Home Again, Home Again

I recently went on a short business trip to Portland, Oregon. Upon arrival, I recalled that my old friend Brian King from Monterey was living in the area, so we went out to grab a bite to eat. Rather than going to some generic restaurant that could be found in Anytown, USA, he decided to show me a bit of the local flavor that is Portland.

We went to a restaurant called Montage. After exiting the freeway, and making my way there by navigating through a series of one-way streets that appeared to be deserted, I was certain the directions provided to get to the restaurant were incorrect. I parked under a bridge and saw a lighted "M" on the corner of what might appear to be an abandoned building were it not for the youths hanging out in front, light peeking through the windows, and loud music emanating from within. Upon going inside, the place was packed. The menu looked like a handwritten parchment that had been run through a copier in the back, and everyone leaving with food had their take-aways wrapped in a very large ornate tin foil sculpture. Aside from the typical tin foil "swan", there were large dragonflys, robots, and Egyptian obelisks. I even saw one guy carry out an over-sized sword which was larger than a regular sword. You kind of had to "own" the sculpture to get away with not being embarrassed, but most carried their take-home food high like a badge of honor.

Since the place was a Cajun style restaurant, my friend Brian had the jambalaya with alligator meat (seriously ... alligator meat), and I had the home-made spicy mac-and-cheese with rock shrimp. Very yummy. Though Brian let me try a bit o' the gator, he ended up with some left-overs. Here was his take-home sculpture:


I wouldn't take my kids there at night, but it was a fun restaurant. Afterward, we were going to stop at another local spot (where tourists dare not go) called "VooDoo Donuts". I'm sure their donuts (well, some of them) would have been very tasty, but near midnight on a Friday night was not the time to go. It's a 24-hour donut place with interesting donuts where I would definitely not take my kids at night nor during the day. We did a drive-by and I waved at the nice spiky haired patrons wondering if I a stabbing would have been worth the breakfast cereal laden donuts they are famous for. Probably not.

Anyway, it was nice to see my friend Brian again and very nice of him to show me around Portland. Thanks, Brian!