For us, the best part of traveling is checking out local restaurants. On a recent work trip to Portland, OR, which Luke tagged along on for fun, we found some great restaurants and ate some really good food!

Let’s start with breakfast. Obviously, there is Voodoo Doughnuts. Of the 20 or so different crazy flavors, we tried several: Bubble Gum (REALLY tasted like bubble gum!), Bacon (with maple glaze…tasted like pancakes with syrup and bacon), Capt’n Crunch (ultra sugary), and Old Fashion with maple glaze. It was quite an experience! On the less sugary side, Pazzo Bakery made a delicious brioche roll. Order two because one won’t be enough!

Of course you will need something to wash down that doughnut. One block from Voodoo is Stumptown Coffee Roasters. It is great place to grab a seat and a cup and watch a mix of office workers, tourists and Portland-ites stream through. Most importantly they make a great cup of coffee.

Saint Honore Boulangerie has delicious food for breakfast, lunch or snack. We stopped in for lunch and had a prosciutto sandwich. I wish there had been time to try all their breads and pastries…they looked amazing! One afternoon we went to Southpark for lunch. They had a great lunch deal of 1/2 sandwich, soup or salad, and a cookie for under $10! Won’t find that in DC! I tried the smoked pork loin sandwich and it was delicious!

We were fortunate to have two amazing dinners at two of Portland’s top restaurants, both of which specialized in local, organic food and were beautiful settings. The first, Veritable Quandry Restaurant was right on the water and close to City Hall. Apparently it’s one of Portland’s “power” restaurants. The roasted wild mushroom and baby spinach salad was amazing, as was the NY strip steak with grilled Abalone mushrooms and black truffle butter. Definitely one of my favorite meals of 2009.

The last night we dined at Urban Farmer in the “pickle room,” surrounded by jars of pickled everything. It was pretty cool. Again, the food was amazing. I have never had oysters as good as they were here. Main course was Sweet Briar Farms pig with blue cheese, arugula and figs. Another favorite meal!

Portland has tons of food carts! We didn’t have time to do any sampling, but there are tons of options. In DC carts mostly sell either hot dogs or…hot dogs. In Portland they seem to have every cuisine available.

With all this food we needed to do something to exercise. Luckily Luke found Ground Kontrol, an arcade filled with vintage arcade games and pinball machines. After 5 pm they even serve beer. Best workout ever!