Bridgeport Ale House

"Ha ha, what were we thinking?"

My friend Michelle and I get bored sometimes, and dress up and go pretend we are trendy Portlanders instead of transplant retail clerks. We really are trendy Portlanders.

I am really impressed (so far) with the microbreweries that populate this fair city. Thus, whenever I am presented with the "oppourtunity," I try to patronize them. In the non-school marm definition of the word.

Hawthorne St. is a difficult place to navigate when you're both hungry and indecisive. Eventually hunger wins and you point and click and end up insanely happy. Luckily, I pointed and clicked on Bridgeport. They are the lovely masterminds of such things as Cafe Negro, Hop Czar, and Blue Heron.

I want to lay out a disclaimer for the photo below: yes, there were only two of us. No, we're not actually alcoholics. It's the indecisive thing again.




Bridgeport offers this sample of all their house ales as one menu item, which is really a cool thing. However, the cups are not, like, shot glasses. So bring more people, or you'll end up wasting a lot of it, which is a sad thing. Our sampling came with Cafe Negro, Hop Czar, Stumptown Tart, Blue Heron, and a few others.

They also have an amazing hummus platter. The olives are to die for.

Deschutes Brewery: II

Location(s): 210 NW 11th Avenue

Website: http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/

Phone: 503.296.4906


Again to the Deschutes Brewery and Public House!




A great thing about this public house is that you can pretty much find something for everyone. That's always a tough one when my family is involved: My dad and I have what my mom and sister might describe as "weird" taste in food. And they have boring traditional taste. :)

Sorry Deschutes, I don't mean you're boring. But it is hard to find a place that serves interesting original dishes, as well as something more suited to a traditional palate. Well done, you guys.




So, on the menu:
Winter Squash Ravioli
Falafel
Chicken Curry
and
Chicken Salad

I'll let you in on a secret food blogger perk: If you tell people in your party that you're writing a blog, they will give you bites of their food! Cool trick, huh?


Not to sound immodest, but I did like my food choice the best, as usual: the winter squash ravioli, which is a seasonal Deschutes speciality. Made with "roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions and Gorgonzola cheese tossed in a wort butter sauce [editor's note: this... wort sauce, whatever it is, is to die for.] with rainbow chard [not my favorite, but all right] roasted shallots," and the brewery's own root-beer braised bacon from Carlton Farms.




The chicken curry salad and the chicken salads were pretty good, too. I am not usually a fan of falafel, but I have also taken it upon myself to be fearless in the face of food, and took a liberal bite of my sister's. It was... well, falafel! Tossed in a pita wrap with some salad and white sauce, it wasn't bad!

Washed it all down with some good ol' Black Butte Porter, and finished our palates with some "Black and Tan Creme Du Pot" dessert: chocolate pudding with a caramel finish and whip cream. Super sweet stuff! Really. Get milk.

Poll Results

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for your participation in the microbrew poll. I was completely blown away by how many people turned out for it! Thank you to those of you who sent me comments and messages about breweries that slipped my mind! I will keep them in mind for next time, and for future tasting and blogging!

Here are the results:

Microbrew Poll:

Ninkasi: 148 votes, 81% - Way to go! Freakin' landslide! One of these votes was mine, I must admit. Ninkasi is great. This calls for a special trip to Eugene. See if I can do a special article on the brewery!

Deschutes: 27 votes, 14%

Rogue Ales: 21 votes, 11%

Full Sail: 8 votes, 4%

Widmer Bros: 5 votes, 2%

McMenamin’s: 5 votes, 2%

Terminal Gravity: 3 votes, 1% - For those of you who are unfamiliar with this brewery, it's located ALL the way the heck over in Enterprise, OR (East-side). They've got a great IPA, a rye beer, a breakfast porter, and Belgian triple-style, among others. Check them out!

Bridgeport: 3 votes, 1%

Rock Bottom: 0 - I'm sure you're out there, guys! Must've just forgotten to vote, yeah?

Wow! Thanks, Twitter!

Just by tweeting about my microbrew poll on Twitter, and tagging some folks over at Ninkasi and Hopworks, my poll numbers jumped from 8 to 99 - in an hour!

Thank you guys! Just know that Portland loves you! Great brews, great fans.

There are a couple days left to vote; I'll post the results soon after! Thank you for your participation!

Microbrew Poll!

If you check out the right-hand side of your screen there, you will see an opportunity to vote for your favorite Oregon microbrewery (I know, I know! They're not all there - leave a comment if you don't see yours!) in my handy dandy poll.

I'm itching for some audience participatory action, here! So, set down your brew for a sec, and vote for it! This is me, setting down my seasonal Ninkasi "Spring Reign..."