Tablecloth Sketch (02-23-12)

I went to Romano's Macaroni Grill with my friends Suzanne, and we had a nice time talking... 

Doing so, I drew this face; it's a bit distorted because I wasn't drawing it close to me, but almost at arm's length..

Sushiland!!! (10-27-11)

This is one of my favorite sketches: the revolving food display display at Marinepolis Sushiland.
I carefully chose my food, took my time with the sketch, and had a generally very relaxing experience.

I love sushi!

Stop in Aberdeen (09-04-11)

On the way down the Washington State Coast, we stopped for food and gas in Aberdeen, a pretty ghastly place. We had a great meal at Billy's Bar and Grill, a charming, old-fashioned restaurant in the only old building I saw in town.

Disappointing Evening at Little Bird (04-12-11)

The Portland French Alliance had organized a dinner at Little Bird for native French speakers and, to my great disappointment, it turned out that this event was attended by the usual Americans who:
1.) think that their high school French from a bazillion years ago has somehow made them fluent in the language
2.) spent a year in France at the turn of the previous century
3.) love anything and everything French and proclaim it enthusiastically
4.) are super-boring.
No offense, but once in a while, I'd like to have a conversation in French without having to patiently wait for my interlocutor's thoughts to surface in their consciousness and painstakingly materialize into coherent French conversational words, without biting myself to not correct the other person when they invariably butcher the French grammar, without cringing internally at every sentence because it's so painful to control myself... Gosh, think whatever you want. Since I live in the U.S., I just want to have a meeting with other French native speakers once in a while, and that's that.

View from the mezzanine

Anyway, let's talk about the food. Another reason I was looking forward to this dinner is that I had read lavish reviews about this restaurant, and especially about the hamburger they served. So, after carefully studying the menu, that's what I ordered. Bummer. My hamburger, although juicy to the point of dripping onto the plate was overall dry in the mouth and left me with the feeling of having swallowed a cannon ball.

Conclusion: a disappointing evening.

Pie and Music in Oak Grove (04-09-11)

In conjunction with the work that has been started to fix up the Trolley Trail and make it bike and pedestrian friendly, there may be new activity coming soon to the sleepy downtown Oak Grove area. A new business  called Pieandjam had a pre-opening meet-and-greet gathering, with pie tasting (delicious crust), and music provided by Stumbleweed. I gotta admit I like bluegrass almost as much as the blues.

Great pie and great music

A French Bistro in SE Portland! (04-04-11)

St Jack is a new restaurant in our old neighborhood that opened recently, and oh... how very good it is!
I had already stopped a couple of times for pastries at the adjacent bakery, but this time, Gary and I went for Happy Hour. I sat in a blissful daze the entire time: the mussels were excellent, the music was old French standards. It felt as if we really were in Paris (well, all right, if one disregards the mispelled sign on the wall...)

Gary; no, he doesn't have a lazy eye...

Simpatica Dining Hall (03-26-11)

Gary got a new job after an anxious period of unemployment, so we really had to celebrate the event.

We went to Simpatica Dining Hall, for a menu that featured barbecued meats. But, ah... Let me tell you, we had a regal time! I can get lyrical about food, but the deviled egg with smoked tuna topped with crispy shallots were a perfection, with this slight smokey flavor mixing with the whites of the eggs...

The concept centers around an-ever changing weekly menu, and seating is by reservation only. The setting is a narrow room in the basement of an old building in SE Portland. The food, consisting of a three-course dinner, is served at common tables, so people can talk with each other. It's a fun place, alternating between noisy animated conversations and reverential awe whenever a new course is brought out.

Some of our table companions

From the corner where I was sitting at the back corner of the room, I had a great view of everything, and enjoyed engaging in small talk with Gary, meeting new people, and leisurely drawing in my sketchbook.

We may try to go back for our anniversary, to celebrate our 30 years together...

Art Spark at the Nines (03-17-11)

I made it to the Art Spark meeting, held at the Nines this month.

Refresher: the old, elegant, beloved Meier & Frank department store in downtown Portland was bought a few years ago, gutted out, and reopened as a state-of-the-art Macy's. Despite clearly expressed hopes for a res-to-ra-ti-on, what we got in fact is a black and white plastic horror reminiscent of those modernist scenes in A Clockwork Orange. After the heartbreak of my one trip to the store after the remodel, I stopped going there altogether, because the jarring decor is too painful to see, and to know what it was like... (No more slow-moving old-fashioned rickety escalators, no more 12-days of Christmas window displays, and no more kiddie Monorail.)

As for the hotel above-mentioned, the decor is equally horrid. Where elegance and luxury could have been brought back to life, in homage to the building's history, with velvets drapes, gorgeous glass chandeliers, golds, to even give it that gaudy 60s opulence, we got more modernist crap. A spartan entrance that has the personality of an airport check-in desk. Stainless steel elevators. All around, plastic, geometric shapes, long swooping expanses of minimalist drapes, and psychedelic flowery shapes hanging down from the cavernous open ceilings, medusa-like. Add a few neo-classic armchairs painted white, black, or pinkish-purple, with that 50s teal one sees everywhere nowadays, and the usual putty or taupe colors on the walls, and you got it. Oh, and I forgot to mention the painted mannequins set in edgy poses, a "friendly nod," I suppose, to the department store origins of the place.

But I digress. The focus for this month's meeting was to feature the Northwest Jewish Artists organization. So, aside from the run-of-the-mill Art types dressed in all black waving their hands around and spilling their drinks on the floor while loudly pontificating about the sorry turn Art was taking in this city, there were crowds of nice white-haired older ladies in pantsuits, talking about what inspired their artistic expression...

