Could you live in Portland?

by Jeremy Kressmann on

There will be a moment during your visit to Portland, Oregon when you’ll have an epiphany. Maybe it won’t happen during your blissful stroll through one the city’s giant public parks, your nostrils fresh with the scent of pine trees and clean air. And it might not hit you during your $3 lunch at one of Portland’s plentiful food carts, your taste buds humming to a savory, cheesy mac n’ cheese made with locally produced Tillamook Cheddar. It might not even cross your mind as you get lost in aisles of Powell’s, a temple of a bookstore that fills an entire city block. But at some point you’ll be overwhelmed by how much you’re enjoying yourself and start to wonder: could I live in Portland? Why am I not here already?

Portland is a place that seems as if it was created with travelers in mind. Everything about it, from the city’s accessible size and convenient public transportation, to its killer food and beer culture, top-notch shopping and easy access to nature, is made to appeal to the visitor in ways that feel welcoming, inspiring and surprising. In a word: wonderful. Sure, as a visitor it’s easy enough to glance over the city’s problems: the unemployment rate is currently hovering above 10%, and for much of the year the city is shrouded in a gloomy, misty haze of rain. But these facts ultimately pale in comparison to the reasons why Portland is such a forward-thinking, livable destination.

Could you live in Portland? Or maybe you’re just curious about making a visit? Keep reading below for our Portland tips.Getting in, getting around
Portland visitors will arrive at Portland International Airport (PDX), located about 45 minutes from the downtown city proper. Don’t bother with a taxi – for just over $2, you can jump on the clean, speedy Light Rail to whisk you towards downtown. Public transport is a big win here: a one-day pass covering rides on all city light rail, bus and street car lines is just $4.75. Travelers who are renting/driving a car will find there’s ample street parking, though the city does have occasional traffic gridlock (no place is without a few flaws, right?).

Orientation
Portland is bisected by the Willamette River, and most addresses and neighborhoods identified by their relationship to this body of water. On the West side of the River you’ll find Portland’s main commercial center. Just North of this (in the Northwest) is the Pearl District, a humming district of art galleries, shopping and killer cuisine. In the NW, the area along 23rd Avenue is also popular for shopping.

The East side of Portland is decidedly more low-key, but definitely worth a visit. In the Northeast you’ll find plenty to check out on Mississippi Avenue. The happening Southeast is anchored by plenty of great dining and shopping along Hawthorne Boulevard.

What to do
With so much to see, eat, buy and explore in Portland, a better question for first-time visitors might be, what shouldn’t you do?

  • Have a brew – like beer? Welcome to Nirvana. Boasting one of the largest concentrations of microbreweries in the country, you’d be hard-pressed to come to Portland and not enjoy one of the town’s outstanding, locally-crafted beers.Though you can’t go wrong at most bars, spots like Deschutes, Henry’s Tavern and Laurelwood get consistently high marks.
  • Eat out – not only is Portland a great town for beer, it’s also a great town for outrageously fresh, delicious food. One of the greatest features of Portland is the city’s many cheap food carts. Ditch that bland bag lunch and track down tasty fare with the locals, like Schnitzel sandwiches and tip-top Thai food at Nong’s. At night, head to the SE for dinner at Pok Pok, one of Portland’s best restaurants.
  • Parks – Portland’s reputation for livability and beauty has a lot to do with the city’s plentiful parkland. It’s a great way to spend the day, enjoying a blissful trail hike, riding a bike or simply stopping to smell the roses. Check out Forest Park, one of the nation’s largest urban parks. During the summer, stop by Portland’s Rose Garden for thousands of the colorful flowers overlooking the city’s downtown.
  • Shop local – the diversity and quality of Portland’s small-scale retail is unmatched. Visitors will be hard-pressed to track down a chain store and everywhere you look are creative, one-of-a-kind handmade goods. The mother of all bookstores is Powell’s, a modern-day “Great Library” bursting with new and used tomes. Music lovers flock to stores like Mississippi Records in Portland’s Northeast.

