The Tops

Some of you know I manage a little guide to the city of Portland. It's not all about the foo foo trendy places, but more about the hole in the wall eateries, the weirder fun things about Portland, and places to go to not see and be seen, although I do like to see. What I don't do there is rank places. It's basically places and things I like. But what I do get a lot of is, "what's your favorite this and that," questions. So, I thought I'd devote some time here for a few of my favorite things.

I'm keeping it boiled down to the Top 3 in each category, and it is in order. Some topics may be difficult to find the three best, while others could be tough decisions to leave anything out. So, just because it isn't on there doesn't mean it's not good. Also note that these are subject to change during any conversation I may have with you.

If you want to know more about them, either go to my guide or Google it.

Pizza
1. Flying Pie Pizzeria (Get the Sausage and Garlic Seasoning)
2. Blind Onion (Excellent Meats and Crust)
3. Apizza Scholls (It's just deliciously different)

Cheeseburger
1. Buffalo Gap (I also advise the Chili Burger)
2. Rogue Brewery (Mmm... Kobe Beef)
3. Castagna (It's fancy, but worth it)

Beer (Brewery)
1. Rogue Brewery (Where Beer snobs drink)
2. New Old Lompoc (Great patio, beers, and the C-Note rules)
3. Hopworks Urban Brewery (It's always crowded for a reason)

Beer (To Drink At)
1. Green Dragon (So much to choose from, and it changes almost daily)
2. Belmont Station (A beer store and a place to drink)
3. Deschutes Brewery (Legendary beers in a gorgeous place to drink)

Asian Food
1. Typhoon (Drunken Noodles)
2. Vivi's (Great Pho)
3. Syun Japanese Kitchen & Sake Bar (Voted tops in the USA for a reason)

Fries
1. Michael's (Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside)
2. Potato Champion Food Cart (It's really more about the dipping sauce)
3. New Old Lompoc (The softer type with crispy ends)

Desserts
1. St. Cupcake (I prefer the Carrot Cake Cupcake)
2. Voodoo Doughnut (It's not always about being best)
3. Cupcake Jones (Nothing wrong with having the second best cupcake in town)

Sandwiches
1. Bunk (Damn!)
2. Goose Hollow (The best Reuben in town)
3. Pacific Way Cafe (Sure you have to drive to the beach but it's worth it)

Latin
1. Pambiche (I prefer the Oxtail, but it's all good)
2. San Felipe (Killer Fish Tacos)
3. Salvador Molly's (A little Caribbean, a little Mexican)

Hotdog/Sausage
1. Edelweiss Sausage & Delicatessen (Big and Tasty)
2. Otto's Sausage Kitchen (Try the Jalapeno Mustard)
3. Nick's Famous Coney Island (A Portland classic)

Breakfast
1. The Buffalo Gap (Chicken Fried Steak)
2. Gravy (Spendy, but oddly worth it)
3. Pine State Biscuit (The Reggie Deluxe)

Nachos
1. The Buffalo Gap (A mile high with all the fixins, but I recommend the Chili Nachos)
2. Nacho Mama's (As big as your car)
3. Oaks Bottom Brewery (Totchos... Tots instead of Chips)

British/Irish
1. Rose & Thistle (Scottish)
2. Horse Brass (English)
3. County Cork (Irish)

German
1. Prost! (Nothing but German Bier on tap)
2. Widmer Gasthaus (They make great beer, why not food?)
3. Edelweiss Sausage & Delicatessen (Es ist ausgezeichnet)

Fish & Chips
1. The Buffalo Gap (I like mine with Tots)
2. Rose & Thistle (Scottish Plank Style Cod)
3. Horse Brass (I think it's the dark walls)

Live Music
1. Dante's (Harder Faster)
2. Mississippi Studios (More Organic Acoustic Stuff)
3. Doug Fir (A real talent crap shoot)

Movie Theater
1. Academy Theater (Nice Seats, Good Beer Selection, & Flying Pie Pizza)
2. Laurelhurst Theater (Good Movie Selection, Good Beer & Pizza)
3. Living Room Theater (Fancy Foods, Comfy Seats, All Digital)

Place To Eat Somewhere Else
1. Kingfish Cafe (Seattle - Southern)
2. Clemente's Fresh Seafood & Market (Astoria)
3. Pegasus Pizza (Eugene - The BBQ Chicken is a must)

Other
Cannon's Rib Express (BBQ)
A Roadside Attraction (Patio)
The Alibi Restaurant & Lounge (Tiki Bar & Karaoke)
Original Hotcake & Steak House (Hangover Prevention)
Old Wive's Tale (Soup)
Mad Greek Deli (Gyros)
Du's Grill (Bento)
Skyline Tavern (Best View)
Ground Kontrol (Arcade)
Rose City Rollers Roller Derby (Local Sports)
Secret Aardvark Hot Sauce (Local Product)
Velveteria (Velvet Painting Museum)
Holiday Ale Festival (Annual Celebration)
The Buffalo Gap (Chili)
Food Carts (For your late night munchies)

Another Quickie

Sorry for the neglect here, but I've been pretty busy the past few weeks. So, to sum it all up...
(In no particular order)

• Getmortified.com at the Mission Theater = Hilarity
• A night at the beach = Relaxing
• Filing taxes = Suck
• Dry County Crooks for Fat Tuesday = Killer band, crappy club
• Researching and development of new podcasting project = Totally stoked!!!
• Co-writing a book with Michelle = More work than I thought
• Home Brewing = Lots of research, supply gathering, but it will all be worth it
• Massive ongoing computer issues = Bill Gates & Steve Jobs can suck it
• Hanging at Hopworks, Prost!, New Old Lompoc, & Green Dragon = Mmm, Beer
• BBQ Tofu Pie @ Wiffies Fried Pies = Mmm, Pie
• Avatar in 3D = Pretty damn cool
• Bad Movie Night = Laughs, good food, and good friends
• Super Bowl Party = Great game, bad year for commercials
• Bad Date Stories @ Bagdad Theater = Genius hilarity

And coming up... With the emergence of the sun this past weekend, that can only mean YARDWORK!!! As well as just getting the house and yard ready for the warmer weather.

I don't think things will be letting up as many of the things listed above are ongoing and time consuming. For as much as a time suck as it is, what I like about Facebook is I can throw out mini-blogs and not have to worry about anything, but I do miss spending time on here. How does life get so busy? On top of all my personal time things, there's that damn 40 hours we're all forced to put in at that other place. Talk about a serious time suck.