WEEKEND

Oregon Tale

By Elizabeth Payton

This most Pacific of American cities hides its truly exciting eating, drinking and playing experiences in neighbourhoods just outside of the downtown core.

Doug Fir Lounge

Portland is that rare mid-size city that’s packed with urbane surprises but still feels unpretentious. The collision of its blue collar resource industry roots and its newfound hipster cachet has created an eclectic array of micro-cultures, all easily accessible from downtown, thanks to one of the best public transportation systems in the country. To understand why this spirited little city is attracting everyone from artists to advertising execs to artisanal vodka distillers, you’ll have to spend a few hours exploring its unique ’hoods.

East Burnside: Hipster Haven

Essentially an indie rock club disguised as a boutique hotel, the Jupiter is a magnet for artsy neighbourhood denizens. The renovated motel even has an edgy hair salon and tattoo parlour. The Doug Fir Lounge, one of the hottest venues in the city’s burgeoning music scene, happens to also serve a top-notch bison burger. For dinner, challenge yourself at the defiantly French Le Pigeon, where the eponymous signature dish arrives beautifully crisped, its unmistakably avian foot still attached, and where there’s duck fat even in the dessert (profiteroles with foie gras ice cream). The next morning, if your arteries haven’t suffered enough, try Portland’s signature snack at the local outpost of Voodoo Doughnut. (As the name suggests, the Maple Bacon Bar is a long pastry with maple frosting and strips of bacon on top.) Some people are calling it the new Seattle, but this is a completely different kind of West Coast. If you’re not convinced, walk a few minutes further to the Velveteria. This velvet-painting museum (where a Shins video was recently filmed) contains more than 300 works of “art.” Later settle in for a movie at the Laurelhurst Theatre, a 1923 Art Deco building that’s one of Portland’s many brew-and-view theatres, serving Pizzicato pie with wine and local microbrews.

Pearl District: Conscientious Chic
Stay at the Nines, a new Starwood Luxury Collection hotel that wears its LEED silver green cred on its overalls at the Urban Farmer restaurant, where the local, seasonal food is prepared with the same creativity as the work by local students displayed on the walls. While browsing the area’s warehouse-style blocks, stop by EWF Modern for reclaimed timber furniture and check out the Ecotrust Building, a green-roofed marvel, partially heated by pizza-oven warmth from Hot Lips Pizza. For more substantial eats, 50 Plates satisfies comfort food cravings with 50 favourites from 50 states. The culinary Americana includes Louisiana po’boys, a Louisville hot brown and an irresistible Maine lobster roll. For something a little more upscale (but no less satisfying), the elegant Ten 01 offers grilled shrimp with potato salad and American caviar or lick-your-fingers Thai ribs. Afterward catch a wine seminar or tasting at Vino Paradiso (owned by one of the Pink Martini's musicians) or drink from the source at the Rogue Distillery and Public House, where the hazelnut rum is made on-site. (Distillery tours start at 2 p.m. daily.) The best nightcap is at Teardrop Lounge, where bartender/co-owner Ted Charak makes his own tonic water and flavours your cocktail with house-made orgeat or other obscure tinctures.

Distillery District: Spirited Away

Locals call this east-side warehouse district Distillery Row. There are 14 artisan distilleries in Portland, many of them clustered here, in this walkable enclave (Call ahead for tasting room hours and to book tours.) Stay just across the bridge at the new Modera, a design hotel with sleek fire pits in the outdoor plant-walled courtyard. Kick things off with an afternoon of hooch sampling at House Spirits, profiled in Food & Wine for its Medoyeff Vodka, Aviation Gin and a pioneering Pacific Northwest whiskey that’s currently aging. (Buy your own barrel for US$4,900.) Next, stop for fortification at the cluster of gourmet lunch carts that park at 12th Avenue and Hawthorne Street before continuing on to New Deal (makers of an eponymous local-ingredients vodka) and sampling 12 Bridges Gin. If you’re feeling ambitious, this is the time to check out Trillium Absinthe at Integrity Spirits, which shares quarters with the eco-pub Green Dragon, one of many pubs in the area offering locally craft-brewed pints for those less interested in the hard stuff. Once you’re in the home stretch, try wind-power-made Elemental Vodka at Highball Distillery before hitting the city’s hottest new cocktail lab, Beaker & Flask, where the mad scientists behind the bar whip up dangerous experiments like the Celery Kamikaze – using local spirits, of course.

(Elizabeth Payton is a freelance travel and lifestyle writer living in Vancouver.)

TOP IMAGE: DOUG FIR LOUNGE
VELVETERIA: CARL BALDWIN
BIKE IN PEARL: BRIAN ROCHE
BRIDGE: BROCK HENDERSON