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Oregon's Willamette Valley


Mark Dedrick

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I'm starting this thread with rather meager offerings, but I promise to populate it a bit more thoroughly after future trips.

Woodburn - Woodburn is home to the Woodburn Premium Outlets, which is Oregon's number one tourist attraction (NOTE: I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that statistic). So I'll assume if you're visiting Oregon you're also visiting Woodburn. And if you do, head east of the outlets and the various chain restaurants into the downtown and eat at Luis's Taqueria on Front Street.  You'll be very happy you did. The majority of the city's population is Mexican, and there are a ton of Mexican restaurants and markets throughout the downtown. Luis's menu is rather extensive, and I haven't made my way through all of it. I can, however, vouch for the Pozole, which is only available on the weekends, and the tacos, all of which are fantastic. I love their tortillas.

Salem - Due to location, and a real lack of decent food in this town, I end up at Bentley's a fair amount. It's ok, and you could do far worse.  My family are big fans of La Margarita. I think it's good Mexican food, although much of the menu is a bit too Americanized.

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We had dinner back in November at the Painted Lady in Newberg.  The restaurant is housed in a nice old Victorian house which has been converted to a restaurant.  The food and service were quite good and it supposedly one of the top two or three restaurants in the area.  We did a multi-course tasting menu which was quite delicious and a good value as compared to DC at $65pp.  A lot of the food had some Asian influences - a nice custard with a miso-like broth comes to mind and all of the courses were well seasoned and well cooked.  The wine list is quite good and the sommelier is very friendly and helpful.  He introduced us to a number of new Willamette wineries we did not know from previous trips.  If you are in the area, highly recommended.

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Just FYI round trip tickets to PDX from BWI are usually around $290 ($240 from PHL).

I didn't get to check out a ton of places while I was out there in the fall but--

Heater Allen- Based in McMinnville, some of the best lagers I've ever had. Especially the "coastal" amber lager.

Argyle- Situated right in the traffic nightmare of Dundee. Still wines were a mixed bag but their sparklers are splendid. Try to get the low/zero dosage if it's available.

Old Oak- Right off the main drag in McMinnville. Nice slightly upscale neighborhood bar, very reasonable prices, no food.

Blue Moon- Blue collar bar in the Mac. I'll have another patty melt and budweiser please.

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Corvallis - Block 15 Restaurant and Brewery - Because the first two options out of my mother in law's mouth were Ruby Tuesdays and McGrath's, I honestly couldn't be happier about the fact that we ate here on Sunday. With a more objective hat on, the beers are solid (or at least the two that I tried were), and the food was ok. My BBQ (on special every Sunday) had a nice smoky flavor, and was a reasonably value at $10 for a drumstick and a leg quarter. The slaw was only ok, but the hushpuppies and fries were both good. My wife didn't love her salad, which had nearly as much cheese as lettuce.

Silverton - Creekside Grill - It's good. I'm from Silverton originally, so I feel like I should have insight into these restaurants, but the truth is I almost never eat anywhere in town except at my parents' house, so I don't get to try the good restaurants that this town has. Creekside Grill, however, is solid. It's (not surprisingly) right on Silver Creek, and if you sit outside you're sitting directly over the creek itself, which is very cool.  The grilled fish tacos I had Monday were well cooked and delicious. It's a good spot.

Ridgefield, WA - Pioneer Street Cafe and Bakery - Ridgefield is not in anyone's definition of Oregon's Willamette Valley, but I don't exactly think this town deserves its own thread. I ate here yesterday. They do all of their own baking, and the bread on my smoked turkey panini was fantastic, although there was a bit too much mayo for my liking. When I'm in Ridgefield I eat here, and if you find yourself in a similar situation I'd do the same.

Salem - DaVinci's - I'd pass.  I hadn't eaten here probably in more than ten or fifteen years, but they're still open. My squid ink pasta was not great, had more bacon than seafood, and when you combine the bacon with the cheese (?) it was very hard to taste either the seafood or the pasta itself. Service was good, and Salem does have horrible options downtown, but I wouldn't go here again unless required.

