For our second morning in Portland, we booked a day trip with a local tour company to explore various points along the Oregon coast. I was initially hesitant with the idea of a tour, only because it was going to take such a huge chunk of our already limited amount of time in the city. It actually ended up being my favourite part of the trip! So if you ever do find yourself in Portland, make it a point to get outside the actual city.
Before we met up with our tour guide/group, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Fried Egg I'm In Love (FEIIL). FEIIL is one of the many food carts parked in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Like the sunny yolks in their breakfast sandwiches, the cart is bright yellow -- you can't miss it!
FEIIL also operates a brick and mortar restaurant on Hawthorne, but their roots lie with the food cart. They're well-known for their made-to-order breakfast sandwiches, complete with a fried egg and a punny name. While most downtown commuters would take their sandwiches to-go, there are plenty of steps in Pioneer Square to stoop on, as well as a few covered patio tables.
We ordered their signature dish, the Yolko Ono ($7.50). Each breakfast sandwich starts with toasted sourdough bread from Portland French Bakery. Homemade pesto is smeared on each slice before enveloping a hand-pressed sausage patty, a fried egg, and a sprinkling of grated parmesan.
We decided to split the sandwich and they were nice enough to cut it in half for us. The sandwich was pretty tasty, although a touch greasy. I was glad we split it since a whole sandwich would have been too heavy on the stomach that early in the morning. I will say that the pesto was a nice touch -- it actually inspired me to put pesto in all of my grilled cheese sandwiches from now on.
We had a few more minutes to kill so we stopped by the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to take pictures of the PORTLAND sign above the theatre's marquee.
Then we were off to Director Park, where we met up with our tour guide and fellow tourists. We were the youngest people there (by far) but it was actually fun to meet such a diverse group of people. There were mostly older couples from all over the states -- Minnesota, Colorado, and Texas to name a few. We also had a fellow Canadian on the tour -- from Montreal, which was a nice bonding point for us.
Our tour guide, Devon, was also a great guy. Laidback, super nice, and full of information. He never rushed us at tour stops and allowed us to soak it all in.
After driving for about an hour and a half, we arrived at our first destination, Ecola State Park. It was a cloudy day but it was an amazing sight to see regardless. It was our first glimpse of the Oregon coastline and it did not disappoint.
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| Hey, it's me! |
Beside Haystack are smaller rock formations that are appropriately called the 'Needles.'
Since the tide was low, we were able to walk around the tide pools and spot quite a few starfish!
Cannon Beach was also where we stopped for lunch. We were given about an hour to explore the town, so most of our group went over to Ecola Seafood under our guide's recommendation. Established in 1993, Ecola Seafood is both a seafood market and a restaurant. It's a casual quick-service type of place, where you order and pay at the counter, and then pick up your food when your number is called.
SC decided on the oyster seafood basket ($15.00) which comes with six fried oysters and fries. The batter they use is quite good, so I'm assuming their fish and chips is pretty decent as well. Out of their seafood case, she also bought a small smoked mussel cocktail ($4.99) and a small crab cocktail ($7.99). The mussels almost had a meaty sausage-like flavour while the crab was minimally salty.
I decided on the halibut fish tacos ($17.00) with two corn tortillas, cabbage, tomato, and lime yogurt sauce. You have a choice between grilled or fried fish, but I went for grilled since the tacos already come with a side of fries. (Healthy eating at its finest.) The fish was actually quite fresh and it was a sizeable, meaty portion.
We reconvened as a group and then drove further south to Neahkahnie Mountain.
This was honestly the most stunning view I've ever seen. The ocean just seemed to go on forever.
Our last stop of the day included a short leisurely hike through Oswald West State Park. The trail was pretty flat so it was actually quite relaxing and scenic.
At the end of the hike, we reached Short Sands Beach. It's a hidden gem for sure, but a popular spot for surfers.
