We just booked a last minute trip to Portland this weekend. We'll be staying at the Marriott Waterfront (nailto pwy & Clay st)and need suggestions for seafood or Italian restaurants. We won't have a car and will use mass transit, walk or if required taxi so we would prefer nearby. When & where will they be doing fireworks also? Thanks for any input!

There are many good choices and the Portland locals have great suggestions.

Two or three favorites from our trip to Portland:

The Everett Street Bistro in the Pearl District if you're looking for semicasual dining. I had the gnocci with morel mushrooms -- it was great.

We also liked Henry's Tavern in the Pearl for beer and appetizers.

And we ate in the bar at Wildwood on NW 21st. We only had the hamburger and olive plate; the hamburger was great. We were wishing we would have had more time so that we could've had dinner there. It might be worth checking out.

Have fun!

Portland is really easy to get around on foot, but there is the streetcar as well.

Kureiff mentioned a couple of my favorite spots...Everett St. Bistro and Henry's.

Other good spots for casual fare are:

Red Star Tavern (have only had dinners and drinks there, very good)

St. Honore (French Bakery...good sandwiches and salads also)

Mother's Bistro (good for all meals)

Lorn & Dotties (great dutch babies)

Pearl Bakery

Mio Gelato (good paninis as well as gelato)

Mama Mia's Trattoria (east coast Italian, same owner as Mothers and on the same block)

Carafe--French, and very close to your hotel. Very good.

For seafood (or steak) we like Jake's, and for Italian Pazzo. Jake's is part of the McCormick and Schmick's family of restaurants, and Pazzo is operated by Kimpton. Both are within an easy walk of your hotel.

Oooh lucky! they do the fireworks from the river, you will have an excellent view.

Seafood-everyone likes Jakes on 12th & Stark
Southpark (SW Park) at the South Park Blocks..excellent seafood and really nice restaurant..right downtown.
Italian...get on a streetcar, couple of stops to the Pearl..walk to
Giorgios-NW12th & Hoyt ( not as casual as some, elegant wonderful restaurant)
Piazza Italia - NW 12th & Johnson ( very casual, very Italian...soccer will be on the restaurant tv while you eat..or sit at tables outside..it is really a good restaurant, fun and authentic.
On NW 21st ( via streetcar)
Serratto, love this place.
Tuscan Grill...excellent
Want more? let me know, I have made it my mission to try every restaurant in my new town LOL
Not Italian but you can get pasta and not seafood but you can get seafood would be my new favorite, Fenouil, on Jamison Park...French-ish, just a beautiful restaurant and wonderful food.
They all have websites, I am just too lazy right now to post them
Hope this helps!

Well, there's the huge Waterfront Blues festival happening in the park all weekend right across the street from your hotel; Tuesday, they'll be shooting off fireworks on a barge in the river right in front of the Marriott. Check this out from last year:

http://www.portlandbridges.com/00,DR...nd-oregon.html

(I don't have any closeups that show the fireworks with the Marriott close-up, but you get the idea.)

If you have a view room of the river, you'd have a great view from there. Otherwise, you can wander over to the festival and just watch them like everyone else.

The Marriott Waterfront is served by a few buses - the #54 and #56 on Clay Street - that will take you into downtown, but it's easy to walk into downtown even without the bus; Portland is a great walking city if you are in any kind of shape and quite safe. The Streetcar is a few blocks away, not particularly convenient. It's Fareless Square down there, though, so buses/trains are free within the downtown core. Do some homework ahead of time, go to www.TriMet.org and find the stop ID for...OK, I looked it up, it's 1073. Call 503-238-RIDE (TriMet) from your cell, press 1 for Transit Tracker, then type in 1073 and you'll find out when the next bus arrives at 1st and Clay to take you into downtown.

Andrew

Beautiful photos, Andrew! chrismch, if you like salmon, I had an excellent salmon meal at Fenouil a couple of weeks ago. Have a great 4th of July! ***kim***

Shame on you, people, you make me feel SO SORRY I haven't scheduled a short trip to Portland for 4 holiday days

Faina, it really would be nice if you came up to visit.
We could do one of those marathon eating days like some visitors, you know, breakfast, run over to a pizzaria, lunch somewhere like Fenouil then to a market then to Paleys for dinner LOL

On second thought, with the wonderful sunny dry weather, we could sightsee all day then do all the Happy Hours!
Happy 4th

Hey kimamom, since you're not here that often, you might not realize that salmon (and other seafood) is on almost every menu in town. Not just Fenouil ;-)

Scarlett, you missed a couple: Fratelli's & Cafe Mingo! Fratelli's is in the Pearl, and Mingo is on NW 21st. Good pasta there.

Ordinarily most of us locals recommend places other than the Marriott, chris. But with the Blues Festival and fireworks, you got one of the best places in town this weekend. Have fun!

We chose the Marriott because it was right across from the blues festival. Is there an easy way to take mass transit from the airport to our hotel? We'll each just have one rolling tote so we won't be overwhelmed with luggage. Any other suggestions for getting around? Thanks for the restaurant choices - looking forward to trying some of them out!

You can take the MAX train from the airport to downtown Portland and get off at 3rd Avenue (stop after OAK downtown) and walk about 10 short Portland blocks to the Marriott or take a bus after you get off the MAX to get fairly close to the hotel. Go to www.Trimet.org and it will tell you exactly how to get there. Just punch in PDX as your starting point and the address of the Marriott as the end point.

Andrew

Hi chris
http://portlandstreetcar.org/map.php
This is the streetcar site/map. You will see how easy it is to get all over town by streetcar .. it loops through town..It will be all you will need for your visit.
The weather is great and forecast to stay great!

My sea bass at the Heathman Hotel was outstanding. We dined there on Sat. night and loved it! ***kim***

LoveItaly, ...or :-" and plus a definite amp;

It gives me a tummy ache!

Lunch today was at Everett Street Bistro. crabcakes and moules ( in saffron broth) & frites ...
The weather is so nice this week..all the restaurants, no matter how small, have outdoor tables and everyone sits and schmoozes and enjoy long lunches..Portland feels very European sometimes to me
Yes, salmon is on most menus..
The Heathmans Chef Phillipe Boulot, won a James Beard award not long ago , and the hotel has refurbished some rooms..it is nice. We like to go to the bar before or after concerts or the ballet at the Schnitzer next door and hav edrinks and maybe a snack..Dinner there is lovely, try to get a seat by the windows and enjoy the fine artwork ..

Oh Scarlett, I am jealous, you had my favorite dishes, lol. And I had a boring sandwich. Seabass is not my thing, but some people like it.

I hope chrismch gives up a trip report. Imagine their visit to Portland is being enjoyed!

Well, the weather is certainly being kind..it is in the 80s and dry..a light breeze. I feel bad for those who went to the Coast for the weekend, it is cold there!
The Blues Festival is going strong and tomorrow night is the Fireworks..Portland is a good place to be this week..and more stuff coming

Hi Scarlett, our coast here in N CA is cold too so am sure the Oregon coast is as well. Just read that there is a worry that the fireworks in SF will probably not be to great this year as fog is anticipated. That happened a couple of years ago to. But you lucky Portland residents will get to enjoy yours. We will too as we are inland. A group of us sort of party on the lawn and watch them.