Top 3 by Three: Portland Edition

Every time the Three explore a new city, we want to bring you our list of our favorite food and drink experiences.  Feel free to comment and add suggestions to the list – we can’t wait to sample your cravings when we return again!

Imbibe:

This was a whirlwind of a trip, so we didn’t get to explore the Portland cocktail scene as much as we wanted to, but the winners were two drinks from Departure (on the top floor of the Nines, a SPG Luxury brand hotel) and a surprise brunch drink from Hunnymilk, a pop up brunch restaurant.

Elixir of Life: @ Departure

Absolut, St. Germain, prickly pear, and lemon are expertly mixed together to form an extremely photogenic cocktail.  If you like refreshing, this is the one for you.  Sweet, but not too sweet, with notes of pear and lemon to wake up your pallet and ask for more.  What a great way to start an evening.  This one could get you in trouble!

Anzuzu: @ Departure

Knob Creek, Laphroaig, smoked oolong vermouth, and bitters.  This was a much more mature drink.  If you don’t like a smoky taste, then this isn’t the drink for you.  I happen to love the hint of smokiness in drinks like mezcal, so it was a perfect way to end my evening.  The whisky is expertly blended with the tea infused vermouth to round out the flavors, and the drink finishes in your palate with the smoky taste of the Laphroaig and bitters.  Add the plum infused salt rim and you have an incredibly complex and tasty drink indeed.

Mango Tequila Sunrise @Hunnymilk

Who knew that you could do tequila for brunch?  I guess in Portland, anything goes. Mango, mixed with tequila and a bit of sunshine mixed in.  This tasty beverage was the perfect way to start the day.  Instead of opting for a bellini or mimosa, remind yourself that the sun still exists in Portland.  If that doesn’t work, drink the mango tequila sunrise and pretend you are relaxing on the beach.  I know I did.

Devour:

Departure Wings:  @Departure

What an interesting concept! These weren’t really wings in the strictest definition.  Instead, the chefs creatively breaded and formed a ball of chicken around a single bone.  They lightly fried the creation and glazed it with a sweet chili sauce.  The resulting bite was a crispy crunch on the outside and an incredibly tender meat on the inside.  The best part: none of the mess of eating chicken wings!

Crispy Pork Ribs: @Hunnymilk

The pigs that this dish came from were fed on a diet of hazelnuts, apparently inspired by Iberico ham. They were served on a bed of amazingly cheesy grits mixed with a liberal dose of garlic.  In addition, a perfectly cooked poached egg and avocado mysteriously brought the whole dish together.  The heavily seasoned (and tasty) pork just fell off of the bone.  Want to create a flavor blast in your mouth?  Put together a bite of pork, garlic grits, egg, avocado and chimichurri sauce.  You can thank me later 🙂

Luc Lac (Shaking Beef): @Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen

The name Luc Lac or Vietnamese shaking beef comes from a history of beef being expensive in Asia.  As a result, the beef would be cut into small dice shaped cubes and cooked in a wok.  The constant shaking of the wok to cook the beef to perfection brought about the name “shaking beef”, or luc lac.  This was the best bite of the trip, hands down.  The beef tenderloin was cooked to a perfect medium rare, and was seared with hennessey, beurre de france, garlic, black peppercorn.  The lime and pepper dipping sauce just added to the revelation that was occurring in my tastebuds and brain.  Get this dish and live the crave life now!

That’s it for now…Remember to live the life that you CRAVE.  Feel free to provide comments and suggestions for our next trip.  If you want to check out our gallery of photos, join our other social media feeds here:

Instagram:  www.instagram.com/thecravelife

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thecravelife

Crave on,

Three