An Oddly Positioned Sign

As I was exiting the bathroom at Anchor Bar in PDX last night (not a place I would ever recommend, don't get me wrong) I noticed this sign by the door:


Epidermis is simply the outer layer of skin and if I WAS headed to the beach and not back to my table far, far away from the beach, I should hope that I wouldn't be FINED or sent to JAIL or BOTH for simply wearing a tee-shirt. Since I was in a drunken bar, in the womens bathroom, I expected the sign to discourage drunk driving or going home with anyone you would possibly find outside that door.. but this? I guess confusion over it simply shows the sobriety of the reader.

Do a positive and a negative always equal a wash? My experience at Touché.

Last night I decided that I wanted to try a place that had been on my “wanting to try” list for ages. A place that was supposed to be eclectic but classy, urban but not hipster, upscale but not pretentious..

1425 NW Glisan St.

Portland, OR 97209
(503) 221-1170

As you walk into the rustic house turned entertainment hall, you are greeted by a velvet red curtain and a winding banister staircase. A neon sign reading “billiards” was positioned on the wall above the staircase which was promising for later, but as it was our stomachs would not hear of any more delays of fulfillment at that time (parking ended up being a little difficult for a driver who was on the wrong side of town) into the restaurant we go. Brushing aside the heavily draped curtain we walked to the hostess stand where we proceeded to be seated almost instantaneously. The walls were a muted orange and red, accented by an equally muted green. There were oversized dipper-esque chandeliers lining the ceiling and a very out of place disco ball near the semi open kitchen. Exotic plants and other décor littered the room. All in all, the design and ambiance was very fitting, and very enjoyable to be a part of at that moment.
While the menu boasted Mediterranean and Italian fare, Latin music, which went from a comfortable volume to almost blaring at times, played in the background.
After hearing the specials and a variable discussion we placed our order. From the menu, or order looked like this:

WARM FETA CHEESE
Imported from Greece, wood fired and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and fresh oregano. 8 (this also came with a side of warmed pita)
ZAREH'S FATOUSH SALAD
Grilled spiced chicken breast topping a salad of tomato, romaine lettuce and grilled bread tossed in a special yogurt and tahini dressing. 10.5
PIZZA FOUR SEASONS
Four separate sections of artichoke hearts, mushroom, pepperoni and prosciutto, with mozzarella. 14

(also accompanied by drinks of course)

This was when the experience went a little downhill. As we waited for our appetizer, the people at the bar which was situated approximately 15 feet on our left (and we were sitting next to the windows in the dining room) started to get quite rowdy and obnoxious. The music, for some reason, was turned up to an almost unbearable level and it started to become a little difficult to hold a conversation. All the while time is ticking and we are starting to wonder where our food is. Approximately five minutes later our server, who was very attentive and was filling my water constantly, came over and told us there was a mix up with our cheese dish, and that it would be up momentarily. He also informed us that due to this it was going to be on the house. Ok, that does make it a little better, but explain the mix-up to our already grumpy stomachs.
Once the dish arrived it was definitely worth the wait and it didn’t take long before the small bowl didn’t show any signs of cheese nor pita. Things quieted down, but we again, started to wonder why our main dished had yet to arrive. We waited for so long that the appetizer actually started to settle in and we thought about asking for the check for the drinks and calling it a night.
It wasn’t busy, there were plenty of open tables. I saw servers standing around and honestly, I didn’t see an explainable reason as to why we ended up there for an hour and a half for one meal which consisted of a chicken salad and a pizza.
Eventually our dishes were served to us, and they were both very good. A person couldn’t have asked for better; it’s a shame that a place that has such good food can be overshadowed by a bad experience service wise. I think Touché does deserve a second chance, but next time I will stop by for lunch on a day when time is not an issue.

After dinner we did wander up to the Billiards room to possibly play, but moreover just to explore. This crowd was very different from the crowd in the dining room and was more reminiscent of the rundown club scene than any of what was boasted downstairs. There were not that many tables and I believe that during the week it would be an enjoyable experience, but on the weekends, it’s much too crowded.

A Change From the Norm: Girls Night!!

