Portland trip

We had a great long weekend in Portland, and I thought I'd share some of the places we discvovered so that you can check them out if you go.

5th Avenue Suites:
This was our 2nd stay here. Reasonable rates, a great location in downtown Portland within walking distance of many things below. Friendly service, very nice suites, they have free WiFi and daily wine reception (which I haven't tried yet...)

Teuscher:
Yummy Swiss chocolate truffles! We stumbled (we do a lot of that) upon a Teuscher store in San Francisco a few years ago and fell in love with their truffles, so now I make a point of visiting their stores whenever I can. I still like their champagne truffles best...

Portland Art Museum:
They currently have an exhibit of artwork and antiques from the house of Hesse (think the Hessian from "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"). The exhibit is incredible - I think I enjoyed the everyday objects from their houses as much as the paintings, but this one is a stunner. (More pics here). Sadly we spent so much time on it that we didn't get to see the rest of the museum. We'll have to go again!

Plainfield's Mayur:
A good Indian restaurant with a nice veggie selection. The food was good, but not stellar, so if you're expecting something like Bukhara, you'll be disappointed. An insane wine list! (Would you drink a fine Bordeaux with Indian food, though?)

Caprial's Bistro:
A nice suburban bistro with a simple menu. I can recommend the house salad and seasonal fish (escarole). Other items were not as good (chickpea stew and the lemon chiffon & white chocolate dessert). Their cocktails are yummy (Alyssum had the Chocolate Orange Martini), and I discovered a superb new blonde ale from Bridgeport - Supris.

Mother's Bar & Bistro:
We went here last time we visited Portland and loved it. This time they are in the middle of a relocation/remodel, and were temporarily serving breakfast in a nearby restaurant. The atmoshpere was not as good, but the food was still good (maybe not quite as good as the previous time) and service was spotty. We'll give them a try again once they're in their new location.

Powells:
This is not a realy discovery - no trip to Portland is complete without a trip to Powell's.
I stumbled upon a cool series of manga books about the Buddha. Sadly they didn't have volume 1 (there are 8 volumes!), so I'm thinking of ordering vol 1 online and then seeing if it is as good as it seems.


Oregon Wines on Broadway:
Somehow this got deleted when I published this entry initially.
This is a charming little wine bar on Broadway (near Teuscher), small and cosy with a few comfy booths and the more outgoing patrons chatting at the bar. They specialize in Oregon Pinot Noirs and have a great selection. They also have 36 or so wines open and available by the glass or to taste (DIY flight of wine). I tried 3 pinots: 2004 A to Z, 2003 Cameron something-or-other, 2003 Carabella
The A to Z was the lightest and least impressive, and the Carabella was my favourite - almost chocolatey, smooth and powerful.