Best German Restaurants in Portland

I love eating all different types of food from Nepalese to Turkish. Unfortunately for me, I live in an area where the most exotic food choices are chain Mexican restaurants and Chinese takeout restaurants. As a result of this dire ethnic foods situation that I experience on a regular basis living here in East Bumblefuck, I use trips to cities like Portland as my excuse to try tasty new restaurants that serve anything but American food stuffs.

On my last trip to Portland, I decided on whim to look for German restaurants. I'm not really sure why that was what I decided on, but it was so I took to the interwebs to find a good place that was near where I was currently at (a coffee shop, of course). As luck would have it, I was not all that far from the top rated German restaurant in the city, at least according to the users of Yelp.

My destination?

Rheinlander German Restaurant.

Seeing the exterior, I knew one of two things were going to happen:

1. The novelty exterior would be due to authentic tasting German food stuffs, or
2. The novelty exterior would be due to hacks attempting to make good German food stuffs

Luckily for my tastebuds, #1 (at that time) was the result of this dining excursion. I can say without a doubt that this is some tasty mctasty German food! It is actually the closest food to real German food that I've had in the US. Yum! The high ranking that this place has on Yelp (now at #6) is TOTALLY deserved because it is top notch noshing going on here. Plus, the people working there are super nice (this seems to be a theme in the PDX area).

If you're in Portland, you can find this delish restaurant at 5035 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, OR 97213. Do yourself, and your belly, a favor and get down there ASAP for an awesome meal.

But, if you're not near this place or just want to know what your other options are, then check out some of the top German restaurants in PDX listed below. I got these all right from the list of best rated German restaurants in Portland on Yelp.

Otto and Anita's European Restaurant - located at: 

3025 SW Canby St
Portland, OR 97219

Multnomah Village, Southwest Portland

The food at this place looks awesome. Lots of schnitzel and such. Don't let their sparse website deter you from checking them out.

Altengartz - located at:

SW 10th & Alder
Portland, OR 97205

Southwest Portland, Downtown

The brats at this place look so freaking tasty. For reals. Plus, their pork is hormone free! Check out their website here.

Grüner - located at: 

527 SW 12th Ave

Portland, OR 97205

Southwest Portland, Downtown     

I dare you to look at a photo of the Bavarian pretzels that they serve and then not go eat here. Looks like they serve a lot of traditional fare, which is perfect for that German food craving. Their site is here.

You can also check out the full list of restaurants on Yelp.

Cycling The Oregon Coast Would Be A Great Trip

Oregon is a great place to be if you enjoy cycling. In fact, I've read about how Portland is a big bike culture place. And before visiting there, I always wondered how that was possible since that region of the United States is known for getting massive amounts of rain. Of course, I later learned that other areas of the country get more rain per year than this region, but it was still a thought that I used to have about the area.

So anyways, when I first made it to Oregon, I did see a lot of people out on their bikes. It was also the first time that I saw people wearing some cool unique cycling jerseys. Before that, I was just used to seeing people wearing the standard solid color biking jerseys or the ones that are bright yellow for the Livestrong charity that Lance Armstrong was associated with. But apparently there are all sorts of really cool and fun cycling jerseys out there because the people I saw riding bikes in Portland were wearing all different types of them.

After spending a little time in Portland and other areas of Oregon, I couldn't help but think that it would be cool to take a cycling vacation in the state. There is a lot of great scenery there, but I think that my first choice would be to do a little cycling trips along the Oregon Coast because I love beaches, but I also love mountains and there seems to be a great combo of that along the coast there. Plus, it would give me a chance to revisit some of those location where they filmed my favorite movie, The Goonies!

Since I do not have the funds to take that cool cycling trip right now, I did a little searching online. It seems that this cycling route is one that is quite popular with people who like to bike long distances and who like to bike on their vacations. To give you an idea of how awesome this scenery is and what a great ride this would be, check out the video that I found of someone else's cycling trip down the Oregon coast line. It is available for viewing below.

Looks pretty great, eh? I also found a bike trail map that the state government offers. Find it here.

Portland's Japanese Garden In Photos

When I was in Portland, I unfortunately did not get a chance to go and check out the Portland Japanese Garden. I've seen photos of it before and read about it on travel blogs, so I was really bummed that I couldn't make it fit as part of my trip itinerary. So, to make up for it, I went and searched for some really great photos of it on the interwebs. So, for now, seeing the Japanese Garden from Portland in photos will have to do.

Check out how beautiful the entrance is (photo by Rosa Say):

This place looks so relaxing. I'd love to be walking by this (photo by szapucki ):

I was overwhelmed by the all the greenery and almost missed the bridge in this one (photo by Roger Isabell):

Here's another great image of the garden that I just love (photo by JavierPsilocybin):

And, I just love these stone stairs that go up in all that greenery (photo by TheOtter ):

Best Thing About PDX Airport - IKEA!!

When I first drove away from the airport in Portland, I was super stoked to see an IKEA right there by the airport. I love me some IKEA and when you don't live near one, seeing one out of the blue like that is pretty exciting. And I'd be lying if I told you that I didn't stop there....because I did...but I didn't buy anything until I returned for my flight back home!

Yup, there it is - like a bright blue and yellow beacon in the distance.

To make matters worse (or better?), I actually stayed at the Hyatt Place PDX Airport hotel before my flight left, so I was super close to the IKEA. That hotel is actually really nice too. The bed was comfy, people working inside were super nice and best of all - it was quiet. Kind of surprising since it was so close to the airport, but it was nice.

Now, back to the airport. The airport in Portland, Oregon is actually kind of small. I was a bit surprised by that as it seems like a fairly large city along the same size as Nashville maybe. But I think the airport in Nashville is larger, so that was a bit weird. Nice airport though. Sometimes you get to an airport and think to yourself  "a long layover here wouldn't be all that bad" and this was definitely one of those airports. Totally different from, say, Newark Airport in Jersey, where I always seem to encounter delays and that is a really terrible airport.

All in all, I think I would love for PDX to be my local airport, except that it would likely result in the addition of new IKEA furniture after each trip home from the airport!