All day long, we were running behind schedule but we hit a major snag on the way back to Portland. The tour was supposed to finish around 4:30 but we ran into long stretches of traffic and didn't make it back into the city until 6:30.
When we were finally dropped off at our starting point, we said our goodbyes and then quickly walked back to our apartment to freshen up.
For dinner, we ended up taking an Uber since we were pretty tired after our long day. Pok Pok NW is the second offshoot of Pok Pok, one of Portland's most buzzed about restaurants.
The original Pok Pok is extremely popular, but we had no problem getting a table without a reservation at NW on a Monday night. Pok Pok serves Thai food, specifically from the north and northeastern regions of Thailand. They also have dishes inspired by other countries in Southeast Asia, which is where chef/owner Andy Ricker spent several months each year, living, eating, and studying the culture.
For drinks, SC ordered a beer while I went for the Cha Manao ($4.75), Thai iced tea with fresh lime juice. It was really sweet and tart. I had to wait for the ice to melt so that the flavour could be diluted somewhat.
Each table is given a small side dish of roasted peanuts with chilies and lime leaf. A good bar snack.
Pok Pok's most famous dish is their Ike’s Vietnamese fish sauce wings ($15.75). The chicken wing is left whole and marinated in a combination of garlic, sugar, and fish sauce. A thin coating of rice flour later, the wings are deep fried and then tossed in a glaze of caramelized fish sauce and garlic. We ordered the spicy version where a healthy amount of chili paste is added.
I'm not great with spicy foods so I just about died after eating them. If you can survive the heat, the wings are cooked well -- just overwhelming with the salt and spice.
Our second dish was hoi thawt ($14.50), crispy broken crepe with mussels, eggs, garlic chives, and bean sprouts. It's a popular Thai street food, and I found it very reminiscent of Vietnamese bánh xèo. The crispy edges are the best parts!
Our last item was muu kham waan ($15.75), pork collar rubbed with garlic, coriander root, and black pepper. It's glazed with soy and sugar and then grilled over charcoal. The meat is sliced and sauced with a spicy chili/lime/garlic concoction. To eat this dish, you're meant to wrap the meat with the side of chilled mustard greens.
Our server warned us that this dish was quite spicy and recommended ordering a side of rice with it. I'm not sure if my tongue was already numb from the chicken wings but I didn't think it was overly spicy. It wasn't my favourite though as the meat seemed pretty lean and was veering on dry.
Dessert never disappoints so we walked over to Salt & Straw afterwards for some ice cream.
Salt & Straw is another Portland institution, offering unique chef-driven ice cream handmade with local ingredients. They have four locations in Portland alone, not including Wiz Bang Bar, their soft serve spot, which we hit up on our first night. They also have a bunch of locations in L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, Anaheim, and Seattle.
The post-dinner line-up is long, but it moves at a decent pace. They have a lot of staff who actually come up to you in the line, asking if you want to try any samples before giving them your order. And they seriously encourage samples -- as many as you'd like!
As far as flavours go, they have a menu of 13 "classic" flavours and about 5 limited edition flavours which change every month according to a theme. We went back in August when they had their Farmers Market series. Vegetables in ice cream. Yeah, you read that right.
The vegetable flavours I ended up trying were surprisingly delicious! I also sampled their strawberry honey balsamic off of the classic menu but I wasn't a fan. The balsamic was too pungent and overpowering. In the end, I settled for carrot cake batter w/ pralined hazelnuts and caramel corn on the cob. The kid's scoop was $3.25 and I paid an extra $0.50 to split the scoop into two flavours.
The carrot cake was a cinnamon spiced ice cream with caramelized carrots, vanilla cheesecake swirl and candied hazelnuts. The winner of the night (and my heart) was definitely the caramel corn. They sauté corn kernels in brown butter and steep it into their ice cream base along with ribbons of vanilla-spiked caramel. Creamy, corny goodness.
The kid's scoop was a pretty small portion but the perfect amount of sweetness to cap off the night.
Portland, you're quite alright.
- CT
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