White Eagle Saloon (836 N. Russell St.)

The White Eagle Saloon is a McMenamins establishment. Food at any McMenamins is always the same. Eh. Edible, but nothing special. Not even worthy of a real review.

Mississippi Station (3943 N. Mississippi Ave.)

The restaurant is open! Hooray! The space next to Mississippi Studios is now Mississippi Station, serving amazing locally grown, organic meals in the backyard that merges beautifully with the backyard of the Studios, Airstream trailer and all!

The Station Burger is huge, with a pile of dijon-braised onions, Tillamook Cheddar Cheese, aioli and barbeque sauce. Served with hand-cut fries, crispy and salty right out of the fryer, the burger dripped lovely sauce all over my plate. It was perfect. For dessert, a grapefruit sorbet drizzled with Campari. My sister had berries with creme fraiche, sprinkled with fresh mint and fennel. That was AMAZING.

They put candles in mailboxes, randomly placed throughout the yard. Even next to the old gas pump and movie theater seats. Eat a bite. Hear some music. Enjoy the fresh air in the backyard. Suck in the ambiance and take it home with you.

The Green Room (2280 NW Thurman St)

Have you ever noticed that certain venues have customers that wear matching apparel? At the Green Room on Friday night, almost everyone was wearing a t-shirt with rips in it, hanging off their shoulders and ripped jeans. Oh also, almost everyone there was barely old enough to be there. Except for the parents of the singer/songwriters that were performing there that night. They were older than me. But everyone else was not more than 21. I swear.

My sister and I sat in the corner by the ticket taker/ID checker. He was friendly guy, and so were the waitstaff. They constantly filled up our drinks and took good care of us. We just ordered snacks - onion rings and sweet potato fries - which were average. The dinner menu looked good (barbeque sauce with red, yellow and orange peppers! Yum!) and I might be back to sample it sometime.

The first two singers that night were unknowns (at least to me). The first guy kind of mumbled and I couldn't understand a word he said or sang - until he sang Comfortable. He didn't sing it as well as the original singer, but it was pretty good. The next performer was Sarah Angela and it was her very first show. You could tell because for the hour and a half before she performed she was jumping up every five seconds to either answer her phone or hug someone coming in the door. She was bright and way too cheerful. I was skeptical of her talent, especially when she taped sheets of music to the microphone for her guitar player. But she sang a killer cover of Creep. It was rockin and blew my skepticism out of the water. We left when the cigarette smoke started infiltrating our brains through our eyes, once the noise ordinance kicked in and all the doors and windows were shut. I didn't get to stay long enough to hear Kirk Duncan, who I came to hear, but I did sit at the table next to him during the opening sets. Close as I was going to get to hearing him that night.

Next time I'll try the barbeque and hear my music. I'll have to rip a t-shirt and jeans and use my anti-aging moisturizer that day.