We did so much in Portland that it’s almost exhausting to write about. Almost. After breakfast at Sweetpea we stepped into Herbivore Clothingand Food Fight! Grocery, but we couldn’t shop for very long because we were late for a lunch date on Hawthorne. We decided to just revisit Stark later in the day.
We hit up one of the many trailer parks for lunch. At PBJ’s Grilled I ordered the Spicy Thai with peanut butter, sriracha, basil, curry and orange marmalade. It’s normally made on Challah bread, but they made it on vegan bread for me. Everyone in Portland is knowledgable about what is acceptable for a vegan diet – even the food carts! This sandwich was really really good and I will definitely remake it to the best of my abilities.
From there we did a lot shopping on Hawthorne. We hit up record stores, local art stores, gift shops, boutiques and vintage shops. We somehow managed to work up an appetite so we settled into a bistro like table at McMenamins where we got some local beer and a basket of fries. The beer was great and so different from what we get down here. However the real shining item at the table was The Ketchup. Neither of us are crazy ketchup lovers, but this stuff was practically drinkable. It will forever be referred to as The Ketchup and is one of the few things I will admit that Portland does better than Austin.
When we were sufficiently stuffed we started our trek back to Stark. During our walk we met a cat. He was pure black fluff and sleeping in the greenest garden. He loved my husband and ignored me which is rude. But whatever, they bonded. We stepped into Food Fight again to pick up a bottle of The Ketchup and proceeded to Herbivore. We got a new belt and skinny wallet for my husband, a robot necklace for me and a little purse for my niece. I’ve had great experiences with Herbivore in the past so it was nice to finally visit the store front.
Just up the street from the vegan shops we noticed Enso Urban Winery. Oregon wines are fantastic so we had to stop in. The establishment was beautiful (the open bistro feel of Portland bars and restaurants was a refreshing surprise), and the wine was delicious of course. People don’t often think about Oregon for wine, but they do some really special things up there. It was getting late so we headed back to the hotel. All in all we walked roughly 7 miles in the morning/afternoon. Not bad! We felt great and were really excited about dinner at Natural Selection. But that will have to wait until Portland 3.0.
