Portland: What To Eat (Part II – Dessert and Drinks)

Sooo…we ate too much food to fit into one blog post. Is that bad? Don’t answer that. In our second portion we go over perhaps our two favorite meals: dessert and drinks! If you missed our food reviews, check out Part I.

Dessert:

Salt & Straw
Our love for ice cream matches our love for donuts (see Pip’s in Part I). Any dessert, really. I mean, we do have a blog dedicated to baked goods!! Salt & Straw is definitely a must visit when in Portland. The ice cream is amazing and the flavor combos are unusual, yet perfect. We were able to sample any and all flavors including ones like Donut, Smores, Chimi Churro, and Chocolate with Brownies. Amy liked the Honey Lavender and we heard good things about the Pear and Goat Cheese…but those were a bit adventurous for our taste. Steph and Kelly each settled on a double scoop: one with Sea Salt/Caramel and Coffee/Bourbon and one with Snickerdoodle and Coffee/Bourbon. Nothing beats homemade ice cream and Salt & Straw is the place to get the best homemade flavors! Steph even saved half of hers for the next day because she was too full…just as good leftover!

Tonalli’s 
As if our dinner at La Bonita as not enough, we head down the street to Tonalli’s for some donuts. Unbeknownst to us, Tonalli’s doesn’t just offer warm and fresh donuts, they also have ice cream! Our two favorite desserts on this trip! The donut selection at 7pm at night is amazing and they are incredibly generous with ice cream scoops. Just take a look at the picture below! Stephanie was set on an old fashioned donut and it tasted as if it had just come out of the oven even though they were closing shortly. So good!

Drinks:

Barista
Our host Amy made a strict rule of NO STARBUCKS while in Portland. And Stephanie is one of those people who needs coffee every morning! The rule turned out very easy to abide by though, considering she took us to Barista just down the street and it was so delicious, we never went anywhere else! The first day she told us we had to get a vanilla latte. We don’t usually get lattes, we both prefer a more espresso-y/chocolate-y taste, but we were pleasantly surprised! It had much more flavor than run of the mill lattes we’d had elsewhere. The next morning we returned to our mocha routine. They offer two styles: milk chocolate or dark chocolate. Naturally we ordered one of each. The milk chocolate was much creamier and sweeter, reminded us more of hot chocolate with just a little coffee taste, whereas the dark chocolate had a more rich, stronger flavor. You really can’t go wrong here!

Deschutes Brewery 
Neither of us are huge beer drinkers, but we want to be! We got two sampler platters of 6 different beers to try. We were surprised how many we actually liked! We made sure to write down a list to remember for later. Our favorites were the Fresh Squeezed IPA and the Bachelor Bitter.

Roadside Attraction
After our dinner at Pambiche, we went to a bar called Roadside Attraction. It was the most randomly decorated bar and had a Pirates of the Caribbean from Disneyland feel. The outside has a big fire pit, huge swing, and little nooks of tables and chairs so you could still have private conversations. The inside was filled with more randomness but it was lively and fun! It had a very diverse crowd and was low key yet entertaining atmosphere at the same time. Cash ONLY, so come prepared.

Pambiche
Not only did Pambiche have delicious food but it also had some amazing beverages. First, their mango smoothie is out of this world. Truly the most amazing smoothie! It was dairy free yet is was sooooo smooth and fresh! Simply delicious! Kelly had to text another cousin that we were getting one and her response was merely “BEST. SMOOTHIE. EVER.” Pambiche also boasts the Nacional- a blended drink that includes Bacardi, orange liquor, lime juice and mango. Think an alcoholic mango frappucino. Dangerous. Yes, we’ll try recreate that one for the blog too 😉

Doug Fir
Our last night we went to bar called Doug Fir, as in Douglas Fir, as in a the tree (there was an inside joke here…but I think we were just delirious to think it was as funny as we did). The inside was classy log cabin esque with log wood paneled walls. Again, hence the name Doug Fir. We found a really cool corner spot next a wall that was covered in fur… Trust us, it’s not as tacky as it sounds. We indulged in Whiskey Lemonades, Fireball shots and Washington Apples. It was our last night of vacation! We had to go out with a bang. We met up with Josie from Fashion Plate NW to talk about starting new blogs, life, and just relax. We also made friends with Nolan and Austin, friends of Amy. Doug Fir was a great way to finish our weekend in Portland!

As you can see, we ate and drank our way through the city! We can’t wait to go back for more. But we didn’t oonnnllyyyy stuff our faces while we were there. We promise! We’ll post proof with What To Do in Portland later this week. Don’t forget to come back and check it out!

~Kelly & Stephanie