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That's true, back in the stone age, 1960's, San Francisco was considered the place to be. In the 70's Denver and Seattle were popular. Portland is having it's turn now but I think you are right that in ten year's time it will be a different place.
I don't remember Portland's emphasis being so "hippy" and "green" 10 to 15 years ago, even though it was around.
I remember it as a time of local social, rather than mainstream environmental change.
This resulted in the cool to be in and be from reputation of Portland.
We were a much smaller and insular Portland back then.
Wonder what it will be like in 10-15 more years. Probably like SoCal.
Last edited by pdxMIKEpdx; 10-06-2010 at 05:43 PM..
That would be a fair assessment, but even if I didn't, this would still hold true. There's what, ONE Cuban joint in the entire area? How many wing joints not named "Buffalo Wild Wings"? Not all that many. Not a single Hungarian place in the entire area. The best Greek I've found is from a downtown food stand. I could go on for a while on this topic, because it's a sore spot for me.
I always found it ironic I had no trouble finding an awesome tapas joint (Toro's), but never once found a respectable gyro anywhere in town.
Beyond that, the cities I've lived in have typically been foodie meccas. San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, etc. When I go out to a meal, I expect something as good as I would find at a Tom Douglas or John Howie or Mauro Golmarvi restaurant. I expect Ming Tsai-level Asian fusion. I expect a sandwich worthy of being on a Salumi's menu. I expect fresh fish and sushi. I don't expect the best steak in town to be a chain restaurant (Morton's). I want my crab prepared 47 ways, all of them excellent. The reality is you can't really find any of those things here.
This place has great doughnuts (Voodoo), Thai (Lemongrass, Pok Pok), burgers (GoGo Burger, 5 Guys), Tapas (Toro), Mongolian (Chang's)....and some respectable Americana. There's only one notable "fine dining" experience in Genoa. I don't count Chart House because it's a chain, and chains can't be fine dining.
Sorry, but this town is not a foodie mecca, especially when put up against what you can reach with a short drive north (Seattle) or a day's drive south (San Francisco). When you're wedged between two amazing cities like that, expectations are going to be high. PDX doesn't deliver.
Seriously, Portland has a lack of good Hungarian restaurants? Maybe because there aren't a lot of Hungarians here? Uh, how many Hungarian restaurants are in Seattle or San Francisco? Like one maybe? Sure Portland has one decent Cuban restuarant--Pambiche(a couple others went out of business)---but most Cuban food on the West Coast is like Mexican food on the East Coast, fairly mediocre--if you want the real thing go to South Florida(and I know Cubans who've gone to Cuba and can say that Cuban food there isn't even that great these days). There's some decent Greek food here. And Portland has good Mexican and Sushi food if you know where to look--and I've travelled enough in Japan and Mexico and grew up in Nor Cal just around the corner from San Francisco to have some taste for those cuisines. Sometimes the best Asian is hidden in little hole in the wall places or locations in the suburbs, but there are places that are good--much better than some of the more frequented stuff right in the central city. In my neighborhood I've good Ethiopian, Cajun, tapas, and BBQ and a great little taco cart all within walking distance of my pad. I guess though once you find your favorite ten restaurants in Portland who gives a damn about the rest...
I will say that I don't find a lot of the ethnic food offerings aren't good in Portland as New York, Chicago, Boston, or San Francisco--mainly because you have much more diversity in those towns(even Boston) than Portland. But while Seattle has some good offerings and more high end places than Portland---I've had just as many mediocre meals there as Portland. And Seattle has a few cusine styles that San Francisco or Los Angeles would absolutely slay them in comparable offerings.
But seriously, you're claiming foodie status by referencing Mauro Golmarvi and Ming Tsai but make the statement Portland has excellent Mongolian with a shout out to "Chang's Mongolian Grill"---a greasy Monglian grill chain way out in the Portland suburbs mostly patronized by the sweat pants crowd?
1) Don't even mention "Mexican" and "Portland" in the same sentence. The Mexican food in this city is the worst I've ever tasted, and I genuinely mean that. The sushi isn't "bad", per se, but for a place so close to the ocean, you'd expect better quality fish. My girlfriend is a Texan, and she weeps every time we attempt to eat Mexican in this city. The Austinite in her also makes her shake her head in disgust any time we try to go for BBQ (outside of our own home). I'm not sure whether Famous Dave's or Reo's takes the crown for the area, but whoever is king, they're a pretty mediocre one.