Tonight should prove to be interesting.
Last weekend I went bar hopping with my good friend Renee. This weekend I am going club hopping with my friend Lancaster.
Some of the things that I loved about last weekend was the fact that there is no cover on bars and that the crowds were manageable (ie you were not mauled and grouped while navigating thru the sea of people on the way to the bathroom.. not that I even used the bathroom but for some reason whoever I am with always needs to use it at least a couple of times). Not only am I going to do a comparison between the two crowd wise and entertainment wise, but financially as well. Now it would be a less bias comparision if I was to go with the same people each time (who knows if I would have more fun one time based just on the company because Renee and I would have a great time just sitting in a gas station parking lot) but unfortunately she is MIA this weekend so I will have to make due with my experiment the way it is. It is only slightly confounded and will not make a significant difference ;)

So!! Aside from the fact that I am desperately needing to buy a new dress, I am very excited for this evening....

Bars vs. Clubs: A Case Study (Part 1)

Bars

Quick Synopsis (or in true case study fashion: Abstract)

Bar hopping allows for real one on one time with the person you are with and if you decide to let other people into the conversation that is easily achieved as well. Due to the fact that most bars do not charge a cover charge, if you don’t like a place you can leave whenever you want without feeling cheated and meeting different people, or experiencing different environments or ambiances is very easily attainable. Generally the noise level is not unmanageable in bars, most of the places we went to were welcomely quiet, so you are actually able to hold a conversation with a person without having to shout. Naturally, the part of town or the bar of choice makes all the difference in this, so I will be more specific and say that the bars we chose to go to in the Pearl were more than accommodating. Who you are with also makes a huge difference in the experience of the evening, so much so that the right company can make even the worst of events seem not so bad. My accomplice for this part of the “study” was my good friend Renee... time will only tell if she caused there to be a lack in objectivity when it comes to the level of satisfaction of the evening :)

Little Black Dress night officially took place on Saturday, August 16th. It was a belated birthday celebration for one of my friends because I was in Boston on the date of her original birthday. I came fully equipped with a list of different bars and places we could go to in The Pearl and downtown but mostly in The Pearl because lets face it, its my favorite part of town.
First stop on the list: Trust.
This bar is on the corner of 9th and Everett and was recommended to us by another friend when I told her what it was that we were doing that night. It was around 7pm, we were more than turning heads with our attire and when walking towards this place we decided that we were a little overdressed (and to be honest the place didnt really fit our style anyways) so we kept on walking towards 12th.
Because I wanted to do things that were new and different the place we went to next wasn't on the list but after she told me that she had never actually ordered anything from the place the decision was quickly made to go to oBa.
This bar is one of my favorites; they make the best key lime pie martini's in town (fully equipped with a graham cracker crust rim on the glass) and is located on near 12th and Everett. After walking in the door and discovering on the end of a day with a record high temperature of 105 degrees that they had no air conditioning we decided to have one drink and leave before we melted. Instantly we were both glistening and the fact that we were sticking to the chairs was very concerning (sure, we were wearing black but the last thing we want are sweat spots).
Out the door we go, and we head up the street to Bluehour.
On our way to 13th and Everett, where this place is located, we see a crowd of picketers outside the landing/stairs. They had signs and blowhorns and got louder and louder the closer we got. When they saw that we were actually going into this restaurant/bar they started screaming as us to not go inside this "inhumane establishment" or "any place that serves Foie Gras". After getting inside and sitting down at the dimly lit bar we asked the bartender what the issue was and what Foie Gras even was (because you know how it is, all the hype AGAINST the dish was actually making me consider trying it lol). Turns out it is duck liver and what is inhumane about it is the fact that the birds are force fed during the last two weeks of their lives. Liver? Eh, no thanks. But we did enjoy two distinctively good drinks in a very calm, quiet, classy, upper scale atmosphere.
Next, Henry's.
It was time to eat so we headed up towards burnside and stopped off at yet another place that was not on the list due to the rate we frequent this bar but whatever, the food is good and the list was just for suggestion anyways... not hardfast. It is Saturday night, and like always, the place is packed. We made a couple of rounds around the bar and I was about to suggest we sit in the restaurant due to the lack of seating when a table suddenly appears out of no where. As is Henry's style, we snatched it up asap and waited for someone to come over and clean it. She learned the hard way to never order a rusty nail, and I learned that beer on an empty stomach isn't necessarily a good idea. The food was excellent, calamari and a blue cheese bacon burger hehe and it wasnt long before two people asked to join us. We were in a particularly good mood (and were nice and cool because they don't skimp on the A/C) so we said what the hell. The company wasnt bad, but pretty soon it was midnight and we didn't want to spend the whole evening there.....
One of the places that I wanted to go to for sure on this evening was Portland City Grill but being that we were both full we decided to stop by one of her favorite places instead: Kells (it is for HER birthday after all lol)
Quite the difference from the bars we were at before, but just as fun! We are pretty much regulars there and were instantly recognized by the bar staff. The place was packed but we were invited to sit at a table by one gentleman. Little did we know that that guy was actually with a huge group of guys and before long we were surrounded..... The drink that we always order there is called an "east coast" and they know to pile them on with cherries :)
Before long it was 3am, and lets just say that one of the guys was getting rather clingy and didnt want to let us leave. I'm sorry, but to honestly think that we (or that I was going to let her) would even consider going back to your place to "continue hanging out" is just ridiculous. So being that I somehow found a parking spot right in front of the bar we got in the car and headed home.

