try much of what was on that list.

We started with Pine State Biscuits. Leslie had seen the chicken biscuit on the website, walked right up to the counter and ordered it. She said it was a good as she imagined it to be.

The Regina at Pine State Biscuits

I went with The Regina, egg over easy with braised greens doused with Texas Pete Hot Sauce (pictured). An egg with hot sauce? Yes, please.

And they serve Stumptown coffee. There's limited seating so once you're finished eating, clear your plates and give someone else the chance to enjoy.

Pok Pok: [website]
This was a return visit for me. Shelby and I went to Pok Pok on my visit last March. But it was on Leslie's list and we loved it so much, we knew she had to go. We were anticipating a wait, which would mean a visit across to Whiskey Soda Lounge (we were OK with that). But there was no wait.

I had the Papaya Pok Pok, vegetarian style. A signature dish. It was hot! I like spicy but this about knocked me out. I couldn't even finish it. If I had a glass of milk or two, I could have eaten the whole dish. I also had the Salted Plum Vodka Collins. It was good but salty; consider yourself warned.

Noble Rot Wine Bar: [website]
Rather than do dessert at Pok Pok, we paid a visit to Noble Rot, which offered a nice view of downtown Portland.

We had to wait for a few minutes for a table but as we did so, we sampled a red wine flight to see what we might like to have with dessert. All I remember about the three wines is that I didn't really like any of them and ended up ordering a glass of the Peter Lehmann Shiraz, which I was very pleased with. I also ordered the Persimmon Butter Cake with plum puree. So good!

FRIDAY, JAN. 14

Coffeehouse Northwest: [Yelp]

Russ flew back into Portland around noon. As we drove to PDX to pick him up, we stopped at Coffeehouse Northwest (from Leslie's list) for a coffee. Again, I went with a latte and it did not disappoint.

Grilled Cheese Grill: [website]

The Grilled Cheese Grill is a food truck with a seating area in an old school bus. I think Leslie was looking more forward to this place than anything else on her list. And rightly so. Who doesn't love a grilled cheese, especially on a gray, chilly Portland day.

Me & The Pops

We had glanced over the menu for the iPad while killing time at the coffee house. In that moment I decided to have The Pops, havarti, tomato and honey mustard on Dave's Killer Cracked Wheat. I think I inhaled that sandwich; it was so good.

Bamboo Sushi: [website]
We attempted to go next door to Ken's Artisan Pizza but the wait time was 1.5 hours. Bamboo was only 45 minutes (felt like less). Another return visit for me. I remember having the best vegetarian sushi rolls ever here - and I had them again. The Green Machine and 180 rolls, along with the Pickled Plum, did not disappoint. I also tried the local Deschutes Green Lake Organic Ale, delicious.

SATURDAY, JAN. 15

Broder: [website]
Not on Leslie's list, but on our list, we had brunch at Broder. There was a wait but the nice deal (especially with the morning rain) is that they have a waiting area next door. You sign in and they have coffee available.

Once seated, I skipped the latte (had one last time and it was good!) and went with a cafe au lait. I went with two baked eggs and potato pancake. It comes with walnut toast which is so delicious; I need to find a recipe to make at home. Shelby also order the Danish pancakes (pictured above right); they look like donut holes. With lemon curd and lingonberry jam. Amazingly delicious. All of it.

Rock 'n Rose Vintage + New Clothing: [website]
I found a cute dress which I debated over. (I ended up going back and buying it.)

Rogue Ales Public House: [website]

We ate dinner at home before taking Leslie on a small tour of local breweries, starting with Rogue. I went with the Dead Guy Ale (pictured left). And with my Rogue Nation citizen card got a discount. Who doesn't love a discount?

Deschutes Brewery & Public House: [website]

We walked down to Deschutes, which was pretty slammed being a Saturday night and all. We found some real estate in the bar area and ordered sweet potato fries. Deschutes has good ones! Leslie and I split a sampler of six: Black Butte Porter, Green Lakes Organic Ale, Nitro Obsidian, Super Jubel, Headwaters Hefeweizen and Crown Point Brown. The best tasting was the Headwaters Hefeweizen, which is an unusual choice for me.

SUNDAY, JAN. 16

Barista: [website]

This day might have been our best day in terms of food and drink. Barista was another coffee shop from Leslie's "Best Of" list. I changed it up today and went with the Americano and a blackberry danish; neither disappointed.

