Friday, November 27, 2015

Portland, OR, USA

Here are some of my favorite places in Portland:

FOREST PARK (fantastic trails right in the city -- beautiful!)  It is connected/close to Hoyt Arboretum and Washington Park (Rose Gardens, which are at their wonderful peak in June) and extends for many miles on a ridge just above the city.
At 5,157 acres, Portland's Forest Park is the largest urban forest in the United States. With more than 80 miles of soft-surface trails, fire lanes and forest roads, Forest Park stretches for more than seven miles along the eastern slope of the Tualatin Mountains, overlooking Northwest Portland and the convergence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.

ELEPHANTS DELI 
This is one of our fave places to eat.  Lots and lots of options, very good food, very casual.  The mac & cheese with bacon is the bomb.  We love the tomato orange soup.  And everything else.  If you don't make it there, they have a tiny outlet at the airport (Flying Elephants).  
The below is the location I always go to (I love NW Portland).
ADDRESS
115 NW 22nd Ave, Portland OR 97210
PHONE
STORE HOURS
Mon - Sat: 7:00am - 7:30pm, Bar & Grill until 8:30pm
Sun: 9:30am - 6:30pm 


SALT & STRAW -- for Jack who, I know, enjoys ice cream :-)
My favorite favorite ice cream shop. The NW Portland location I always go to is just a few blocks from Elephants.  Unique flavors and so delish.  My fave flavors are honey balsamic strawberry with black pepper, pear with blue cheese, and almond brittle with salted ganache,  but they have limited edition flavours every month (like salted caramel cupcake & spicy monkey banana walnut this month).
838 NW 23rd Ave (open 10 am - 11 pm)

NW 23rd Ave happens to be on one of my favorite streets in Portland (in NW Portland).  I LOVE this area.  Cute boutiques, fun shops, great restaurants -- one of my old faves is Papa Haydn @ #701 NW 23rd.  Great food and famous for desserts.  Leafy streets with funky houses.

MOTHER'S BISTRO - one of my favorite restaurants for fab breakfast, lunch & dinner.  Right in the middle of downtown.  Make a reservation.  Really pretty and delicious!!  Closed Mondays!
212 SW Stark St, Portland 97204

ANDINA - Very nice Peruvian fusion restaurant (one of my faves!)
I love the neighborhood too.
1314 NW Glisan St, Portland 97209

BOLLYWOOD THEATER - Delicious Indian food, but NOTHING like Indian food in Singapore.  I love it.  Very cute inside.  Two locations.  I like the one on NE Alberta St b/c it’s a fun, artsy neighborhood to walk around (lots of fun shops, restaurants)
2039 NE Alberta, Portland

VOODOO DOUGHNUTS
A fixture in Portland.  One of Portland's themes is "Keep Portland Weird," and this is part of that weirdness. 
The address of the original shop is 22 SW 3rd Ave (downtown).  Open 24 hours/day.  My favorite is the McMinnville (like a Boston Creme with maple frosting) but they are known for strange ones (maple bacon) and even weirder ones.

RUBY JEWEL - Great ice cream downtown.  Known for their unique ice cream sandwiches, but I’ve just had their fab ice cream.
428 SW 12th Ave

POWELLS city of books (the largest bookstore in the US, which takes up an entire city block).  It is amazing.

BURGERVILLE
These are the best burgers in Portland.  Local ingredients.  Great seasonal shakes.  Walla Walla sweet onion rings.

MOBERI - bike-powered smoothie bar.  Really good!  You can pedal your own smoothie!  The “Mr. Wonderful” is my favorite.
1515 NW 23rd & Quimby

FOOD TRUCKS are very popular in Portland, and they are scattered around the city:

BETSY & IYA - Small jewelry store, everything handmade by local artists.  There’s a little work room attached where you can sometimes hear them banging away as they make metal jewelry.  Really unique, artsy pieces.  I love it!  Plus, the neighborhood is great.  There’s a French bakery a few doors down & a darling little coffee shop too (Dragonfly).  This is near NW 23rd St so you can tag it on at the end of browsing 23rd.
2403 NW Thurman St, Portland (this is the Alphabet District... so all streets off 23rd are in alphabetical order.  Salt & Straw is on Lovejoy & 23rd.  Moberi is on 23rd & Quimby.  Thurman is a few blocks north)

LITTLE SHOP OF DRAWERS 
Tiny little jewellery shop in cute Multnomah Village which carries the jewellery by designer Ayala Bar.
7875 SW Capital Hwy, Portland 97219
Open 12:00 - 4:00

SATURDAY MARKET 
The largest continuously running outdoor market in the US.  On the waterfront on the west side (near Voodoo Doughnuts).  This place is FUNKY.  Kind of the epitome of Portland.  There are definitely some weirdos there.  Street musicians.  Fun food stalls (on the waterfront).  The market is split by a major road, so he needs to cross over to where the food is.  Really cool, artsy stuff for sale.  My kids love going too.  Better on a nice day, but he may enjoy it no matter the weather.

Found this article of top 10 things to do: (a few of the above are listed, but ignore the strip clubs!)

FURTHER AFIELD...

