Travel Food... part 1. Starting in Portland to the OR Coast

Since my last post, I went to the Coast for a weekend, and then spent a week in Austin for work, a weekend in the Umpqua Valley on a wine barrel tour, and then a week in the DC/Baltimore area.

Let's start with the start of my travels… which wasn't me traveling but greeting travellers, the in-laws.

A initial dinner when the in-laws arrived at Mama Mia Trattoria because Portabello was closed and they specifically wanted Italian pasta (not pizza). Here is where your first basket of bread includes garlic bread. I actually didn't get to try any though, and the pasta was ok, with the only impressive thing being the size of the fried ravioli appetizers (monster ravioli size!). I feel privileged that I can think back to some incredible pasta meals like at Trattoria No. 10 and Spiaggia in Chicago, but I haven't found an equivalent favorite Italian place in Portland yet.

I had to work, so did not go with them to Edgefield for brunch or to explore the gorge, but after they came back I took them to a dinner at Wildwood, still one of my favorite Northwest cuisine restaurants (and they have their own parking lot). We enjoyed dinner so much we didn't take photos until dessert

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Then we were off to the coast, which meant a stop at Camp 18. We sat by the windows which faced all the birdfeeders, and enjoyed watching various types of birds also come get their breakfast as we enjoyed our enormous portions surrounded by examples of the beautiful wood you can find in the Northwest. There, ordering 2 pancakes yields pancakes that are each bigger then your face, a side of potatoes is an entire plate-ful, one biscuit with gravy comes on a plate swimming with sausage-y gravy and each half of the biscuit seems the size of a normal biscuit. Yes, I will always stop here on the way to the coast.

A stop at the Seaside Aquarium and Cannon Beach lead to a stop at Tillamook Cheese Factory and a grilled cheese sandwich and some Tillamook ice cream/sorbet. and a very sexy marionberry pie.

We finished off at Devil's Punchbowl… where we fed a cracker to a new friend we met.