Saturday, September 29, 2007

Portland Saturday Market - Portland OR


The market is open on Saturdays an definitely a must visit if you ever find yourself in the"Rose City" on a weekend with some time to spare. I love Portland, Great restaurants that get almost no publicity, I guess because of it's proximity to Vancouver. And Portland is quickly becoming the beer capital of the west. Tons of micro breweries that crank out fantastic beers. Here are a few photos from this event. Live music playing, arts and crafts and of course food galore. Although there was quite a variety of food to be found. We didn't come across one that really stood out as being something great. Having said that though, The food, plus the music, beer and people, more than made up for anything. Here is a classic example of the attitude of the people of Portland. I was of course wondering around snapping pictures of food and people like the David Hemmings character from that classic Michelangelo Antonioni film Blow-Up when I ran across a booth serving Thai food. I snapped a picture of man working feverishly over a flaming wok and the guy said, "Hey, you have to take one now with me and my wife" so I did, and the he says "Hey, now you have to take one with me and my wife and my mother" and so I did. Everyone has just a great attitude here.




















The Street fair is located in what was once a very run down section of the city and is still populated by the unfortunate homeless masses that hold the most creative signs up for the tourists vieing for that loose change in your pocket. Some of the classic ones had phrases like " I need money for weed" and others with that old chestnut, " I can't lie I just need a beer". Highly entertaining on one hand and very thought provoking on the other. I looked at the street fair as if we were animals with a proper food chain. Some were on the top of the food chain while others roamed the streets like crustaceans feeding off of scraps of the other life forms. Wow, I really have to stop watching old French and Italian films. So let's get back to the food. Here is a pictorial of food stuffs that can be found here.
Lot's of baked goods. Fresh sourdough breads filled with clam chowder.
Indian food vendors


Here is Sue's Greek marinated beef kabob. This one was very good. Nice and tender with a Mediterranean feel to it.

I had the Philly steak sandwich. The people at this booth were once again just so very friendly and I had them make it to my specifications. and they obliged, I had them add tons of freshly crushed garlic to the saute.
Although the sandwich was huge on proportion it really lacked any flavor at all. I mean really very bland. But on a nice blustery day in Portland it did it's job of making me feel warm and cozy, oh and the local microbrew beer helped too.

This is people watch Mecca. You can get lost here, not physically but mindlessly and every once in awhile that's OK.

Chow

Michael

5 comments:

KirkK said...

Hi Michael - You sure a right....the Saturday Market is people watching central. I recall I enjoyed the garlic fries from Wing-N-It...but wasn't impressed with the Himalayan food.

Michael said...

Hi Kirk - I love the whole Pacific Northwest, just great people and food.....speaking that...welcome back brother!!!..can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Anonymous said...

Hey Michael,
This was a very entertaining post, you made me feel like I was right there with you. To make up for the flavorless steak sammy, you should swing by OCG in PB. If you do give me a shout.
Cheers Brother

Michael said...

Hey CJ - Thanks for stopping by and for the kind words. I have been eyeing OCG's for sometime now, just haven't had the time, you know that day job thing gets in the way. we need to go out and raise a glass and of course a fork or two.....
Cheers Bro

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know the name of the company that sells honey at the Portland Saturday market? I used to live in Portland, but am now in the LA area. I would really like to order some honey from the company, as they have a carrot honey that is awesome.

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