ken's artisan bakery

portland, or

website

met up with monica at a cute bakery in portland, near the 23rd street shopping district. we ordered an array of baked goods - a quiche, a croissant (with apricot preserves) and a fruity tart thing. perfect for breakfast with a mug of coffee. it's pretty popular so seating can be difficult, but monica and i managed to get there early enough to snag a table.

wong's king seafood restaurant

portland, or

website

home of chris's "bbq pork guy" (doesn't everyone have a bbq pork guy?). when in portland visiting chris and amanda, we go to wong's king for great chinese food. my favorite dish here is the enoki mushroom with chicken and egg tofu. i love egg tofu. i don't know why it's called egg tofu or how it's made, but somehow it's silkier and creamier than non-egg tofu. delicious! when visiting portland with my parents, we went to wong's king twice. after stuffing ourselves for dinner on saturday night, we went back on sunday morning for dim sum. so good.

pho van

portland, or

website

visited chris and amanda in portland. they took me to a yummy vietnamese restaurant. really good pho, but the highlight was the make-your-own summer rolls. you get a huge plate with shrimp wrapped around sugarcane, a bunch of herbs and veggies, and crisp sheets of white paper. it took a few minutes of staring at and folding the white paper, but eventually chris figured out that you dunk the white paper in some hot water and it turns into the translucent noodle-like wraps that you fill with herbs, veggies, sauce, and meat. yum.

clyde common

portland, or

website

this was the first stop on our epic trip down the pacific coast, driving derek's car and 4 suitcases from seattle to our new home in the bay area. derek, the driver, was craving a burger. so i searched for "best burger portland" on my blackberry and found clyde common. it's located in what i think is downtown portland and was very easy to get to from I-5. the restaurant is clearly part of that whole farm-to-table movement and it looked like they brought the tables from the farm too. long wood tables with tiny little chairs lined on each side. the table is shared space, so be warned that you might literally be rubbing elbows with some portlanders. they're nice, though.

derek and i both ordered the burger. i remember really enjoying my side salad. the burger is not as good as the shake shack or any of the other amazing burgers that we loved in nyc, but derek and i are hard to please when it comes to burgers. the menu looked great, so if we ever come back, i'll try some of the other items and probably something off their extensive beer list. also, clyde common is just a short walk away from the famous powell's bookstore, which is a great place to walk off your lunch.