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Block 15 is a good spot. I thought of it as a great place to meet up/catch up with people rather than a dining destination--it's also a favorite of many OSU grad students because of the fair pricing. Too bad you didn't try out Les Caves, great beer bar and very trendy brunch spot. 

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Block 15 is a good spot. I thought of it as a great place to meet up/catch up with people rather than a dining destination--it's also a favorite of many OSU grad students because of the fair pricing. Too bad you didn't try out Les Caves, great beer bar and very trendy brunch spot. 

Yeah, I've wanted to check that place out. I tend to only be in Corvallis either before or after football or basketball games as my father in law is a season ticket holder (also, GO DUCKS!), so I don't get to fully experience what is a really great college town.

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One more from this trip in this category:

Oregon City - Mi Famiglia - Honestly, I love the Oregon City downtown, and I believe it's going to be a big deal at some point. Somewhat related, when the public is able to access the Willamette Falls, as I did today, it's going to be a massive tourist destination. Those falls are spectacular, and the Blue Heron site is almost unparalleled in potential in the country.

Anyhow, this spot is solid. Their pizza is good, as our their sandwiches. Today I had the turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich, with a cup of their southwest chicken soup and it was delicious and hit the spot as I was trying to dry out from two hours spent hiking around a former industrial site and looking at one of the most spectacular waterfalls I've ever seen. There's also a cupcake bakery that my client loves, right across the street. I am not a cupcake guy, but I'll throw it out there anyway.

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For the second time in as many trips, Bob and I wound up at the Dundee Bistro for lunch last week, run by the folks who own the Ponzi winery. If you find yourself in Dundee, this is a very respectable lunch option, though the AC was a bit wonky when we were there. The wood-fired pizzas are large and tasty (I had the Lambrusco, with roasted red grapes, blue cheese, and bacon, on a fine crackery crust) and Bob a simple but substantial turkey sandwich with truffled fries. We haven't had wine while there, but the list is substantial, focused on local wineries, and Ponzi wines can be bought in the tasting room next door. I believe on an earlier visit Bob had a good pasta dish, and I had a Reuben sandwich I enjoyed. This is an area gathering place, from what I can tell, and a good option if you're out in the Willamette Valley.

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Just a couple of spots from my time in Oregon last week:

Silverton - Los Girasoles - An extremely casual taqueria and panaderia located just north of downtown (in between Eugene Field Elementary School and the Roth's grocery store). It's fantastic. I wouldn't put it quite on the same level as Luis's in Woodburn, but it's still pretty great. Homemade tortillas and great tacos. I didn't get any when I was there this time, but the pastries are pretty great as well.

Lebanon - Growler Cafe - My in-laws told me that this was the new exciting spot in their town, so I ended up here with my father-in-law and my soon-to-be brother in law for lunch before his wedding. It is, as you might guess from the name, a beer-centric spot, and it's quite small. They probably have about fifteen taps or so? It being Oregon, every tap is Oregon beer, and it's also quite reasonably priced. On the food side of things, it's not bad. Pretty much entirely sandwiches and such, but it's solid. This is the best place I've ever eaten at in Lebanon, although that is a relatively low bar.

1847 Bar and Grill - This is a new restaurant, located in the brand new Best Western. Not sure if I ordered wrong (after my meal I was trying to remember if I've ever had good crab cakes in Oregon), but my meal was entirely forgettable. I feel like I ate two disks of fried, seasoned bread with a quart of mayo. The beer selection was solid however, and the cocktail list at least looked legit. Great outdoor seating. Without a doubt the "nicest" restaurant I've been to in Lebanon.

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A few from my most recent trip:

Lebanon  - Conversion Brewery - This is a relatively new small brewery in Lebanon, and it's a good addition to a town that needs more and better dining options. They've got somewhere around 12 of their beers on tap, and we enjoyed what we tried. I most enjoyed the Brethren Double IPA. Nothing really stood out, but they are solid options. On the food side of things it's pretty much pizza, and a few appetizers. They advertise the pizzas as individual pies, although I'd say they're a bit bigger than that, and as a result a good value at between $10-$13. This isn't groundbreaking work, but it was very solid. Now that I've tried both, I'd probably go to Growler Cafe if given a choice, but I wouldn't be upset about ending up here. 

