HHH Girls Night and Date Night Favorites

No offense to Doug, but one of the best Valentine's Days I've ever had was in Boston with Anna, Shannon, and Erica. We had an early dinner (and sake bombs) at our favorite sushi restaurant, indulged Anna by meeting some weirdo author at our go-to Emerson bar, and then went to the movies, which really just turned into downing nips in the front row (nips = mini liquor bottles obvs.) and then having a drunken heart-to-heart in the theater bathroom. Seriously, it was the best.

So in honor of that night and because Valentine's Day is coming up real soon too, here are some of Kel's and my favorite Portland spots for Girls Nights. And, because we don't want the boys to feel left out, we'll include some of our Date Night favorites too. (FYI, we filled our lists out separately, just to see how much they would or wouldn't vary.)

Girls Night:
Early Happy Hour
Katie: Mint/820 or Elephants Deli
Kelly: Noble Rot

Late Happy Hour
Katie: Driftwood Room or Cocotte
Kelly: Driftwood Room

Wine Bar
Katie: Sauvage
Kelly: Ambonnay

Cocktails
Katie: St. Jack
Kelly: Mint/820

Dinner
Katie: Por Que No?
Kelly: Luc Lac or Thai Peacock

Dancing
Katie: Splash  
Kelly: Jones or Boiler Room

Brunch
Katie: Sweedeedee
Kelly: Gravy

Girl Time
Katie: Pedis and mimosas at Oasis Nails and Spa
Kelly: Pedis and champs at Oasis Nails and Spa

Date Night: 
Early Happy Hour
Katie: Clyde Common
Kelly: Paadee

Late Happy Hour
Katie: Cafe Castagna
Kelly: Nostrana

Casual Drinks
Katie: Hale Pele
Kelly: Elephants Deli

Casual Dinner
Katie: Dove Vivi
Kelly: Boxer Sushi or Samuari Blue

Special Occasion Drinks
Katie: The Box Social
Kelly: Imperial

Special Occasion Dinner
Katie: Beast or Toro Bravo
Kelly: Beast or Le Pigeon

Dessert
Katie: Fifty Licks
Kelly: Fifty Licks

After Dinner Entertainment
Katie: Curious Comedy Theater
Kelly: Helium Comedy Club or Movie at Kennedy School

Happy (Early) Valentine's Day to you and yours! Cheers!

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!