2) Mongolian isn't supposed to be gourmet. It's supposed to be Mongolian. Show me a gourmet Mongolian joint and I'll show you a place that's not Mongolian. It's a very minimalist cuisine. In that regard, Chang's does spectacularly (at least the one in Gresham and the one in Tigard). Their success is predicated on the aspect that they allow you to create your own cooking sauce, which most places don't (most Mongolian places nationwide have pre-mixed stuff). And, not coincidentally, they originated in Seattle (up on Broadway just outside of downtown near Dick's Drive-In)
Just to serve as example, however: I was up in Seattle all day today looking at houses. I took a ferry to grab breakfast at Cafe Nola (their french toast, of course), had lunch at Wild Ginger (Ming Tsai's place), grabbed a coconut cream pie from Tom Douglas's Dahlia to take back with me to Portland, and grabbed a couple of dishes from Chandler's Crabhouse to go so we'd have a respectable dinner tonight. Try finding ANY of that quality-wise down here. Aside from what's sitting in my fridge right now. It won't happen.
Sorry, but the only people who will state you have any leg to stand on in a foodie argument as it pertains to Portland are people who have a huge opinion of Portland...or vegetarians.
1) Don't even mention "Mexican" and "Portland" in the same sentence. The Mexican food in this city is the worst I've ever tasted, and I genuinely mean that. The sushi isn't "bad", per se, but for a place so close to the ocean, you'd expect better quality fish. My girlfriend is a Texan, and she weeps every time we attempt to eat Mexican in this city. The Austinite in her also makes her shake her head in disgust any time we try to go for BBQ (outside of our own home). I'm not sure whether Famous Dave's or Reo's takes the crown for the area, but whoever is king, they're a pretty mediocre one.
2) Mongolian isn't supposed to be gourmet. It's supposed to be Mongolian. Show me a gourmet Mongolian joint and I'll show you a place that's not Mongolian. It's a very minimalist cuisine. In that regard, Chang's does spectacularly (at least the one in Gresham and the one in Tigard). Their success is predicated on the aspect that they allow you to create your own cooking sauce, which most places don't (most Mongolian places nationwide have pre-mixed stuff). And, not coincidentally, they originated in Seattle (up on Broadway just outside of downtown near Dick's Drive-In)
Just to serve as example, however: I was up in Seattle all day today looking at houses. I took a ferry to grab breakfast at Cafe Nola (their french toast, of course), had lunch at Wild Ginger (Ming Tsai's place), grabbed a coconut cream pie from Tom Douglas's Dahlia to take back with me to Portland, and grabbed a couple of dishes from Chandler's Crabhouse to go so we'd have a respectable dinner tonight. Try finding ANY of that quality-wise down here. Aside from what's sitting in my fridge right now. It won't happen.
Sorry, but the only people who will state you have any leg to stand on in a foodie argument as it pertains to Portland are people who have a huge opinion of Portland...or vegetarians.
Sorry to say, but 97.63% of people here don't posses your particular fatuation with food and the associated "big culinary names" that go along with it........
They just know good food when they taste it.
It's OK to have a foodie image, but it's not OK when you lord it over everyone.
Last edited by pdxMIKEpdx; 10-06-2010 at 08:18 PM..
1) Don't even mention "Mexican" and "Portland" in the same sentence. The Mexican food in this city is the worst I've ever tasted, and I genuinely mean that.
Well to each their own. I personally hate Tex-Mex...But if I can get a good taco al pastor and I'm content...Autentica on NE Alberta has a good mole and I've got a spot on Killingsworth for a great torta--does it compare to stuff I used to eat in California--some does, but not all.
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2) Mongolian isn't supposed to be gourmet. It's supposed to be Mongolian. Show me a gourmet Mongolian joint and I'll show you a place that's not Mongolian. It's a very minimalist cuisine. In that regard, Chang's does spectacularly (at least the one in Gresham and the one in Tigard). Their success is predicated on the aspect that they allow you to create your own cooking sauce, which most places don't (most Mongolian places nationwide have pre-mixed stuff). And, not coincidentally, they originated in Seattle (up on Broadway just outside of downtown near Dick's Drive-In)
Yeah, I know Mongolian bbq isn't supposed to be gourmet---but my point was that anyone who uses a chain like Chang's as a culinary highlight of our city either didn't experience much of the offerings of Portland or is just trying to big league the Rose City. I used to eat at Chang's every week with my nephews, it seemed about the same as every other Mongolian bbq I went to.
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Just to serve as example, however: I was up in Seattle all day today looking at houses. I took a ferry to grab breakfast at Cafe Nola (their french toast, of course), had lunch at Wild Ginger (Ming Tsai's place), grabbed a coconut cream pie from Tom Douglas's Dahlia to take back with me to Portland, and grabbed a couple of dishes from Chandler's Crabhouse to go so we'd have a respectable dinner tonight. Try finding ANY of that quality-wise down here. Aside from what's sitting in my fridge right now. It won't happen.
Last time I went to Chandler's I found it fairly overpriced for the somewhat mediocre seafood--and the service sucked. But like I said--to each their own. I'm sure everyone is impressed by the name-dropping...
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Sorry, but the only people who will state you have any leg to stand on in a foodie argument as it pertains to Portland are people who have a huge opinion of Portland...or vegetarians'.
I'm not saying Portland is the greatest eating city, but as someone who travels fairly frequently I find there are enough restaurants that I enjoy returning to...