Salem - Bentley's - Do to the fact that we always find ourselves looking for a table for ten to twelve for lunch on December 24, we consistently end up here every single year as almost everywhere else in Salem seems to close. It's fine, but the service is consistently terrible. You can do better (unless you're also looking form something on Christmas eve).

Newberg - We decided to take a slightly different route to Cannon Beach this year, and routed ourselves through Newberg, both to avoid the debacle that is Highway 217, and also to do some wine tasting. We hit up Orin Swift and Chehalem, which are both in the town of Newberg, and then pulled into Raptor Ridge on a whim as we drove by after heading out of town. All three are worth visiting, although Raptor Ridge has (in my opinion) the best wine of the three, and has the advantage on the scenery front as it's actually located on a vineyard. It's gorgeous. For food, we ended up at Taqueria Kopitos based on Yelp (I know). It's really good and I'd recommend it. They make their own tortillas, the tacos are something like $2 apiece, and all of the fillings that we tried were great. 

Woodburn - I'll put in another plug for Luis's. It's absolutely outstanding. This time around I had the menudo, which is only available on the weekends (and apparently federal holidays as they were serving it on the 26th). It's great. 

Corvallis - Local Boyz - This is solid Hawaiian food, located just off of the OSU campus. I'd definitely return, but it isn't the best Hawaiian food I've had in Oregon. 

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Salem - Table Five 08 - I think this restaurant is relatively new, and based off of one visit it is probably my favorite restaurant in downtown Salem. The soup of the day when I was there was a seafood bisque, which had mussels, halibut and salmon in it, and it was great. I also had the Chicken Avocado Sandwich, which was also really good. The dinner menu looked interesting, and if I find myself in Salem at dinner time (unlikely) I'd push to go back and check that out. Their beer selection was also good. 

Silverton - I seldom eat out in my hometown, as I'll typically end up eating at home. However, my parents are currently renovating their kitchen, which means we ate out three out of the four nights I was in Silverton (the fourth we had Dungeness crab, which did not requite cooking). 

3 Ten Water - As you can see, I apparently had a thing for unfortunately named restaurants with weird numbering on this trip. This restaurant is located in downtown Silverton, in the Silverton Inn and Suites. The dining room was apparently originally designed to be the lobby of the hotel, which makes sense when you look at it. It's probably one of the "nicer" restaurants in town. I ended up going with the NY Strip, which is not a typical restaurant order for me, and it was perfectly cooked. Service was excellent. 

Seven Brides Brewing - This brewpub is located on the north side of town, just past the Roth's grocery store as you're headed north on Highway 214. I would say that their beers are more solid than spectacular, although they have different and more varied options available on tap than they have in bottles. The food was good, in a brewpub sort of way. It was taco night last Thursday, so that's what I got, and the tacos were quite solid. The pretzels we got as an appetizer were fantastic. I'd definitely come back, and I think it would be very nice in the summer, as they have great outdoor space with a huge fire pit. 

Mt. Angel - Glockenspiel - Mt. Angel is a small town located about five miles north of Silverton. It's known for their quite large Oktoberfest every fall, and their zoning laws require every building in the downtown to look stereotypically Bavarian. The Glockenspiel is in the downtown, and actually sits beneath a large tower housing its namesake instrument. I had the Wurstplatte, and the sausages were very good. German food is not something I crave, but this is done well, and worth visiting. 

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Lebanon - We ate with my in-laws at Schmizza Public House. Pizza Schmizza is a (terribly named) Portland chain, and this is one of their concepts. It's not bad, although nothing special. Their pizza is decent, and they've got a pretty robust beer list. Given the other options in Lebanon, this is one of the better spots to eat. That says more about Lebanon than it does about the restaurant. 

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