What is your favorite place to eat out in OR? (Portland: house, rent)

[heavens54]

And I don't mean fancy resaurant, but any place...cafe, diner, seafood, Italian, Chinese...whatever, and it what town? Looking for some ideas for our next trip. Thanks.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by heavens54

And I don't mean fancy resaurant, but any place...cafe, diner, seafood, Italian, Chinese...whatever, and it what town? Looking for some ideas for our next trip. Thanks.

Wolf Creek Inn - It's actually a state park or something like that. It's right at the Wolf Creek exit from the freeway, in Southern Oregon.

Winston Drive-In - Winston, Oregon. The last real hamburger in the USA. The regular burger tastes just like hamburgers tasted in the 1950s. Ignore the fancier burgers, and pass on the fries, which are horrible.

The Camas Room at Seven Feathers in Canyonville. Try the escargot. Ignore the 24 hour restaurant at the casino, where the food is wretchedly poor.

Buy a marion berry pie at the Kruse Farms produce stand west of Roseburg. Call ahead to make sure they have one. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, you have to reserve pies at least a month in advance.

[heavens54]

Where else can we get a marionberry pie? We are traveling Portland to Corvallis to Eugene area. That pie is all that will be on my mind...

[NewOldLompac]

Zell's in Portland for breakfast. Cali Sandwiches(Portland) for their great and inexpensive Bahn Mi sandwiches, but that's more of take out place. Rimsky-Korsakoffee House(Portland) for a late coffee and dessert. Bluehour(Portland) for dinner.

[heavens54]

What's Bahn Mi? Are there other unusual items on menus unique to Oregon I should know about? I love to order and eat according to the region I am in...Lots of Copper River Salmon on my last trip.

I also love your Made In Oregon store. Some really nice products in that place. Not cheap though...

[NewOldLompac]

Bahn mi is veitnamese-french sandwich on a small baguette. Typically they have pickled vegetables(carrots, onions,cilantro usually) and some sort of pate or thinly sliced meat or both. Cali's has 17 different Bahn mi on the menu.

[heavens54]

Ah, thanks for the clarification. Will have to try it now.

[furyu]

I hate to be a stick-in-the-mud here, but my opinion of the restaurants along the southern coast of Oregon (from Florence south to the border) is quite low, Port Orford being the exception (a couple of wonderful cafes there). I've lived here for three years now and have yet to find a restaurant on par with any in SoCal. I am quite picky, being an excellent cook myself (humbly submitted) who is a pesco-vegetarian (I'll eat fish & seafood, no beef, pork, chicken, etc.) and avoids 'fried' food. The majority of restaurants, in Brookings especially, delight in the fried variety of everything. If it's not fried, it's microwaved.

It's amazing that the restaurants here seldom offer locally caught fresh fish. There are fishmen galore out just beyond our coast line catching salmon, rockfish, perch and tuna but none --or very little-- of it makes its way to the local restaurants. May have something to do with commercial fishing laws. (?)

Because "Copper River" salmon is commercially sold, you will find that in some restaurants, rarely though (I'm speaking strictly about the southern coast, not Portland, not Eugene, not Ashland, etc.).

The restaurants are way overpriced too, given what they serve you, and the lack of service to boot.

The best restaurant in Brookings is Bella Italia. The service there is decent and the chef quite competent who occasionally attempts originality. We've found the menu to be inconsistent in quality, however. Sometimes it's fabulous, other times just so-so. Still, it's the best in town, at no small cost.

Our newest Mexican restaurant (actually, a re-do of the small restaurant formerly known as "Rubios") is Panchos and they offer fairly decent Mexican fare, but again, nothing like you'll find in SoCal, such as the fish tacos of SoCal's Rubios chain.

The Nautical Inn isn't in Oregon, but just over the California border. That restaurant is very good, I'd even go so far as to say, 'excellent' for the area. Plus you'll be seated at a table with the best ocean view of any restaurant along the southern coast.

Suzy Q's in downtown Brookings has a wonderful bakery. I was never a big fan of bran muffins until I tried theirs. Scrumptous. They also are open for breakfast, lunch, and on weekends, dinner. Again, sometimes the food is very good, other times, not so good. Their menu is original and often interesting. They are the only restaurant that I know of here to serve locally caught fish. Like most restaurants in Brookings, the service is a yawn!

But as they say, "There's no hurry in Curry," (the county name) even when you're starving !

[malarkey]

Sounds like you found yourself a new business to open!

[jjpop]

Heavens--when you get to the coast, try a bowl of clam chowder at Mo's. I really like it.