Higgins - Portland Oregon

We walked past Higgins restaurant on our way back to the hotel after dinner on Saturday, it looked inviting and I got a good vibe about it so we checked on the menu, and though not cheap it was not outrageous either.

I checked it out on the Internet and a couple of guide books, it had very good reviews and in fact was #5 out of restaurants in Portland, so we decided to go there for dinner on Sunday.  Apparently this restaurant was doing local and organic before it was fashionable and was one of the leading lights in the sustainable local food movement. One of the reviews that I read talked about their charcuterie which they apparently are famous for so that is what we ordered for our first course.

Charcuterie Plate

What arrived was a marble slab with a wide array of artisanal cold cuts (is that a real thing) and 3 delicious Pate's.  We received a generous basket of olive and walnut bread to eat with them along with a couple of home made pickles.  It was truly delicious and I afraid to say we ate every last bit of it.

For a main course my father ordered the lentil patties served with roasted yams rice and mushrooms

Hazelnut and lentil patties

Hotel Modera - Portland Oregon

My husband booked the Hotel Modera for my father and I for our weekend get away in Portland.  They advertise themselves as a "Luxury Boutique Hotel in the heart of Downtown Portland" and that is exactly what it is, but at a reasonable price.



Court yard of Hotel Modera by night

 We entered into a lobby with some beautiful original works of art and were greeted by a very friendly approachable consierge/front desk clerk.



Lobby of the Hotel Modera




He made our reservation at the Chez Joly for us and then we went up to our rooms to freshen up before dinner.

Food Carts of Portland

When I knew we were going to Portland for the weekend the thing that I most wanted to do was check out the food carts.  We arrived on a Saturday late afternoon so the food carts had to wait until Sunday.  We were advised by the concierge at the hotel to go to the "Saturday Market"( apparently it is called the Saturday Market even on Sunday) This was down on the river front so we timed it so that we would be there for lunch.

Food carts at the "Saturday Market"

There were quite a selection of different cuisines Mexican, Thai, southern barbecue, Lebanese and Mongolian amongst others.  We both chose food from The Horn of Africa, this intrigued me I don't think I have ever had that and the pictures looked interesting.  I ordered the Chicken platter.

African food cart

Of everything that I ate this weekend and I had some very good food, this was my favourite. The chicken had some similarities to tandoori chicken, though it was moister and and very flavourful.  It was chicken leg and thigh meat so much tastier and moist than chicken breast.  This came with what looked like a samosa which was filled with chicken and potato and the pastry was exactly the same as a samosa.  There was also a vegetable curry, which had cabbage, carrots and green beans in it and a creamy yellow sauce which I think must have had some coconut milk and a whole lot of turmeric in it. Also on there was a wonderful lentil dish, boy I had some good lentils this week. The whole thing was served on a spongy rather sour tasting flat bread.  That was not my favourite part of the meal, but everything else was so good I let it slide.  The person standing next to me said, "that looks so colourful you could take a picture if it" which of course I did.

The chicken platter from the Horn of Africa

Chez Joly - Portland Oregon

Before going to Portland for the weekend my father had done some research of where to go for dinner and came up with Chez Joly a French restaurant on the outskirts of the Pearl district.

It was in a typical north American brick downtown building, but when you went inside you would have sworn you were in a bistro in Paris, they had hit just the right atmosphere with out being tacky.

I am a great believer that you can judge a restaurant on the bread basket.  I was happy we got some very good fresh french bread and the traditional unsalted butter that always says France to me.

We had a glass of red wine while we perused the menu which was full of french standards and was split in to two parts, the house specialities and the seasonal specialities.  I really liked this as I think it is important to eat seasonally and we both ordered from that portion of the menu.

My father order the beet and goat cheese salad.  This is something I love also and often make so I was interested to see their version.