Best of Portland

Presented for open debate.

Here is my list of places most likely to endear Portland to newcomers/visitors.  Comments and suggestions for addition are highly encouraged (I suspect my thought on Voodoo Doughnuts will elicit some feedback!).

The short-list:

Barista (best cappuccinos in town)

Stumptown (arguably the coffee heart of PDX)

The Green Dragon  (beer selection, outdoor seating, and beer specials during happy hour)

Full Sail Brewing (food specials during happy hour)

Prost (German beer & food)

Hot Lips Pizza (slice and a pint for 6 bucks all day every day)

Bakery Bar (one word: Jammers! with good baristas to boot)

Random Order Coffee (cream pies)

Dutch Brothers Coffee (highly presentable drive-through coffee, numerous locations)

Namaste (excellent Indian buffet at a great price)

At length:

There are two locales I STRONGLY recommend putzing around in.  The first is what I call the cappuccino axis which extends along Alberta Street between Barista and Caffe Vita, or from 17th Ave to 30th Ave.  Other points of interest along this street:

Community Cycling Center

1700 NE Alberta

Random Order Coffee (wicked-good cream pies and other tasties)

1800 NE Alberta

La Petite Provence (patisserie)

1824 NE Alberta

A quick disclaimer RE the axis: I hold the two ends of this axis are the best cappuccinos in town, even though Barista doesn't roast their own beans and Vita is based in Seattle.  It's not a particularly popular position to hold in the ultra-local circles prevalent in PDX (which is the FAA code for Portland International Airport and as synonymous with Portland as is the 503, the local area code).  The local competitors for this prize will be listed later.

The second locale is Woodlawn, which is significantly more compact and lower-quality for coffee but uber-cool.  On the corner of Dekum and Durham are the following businesses:

Good Neighbor Pizzeria

800 NE Dekum

Woodlawn Coffee

808 NE Dekum

Breakside Brewery

820 NE Dekum

Trek in the Park

In Woodlawn Park, one block west of the Corner Saturdays and Sundays

Also spitting distance from the Corner is

Peninsula Park (rose garden and fountain)

Corner of N Ainsworth St. and N Albina Ave.

And with honorable mention due to its proximity to the water is the area where I currently sit in front of 

Bean and Tree Coffee

315 SW Montgomery St.

Full Sail Brewing (formerly the McCormick and Schmick's Pilsner Room

307 SW Montgomery

There are also numerous boutiques and other little bistro-type establishments along this section of the Greenway.

Alright, now for the businesses:

Coffee:

Of particular note, one of the most significant businesses in Portland is Stumptown Coffee whose Annex at 3552 SE Belmont runs a free cupping daily at noon and a smaller one daily at 2 pm.  Stumptown is one of the earlier and by far the most successful third generation (Starbucks was the second generation) coffee companies in Portland.  Giving credit where credit is due, much of the below information was aided by the Espresso Map (which is not entirely up-to-date, so you may wish to call the individual establishments not listed below before traveling).

Extracto

2921 NE Killingsworth St.

or

1465 Ste B. NE Prescott

Water Avenue Coffee

1028 SE Water Ave

Coava Coffee

1300 SE Grand Ave (easily the coolest looking space in town, sharing space with a bamboo carpenter)

Heart Roasters

2211 E. Burnside St.

Coffeehouse Northwest (Brewed Stumptown when last I visited, but apparently beginning to roast their own as Sterling Coffee Roasters)

1951 W Burnside

Bipartisan Cafe (brews Stumptown)

7901 SE Stark

Albina Press (brews Stumptown)

4637 N Albina

or

5012 SE Hawthorne

Bakery Bar (brews Stumptown)

2935 NE Glisan

Case Study Coffee (brews Stumptown and does lots of cold brew)

5347 NE Sandy Blvd.

Beer:

The three places who don't primarily serve their own beer but are phenomenal are:

The Green Dragon (great outdoor seating with 50 beers on tap)

928 SE 9th (corner of SE Yamhill and SE 9th)

Horse Brass Pub (popular among YAFers and close to the our meeting)

4534 SE Belmont

Prost (GREAT German fare, or at least beer)

4237 N Mississippi

My fave own-brews:

Laurelwood

5115 NE Sandy Blvd

Migration

2828 NE Glisan

HUB

2944 SE Powell Blvd.

Numerous others listed at Pubcrawler by searching for "beer places" in "portland" "OR"

