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Restaurants

For a more extensive restaurant guide, I recommend, Willamette Week. http://www.wweek.com/portland/flex-265-restaurant_guide_2011.html

But if you wish a narrower array, here are some that I’ve liked or heard good things about. DFH refers to Distance From Hotel

Navarre 10 NE 28th, 503-232-3555. Artistry adds his recommendation to this one. An ever-evolving seasonal menu based on what is fresh and local. Go with a group so you can order many, many dishes and sample everything. For $32 they will save you the bother of poring over the extensive menu. If you have room, Staccato Gelato is nearby at 228 SE 28th and they have distinctive flavors of ice cream and donuts. DFH 1.5 miles

Silk 1012 NW Glisan 503-248-2172. Vietnamese cuisine in the Pearl (inner NW Portland) It strikes me as a lighter twist off Chinese cuisine. You should try it pho sure. Entrees in the $12-24 range. DFH 1.4 miles

Natural Selection 3033 NE Alberta 503-288-5833. More of a vegetable restaurant then a vegetarian one. A hot spot for the non-carnivores (and reformed Bludbad) in town. The guide above gave it the runner-up for restaurant of the year. 4-course prix fixe dinner is $35. DFH 3 miles

Meriwether’s 2601 NW Vaughn St., 228-1250 Pacific Northwest fare awaits at this farm to table restaurant. If you want local cuisine, you can’t get much more local then this. Their farm is just a few miles from the restaurant. Entrees $24-42. DFH 3.1 miles

Genoa--2832 SE Belmont. 503-238-1464. I couldn’t omit an Italian restaurant, and this is my favorite. Pricey, 5 courses for $65, but you won’t leave hungry. DFH 2 miles

Departure--525 SW Morrison 503-802-5370. Modern Asian cuisine in dim sum style. Again bring friends and share many dishes. Located on the 15th floor of a downtown hotel, the Nines. I went there recently and loved it. Most plates are from $6 to $12 and 2-3 plates per person is probably enough. DFH 2.1 miles

City Grill--111 SW 5th 503-450-0030. The highest restaurant in town--not counting Maurice’s Medical Marijuana and Munchies Mansion-- located on the 30th floor of “Big Pink.” Varied cuisine and moderately expensive. DFH 1.5 miles

Burgerville--1135 NE MLK Blvd. 503-235-6858. If fast food restaurants are Baldwin brothers, this one is definitely Alec. DFH 0.3 miles

Slappy Cakes 4246 SE Belmont 503-477-4805. Your table includes a griddle and you order one of several types of pancake batters and fixings including fruit, bacon, chocolate and more. You make your own hotcakes. If you prefer to have food made for you, they have a full breakfast menu as well. Open for breakfast and lunch. DFH 2.9 miles

LITTLE BIG BURGER 122 SW 10th Ave. 503-274-9008. My daughter is a vegetarian and even she thinks this place should be mentioned here. The menu is short and sweet and the food is simple and good. It may someday be a chain, but for now it’s just for us. DFH 1.4 miles.

POR QUE NO 4635 SE Hawthorne 503-954-3138. Why not try a Mexican restaurant? Sustainability is the watch word. Local produce used to make traditional Oaxacan cuisine. When the oil is used up from cooking it powers the car they drive around in. The seafood aren’t farm-raised but caught in the wild by barefoot commune dwellers who tell the captured creatures jokes until they laugh so hard they die a giggly blissful death. Anyway the food is tasty. DFH 3.4 miles

CLOSE TO THE HOTEL AND INEXPENSIVE

Denny’s, 425 NE Hassalo
What needs to be said here? DFH 0.3 mi

Red Robin, 1139 NE Grand
Yummmm. DFH 0.2 miles

Newport Seafood Grill, In Lloyd Center (next to hotel)
Serves seafood. Go figure.

Stanford’s Restaurant, In Lloyd Center.
Basic American mall restaurant.

Billy Heartbeats, In Lloyd Center.
Burgers mostly, but you order sitting down.

A FEW PUBS

There are more than 25 breweries in Portland, and July is Craft Beer month in Oregon, so you will have lots of hoptions. Here’s just a few of them:

15th Avenue Hophouse 1517 NE Brazee St Northwest Pub grub and more than a couple of dozens of options on the tap list. More types of hops than you’d find in a gathering of one-legged kangaroos. DFH 1.0 mile

Kell’s Irish Restaurant and Pub 112 SW 2nd Avenue. 503-227-4057. For the past ten years it has been rated one of the top ten Irish pubs in America, so it be a wee pint o’ Guinness you be thirsting for, this is the place to go. DFH 1.5 miles

Deschutes Brewery and Public House 210 NW 11th. 503-296-4906. If ye prefer a Scottish flavor to your pub, then you might try the Deschutes Brewery. 18 beers on tap and a “focus on natural, sustainable fare that is locally sourced and house-made.” So if ye nae be a wee sleekit cowrin tim’rous beastie, try this one. DFH 1.6 miles