Jessica "enjoying the weekend sunshine" C.'s Profile

It's been such a long time, yelpers. Life has been crazy (lots of working and attending knitting groups) and I have neglected to write any new reviews. I thought I would start with a review of one of my favorite places to eat - Bison Witches.  My husband and I are planning to move back to Tucson (missing family and to go back to school) in a few months and I can't WAIT to start going here again.  

Bison Witches is known for friendly service, great sandwiches and soup bowls. My mouth is watering thinking about the Cali (turkey, cream cheese, sprouts and mayo) with a bowl of Wisconsin Cheddar soup.  I also recommend the Tortilla Chicken Salad - moist chicken, salsa, cheese - yum. The portions here are huge, so be ready to take some back to the office or to share with a friend.

Bison Witches can get sort of crazy during the lunch hour but they always seem to keep service quick and accurate.

I can't wait to have Bison Witches as one of my regular places again!

Going to get a pedicure with my best friend was a regular occurrence when I was living in Tucson. Since moving up here, I have yet to get a pedi. Gross ( I know that is what you're thinking!) Today I decided to do some research and find a place. I probably looked online for over an hour and just wasn't satisfied. Hardly any of the salons had websites and not very good reviews. The Portland metro area, I feel, is lacking in middle-upper quality nail salons. I decided to keep looking and finally found the website for LaBelle Nails in Vancouver. The site looked great and the prices were right. I feel like you can get a decent idea of the business most times from the quality of their website.

I call the shop and they tell me to come on in. I make my way to LaBelle and was pleasantly surprised as I walked in. It was impressively clean and well decorated. They had 10 top of the line pedicure chairs and even more nail stations.  As far as aesthetics, this place is just right.  Each station is equipped with prepackaged tools for ultimate hygiene consideration and each person purchases their own nail file and buffer for $2. You bring this in every time you come to  get serviced. I like this option for hygiene purposes.

I decided to get the Deluxe Spa pedicure that consisted of a normal pedi along with a sea-salt rub, a mud-mask wrap, a warm oil massage and paraffin dip. The price for the Deluxe is $40. It is well worth it. The products smelt wonderful and left my legs and feet feeling soft and smooth - not to mention relaxed.  

LaBelle's prices are good. A regular pedicure is $23 and a manicure is $13. They have Deluxe versions of both as well as full sets and fills, etc.

I definitely plan to make LaBelle my nail salon and will recommend it to everyone.

Yay, yay, yay! Yes, another 5 star review for The Parlour. I'm not sure if I stumbled upon the Parlour throug Yelp or just the general web - but when I found their site, I decided I needed to try this place. I've lived in Portland over a year now and hadn't found a place to get my hair done. Back in Tucson, a dear friend of mine was my hairdresser - so it was hard to get out there and start looking again. My appointment was with Jamie - she is wonderful! It's nice when a stylist uses their artistic vision to give you a one of a kind hair-do.  I really am happy I decided to try out The Parlour.  Wonderfully sweet stylists, a relaxing a non - salon feeling ambience and french guys singing Elvis over the stereo - oh, and a wonderful hair cut/color to boot! I couldn't really ask for a better experience. I have found my new salon home.

Boy this place is yummy.  I've read about Por Que No many times, walked by many times but never had the chance to try. Today was my day. My friend and I stopped in for a steamy lunch - steamy in that it was a hot day in Portland. All of the tables outside were full - so we took a nice little high table inside - steamy! I imagine that is just a normal day in the life of a Por Que No employee. The hot factor did not take away from the experience. The food was great and I had the best tea I've had in a really long time. Service was friendly and fast.  I enjoyed the multi-colored, cramped style of the restaurant. The vibe reminded me of my years living in Tucson. Overall, Por Que No is a great choice out of the Mississippi food stops. Will I  be back? Most definitely.

I promised to add more later...and here it is. Went back to the Side Street last night and had a nice time. The vibe of the patrons was good, we got a nice little table by the juke box and enjoyed some cold beer. In my buzzed state, I kept reading the food menu over and over and making myself hungry for cheesy breadsticks or cajun tater tots. The Side Street has a pretty great menu of snacks, tots and even cheap items like peanuts for $.75. This is definitely a nice place to walk and get a drink, catch up with a friend and not feel like you are competing for service, a seat or the bathroom. One weird thing that happened though, every other song that played on the juke box was a Nirvana song. Must have been a big fan in the bar that night!

If you look at my profile closely, you will see most places get 4 stars. I would do 3.5 for most of those if I could. Gold Dust Meridian falls in to this 3.5 stars abyss and that isn't really a bad thing. To earn this type of rating from me simply means that I enjoyed said place enough to were I plan to come back, hopefully somewhat regularly and enjoy whatever it is they offer. Last night, my guy and two of our friends walked over to the Gold Dust to enjoy a round or two of drinks and some strange conversation.  We decided to sit inside and enjoy the music and decor. The patio was full of people chatting, smoking and drinking. That would have been a nice option, but we wanted to go for the inside ambiance this time.  We took a seat by the windows and I enjoyed watching the Hawthorne action. Our server came right over, was very friendly and attentive. He gets a full 4 stars from me!  We decided on the Zombie scorpion bowl and my guy got a Pabst. The drink was fun, good and did it's job - this drink is a definite recommendation when you stop in here. I enjoyed the drink, the atmosphere, service and the music very much. The only significant negative - it was really warm inside. At least that was helped by the ice-cold water that was brought to us as soon as we sat down! Next time I will try some food and maybe bump this up to a full four stars.

Fresh Pot has become my new little Wi-fi/coffee/job searching hangout.  The coffee is pretty good, wi-fi is always up to speed and the service is nice. It's a nice little place to people watch everyone enjoying Hawthorne. I have to admit, the little sign outside is pretty cute, to!

Ground Kontrol is A-OK with me. $2 Pabst tall-boys, no cover and fun games. Met some friends here on Saturday night for the first time and had a blast! The most memorable game for me was the Simpson's game all four of us played at once. I did notice they had Bubble-Bobble! A game I loved as a kid. We all decided Ground Kontrol is a great place to bring out of town visitors when they need some entertaining as well as spending a weekend night for not much $$.

This past Saturday night was spent in downtown Portland walking, exploring, people watching and drinking (natch.) After a few previous stops,  it was already midnight and we had yet to eat! So after talking about Jake's earlier in the evening, we decided to stop in and see if they were still serving. To my surprise, they sure were. Full menu and happy hour. We picked a nice table in the bar and enjoyed watching patrons in Jake's and out on the street. After a round of beers (that weren't happy hour $) we ordered some happy hour food. Their menu has a good amount of options and great prices. Plus, the portions for the price were excellent. We got the calamari and hummus -weird combo but satisfying. The hummus was your basic flavor sided with tomatoes and cucumbers. The calamari was great! I would definitely order it again - especially for $4. Our friends got the chicken wings, oysters and a full size strawberry shortcake. As far as I know, they too were satisfied. Apart from the food, I enjoyed the atmosphere. The old paintings and dark wood features make for a nice ambiance. Service was friendly and prompt. Whenever I take a tour of downtown late night - Jake's will definitely be on my list of places to stop.

I miss this place. What Portland Oregon needs is an El Fenix.
Their salsa is the best AND they serve soft cheese tacos. Nobody outside of Texas does that. I understand why El Fenix only has an average of 3 stars - it could be better - but you guys don't realize how lucky you are to have this place! It's a Dallas area staple. Outside of Texas (with exception to Arizona), Mexican food gets sketchy!