Cine Magic: [Yelp]
It was a rather rainy day so we decided to catch a movie. I had been attempting to see "Black Swan" for weeks and convinced Shelby and Leslie to see it. We found a good matinee time at the local Cine Magic on Hawthorne, the kind of theater where they show one movie at a time.

Movie review: Natalie Portman did an amazing. The movie itself was dark and disturbing with more blood than I anticipated. It was good but hard to watch.

Potato Champion: [website]

Since we were in the neighborhood and had time to kill before Ken's opened (we were determined not to wait this time), we visited the Potato Champion food truck. It was on Leslie's list but we had also been on my previous visit so it didn't take much convincing to go. We just split a small cone of fries with curry sauce for dipping. You can't go wrong there.

Ken's Artisan Pizza: [website]

After a visit to Lizard Lounge (vintage furniture, etc.), we made our way to Ken's so we could be there right when it opened. That made for an early dinner but we didn't want to risk another hour-plus wait. Leslie and Shelby split the margarita pizza. I ordered the olive pizza, with rosemary, mozzarella and black olives. It's good pizza! I didn't go as ga-ga over it as Shelby and Leslie but it was good. And the pizzas are large enough to split between two people. I had enough to take home for later enjoyment.

Clyde Common: [website]
Karen Foley of Imbibe gave us a few suggestions of places to try in the city for drinks. Clyde Common was one. It's in the Ace Hotel downtown. Jeffrey (the bar manager) was our mixologist for the night; he took good care of us. Even reviews on Yelp praised him.

I had to write down what he mixed together for me so that I could maybe order them elsewhere in the future. Drink One was gin, dry sherry, ginger beer and lime. This was a new drink they were trying and it did not yet have a name; Jeffrey said it was based on a Barcelona Fizz. The second drink was rye whiskey, tea-infused benedictine, lemon and soda water (pictured left center). Not sure if it had a name, but it was good.

MONDAY, JAN. 17

Swirl Frozen Yogurt: [website]
Our last day in Portland. Sad. We had a snack of frozen yogurt at Swirl on Hawthorne. I like these kind of places where you fill your own bowl with yogurt and toppings and pay by weight. I went with the Cable Car Chocolate (not sure what makes "cable car" different from the other chocolates) and the Pistachio. I made good choices, with some almonds, mini chocolate chips and hot fudge. Life is short; eat dessert first, then decide where to have dinner.

Farm Cafe: [website]
Another early dinner, since we were already out, we arrived at 5 when Farm opened. It was suggested by Shelby's brother Matthew that we try another place for dinner. But after we read the menu online, I had herb-crusted tofu on the brain. So we went. And I was very pleased with my choice. There were four pieces of herb-crusted tofu around a large portion of mashed potatoes and a scoop of mushroom marsala. All of the pieces to the dish worked so well together; I ate almost everything (there was no way I could finish all those mashed potatoes).

Shelby ordered a glass of the David Hill Farmhouse Red. It was quite good. Leslie and I found it at the Made in Oregon wine/beer kiosk at PDX for $10/bottle. Now Shelby knows where to buy it when she flies home.

Central: [Yelp]

Karen also told us about Portland's speakeasy, Central. We have one in Nashville called The Patterson House. We found the address and hints about finding it via Yelp. Since we had an early dinner, we arrived early at Central. There were only two other women there when we arrived, probably because it was a Monday and a holiday.

I had the Out & About. Too bad I can't remember what was in. But it was pretty good. I think the overall review would be: cool design, decent drinks but not quite like our Patterson House.

 *****
Photography from Thursday, Jan. 13 to Monday, Jan. 17, courtesy of Leslie Ryann McKellar [website]

Adventures in Portland

Since I was heading to the West Coast for my final campus course at Fuller anyway, I thought I would swing through Portland the week before to visit my friend Shelby who moved there from Nashville last summer. What a delightful week we shared together in between my work and homework and her home remodeling....

Places we went....mostly centered around food and/or drink:

ROOTS ORGANIC BREWING COMPANY: www.rootsorganicbrewing.com

Shelby, Russ and I shared a pitcher of beer and chips & salsa after I arrived in town.

WILD ABANDON: www.wildabandonrestaurant.com

I had the most dreamy meal here: Tofu Heaven. It was heavenly. A moment that I loved being vegetarian.

GENIES CAFE: www.geniescafepdx.com

By the time we ventured out for food on Monday, I was so hungry I could have eaten my fist. Fortunately, I didn't have to. The Florentine omelette at Genies Cafe was delicious. And the potatoes on the side were the best potatoes that I've had in some time.