All in all a very fun evening, something that I more than definitely am sure to do again hehe.

Split Intentions.

An Overview of Date Two.

I started the day off with the intention to be there EARLY. Since I was a little late for the last date I wanted to start this one off on the right foot. Lets just say that didn’t happen. First off, I don’t see how it is that I always seem to be running behind but at this point in my life I think its safe to say that its inevitably ME. You want me there at 7? Better tell me its at 6:45 (and you had better be damn well convincing because if I figure out its really at 7 i'll prob not be there until 7:10 lol).
Well in this instance I would have been fine, I would have been pretty much on time had it been downtown but it was changed to Bridgeport Village out in Tigard at the last minute which is considerably further for me to drive. Then, when I stopped to get gas I noticed as I took my debit card out of my wallet that my ID was not in its proper place. It was still in my gym bag which I so conveniently just put in my apartment. We were starting off at a bar! I am going to get carded! So I had to go home and get it. I called him, said “You are not going to believe what happened…” and he took it quite well. At least he is not one of those people that cannot stand it when someone is incessantly late. But this is the first time that I was ever THAT late to anything. It didn’t help that because of the beautiful day everyone and their grandmother was out driving, and driving quite slow at that.
We started at the bar Split. I walk in and he was sitting up at the bar drinking a Hefeweizen, I ordered a Black Butte Porter (because that was the only dark beer they had there, and it was from a bottle mind you). I did like the ambiance of the place, it was clean, crisp and classy. I wouldn’t mind going there again but next time I would like to sit at a table so that way I could be in a more comfortable chair. We were there for a couple hours, left around 9:30 to go find food and after getting up and walking, a bathroom. We stopped in The Pizza Kitchen to use the bathroom and that was it.
So we walked…
Want to eat here?
Nah..
How about here?
Hmm.. lets look at the menu.. yeah no thanks.
Here?
Oww.. yeah lets try it!
We ended up at a Mediterranean place where it was difficult to decipher the menu, even for me. He ordered a flat bread pizza (which did NOT come with marinara sauce but a roasted red pepper sauce lol), and after much deliberating on my part I was told that I wanted the one thing on the menu that they were out of for the day (that is always how it goes for me). The waiter couldn’t really explain to me what was in the Persian Meza so I settled for a Greek Meza. Well, I should have just gotten a damn hummus plate if you ask me because I really didn’t like anything on my plate. The pita bread was excellent however lol
From there we had to go, it was after 11 and I had to be at work in the early AM.
He walked me to my car...
....
Ha.