Doughnuts and other bakery types

Another disclaimer: everyone will tell you to check out Voodoo Doughnuts at 22 SW 3rd Ave, but their lines are long, their quality only good, and their fare too eclectic for me, but people will insist you haven't been to PDX without having a Voodoo, so be advised.  My faves are:

Doughnut World (way out in Gresham and highly convenient to my house)

720 NE Burnside Rd.

Gresham, OR 97230

Annie's Donut Shop

3449 NE 72nd Ave (near the corner of Sandy Blvd. and Fremont St.)

Pacific Pie Company  (I haven't been there yet, but I had a taste yesterday and it's legit)

1520 SE 7th Ave

Cupcake Jones (ridiculously good stuffed cupcakes on a rotating menu)

307 NW 10th Ave.

Bike shops:

Clever cycles runs a rental program where you can test pretty much everything they sell before buying.  They specialize in internal hub bikes and folding bikes, both of which are pretty handy for urban commuting.  The coops will have much better prices and even a few second-hand bikes.

Citybikes (annex)

734 SE Ankeny St.

Clever Cycles

908 SE Hawthorne Blvd.

Bike Gallery (numerous locations, downtown:)

1001 SW Salmon

Restaurants:

Namaste (Indian)

8303 NE Sandy Blvd.

Pho Van (Vietnamese)

1919 SE 82nd Ave

Other PDX resources:

TriMet

Portland Transportation bike map (painfully slow to load, also available in paper copy for free at bike-friendly stores throughout the city)

Independence Day

Declaration of Independence Text


When I think of the Declaration of Independence, the following invariably comes to mind: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  This opening section goes on to state: “... whenever any Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...”

What is less often remembered, however, is the heart of the Declaration, the list of grievances: 30 affronts which the colonies suffered from King George.  Here are a few of that score-and-a-half.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

Executives from both sides of the aisle have ignored the war powers act, the executive order banning assassination, innumerable environmental laws, and whistle blower protection in the past 15 years.  How many UN conventions have these same political parties failed to recognize both in the executive and legislative? (Kyoto climate protocol, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, etc.)?  Are members of the judiciary appointed for their juridical imminence and their career of seeing all as created equal or for their party affiliation?

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

Immigration reform can never pass under this system; there is money backing the status quo in both parties and no one with money wants to change it.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

While technically at war with Korea, the United States’ political structure has not declared a war in over 50 years.  Yet we maintain more than half a million uniformed soldiers in the Army alone and nearly 1.5 million in all services.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

There are currently classified federal laws, particularly within the Patriot Act, which trump the civil liberties outlined by the Bill of Rights.  Were Yasser Hamdi, John Walker Lindh and Jose Padilla permitted any of their rights?  Let us speak not of non-citizens whom the government, controlled by Democrats and Republicans, has not treated as created equal.

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

Granted, this one is a stretch from the original grievance, but no less appalling.  In August 2007, a USAF B-52 flew from North Dakota to Louisiana carrying 6 armed nuclear cruise missiles.  What has our government done to ensure that we do not flynuclear armageddon inadvertently over our country?

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: 

Has any of you ever supported oil company subsidies, pharmaceutical company subsidies, ethanol subsidies, or any of the other big-money handouts to big-money which our tax dollars currently cover?  How about the triangle nuclear arsenal we maintain?  Yet the parties in Washington refuse to enact widely popular change because it’s not profitable to them personally.

I hold to be self-evident that our current government is immoral.  The Democrats and Republicans in Washington have been running around making a proper mess of things for far too long.  I ask them to graciously seek the closest exit and to extend us their gratitude on the way out for our decades of generosity in not demanding their departure sooner.

Each human is created equal and endowed with the unalienable right to struggle for his/her survival.  This means both that no one is entitled to not have to struggle and that no one is not entitled to survive.  It means that no one has the right to oppress another and that no one has the right to see him/herself as a victim.  

Money is a relatively recent phenomenon and not endowed with any rights.  The Declaration does not hold all money to be created equal.  The colonies were far less wealthy than was the Crown at its passage.  The Declaration and was written AGAINST moneyed interests.  The modern incarnation of these moneyed interests currently controls the United States government.  

Our nation exists because patriots, idealists, rebels and guerillas valued their equality and that of their fellow man more than their lives or their comfort.  Why do we, their progeny, acquiesce to the money which has co-opted their legacy?  Can we be true to the Founding Fathers without throwing off the Democrat/Republican yolk 235 years later?