The AMHL Photographer and I visited Portland, Oregon for the
first time last week. We knew about Portland’s most famous donut
establishment but were too busy discovering the magic of Portland’s
Alphabet District/Nob Hill and West Side, or exploring Northwest
Oregon/Southwest Washington, to do the Voo Doo.
I present, then, the Top Twelve reasons to visit Portland:
1. Salt & Straw:
This establishment serves products from Delicious Donuts, but the Salt
& Straw’s main draw is ice cream, many of the flavors concocted with
bizarre, but complementary ingredients and flavors. I recommend the Goat Cheese/Marionberry/Habanero
and Grandma Malek’s Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache. Hockey fans will find
at least one employee who knows the Bruins lost Game Six against the Black
Hawks and who knows that the local junior team, the Winterhawks, won the 2013
Western Hockey League championship.
2. Former Bruin Andrew Ference played for the Winter Hawks
(the
team changed its name from Winter Hawks to Winterhawks in 2009). Other
alumni include Joe Morrow, Cam Neely, Glen Wesley, Brad Isbister and Byron
Dafoe.
4. Blue Star Donuts: Gaining popularity in the West Side,
there are still too many Portlanders who haven’t yet heard of this shop. A
dedicated pastry chef (from New England) combines local and organic ingredients
and a French brioche recipe to produce donuts like the Blackberry Compote &
Peanut Butter Powder.
5. Inclined to walk off the calories? Portland is home to
steep geography. Climb the Southwest Hills.
6. Or walk from Blue Star Donuts to Lardo—and then order the Mixed
Greens Salad: local greens, rainbow carrots, radishes, fennel and honey
champagne vinaigrette.
7. Drive to Cannon Beach, seventy-five miles northwest of
Portland. Park at the Tolovana
State Recreation site. We arrived shortly after sunrise on a Tuesday
morning, the smoke from burning driftwood lingering but the beach almost all
too ourselves. Haystack
Rock jutting from the ocean floor and Pigeon Guillemots flocking to the
pine-clad cliffs, Cannon Beach didn’t disappoint my wife, the photographer. Drive
back to Portland via Route 30 and gaze at Mount St. Helens.
8. Corylus
avellana. Oregon doesn’t have
the climate to grow coffee beans, but the state produces Gretzky-like numbers
(99% of the U.S. crop) if you’re talking hazelnuts.
9. Astoria, OR: Get your fill of hazelnuts
in the salad named Oregon Hazelnut, prepared at the Wet Dog Cafe. Then consider climbing the Astoria Column—or at least discover
the Lewis and Clark influence on this area.
10. Portland
nicknames: The Rose City, Stumptown, Beervana, Bridgetown, PDX
11. More
non-donut food favorites: Savor the empanada (grilled corn, sweet potato &
Manchego filling, arugula, fried chickpeas, cilantro-lime crème fraîche) at Serrato, the tacos (best black beans I can
recall tasting) at Santa Fe Taqueria, and the build-your-own pizza (pepperoni
and pineapple) at Pizzicato Pizza
on 23rd Street.
12. Back
to Blue Star, where
this writing is on the wall: “Keep Calm and Eat Donuts.” The Blueberry,
Bourbon & Basil is the best-selling.
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