Killer food and drink. Blissful nature. Quirky local shopping. What’s not to like about Portland? Perhaps it’s time you came to check out this buzzing Pacific Northwest capital for yourself. But consider yourself warned – spend a weekend in Portland and you’ll come away wanting more.

From the Shores of Louisiana – Is gulf seafood safe?

by Jon Bowermaster on
Baton Rouge, Louisiana: It’s rare for me to see 67-year-old Wilma Subra – chemist, MacArthur Grant ‘genius,’ grandmother of six – so worked up. But when I asked last week how things were going in the Gulf, where she’s been measuring levels of toxicity in air, water and fish long before the BP gusher began she was adamant that things are still bad out there.
“My biggest concern is that the message is ‘The oil is all gone.’ We are planning on being out in the field monitoring the wetlands, estuaries and beach areas for the impacts of the oil over the next several years,” she says, insisting that only then will we truly know about the impact on marine life, the environment and human health created by the BP mess.
But Subra’s biggest immediate concern is that the seafood coming from the Gulf may not be safe and that the federal agencies, specifically the FDA and NOAA, have cooked the books by adjusting the amount of some of the chemicals allowed in the fish they are testing… as a way to get fishermen back onto the Gulf and to restore confidence in the seafood market.
She forwarded me the criteria NOAA is using for testing, which makes it clear that its first test is smell and second for chemicals. Subra’s main concern is Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons, of which the BP crude had large percentages.
In June, says Subra, while the spill was still unfolding “the FDA, in association with NOAA, raised the acceptable levels of PAH, without providing a rationale for why.”

“Here’s part of its statement in the Protocol for Interpretation and Use of Sensory Testing and Analytical Chemistry Results for re-opening oil-impacted areas closed to seafood harvesting by the FDA, published June 18, 2010: ‘The new numbers were developed specifically for the unprecedented Deepwater Horizon Oil spill event and will not necessarily be applicable after all fisheries closed due to oil contamination are re-opened for safe harvest. Levels of concern and other factors for any subsequent oil spill event would be independently evaluated based on case-specific information.”

In other words, according to Subra and other scientists, the acceptable levels of PAH in the Gulf’s marine life were raised simply to address the impacts of the BP spill. It smacks less of concern for long-term human health, and more about getting the economy going again.

Subra’s complaints go bigger: “There is no testing for dispersants. In addition the calculations of the meal size used to calculate the consumption quantity is based on things like four shrimp per meal.” Who in Louisiana, or elsewhere, eats just four shrimp at a meal? Which begs another issue, which is that by allowing more chemicals to be in the seafood that is being taken from the Gulf it most-powerfully impacts those who eat it most often … which are the residents of the Gulf.

The bottom line, says Subra, is that “the concentrations of PAHs in seafood, based on the FDA acceptable levels, are inadequate to protect the health of seafood consumers.”

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, administrator of NOAA, has defended both her agency and the FDA’s approach and that they are doing “comprehensive testing,” which includes a two-part test: A team of sensory experts tastes and smells the seafood and if it” passes muster,” is sent to a lab and tested for 12 types of hazardous compounds. “

Subra is not alone in not buying the agency’s modus operandi.

Dr. William Sawyer, a Florida-based toxicologist hired by a New Orleans law firm to look at test results of water and seafood samples, said seafood safety could not be guaranteed using those tests. “Absolutely not, especially with respect to Louisiana shrimp.”Senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, Gina Solomon, concurs, and on September 21 urged federal officials to undertake “more rigorous” testing. She claims “NOAA only used data from 12 samples of shrimp, consisting of 73 individual shrimp for its evaluation. That’s just too small, she said, for an area the size of Connecticut.”Lubchenco, NOAA and the FDA continue to defend the testing and claim “the Gulf seafood taken from these waters is safe to eat” and the reopening of Gulf fishing waters “is another signal to tourists the northern Gulf is open for business.”