HIPPO HARDWARE: www.hippohardware.com

Shelby and Russ are in the middle of remodeling their home. We made a couple trips to the local and slightly eccentric Hippo Hardware. Shelby and I sorted through drawers of silver drawer pulls to find the best 16. They also talked to the "lighting" lady about possible light fixtures for the house. We returned the next day to get two more matching drawer pulls....just can't get enough.

Shelby said that Hippo Hardware was featured in Jackass the Movie. How she knows that is a story for another day....

VIA DELIZIA: www.viadelizia.com

Anyone who knows Shelby knows that she loves ice cream, and even that might be an understatement. I think she would marry it if she could.

Well, she and Russ took me to Via Delizia for gelato. And it lived up to their hype. This was our afternoon treat and I had a scoop of Coffee Cake gelato and Turkish Coffee gelato. I was wishing I could have a repeat for breakfast the next day because that might have been one of the best ways to enjoy the morning treat of coffee cake and coffee. Delicious!

LAUREL HURST THEATER AND PUB: www.laurelhursttheater.com

From gelato we ventured to Laurel Hurst Theater for "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" for $3. The beauty of Laurel Hurst is that it's a theater and a pub. So, we got a pitcher of Lucky Lab Porter to enjoy with our movie. The movie was brilliant (Love Wes Anderson!) and the drinks were delicious as well.

Shelby connected some dots for me. The Lucky Lab Porter that we had is from the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company, which has a porch (with heaters for the cold days) for beer lovers to bring their dogs. Cool.

BAMBOO SUSHI: www.bamboosushipdx.com

After the movie, we went to Bamboo Sushi for dinner. This place was absolutely fantastic! I had the Green Machine veggie sushi roll. Russ has the 180 veggie sushi roll and Shelby had spicy scallop roll. It was all amazing - some of the best sushi I've ever had, and vegetarian!

Not only does Bamboo do the sushi right, but it is a certified, sustainable sushi restaurant - and it is the first one in the world. You really need to read more about it on the website here.

BRODER: broderpdx.com

WARNING: They close at 3 p.m. We tried to go the day before at 3:15. No good. But we ended up at Genies and that was a win!

Back to Broder. It was like being at a classy IKEA.

What a treat for brunch. I actually had a latte. I'm normally just a black coffee drinker but I felt something special happening here so I went with the latte. And it was good.

The food was beautifully plated. And it was delicious. The potato pancake was less than crisp than other potato pancakes I've had - but it was perfect. And the egg scramble was HOT, right out of the oven. To top it off, the walnut toast was delicious with the Danish berry jelly.

Broder is a must visit.

BOON'S TREASURY: www.mcmenamins.com

On Wednesday we drove down to Salem to meet Russ' mom for dinner. We went to Boon's Treasury which is part of the McMenamins family of pubs. I finally got my craving for tater tots satisfied. And can I recommend you try their tater tots cajunized? Goodness, delicious.

VOODOO DOUGHNUT: voodoodoughnut.com

Russ left for a job in Denver in Thursday so Shelby and I were left to our devious devices. Which included a visit to the famous Voodoo Doughnut. Now typically on the pass on the doughnut in favor of cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream, candy bar, just about any other sweet.

I had the Vegan Portland Cream. Shelby had the regular Portland Cream. It was a pretty dang delicious doughnut.

POWELLS BOOKSTORE: www.powells.com

And then to Powells! Prowling for a couple hours through books sounds grand to me.






WHISKEY SODA LOUNGE: www.whiskeysodalounge.com

We didn't mean to visit Whiskey Soda Lounge. We started across the street at its mother restaurant Pok Pok, a Thai restaurant. But part of their service is, when you are waiting for a table (our wait was 30 minutes), they send you across the street to Whiskey Soda Lounge for drinks and/appetizers.

You check in with the host at Whiskey Soda and they let you know when your table is ready at Pok Pok. Genius! We tried the papaya fritters and I enjoyed a minty drink called Southside.

POK POK: www.pokpokpdx.com

Once the host let us know that our table was ready across the street, we settled up at Whiskey Soda and walked across the street to Pok Pok. Shelby heard that this place had been featured on the Travel Channel. They had a nice selection of Thai food but I dare say these are not the standard Thai dishes you'll find in most Thai places.

I tried the Yam Samun Phrai (made vegetarian), which is a special Northern Thai herbal salad with ginger, carrot, parsnip, betel leaf, basil, lime leaf, sawtooth, fried shallots, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, and Thai chilies in a coconut milk dressing. Delicious! Light and just the right amount of food.

***Insights on my final three days forthcoming....