Family-style at Jamison

Portland is the home of new, reinvented restaurants. One goes out of business and then another opens to take its place. It is impossible to get through my mile-long list of restaurants to try as it is, and then my friends go and suggest a new one on me. Jamison opened last month and is a second venture for the owner's of Davis Street Tavern. It took the location of the well-known, Fenouil. Sad to see them go, but I have to say, I am pretty excited about Jamison. In my opinion, way more impressive than Davis Street.

via jamisonpdx.com

We chose to dine outside because it was a beautiful summer night and the restaurant has a large patio for outdoor dining. Our view was of Jamison Square with trees lit up by outdoor white lights creating an ambiance that made want to stay all night. The indoor dining was equally lovely with rustic, wooden touches but comfortable with oversized chairs and banquette seating.  The birdcage chandeliers were my favorite decoration piece. All the windows opened up to the patio so even dining indoors felt like you were outside. This place will transition nicely into the winter with the warm interior colors and cozy fireplaces.

The inspiration of the menu is "American family-style" so your plates are served as the kitchen prepares them. This is my FAVORITE way to dine. I come from a big family so sharing and sampling different dishes is my preference. There are small plates, vegetable sides, flatbreads, salads and large plates. We ordered something from ever section. Our favorites were the heirloom tomato salad (a given since it is tomato season), roasted garlic and crostini and the farro with broccoli raab and peppadew peppers. We walked away without ordering the halibut dish and I am regretting it. I must go back and try.

garlic crostini & menu

One thing I have to say is that it is vegan and

vegetarian-friendly. We ate all vegetarian that night and had NO problem finding options. With that said, you will find seafood and meat options too.

Stop by before while we still have our beautiful summer nights. You won't regret it...maybe check out their happy hour and let me know what you think!

Jamison 

900 NW 11th Ave

Portland, OR

503.972.3330

open tuesday - sunday

Shot of Noble Rot

Just a quick look at a girl's night out at Noble Rot off East Burnside. It is an intimate spot on the 4th floor with a fabulous view of Portland. The food was tasty and the atmosphere was perfect. I would be lying if I said the service was good...we got caught in no man's land with a bad table. I will give it another try though.

We started with house wine, a cheese plate and the mango avocado salad. All good choices! Loved the salad display.

Here are some photos from the night!

Ken's Artisan Pizza...yes, it is as good as they say.

I have read several articles about wood-fired pizza in Portland and guess who always makes the cut? Yes, Ken's Artisan Pizza. Well everyone, the journalists aren't kidding....that place is pretty damn good.

My favorite part about Ken's is the simplicity. The menu is simple...pizza, salad, beer and wine. The decor  is simple...tables made out of wood from an old amusement attraction. The kitchen...wood fire oven. The host stand is a couple wine barrels. I just loved everything about it.

There was a large group of us so we had to wait about an hour. To be honest, at dinner hour on a weekend, it might be an hour wait no matter what your party size.

We ordered a couple caesar salads to share and three different pizzas. We went for the Margherita & Arugula, Prosciutto and the Fennel Sausage & Onions. All three pizzas were tasty but my favorite was probably the prosciutto pizza with some added arugula. Plenty of food for six of us to share.

The whole experience was wonderful and the atmosphere was comfortable and casual. We sat and talked over a bottle of wine which was nice. Even though there were people waiting to be seated, I didn't feel rushed by our server.

Ken's Artisan Pizza

304 SE 28th Ave. 

(corner of 28th & Pine)

Portland, Oregon 97214

503.517.9951

now open seven days a week

Check out their bakery location in NW on 21st street too! 

Cheers....Prost! Portland

Finally I spent some time over in North Portland on Mississippi Ave. What a fun area! I tell you, Portland is fantastic for food and drink. You will seriously NEVER run out of new places to try.

das boot

Prost! is a great German inspired pub with fabulous bier (yes, you have to spell it this way) and tasty traditional German food. We went there late night and it was really busy...definitely a fun spot to go to meet a bunch of friends. It was upbeat, lively and the bartenders were great!

Prost! is most popular for "das boot." Order a bier in an oversized boot glass but DO NOT set it down. If you do, the bartender will snatch it away and no more bier for you. You can pass das boot, share das boot but do not set das boot down until it is empty!