Italian Cuisine in Rome: Made in China

by David Farley on

Compared to other capital cities, Rome doesn’t have a lot of ethnic restaurants. But locals and tourists are happy to forgive the city for its lackluster cosmopolitan dining scene because Roman cuisine – especially in the last few years – has been placed in the culinary sancta sanctorum. (Just look at the mouthfuls of chefs who have opened up high-profile Roman restaurants in New York City in the last two years, as evidence.) But spend enough time in the Eternal City (as I have a few times) and your taste buds will start to grow restless. The thought of more penne alla arabiata or spaghetti all’ amatriciana or even coda alla vaccinara (oxtail stew) might inspire a long, long walk until eventually you stumble upon the odd ethnic eatery.

Undoubtedly the first one you’ll come across is Chinese. Sprinkled throughout the periphery of the historical center, Chinese restaurants are the Eternal City’s answer to, well, Chinese restaurants just about anywhere outside of China. Quick, distinctive, affordable and dripping in MSG, the Chinese restaurants in Rome have elbowed their way onto the staunch Roman dining scene.

Unless of course, an air-born illness (followed by media hysteria) breaks out. Case in point: there once was a Chinese restaurant in Rome located near the Vatican. It did steady business, particularly at lunch with local office workers and Vaticanisti. And then SARS hit the newsstands. Remember that? The pre-swine flu Apocalyptic end-of-us-all that was made in China?

During the scare, business dropped at the Chinese restaurant precipitously. Even though this Chinese restaurant was far from China, local eaters couldn’t divorce themselves from the reports they were reading and hearing about on the news. And so with few options, the owners decided to transform the restaurant. They would go Roman. Same Chinese owners. Same Chinese chef. And so, General Tso was unceremoniously purged from the menu and any dish with “Buddha” in the title finally found its way to Nirvana.I know this because I knew a woman who worked at the place. Maria, originally from Spain, was a waitress, which meant for most diners she was the face of this change. The first day, a few curious eaters wandered in at lunch. The menu listed typical Roman trattoria fare and was organized like any Italian menu: there was antipasti like bruschetta; primi, which take the form of pasta dishes; and secondi, more meaty dishes.

A businessman in his forties ordered a bowl of carbonara, a classic Roman pasta dish with pancetta, eggs, and cheese. A few minutes later, Maria set down the bowl of carbonara in front of the diner and walked back toward the kitchen. She was promptly called back to the his table.

“What’s this?” said the forty-something businessman, pointing to his steaming bowl of pasta. “This is not carbonara,” he said, picking up a piece of what was meant to be pancetta. “This is bacon. And this sauce. What is this? It’s like a gloop of cream,” he said. “And this rigatoni,” he said, picking up the half inch, tube-shaped pasta. “Look at this limp thing. It’s way overcooked. Take it back to the kitchen. Now.”

So she did, dropping the plate on a back counter in front of the chef and the owner and explaining that the customers weren’t buying that this is real Roman carbonara, a dish that Rome has made famous but whose exact creation in the city (and the reason for it) is cause for an eternal debate.

“This is real,” barked the Chinese owner. “What city are we in?”

Maria responded: “I know, we’re in Rome, but –“

“Then take it back out there” –the owner handing her the dish back –“and tell him this is the real thing.”

Maria did as she was told. She took the plate out to the diner and held her breath.

There’s actually a food police in Rome who patrol the city’s restaurants, popping into the kitchen, to look around, maybe glance at a few dishes, and then, if everything looks okay, move on to the next restaurant. They’re not looking for bad hygiene practices in the kitchen; they’re actually checking to make sure chefs are correctly preparing Roman dishes according to tradition.

In 2002, the Italian government had an even more ambitious plan: to police every Italian restaurant in the world (there are 20,000 Italian restaurants in the United States alone), making sure eateries that claimed to be Italian were complying with tradition — that is, using San Marzano tomatoes or mozzarella or olive oil made in Italy. If so, they would be rewarded with a “Made in Italy” designation.

