WE LIKE: Portland's adventurous frontier spirit that still shows up in the city's trailblazing entrepeneurial energy and thriving bike culture.
At Pok Pok, James Beard nominee Andy Ricker serves a seasonally rotating menu featuring the real flavors and fiery taste of Northern Thailand street foods like fish-sauce chicken wings, curry soups, and spicy steak salads. Even the drinking water is flavored with Thai Pandanus leaf which gives it that toasted rice/vanilla flavor.
3226 Southeast Division Street
(503) 232-1387
Portland is home to the country's most diverse food cart scene, typically parked in clusters called "pods." There are plenty of obsessively updated sites to check for daily locations, and maybe you'll even see former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval at his food cart, Nuevo Mexico.
From her open kitchen at Beast, Food & Wine magazine's "Best New Chef" Naomi Pomeroy presents two community table seatings for a six-course menu based on what she describes as "great, right and true for one day in time." Opt for the local wine pairings that change with every menu.
5425 Northeast 30th Avenue
(503) 841-6968
With a "double-A" rating—arty and affordable—the pet-friendly Ace Hotel is your home base in downtown Portland. Built in 1912 as the Clyde Hotel and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the grunge-modern with a touch of noir design has plenty of eco-aware touches including the use of recycled and repurposed material like the giant low-slung lobby table fashioned from a warehouse door surrounded by slouchy sofas covered in surplus army canvas. There's a vintage black-and-white photo booth in the lobby, Malin & Goetz products in the bathrooms (some are shared so be specific when asking about accommodations), enough legendary locally roasted Stumptown coffee to keep everyone going, and an elk-embellished Ace Hotel bed blanket woven at Pendleton Woolen Mills, a local institution since 1909.
1022 Southwest Stark Street
(503) 228-2277
Offering conventionally luxurious accommodations and extended facilities for business travelers, The Nines sits on the top nine floors of the former Meier & Frank department store, a Portland landmark since 1908. Check out the installation from local artists including Gus Van Sant, Ellen George, and Storm Tharp.
525 Southwest Morrison Street
(503) 222-9996
With an unerring eye toward modern functionality and eco-friendly design, Canoe's well-culled objects for home and office daily life are displayed in a Scandinavian-influenced natural environment that manages to be open, airy, and warm—all at the same time.
1136 Southwest Alder
(503) 889-8545
Pendleton Home Store, the fifth generation local company's flagship, has everything from their signature Native American blankets woven on jacquard looms to the iconic double pocket, square bottom Umatilla wool plaid shirt made famous in the early sixties by the Beach Boys, once called "The Pendletones."
210 Northwest Broadway
(503) 535-5444
The exclusive—perhaps even unheard of—clothing lines at Odessa show-case capsule collections from thoughtful designers under the direction of Susan Tompkins, whose former work in a photography gallery supports her understanding of shape and form.
410 Southwest 13th Avenue
(503) 223-1998
Started in 1970 with seed money from author Saul Bellow, Powell's City of Books is the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. It shelves more than one million volumes —including a huge collection of out-of-print, rare and autographed books—stacked up in more than 68,000 square feet divided into nine color-coded rooms, which together house more than 3,500 sections. It's so labyrinthine you can get a store map when you enter.
1005 West Burnside Street
(503) 228-4651
With the ideal climate for growing roses, Portland has been known as "The City of Roses" for over a century, and The International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park is the country's oldest official test garden of its kind, displaying over 10,000 plants. While you are there, stop by the nearby authentic Japanese Garden, featuring five distinct traditional styles: Strolling Pond Garden, Tea Garden, Natural Garden, Flat Garden, and Sand & Stone Garden.
400 Southwest Kingston Avenue
(503) 823-3636
611 Southwest Kingston
(503) 223-1321
