Dublin Pub (6821 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy)

Terrible food. Bad service. You will lose your hearing. But guess what? Tonight I was an uninhibited (mostly) dancing girl. The most fun in the whole world. How great is that. And it was Jen's birthday. Her 30th. It was her second of three birthday parties. The Dublin Pub was host to me coming out of my shell and dancing like crazy all night long. Or at least several times all night long. The Boys Next Door (very loud cover band) killed my hearing, but enticed me to keep dancing. I want to go again! Happy Birthday Jen!

Addendum: I went back. Their chips and salsa are actually really good. It is more fun to go and dance than to sit and listen. So if you go, go to dance and dance a lot. Go with dancing friends. If you don't have any dancing friends, call me and I'll go with you!

Imbibe (2229 SE Hawthorne Blvd )

Last Saturday I bought the biggest earrings I have ever purchased. Long dangling. HOOPS. Hoops that get caught in between my chin and my shoulder when I turn my head. I wanted earrings that I could wear OUT. Real going out. Heels. Trendy capris. As it happened, some of my friends were going to Imbibe on Saturday night to listen to a band play. Imbibe, which previously looked too intimidating for my kind of people, suddenly seemed within reach, now that I had giant hoops and heels to bolster my confidence.

My sister and I got there before our friends. We were seated pretty near the band, which was warming up and fixing all of their technical difficulties. The waitress checked our IDs a second time, in case we were under 21. Flattering.

The couch in the corner, off to the side of the stage, made for a living room like atmosphere. Chandeliers that looked like flea market finds shimmered dim light over the tables, and the band started to play.

A cookie-cutter girl with a low-back black top, started dancing right in front of the band. She swirled and twirled and thrusted and floated. Another sexy blonde joined her and they began to dance together. The sexy blonde sat down after a couple of songs and then a man, clearly over 50, with his shirt open, began to dance with the cookie-cutter.

Smiling and twisting and gyrating, the cookie-cutter girl danced all night. Sometimes by herself and sometimes with others. She had no shame, no embarassment. She had a good time. I think I was a little envious. That will never be me. Not in real life. But maybe sometime when I'm on vacation and visiting a bar where I don't know anyone, I will get into character and play the part of the dancing girl.

Spice (fka Billy Reed's) (2808 NE M L King Blvd)

Tempura covered deep fried vegetables (broccoli, squash, zuchini, green beans) are just as tasty as french fries, maybe even more so, and come with a handy little guilt disposer. Upon the first bite, you might think to yourself "I really shouldn't eat all this fried food." Then, upon swallowing all the nutrients, the vegetables compel you to feel good about yourself. "Think about all the vitamin ___ I'm getting from eating this ____ (fill in vegetable here)."

Onion rings are just another tempura covered deep fried vegetable. The ancho chili in the batter sets them apart from the squash and green beans, but really, it's all the same. I can still feel good about myself. Especially because I had a salad for dinner. I mean, the appetizers were fried, but they were so small and come on - they are vegetables! The salad was heavy laden with tasty vinagrette and goat cheese crostini - but there was an awful lot of greenery there to balance it out.

I felt good about my dinner at Spice. The glasses and silverware were all swoopy or sloopy (depending on which word YOU use), making me feel a little sideways. The service was okay - we had two waitresses, which was annoying (How's everything tasting? said the curly haired girl. Do you like your dinner? said the tight pony-tail girl 5 seconds later).

I never went to Billy Reed's when it existed, so I have nothing to compare it to. All in all. Yum. They have numerous fountains emptying all over the sidewalk. Or maybe it was a water main leak. Nevertheless, it added to the ambiance.

P.S. The picture on this post has nothing to do with the restaurant. It is a picture of my favorite spice rack from Dean and Deluca. Someday, when $145 means nothing to me and I am living on Easy Street, counting my money because I am bored, this spice rack will be mine.

Bridgeport Ale House (3632 SE Hawthorne Blvd)

A nice waiter that I think is named Joe, with longer than shoulder-length, nutty brown hair pulled back in a ponytail is my favorite. When he smiles, all of his teeth show and his goatee moves with his face as the shape of his head changes to accommodate the wide spread of his mouth. He crouches down next to the table and asks us what we want. I feel like asking him how his day went because somehow I feel like we are friends, even though we aren't.

The food is good - the best spinach artichoke dip in Portland, excellent poblano corn cakes, great burgers, pizza. All of that is fabulous and amazing.

I like to go to Bridgeport Ale House late at night, when I have had a not so good day, so that I can see Joe and catch a little of his contagious smile. It's a place you can sit for hours and hours and talk forever and never feel uncomfortable.

Oh yeah. And their tiramisu, served in little teacups. KILLER.

Le Bistro Montage (301 SE Morrison)

Do you remember when your mom used to yell at you to come in the house when you were at the neighbor's house? "Elizzzzzaaaabbbeeetttthhh!" Yep, that's the sound. We had only been on the waiting list at Le Bistro Montage for about three minutes when the hostess, one foot inside the restaurant and one foot out, cupped her mouth and shouted my name in a mad-mom voice. Turns out, she wasn't really mad. It was just time for us to be seated.

We skipped the appetizers because they were out of black-eyed pea fritters and only had alligator and froglegs left. We went straight to the meal. Fried chicken breast with garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables, including broccoli, peas and greens cooked in some kind of yummy sauce. The chicken and potatoes were lacking a little salt, but other than that, it was perfect. I had a taste of the macaroni and cheese which was nice and saucy and also tasted the pork loin in apple chutney. Divine.

We were so excited to get the leftovers, which we had seen people exiting the restaurant with, wrapped creatively in tin foil sculptures. What would we go home with? A very eager to help waiter (maybe he was new) with long dredlocks came over and said "Let me move some of this stuff for you, so you can have a little more elbow room." That was nice. He took my plate, upon which I had painstakingly left a small portion of everything to be wrapped up. Splat. He grabbed the other plates and plopped them right on top of my carefully preserved potatoes. He took my friend Karen's plate and carried it separately from the others. Oh good, we thought. Karen is visiting from out of town and it will be nice that at least SHE will get a tin foil sculpture of her leftovers, which were quite a lot, actually.

Five minutes went by, 10 minutes. No sculpture. The same waiter came over and filled up our water glasses again. No sculpture. Our leftovers were gone forever. Now we HAVE to go back and eat more delicious food and leave even more on our plates so that we can get cool sculptures, like everyone else.

The Farm Cafe (10 SE Seventh Ave)

We thought there wasn't going to be any parking, but there was plenty. We thought we'd have to wait a long time to get a table. We were seated immediately. I thought I wasn't really that hungry, but then we got the hummus plate. Hummus on steamed arugula, with roasted red peppers, olives and crunchy, chewy pita bread. I thought I would never eat a meat substitute and enjoy it. I had seitan (soy-based meat substitute) tacos, with crunchy grilled vegetable salad and fresh salsa made with whole grape tomatoes. I savored each bite, even if I was sweating from the spiciness.

Organic vegetarian loveliness.

Voodoo Doughnut (22 SW 3rd Ave.)

Mango Tango
Orange-colored jelly exploding
My fingers sticking to everything
Crushed sweet tart candy powder
Glazed doughnut skin flakes on my shirt
Heartburn with a smile

What kinds have you tried?

http://www.voodoodoughnut.com