The “Made in Italy” program started a test run in Belgium. But it never crossed the Atlantic. It never even got out of Belgium, actually. After all, Italy, in general, and Rome, in particular, has a hard time policing its own restaurants. As Maria quickly learned. She approached the man with his unwanted bowl of carbonara and set it down in front of him. “The chef says this is real Roman carbonara and you have to eat it,” she said.

The businessman, a hunger-induced anger hanging over him, didn’t say a word. He got up and walked out. After this same incident happened a few days in a row, Maria followed the costumers: She left and never came back. She found a job sewing “Made in Italy” labels on clothes that were actually made in China. “Tourists would buy the clothes,” she told me. “They didn’t know the difference.”

Why airplane food sucks–a scientific explanation

by Sean McLachlan on

We all like to gripe about airline food, especially here at Gadling. Last year we even came up with a challenge to see if you could tell airline food from army food. (I bombed that quiz)

Now scientists have discovered a possible explanation for the pervasive blandness we experience at 35,000 feet. In a new study, a team from Unilever and the University of Manchester has discovered that background noise affects the way we taste food. Volunteers were blindfolded and given a set of earphones. They ate various sweet, salty, and crunchy foods while listening either to loud or soft white noise or silence. The volunteers were asked to rate how much they liked the foods as well as how sweet, salty, or crunchy they were.

Louder noise made the sweet and salty ratings go down, while crunchiness went up. Also, how much the subjects liked their food was reduced the more noise they heard. One researcher suggested that the brain is distracted by the noise and is therefore less focused on perceiving flavor.

So don’t blame the cheap ingredients, the mass production, or the plastic containers. . .it’s the white noise that’s making you gag!

[Photo courtesy user andreakw via Gadling’s flickr pool]

Crif Dogs: The Top Hotdogs in New York City

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The various hotdog-and-papaya joints scattered across Manhattan are great for a quick fix, but if you want to truly experience a hotdog’s potential, you have to schlep down to the East Village. Tucked away on St. Mark’s Place, just in from Avenue A, you’ll find Crif Dogs, an establishment that redefines what many consider to be the worst form of meat.

The small, dark restaurant has committed itself to the hotdog in a way like no place I’ve ever been. A few old arcade games greet you at the door, and the décor will not strike you as carefully planned. Linger at the cash register for a moment, and you’ll see a “Wicked Girl” action figure (if you don’t know that that is, leave a comment, and I’ll help you out). And, there are even a few secrets to be found around Crif … if you know where to look.

An expansive menu hangs above the counter, and it is littered with creations that even my lust for unhealthy eating didn’t equip me to fathom. The “Good Morning,” for example, is festooned with cheese, bacon and a fried egg. Bacon, in fact, features prominently on several Crif hotdogs, including the Chihuahua, which comes with guacamole and sour cream (these two are my favorites by far – the bacon is a big part of the reason why). There are other menu items, such as French fries and burgers, but I tend to skip them, preferring to order an extra dog rather than fill the limited space in my stomach with something else.

What Crif Dogs serves is among the best I’ve ever had, with the only competition coming from Popo’s in Swmascott, Massachusetts and a small stand just off Camp Casey in Tong Du Chon, South Korea (which may not even exist anymore – it’s been a dozen years since I last “dined” there). The dogs are hot, they snap and they are packed with flavor in a way that keeps the toppings from masking it. To call a Crif Dog a superior hotdog would be an understatement. And you won’t have any problems with the bun. Though it isn’t toasted (take this as a suggestion, Crif), it’s firm and dry.

Crif Dogs is a bit out of the way if you’re sticking to the usual tourist spots when visiting New York City, but it’s worth a subway hike (and then a walk) to sink your teeth into one of Crif’s creations. The experience is worth it.

[Thanks to @welshwonder for putting a few dogs back with me on my last trip to Crif]