good eats Oregon

I'm going to break some of my recent travel posts into pieces, as I'm feeling quite overwhelmed at the thought of recounting everything I've been up to recently.  This first post relates to my Oregon trip with Jessie and the culinary culprits behind all of my pants being too tight at the moment.

Jessie found a Living Social travel deal a few months ago for a stay at an inn on the Oregon coast, and when she asked me to join her I couldn't possibly decline!  It was my first vacation without Blythe, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to start what will hopefully become regular getaways with Jessie (and eventually with Blythe and the rest of the little immediate family we have between Jessie and myself.  That means the men, if it sounded a bit cryptic - don't get any ideas about anything procreation-related.).

We extended the trip a bit by flying into Portland a day early and exploring the city before driving down the coast to the Depoe Bay area.  I had never been to Oregon, or the Pacific Northwest in general, and was excited to get a feel for the area.

We putzed around a neighborhood close to Jessie's friend Annalea, as we had initially planned to stay with her overnight.  Unfortunately, she and other close friends of Jessie had become quite sick, so we nixed the plan to stay with Annalea and instead booked a hotel for the night.

Along our initial walk around the area, we stopped into the Colombia store, various overpriced antique shops, and landed at Jade Bistro for a late lunch.

I had the thai iced tea as well as the Vietnamese rice vermicelli salad.  Jessie had the rice noodles if I remember correctly.  We split some Oregon truffle oil french fries, as well as a chocolate, a coconut, and pistachio macarons.  It was all delicious, the atmosphere was very laid back, and we enjoyed hanging out for quite a while as we figured out our hotel situation.

Later in the evening we hit up Por Que No for some awesome Mexican food.  I had a Mexican coke (fun story about briefly losing my ID will be forthcoming at some point - I therefore wasn't able to enjoy a margarita that evening) and two chicken tacos, and we split some chips, salsa, and guacamole.  I'm so glad we had some friends send us recommendations of places to eat, because this one was a spot we might not have otherwise found.  I also wish I had taken more pictures, because it was a very eclectic, hole-in-the-wall place that I can imagine I would frequent regularly if I lived in the area.  The long line was well worth the wait.

Jessie discovered a wine tasting by Hip Chicks Do Wine, and we are not ones to turn down a wine tasting opportunity.  $7 bought us 6 different tastings.

The industrial location felt a bit strange, and the interior could use some reworking - I'm not a huge fan of fake grapevines and chintz.  But for the price and the experience of tasting some local wines, it was a fun off-the-beaten-path activity.  I got a feeling that we were pegged as a young lesbian couple when an employee told us that one wine would go very well in a jacuzzi.  Ha.

Far and away our best dining experience of the entire trip was visiting Tasty n Sons for a late brunch before heading out of the city.  Our 45-minute wait allowed us to walk around the neighborhood and visit some nearby stores, and we were then seated in a corner of the bar area. 

We each had coffee, and I ordered a grapefruit mimosa while Jessie had a fancier orange one.

We started by sharing Erin's sweet biscuits with Oregon berry compote.  Oh my gosh these were amazing - the dish was the perfect blend of light and sweet without any overpowering sugary flavor.

The dishes are intended to be eaten family-style, and our main courses were the English Breakfast with bacon, baked beans, tomato, eggs and a homemade English muffin, and the Cast Iron Frittata with grilled corn, gypsy peppers, caramelized onions, feta, tomato & oregano salad.

We finished our brunch with the Chocolate Potato Doughnuts with crème anglaise.  All of the food was just perfect, the atmosphere was casual and welcoming, and the meal will certainly rank as one of the top 10 of my life.

Although we had obviously stuffed ourselves comfortably with Tasty n Sons, it was absolutely necessary to hit up the Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way to our final destination.

We walked around the observation deck and observed (duh) the factory at work, and also sampled some cheeses and enjoyed their ice cream.  The facility was very touristy and commercialized, and while I wouldn't rank it as a favorite stop, I'm glad we visited it for the novelty factor.

The Depoe Bay area had quite an interesting variety of dining options.  We visited "The Cave" for a free wine tasting, and had our first evening's dinner at Gracie's Sea Hag.  We each ordered the crab cakes and enjoyed the melodious tunes of Michael Dane, who yukked it up with the waitresses.

The following day we traveled all along the coast, stopping at one point for a wine tasting at The Flying Dutchman.

Upon the enthusiastic recommendation of one of the Inn employees, we made a reservation at Tidal Raves for our final dinner of the trip.  Our reservation options were 5:15 or 7:45, and while we opted for 7:45 we were unable to see the ocean view that is such a part of the appeal of the restaurant.  Oh well - lesson learned.

I ordered the Dungeness Crab Casserole, also based on a recommendation.  While it was good, I could have recreated it with chicken easily myself - everything seemed to pale in comparison to Tasty n Sons.

I had the citrusdrop cocktail in both lemon and orange, and also had the bread pudding in Kentucky bourbon sauce.

Our final culinary stop on the way back to Portland was at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company in Tillamook.  I enjoyed this wine tasting the most, both due to the wines themselves and the employee's knowledge and friendliness.  There were also quite a few cheese and other food samples throughout the store.  If we had built in even more time for the visit I could have browsed for quite a while.

Whew.  Looking back on this post, I realize (and can physically feel the effects of) how much Jessie and I truly did eat our way through Oregon.  It was all so worth the effects on our waistlines and pocketbooks, though.