It's funny because the only people that I've met that seemed obsesed with the whole Portland vs. Seattle debate seem to be from Seattle--most Portlanders could give two sheets to the wind. Seattle's a great city, I'd move there in a second if I had a job opportunity---but, it'd be even greater if it had less overly elitist yuppie snobs.
Y'all just don't know how good you have it, lol. Try going out to middle America, or as Sarah Palin likes to call it, "Real America." In most towns across the US, your options are Olive Garden, TGI Fridays, Hooters, BW3's, etc. I understand that Portland may not live up to bigger and more diverse cities, food-wise, but I think it has a much better selection than anywhere else I've lived and I'd gladly take it.
For a mid-sized city, Portland does have a decent variety of eateries. Of course, it can't compare to large cities, such as LA or SF. Plus, Portland doesn't have the ethnic diversity, that larger cities have. So naturally, it won't have as many ethnic eateries, as the large cities. Roma pizza, has very good pizza, as well as great (and cheap) breadsticks. Other notable eateries in Portland; the Delta Taste, Noodles, and the Lair Hill Too Cafe.
If you want simple food, the Safeway deli is surprisingly good. I liked the one in Downtown Portland, and especially the one in Woodstock. The food there was always fresh, hot, and reasonably priced. They always had daily specials. You could get regular American food, such as fried chicken, BBQ'd wings, mashed potatoes, mac 'n cheese, etc. They also had good Chinese food, and tasty soups.
Sorry to say, but 97.63% of people here don't posses your particular fatuation with food and the associated "big culinary names" that go along with it........
They just know good food when they taste it.
It's OK to have a foodie image, but it's not OK when you lord it over everyone.
Is this sort of like 87% of all statistics on the internet are made up on the spot? I will agree that there is an abundance of people who don't care. However, I will also point out that there is also an abundance of people who say their favorite restaurant is Applebee's, Red Lobster or some other slophouse, or who eat at McDonald's 3 times a week. Just because a lot of people have poor taste or limited experience doesn't qualify them to enter that sort of discussion. That type of individual just needs to be exempted from a conversation about dining, much like someone who drives a Prius should be exempted from a conversation about performance driving or someone who buys their attire at Wal-Mart needs to be exempted from a conversation about fashion. Most people don't care if they own a BMW, and most people don't care if they've got the latest bag from Michael Kor (think that's his name). It doesn't mean that the people who do are somehow irrelevant or that they should lower their standards. Just because most people in Portland dress like they're one step above being homeless doesn't necessarily mean that the quality of the fashion offerings here are acceptable. I don't know if they are or aren't as that's not my thing per se (I'm easy - give me a Nordstrom's and I'm good to go), but if someone came on here and said "Christ, the dress standard in this city just sucks", I wouldn't simply reply with "no it doesn't, because it meets my lower standards". I would stay out of it, because it's obvious that they're looking for a level beyond where I stop at. I do know that I always found it odd that I'm always one of the better dressed when I'm about town given the fact that I don't put much effort into it, but I wouldn't be able to enter a discussion about haute couture.
If you don't care what you eat, then why enter a discussion about a dearth of quality food? If one of the hardest seats in town to get on a Friday night is Olive Garden (which is, sadly, true), what does that say more about? The exceptional quality of Olive Garden (we know it can't be this), or the lack of quality in the surrounding area? I mean, your whole argument seems to be centered on the assertion that the foodspots here are fine because you can find things that aren't disgusting.
Anyone has a right to their opinion, regarding Portland's cuisine. You seem to think that this thread is a snob contest, to see who eats at your idea, of the best restaurants! If certain people like the Portland McDonalds over a fine restaurant, or jeans and a T-shirt over a $1K suit, then that's their perogative. Who are you, to tell people what their opinion of good food (or clothing) should be.
If you don't think that Portland's food is that good, in your opinion, then perhaps you should move to NYC, where they have an overabundance of fine restaurants. To each his own!
Xanathos... I get what you are saying, but don't really agree with your comments about the food here. I've lived in Chicago, NYC, Pittsburgh, and LA. We moved here a little over a year ago and made a point to try to go to a few new restaurants every month. We have been very pleased with the quality and variety of the food here (no chain restaurants).
In my opinion, the ratio of great restaurants to the metro population is right on par with the bigger cities. Why would you expect there to be as many good restaurants as cities with >5x the population? Compare Portland to cities with similar metro populations and tell me what you find? Pittsburgh has an almost identical population to Portland. There are quite a few foods that I miss from Pittsburgh, but in general, the food here is MUCH better.
Sure Mexican food was better in LA, but we have found a few things better here in Portland. We used to go to the Little Ethiopia area in LA and ate at many of the Ethiopian restaurants. Bete-Lukas here in Portland has much better food and service.
Your love affair with Seattle will ultimately result in an opinion not too much different than Portland. The only thing that I crave from Seattle that I cannot get here in Portland is food from Piroshky Piroshky.
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