Road trip - Day 4 Portland

Weather on Monday morning in down town Portland was a bit chilly and overcast. We had breakfast at our hotel (Hilton executive tower, comes with free
breakfast, smart reservation from the fiancee), and decided to visit Voo Doo donuts since apparently it's a "must visit" tourist spot.

It was around 10-12 blocks from our hotel, we got there around 11am and man the line was LONG. Who eats donuts in the morning anyways, I thought it's more like a snack/dessert thing but apparently people have donuts for breakfast nowadays!

I went inside the store and took a peek at the donuts in the display window, they certainly look good. There are a lot of interesting flavors that I have never seen before, but we don't really feel like waiting so I guess we'll try VooDoo donuts when we're in town next time!

On our way back to the hotel, we walked past a French bistro called "Little Bird". The restaurant hasn't opened yet, we peeked through the window, nice cozy place with whimsical decor, we decided to give it a try.

The wine selection was ok, a bit limited for us but the bartender definitely tried his best to help us pick out the wine we might enjoyed. We ended up ordering a glass of burgundy and a glass of bordeaux. I wouldn't say I was blown away by the wine but they paired nicely with the food. We ordered the bone marrow and steak tartare, we were definitely blown away by the food! The way they cut the bone marrow allowed the extra fat to be dripped on the plate. The olive and citrus tapenade balanced out the greasiness of the bone marrow. It was sooo good that I forgot to take a picture until we're half way done with the food. It's definitely something we'd order again! The steak tartare was also very good. It came with a fresh farm egg on top, again, I was so eager to taste it and started mixing it before I took a picture. It was another huge hit! The richness from the egg yolk glued all the different flavors together, mustard, caper, the green onion, combined with the beef, super tasty and lush flavor!

Dessert was just like a taste in heaven! We ordered "Wildflower Honey Pot de Creme" with blue berries, graham crackers that shaped like little birds, and "Hazelnut White Chocolate Financier" with raspberries, marscarpone, and a glass of dessert wine to go with it. What can I say? You should always save room for dessert, especially when you're at a French restaurant. We left "Little Bird" well fed and happy as a bird!

In the afternoon, we decided to visit Owen Roe for some wine tasting. My fiancee has been a wine club member from Owen Roe for many many years. The have a wine portfolio of wine and we have been fans for pretty much all their wines. The winery recently opened up a tasting room at St. Paul in Oregon (even though it's a Washington winery, their grapes are mostly from the Yakima valley in Washington), my fiancee and I are both excited about finally being able to visit the tasting room!

When we got there, it was not really what we have expected. First of all, we were lost driving back and forth on Champoeg road trying to find the tasting room. When we eventually found it, it looks more like a warehouse than a tasting room. To be real honest, we were both a bit disappointed with what we saw, it was just too different from what we have pictured in our heads.

The tasting experience turned out to be THE BEST we had ever have. Patty sat with us for almost 1.5 hours, opened total 11 bottles of wine, and was telling us stories about the wine maker, the winery, and the stories behind every bottle of wine we tasted. We bought almost 2 cases of wine (tax free!!) and left very happy.

Last thing about day 4 was the hotel we stayed at - Avalon hotel and spa. The staff at the hotel are so friendly and the spa was great! The restaurant right next to the hotel has awesome HH menu. :)