I'm having a rough day so I was reviewing Portland pictures for a good dose of happy. I edited my first batch while I was at it, so I figured I would send some of my happy out to you along with recommendations if you find yourself in PDX.
The first thing we did after rolling in to the City of Roses was to grab donuts, except that we weren't satisfied with doing de rigueur and hitting up Voodoo. Our research led us to the conclusion that
Blue Star would be our happy place and by golly was it! The flavor combos made it impossible to choose just one each, so we loaded up a box with a passion fruit and cocoa, coconut coffee cheesecake, blueberry bourbon basil, salted caramel, hazelnut dulce de leche, and a hard apple cider fritter. As if those don't sound like heaven on their own, these are not your typical donuts. The dough is a buttery soft, melt in your mouth, angel kiss brioche. The flavors are explosive and potent, but somehow still seductively subtle and very well paired. I die. My only regret was that we didn't try them all! Also, though we didn't get coffee there, they get bonus points for the beautiful La Marzocco. P.S. There bathroom was very clean and warm and smelled like donuts (you know how public bathrooms can be cold and weird, just me? Maybe I'm weird?).
We took a walk with our donuts over to Coffeehouse Northwest, where we fell in love with their mochas on our first Portland visit. We aren't even mocha people anymore and we thoroughly enjoyed them. Plus the barista was adorable, friendly, and knowledgable. She even directed us towards some good shops and roasters we hadn't tried back home in Seattle.
So these are the captures from our first morning. I'll have more coming with pictures from activities like visiting Pittock Mansion, Multnomah Falls, our hotel, and our other food adventures and pitfalls, plus a bonus! Keep your eyes open. o.o
