Portland, OR

Two weekends ago, hubby and I ventured down to Portland for a much needed weekend retreat. Our main goal was to check out the booming food cart scene in PDX. Most of the places I wanted to take hubby were closed for the weekend. Timing was kind of bad since we trekked off the day after Christmas. Many downtown food stands catered mostly to the office lunch crowd so they were closed when we got there. Luckily, I had a long list of places to eat in case something like this happened. I'm so glad I was prepared.

We enjoyed a late lunch at The Grilled Cheese Grill located in the Alberta area. The guy taking our order highly recommended the Jalapeno Popper with roasted jalapenos, colby jack, cream cheese and tortilla chips. We settled on this and the Jersey which consisted of sauteed mushrooms and swiss on rye.




After we checked in at the hotel, we went to Biwa for dinner. We came across this Japanese restaurant that was known for its ramen in a magazine. We enjoyed the atmosphere but our food is nothing to write home about.

Biwa Ramen - dark & porky soy sauce soup with chasyu


Chasyu chahan delicious fried rice with barbeque’d pork


Potato bacon croquette


I really wanted to try the fries from Potato Champion. I read rave reviews on yelp about this place and it's open pretty late. We braved the wind and cold for some crispy fries before calling it a night. There were many sauces to choose from. We went for the rosemary truffle ketchup. I personally thought the rosemary was a bit overpowering for me but I really enjoyed the fries. I would come back here again and maybe try out the creperie next door. No freezing weather next time, please.




The next morning, we packed our bags for check-out before hitting the road for more yummy goodness. Our hotel offered a complimentary continental breakfast so we took advantage of that. We saved some room in our tummies so we could check out Pine State Biscuits. I wanted to visit the Portland's Saturday Farmers' Market where we can get some of their famous biscuits as well as sample other foods but the Market was closed for the season. Luckily, Pine State had a physical location on the east side of Portland. We found street parking right in front of the restaurant and ordered the Reggie. It was a biscuit sandwich with fried chicken, bacon, and cheese topped with gravy. It was more than I can handle myself so we decided to share.



I later found out that Pine State Biscuits was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri.

Day 2 was all about breakfast. I'm glad hubby likes breakfast just as much as I do. After we checked out the Pittock Mansion and did a little bit of tax-free shopping, we went to grab a waffle to share. Portland is a waffle city and there are many specialty carts and restaurants serving "gourmet" waffle creations. We went to Flavour Spot and ordered a sausage and maple waffle sandwich. I think I know why Portlanders love their waffle sandwiches. It's quick, convenient, and tastes wonderfully delicious. The picture doesn't do much justice to the waffle...



Our final stop was The Big Egg at the Mississippi Marketplace. It's the third food cart pod we've checked out in Portland. This breakfast cart claims it uses "cage-free veggie fed eggs, local and organic produce whenever possible, antibiotic and hormone free meat and dairy". We tried The Mississippi Monte Cristo: one big egg, grilled black forest ham and gorgonzola, drizzled with maple glaze, stacked between two pieces crunchy vanilla cardamom brioche French toast and dusted with powdered sugar. Talk about a sticky mess! But it was well worth it.