Quick Synopsis: I do like the guy, but I don’t know if there is true chemistry between us. There was no passion, no spark. He kept calling me innocent but I don’t believe that that was what he was truly seeing. I think he was misinterpreting my hesitancy and why I was holding myself back; innocence had nothing to do with it. And I do not find the fact that he has lost his ambition particularly attractive. I went into the date thinking that it was going to be the last one but I don’t know. I don’t want to lead the guy on… And I don’t want to waste my already sparse time.

Solo this weekend

Don't let the name fool you..

Solo, the nightclub in the pearl, is definitely not a place where you will find yourself alone...

Saturday, March 15th, 2008
9:30pm to 2:30am

So this weekend I was invited out to above club by an old friend of mine.
My girlfriends were either:

A) Working
B) Sick
C) Out of Town
D) Stuck in a small town far away doing homework
E) All of the Above

So I let him know that I would love to join him, but really didn't know because of the circumstances. He told me to not worry about it, to come and hang out with him and have a good time. He then said that it was a Vegas theme, so to dress nice. That was all I needed to hear, being that I had a little black dress that was begging to be worn and last weekend's fiasco was still needing to be deleted from my mind I decided to just do it. And besides, I love an occasion that allows me to go out and buy a new pair of shoes.
Lets just say it worked.
I get there around 9:30ish and there is already a line around the corner.
I didn't want to stand in line so I go up to the bouncer and get right in. Didn't have to pay either, which was nice. I get upstairs and am greeted by my friend and his entourage and am shown to our section in the VIP lounge.
I then head down to the bar to get the one and only drink that I will purchase for the night.. my typical Mai Tai and this was where the fun started.

"You are GORGOEOUS, do you know that??" he said to me..
"I am not going to give you any more of a tip just because you said that you know" I say mischievously as I walk away.
I glace back and he was staring at me, speechless...

So I head back over to the group and start scanning the crowd. There were a couple of people that I knew from my days as a club hopper, I made my rounds and said hi. But there was no one that was catching my interest so I went back up to the group of guys that I was with.

I feel my phone going off in the purse that I despise since I left the little black purse that I typically take out in K's car last weekend. I really shouldn't have opened it. I should have just left it alone. But we all know how I get when I am drinking, have unresolved issues and my cell phone. It was a message from my friend telling me something that I really shouldn't have been told, so I decide to ask the ex about it. Yeah, that was my first mistake... But I couldn't resist. And that was when I decided that I needed a real drink.
I was with my friends brother, DS, who I spent a majority of the evening with, who could tell I was distressed and said that he would get me a drink.
"What do you want?" he asks
"I really don't care, as long as it is strong..." I say
"What about an AMF??"
"Eh?? Whatever, sounds good"
"You do know what AMF stands for, right?"
I look at him puzzled, attempting to associate the letters with words but came up blank.
"Adios Mother F-er"
"Ha ha.. yeah, that sounds great!"
Little did I know what was really in this drink, and after waiting in line for 20 minutes to get to the bar, I was in awe as the bartender made it, four bottles of liquor going at once. Another shot of something. A quarter inch of sprite. A lemon on the side of the glass, about $9 later and I am good to go.

Here is the official recipe:
AMF
1 shot Vodka
1 shot Gin
1 shot Rum
1 Shot Triple Sec
1 Shot Blue Curisso
A splash of Sweet and Sour.

Amazingly it tasted great. I don't know if it was just due to the fact that I wanted to escape my conscious mind that desperately or what. But he gave me 5 minutes to drink it and drink it I did. Even though I was half tempted to see him try and pry that drink from my hands after those five minutes were up.. hehe
So anyways, this was when I started dancing. The crowd had gotten dense, there were people everywhere. And lets just say that it can be quite fun dancing and dashing... not getting their hopes up because there is no way that I would go home with anyone from a bar but sometimes its great to just dance your troubles away.......
2am came.
It is the time when the men get desperate and try every line they can in an attempt to get you to go home with them. All they get from me is "uh, no thanks" or "maybe you should ask her (as I point to someone across the room) she looks much more drunk than I am"
I got my coat.
Walked back to my car.
And went home.
In my opinion its better to go home alone than to go with a stranger, no matter how lonely you are at the moment.