MULTNOMAH FALLS (iconic place, on the Columbia River Gorge about an hour east of Portland, some nice hiking nearby)

CANNON BEACH - my favorite beach town along the north coast (about 1 hr 15 min west of Portland).  We love the homemade clam chowder at the Driftwood Inn on the main street.  Not fancy, but so good.  View point at Ecola State Park looking down the coast.  The tide pools at Haystack Rock are great.  It’s a huge monolith.  

SILVER FALLS STATE PARK (maybe an hour south of Portland?)
Beautiful hiking trails, 10 waterfalls.  Gorgeous!
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Salt Lake City, UT, USA

Jonna Robison:

The King’s English
1511 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City

http://www.kingsenglish.com

Honestly, I don’t spend much time hanging out in SLC, just errands really.  I haven’t even explored museums there yet!  I spend most of my free time in the outdoors, exploring hiking trails, the mountains, etc.  I do want to go to the art museum at the University of Utah.  
We usually go out to eat in Park City.  We love Cafe Terigo on Main St.  
My FAVORITE place in Utah is Sundance, so if you feel up to driving an hour, David, go there for lunch or dinner.  It’s Robert Redford’s creation.  Wonderful food and atmosphere.  I like the Foundry Grill there.  http://www.sundanceresort.com/restaurants

Zoom is another good restaurant in Park City (also owned by Robert Redford) housed in the old train station at the bottom of Main St.  The High West Distillery is also very good, just off Main St.  There are lots of art galleries up and down Main St.  It’s a pretty town and home of the largest ski resort in the US.


Cheryl Bikman:

We don’t eat in SLC that often but here are a few places I really like.

Restaurants
Red Iguana
Le Madeleines
Ruby Snap cookie store http://www.rubysnap.com
Pie Pizzeria

If you are interested in seeing the tabernacle choir sing, they do a live broadcast every Sunday morning.  I went for the first time when we had exchange students staying with us this past summer.  It was really neat to watch them perform live and see how they broadcast it.  You don’t need tickets.   http://www.musicandthespokenword.com

Welfare square offers tours and is interesting to see https://www.lds.org/locations/temple-square-salt-lake-city-welfare-square?lang=eng

A friend sent me this a few days ago.  There may be something you be interested listed in it.
https://www.newscastic.com/news/20-things-for-your-slc-bucket-list-1329113/?utm_source=nc


Excited you will be visiting salt lake next week. You will want to see temple square, tabernacle and church visitors center.

Across from temple square is a new mall called "City Creek". Wonderful shopping and dining options.

Among some of our favorites are Brio (Italian), Cheesecake Factory (American) and Look for "Bocata" an artisan sandwich place in the food court for unique sandwiches.

Other nearby favorites to downtown/temple square area:

Naked Fish: Japanese, excellent, fresh sushi

Settebello: Italian napoletana style DOC pizza. I love to order the "Bianca"

Alamexo: upscale Mexican: best guacamole

Sawadee:
Best Thai in salt lake, famous for quality curries

Other attractions:
Park city, church history museum, and This is the Place Pioneer Park.

Please call me with any questions or if you need anything while you are here in town! Would love to help.

Jane Moore
801.834.0484


From Tenney Jensen:

I haven't spent a ton of time in SLC but when I'm there I love eating at the Copper Onion. I think it's on 300 South.
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NEW YORK CITY



From Becca Mattoni:

With girls, Alice’s teacup is pretty fun (I believe there are 2 locations, one on the Upper East side and the other one on the Upper West side). Pizza in Brooklyn is fun too - walk over the brooklyn bridge to Brooklyn Heights waterfront and go to Grimaldi’s or the other pizza place next door, or even shake shack. You can take the water taxi back to manhattan or you can walk back over the bridge. 

The Tenement Museum is a fascinating place - it’s not a traditional museum but a bunch of apartments that you can visit in a guided tour where you hear about the families who lived there. Also the neighborhood is awesome and it’s very close to the donut plant which makes incredible doughnuts. 

Thanksgiving Eve most people like to go see the balloons being blown up for the parade the next day. That all takes place near the natural history museum.  Also, watching the parade is fun although if you want a good seat usually you have to get up early say at 6 am to stake out a place. 

The Rockettes' show is pretty cool too. There have been some 2 for 1 deals usually for the first and last performances of the day.  

You have to see the holiday windows on 5th Avenue from about 59th all the way down to around 39th street at Lord and taylor (I think that’s the store!). Stop by on I believe 47th to see all the jewels sparkling on Diamond Row between 5&6th ave…

You can ice skate at Rockefeller Center (I would advise getting there right when it opens!) or at Bryan Park which is behind the NYPL (also an awesome destination). Bryant park is usually less crowded but again, the morning is a great time to go. There are also holiday markets up now which are super fun to look through. 

The High Line in Chelsea is a unique city park. There are cool eats along it around meal times. 

Hope you have a great time!! 

From Heidi Bioski:

Hi! Becca has done a great job below. I'd just add that you have to try a Levain Bakery cookie ( it's near Alice's Teacup in the UWS). 
I think the views at the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center are better/ more enjoyable than going up the Empire State Building. Kids usually like the Museum of Natural History with its dinosaur and other exhibits which is near Emack & Bolio Ice Cream ( get serious chocolate addiction) and the Shake Shack for burgers and fries. 

If you want to try some fine dining Nougatine is the more casual version of Jean Georges with the same chef and you could take the kids there for breakfast or lunch and get a nice view of Central Park with lower prices.

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