Honeys (Don't) Heart: Leslie's Last Night in PDX

Posted by Katie

A sad thing has been happening and it's probably the worst part of graduating (besides the whole job search thing). It's time for everyone get started on their post-college adventures and for many of our friends, that means moving away from Portland.

Leslie is headed the farthest away of any of us (Korea!) and Kelly, Dena, and I will not see her again for a year at least. We started our last girl's night at Mint, incredibly appropriate given that it's our official spot (sill not regulars though...). After some sweet potato fries, uber-spicy Caesar salads, and some drinks, we decided that surely at least one more round was in order before we called it a night.

Leslie had never experienced the wonder of the fishbowl drinks at Gypsy, so we headed to 21st despite our worry that 4 people were needed to order a bowl and we were now down to a party of 3. That, however, turned out to be the least of our worries as the bartenders at Gypsy refused to serve me because of my ID. Now I understand that having a Portland address on a California license is a bit odd, but let's be honest here, who would actually try to pull that off on a fake ID? That business is real!

But they didn't believe me, so it was off to try our luck somewhere else. The first bar we saw was North 45 Pub so in we went. North 45 is very cozy and they have one of the those walls of liquor where the bartender has to climb up on a ladder to reach everything. We ordered a round of margaritas, made some new friends, and, since it was Leslie's last night, ordered a few more. You can imagine, then, why the late night happy hour menu become extremely tempting as soon as the clock hit 11pm and the option of mac n cheese and sliders was suddenly available. Now I can't really vouch for the quality of the food here (damn those margaritas) but I do remember that we cleaned those plates...so take that as you will.

We'll miss you Leslie...and maybe since you're going to miss us too, you'll actually read our blog!

Portland Happy Hour: Bastas

Katie and I attempted to go to a happy hour a couple fridays ago in the pearl, but with a new puppy, we didn't make it out of my apartment until after many happy hours had already ended. Instead we walked a block away and headed to Bastas on the corner of 21st and Flanders. They have a food happy hour in their bar all night and drinks on happy hour from 4 to 6:30.

It was busy in the bar and the food looked great. After pondering the menu we chose chicken skewers with yam fries ($4), a caesar salad ($3) and, upon the bartenders suggestion, we also ordered the Arancini ($4), a saffron rice fritter stuffed with ragout of zucchini and eggplant with fresh mozzarella. All were delicious, especially the Arancini.

For drinks, I ordered a basil lemon drop ($8), which we would highly recommend. Katie ordered a pomegranate vodka martini ($8) which was also good, and strong! After sipping our drinks and eating our great food choices (so modest, we know), we decided this time that instead of another drink, we'd have another Arancini! This was a great choice, plus it saved us $12.

Portland Happy Hour: Laurelwood NW Public House

Graduation weekend means lots of eating (never a bad thing) and I got to start my weekend off right with happy hour at Laurelwood NW Public House with Nick and his mom.We decided to go all out with $3 beers, the pork sliders ($4), fish tacos ($4), nachos ($4), garlic fries ($4) and beer-battered onion rings ($7.95, not on the happy hour menu but worth it). While the food was not exactly innovative, it was delicious, especially those onion rings. And while it was still on the chilly side when we visited, I can see why the patio is always packed during the summer months.

As if all that food wasn't already enough...a little bakery called Two Tarts caught my eye through the window while we were eating, so a quick stop there was obviously necessary. At first I was a bit worried when I saw how small the pastry display case was, but the idea behind Two Tarts is that it's not about size, it's about quality. Or, if you're me, it's about trying several different small pastries instead of just one. While the offerings vary from day to day, when we stopped by they had mini lemon bars, hazelnut baci, chocolate chip fleur de sels, roobars, passionfruit creams, rosewater almond macaroons and a few others. The lemon bars were excellent as were the chocolate chip fleur de sels. I definitely plan on taking my mom here when she visits since she has an even bigger sweet tooth than I do!