Why We Love Portland: Ground Kontrol

This has to be one of the finest ways to spend an evening here in Portland. Well, if you are a nerd like myself, that is. Ground Kontrol is a classic arcade, featuring all the best of arcade games from the original Ms PacMan and Frogger to slightly newer yet still older Mortal Kombat as well as the hilarious original Dance Dance Revolution. They also have a wide selection of random pinball machines, many featuring truly awful movies (Demolition Man, point and case). And the best part? All of the machines play for a quarter or two. This means that your five dollars can go a long way, especially if you know what you are doing. Sadly, I do not. I loose right away (especially when I have no idea what is going on -- I still don't know how the Track and Field game works, despite almost two dollars worth of attempts). But it is fun even if I can't get past level one in Joust!

Ground Kontrol is a bar (albeit canned beer only), so those under 21 will have to find alternate entertainment. For a detailed listing of the games go to www.groundkontrol.com, including information on Portland's thriving pinball leauge. Who knew?

Being a Wino is Fun!

Portland may be known for its fine microbrew culture (which is something I did not fully appreciate until I moved to Missouri where Bush is the highlight of brew culture), but it also offers many opportunities to try the vino experience. Not only are we located in the midst of the ever-growing Willamette Valley wine industry, we are also within driving distance of many fine Washington wineries. The closest hotbed of tasting rooms and open wineries is located along Highway 99, heading from Portland to McMinnville. Passing through Newberg and Dundee, there are dozens of local wineries that are well worth the drive. Our favorite is Sokol Blosser, which offers a mixed white and mixed red (named Evolution and M) that are some of our favorite wines. Evolution is a crisp but very smooth white mixture that we frequently use in a wine marinade for Chilean sea bass. Andy is an excellent cook, did I mention that? We gave the M bottle a try simply on its association with the winery, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it a well rounded and very fruity wine that is easy to drink. We first enjoyed it on a sunny picnic at Sauvie Island (a great Portland getaway), and the warm sun and excellent company always come to mind when we drink this wine. Other wineries that we have tasted at and enjoyed are Erath Vinyards, De Ponte Cellars (their wine tasting room is associated with an excellent restaurant), and Torii Mor Wineries. Also highly recommended are the Andrew Rich Wines and the Rex Hill Vineyards.

If you don't have time to take the scenic drive, there are many places to sample wine here in P-town. In our neighborhood, Sip D-Vine offers flights of red and white of selected vineyards which rotate weekly. For a great late night venue, try South Park (named so before the popular TV show came into existence, and in fact named after its location South of the Park blocks). It is in downtown Portland, and offers a great bar menu that includes a creme brulee that is drool-inducing. As an added bonus, you can order wines by the quarter glass, which is especially helpful if your name is Jackie and you don't handle your alcohol that well. And, if you are in the mood for good wine with a minimum of frou-frou fuss, then head to Johns Market. John's is well known as having the best beer selection in Portland, but it also carries a well selected array of wine. Since everything is scaled down and pared back to bare bones, the market saves on expense and manages to deliver cheaper bottles than many of the finer establishments in the area. Of course, John's is also well known for the worst produce selection in Portland, if not the entire Pacific Northwest. Ah well, you can't be an expert at everything...

Our favorites:
Sokol Blosser http://www.sokolblosser.com/
South Park http://www.southparkseafood.com/

Why we love Portland... Laurelwood

Ah, Portland, thy endless supply of local breweries never ends! If you are ever in the Hollywood district in Portland (NE, close in to 84), please take some time to swing by the Laurelwood Pizza Company. We always order the same thing: a thin beer crust topped with garlic infused oil, three cheese blend and roasted garlic. This pizza is so good, even the chef complimented our choice of ingredients! The crust is light and tasty, and who can really go wrong with garlic and cheese? Laurelwood is especially generous with their roasted garlic (we, as die hard garlic fans have no problem with this, but others with whom we have shared this pizza have elected to take off 50% of the roasted goodness), so you may not wish to have romantic plans for the rest of the evening. As a perfect compliment to the pizza, you can also enjoy a Spaceman Stout or a Tree hugger porter. We both favor darker beers, but we've been told that the free range red is also quite delish. I support the free range red mostly because the logo features a big chicken, which as many of you know is a major part of my research. Associating work with beer is always helpful...

Despite the fact that we always order 1 stout, 1 porter and 1 pizza, we've occasionally had some of the food ordered by others and it is all equally yummy. The 'garden' pizza (a smörgåsbord of vegetables) is especially nice as they use local produce in all of their cooking. We've also been told that their burgers and sandwiches are lovely, but pretty much everybody comments on the beer. When in doubt, order their generous sampler platter which consists of 11 different types of beer including a seasonal. For me, the epitome of light weight, this is more than enough to put me down for the rest of the evening, but for more libatious folk, it is just the perfect prelude to a good meal. Oh, and as an added benefit, the prices are extremely reasonable, so having a pizza and a beer won't put you out. Check out their website for more information. www.laurelwoodbrewpub.com

Why We Love Portland: Beer Theaters

There are many reasons why we love Portland so much, but even we have to admit that the variety of cheap beer theaters is high on our list. Every town as the "dollar theater" (or at least, they used to be a dollar!), the cheap theater that is known for its sticky floors and uncomfortable seats. Well, let me tell you that nothing makes those seats and floor down right comfy than a few beers! The beer theaters, most of them run by the local dynasty McMenamins, offer local microbrew, pizza and goodies to make the three dollar experience even more enjoyable. And, to tell the truth, the floors and seats are pretty well maintained. In fact, the Kennedy School in NE Portland has couches and armchairs, nary a rickety movie seat in sight. With your beer and pizza in hand, even some of the worst movies put out by Hollywood have some redeeming value on a weekend night.

Sometimes, films are so bad that they are good. Point in case, our most recent beer theater outing was to the "Supertrash Film Festival", which was headlined by one of our favorites, "Big Trouble in Little China". Everything about this film was so entertaining that even the previews had us laughing out loud! The movie poster speaks for itself:
Thats quality with a K, my friends... Only in Portland would a B-movie from the 1980's headline a film festival (which, by the way, also featured RoboCop 2). All that I can say is, wish you were here!