That lime green satin dress had to have been painted on...

I took in the space around me, a vast, spacious open area in the center of the building starting with the 8th floor all the way to the glass roof high above, the setting for a posh restaurant pretentiously named Urban Farmer. To quote them: "The ambiance is at once a tribute to the quaintness of a restored farmhouse and the aesthetic audacity of mid-20th century modernism." A restored farmhouse? Where? With the plastic disks handing from the ceiling?! Or the square chairs with metal feet?!

I took advantage of the Happy Hour to order an "urban" beef slider from the stunning cocktail waitress who was working the crowd; she was wearing the tightest dress I had ever seen on anyone. At $5, the slider was no bargain, consisting of a big hunk of hamburger patty dripping cheese, precariously held inside a greasy muffin with a bamboo stick, and this did not even include a napkin to hold it. I had to lick my fingers clean. And I had to chase the waitress down, after reminding her, not once, but twice, that I was waiting for change for my $20 bill.

Since I am at it, I will also mention the trip I made to visit the restrooms, a most pleasant surprise (aside from the plastic bag someone had tried to flush in one of the toilets), with eggplant colored walls and, instead of the ubiquitous paper towels, single rolled up cloth napkins to be placed in laundry hampers after used. Now, that was pretty cool!

In conclusion, the best thing about the visit were the great views of the Pioneer Courthouse cupola from the windows by the elevators, and the restrooms. On my way down, I shared the ride with sunglass-wearing creative types dressed in black and tourists in name-brand sweatsuits. It figures.

Happy Hour at Miss Delta (02-28-11)

Gary had to help someone from Church move across the river to Vancouver, so I asked him to take me along part of the way and drop me off on Mississippi Ave in North Portland, to give me some time to walk around and take a look at the shops, something I never have the time to do when driving through the neighborhood.

It was raining, and it was a nice opportunity to take in the neighborhood sights at a slow pace, without any crowds. I spent a while at Paxton Gate, an unusual store selling taxidermy-related items elegantly displayed in 19th century-style cabinets.

By the time I made it down to Miss Delta, it was dark outside with my ride still busy helping with the move. I took a long time to make up my mind before finally ordering a Gumbo Mac, the perfect food for cold weather.

Inside Miss Delta

Big guy eating

Quick Stop at Nicholas' (01-07-11)

http://nicholasrestaurant.com/I hadn't been to Nicholas' Lebanese restaurant in a long time, so I stopped by to pick up a Meat Mezza. As always, the restaurant was full of people. I did this sketch while I was waiting for my food.

Woman at a Restaurant (01-08-10)

I was at Claim Jumper with Gary, and a woman sitting at a table nearby caught my attention. She was in her 40s and pretty, and with the black dress and heavy jewelry she was wearing, was clearly dressed for an expensive date. It set my imagination going: was this a "kept" woman, who was meeting with her lover?.. At Claim Jumper, of all places?

Food Cart on Hawthorne St. (ca. 02-09)

It was a cold, morose day, so I stopped for a cup of hot and delicious Gumbo from this food cart (the business operating Po' Boys has apparently expanded since).

Condiment Bottles at Sayler's (01-24-09)

We were invited to Sayler's Old Country Kitchen and had a great dinner.
I had just enough time to draw these bottles of condiment before the waitress brought my plate, and the steak was so good,I didn't want to let it get cold by drawing anything else.

Dinner at Firehouse (01-23-09)

M. asked us to take her to Firehouse restaurant for her birthday. M. had wanted to eat there for a long time: Matt, her former boss at New Seasons' is the owner.
We enjoyed a delicious meal and great service, from the pizza to the chicken to the desserts.

At Nicholas (01-07-09)

...Lebanese food sounded good tonight...so we went for take-out at Nicholas' Restaurant on Grand Avenue. (I did this sketch while waiting for the food to be ready.)

Celebrating the New Year...at Pix Pâtisserie (01-01-08)

On News Year's Eve, G. and I went to Pix Pâtisserie to end a frustrating year in a fun way.

We found a little spot in a corner by the bar and sipped a Ginger Ale while I drew the crowd and enjoyed the ear-splitting Techno.

As for the after-midnight Chocolate Buffet, I loved it! It was the most decadently self-indulgent thing I had ever done! It was like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," only, it was more like "Pascale at Pix Pâtisserie."
Right after midnight, all those who had been given a small Gold ticket lined up and went single-file into the kitchen, where a long table was covered with chocolate pastries, chocolate creams, chocolate mousse, chocolates...

Paris: Moroccan Restaurant (11-18-08)

... I found an absolutely great Moroccan restaurant in the Quartier Latin.

I ate well in Paris.
Since I was there for work, I even had the opportunity to splurge and have a fine meal in an elegant Art Deco-era bistro warmly recommended to me by the hotel concierge as "a great value for the very reasonable price" (30 Euros Prix Fixe Menu for dinner: a generous portion of Foie Gras as an appetizer, Steak Tartare with Fries as a main course, and Crème Brûlée as dessert)...

But the best place I ate at was at this little Moroccan restaurant in an alley bordered by narrow streets with ethnic and regional cuisine restaurants. The warm welcome, the good food, the tea (oh, the mint tea...), and the price which was much more affordable made this place one I will gladly re-visit if I get a chance.

I had a delicious Couscous with chicken. The best part of the meal was the mint tea, sweet and hot. I sat in a daze of happiness, sipping my tea and weakly trying to refuse the many refills I was offered.

Paris: Chez Flottes (11-16-08)

...On my first night in Paris, I had dinner at Chez Flottes, a small bistro near the hotel.

I had a delicious onion soup and a perfect little crème brûlée for dessert.