We didn't have anything to eat, but from what I saw people ordering, I recommend any of the beer cheese soups or a German pretzel. You can't go wrong. Also, how many places in town can you order my favorite bier...Dunkel Weiss? The tasty malt lager was delicious.

One other thing...if you are a @DrinkDeckPDX owner, there should be a Prost! card. I used one!

Since it is a bar, remember, you have to be over 21 after 8pm. No kiddos allowed after dark!

Prost!

4237 N. Mississippi Ave

Portland, OR 97217

503.954.2674

open seven days a week

Delicious Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

So, I have a terrible trend of only blogging monthly. What a sad excuse for a "blogger" I am. If I spent half the time writing on my blog as I did reading other people's blogs, I would be a pro. Since I spend most of my time on food blogs, I have quite the collection of recipes to try. Yesterday, I made a Thai Coconut Soup from Our Best Bites and oh.my.gosh it was DELICIOUS. They weren't kidding either...it was easy and so quick!

Most of the ingredients I had at home except the coconut milk. So, since I was out, I made it even easier and picked up a cooked rotisserie chicken. This worked great! I love Thai food so it was almost a no brainer that I was going to love this recipe.

I didn't change a thing when I made the recipe but I did add more jalapenos for spice. One piece of advice that I read in the post was to serve the soup quickly because the ramen noodles absorb a lot of the liquid. This is SO true. We had left overs and when I was scooping the soup into smaller containers, there wasn't nearly as much liquid.

Take a look at the ingredients and for the whole recipe, check it out at Our Best Bites.

Easy Thai Coconut Soup

Recipe by Ourbestbites.com
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon minced jalapeno pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh minced ginger, or 1 ½ teaspoons ground dry ginger
2 14.5-ounce cans chicken broth
1 13.5 ounce can coconut milk or light coconut  milk (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 packages ramen noodes (discard seasoning packet)
optional: ¾ cup sliced mushrooms
1 ½ tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 cup diced or shredded cooked chicken
toppings:  additional chopped cilantro, sliced green onions, and lime wedges

Outdoor Dining in PDX

Today was probably the most beautiful day Portland has seen in 2012. We made it to 80 degrees with blue skies! Since the sunshine is out and is hopefully here to stay, I thought I would start the quest for outdoor dining in the Portland area. 

I found a Web site that is a great place to start - Portlandfoodanddrink.com. There is a post about outdoor dining in all the different neighborhoods of Portland. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Two of my favorite restaurants with outdoor dining spaces are Produce Row Cafe in SE and Cha Taqueria in NW. 

Tell me, where is your favorite place to eat outside in Portland? 

Trader Vic's returns to Portland

Welcome back Trader Vic's!

{via}

This was my first time visiting a Trader Vic's and I was too young to know the original Portland restaurant when it was in downtown. The new location is in the heart of Pearl District and has great curb appeal. When you walk in, you feel like you are in paradise on a tropical island. The decor is Polynesian with authentic masks, plants from the tropics, tribal carvings and bright colors.

We decided to visit Trader Vic's for their cocktails because they have an extensive list of exotic drinks, all with creative presentations. Each drink has a signature glass or bowl. Between the six of us, we tried the 1944 Mai Thai, Trader Vic's Passion Cocktail, Trader Vic's Stinker and some other delicious Pina Colada goodness. Let me tell you...the 1944 Mai Thai was strong! One was enough for me. All the drinks were made with different rums and/or gins making them equally delicious.

While we sipped our cocktails, we decided to try a couple starters. We went with two orders of the  "Cosmo Tidbits, The Original." This is a sampler of all their popular appetizers - BBQ spareribs, Crab Rangoon (their specialty), Crispy Prawns and sliced Char Sui Pork. I think the spare ribs were my favorite but then again, I usually always like spare ribs.

Overall, good atmosphere and our service was tiptop. Our waitress was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions...we looked to her for our drink recommendations. I think this will be a fun place to visit in the summer!

Trader Vic's Portland

1203 NW Glisan St.

Portland, OR 97209

503.467.2277

open daily for dinner

happy hour (weekdays) 3:00pm - 6:30pm & 10pm - close