Food and shopping recommendations for Portland?

James Beard Award-winning chefs - Travel Portland

I endorse Beast and Pok Pok. You'll want to make a reservation for Beast.

For street food, you might want to check out VooDoo Doughnuts and the food trucks.

Food Carts Portland - A Guide to Food Carts in Portland Oregon

Nongs all we do. seems to be pretty popular.

There's no sales tax in OR, so shopping is great where ever you want. There are high end shops in downtown and an outlet by the supercharger in Woodburn, OR.

There's one more shopping "hack".

You can shop on Amazon, then ship to a Amazon Locker in Portland. Also no tax.

The item needs to be sold by Amazon and under a certain size to fit inside these lockers.

Amazon.com Help: Amazon Locker Eligible Items

You have 2 days or so to pickup. If you don't pick it up, it's automatically returned, so no fuss.

I travel down to Portland pretty regularly. Caveat emptor: I hate recommending places to people as either they get really popular as word of mouth spreads (eg Jak's in Issaquah), or they're having an "off day". Ymmv, though with that context:

If you need hotel to stay in: Westin Downtown Portland. They have 2 80A hwpcs, free charge, though you'll need to pay regular valet charge with them (39$ overnight). They're a good bunch of valet attendants and haven't joy ridden any of my cars yet. Of course, they appreciate being treated like people. They might let you valet by the hour for local restaurants, though check first.

Charging: Woodburn supercharger is ~25 miles south of city center on the I5. If you like spirited driving, traveling from there through Newburgh to Hillsboro has lots of straight, empty, roads and challenging hill section ;-)

Food
- There are numerous food trucks which are pretty good. A large number of stationary ones are a block away from the Westin.
- Indian cuisine would be East India Company downtown. It is more traditional than your usual chicken tikka masala fare. ~2 blocks from Westin.
- Thai food, slightly out of downtown (Couch street) is a local's place I love: Lemongrass. It's a more unique experience, in that it is not speedy service, though think of it more like good things come to those who wait... plus, it's interesting chatting to those close by. Few tips: 1) the fresh fish is often the best dish, 2) Don't order > level 1 spice unless you've spent time in Thailand ;-), 3) it is cash only.
Bar food: Henry's Tavern on 12th street is pretty standard fare. Tip: sit upstairs and if you like pool there's a couple of reasonable tables in the upper bar where you can snack and drink - much nicer beer and quieter than Rock Bottom. Additionally, if you like microbrews, no visit would be complete without visiting Deschutes brewery.
- Steak: El Gaucho is just like El Gaucho in Seattle in terms of menu, though I like its ambience less. I generally prefer Portland City Grill as in early evening (dusk) on a clear day you get some spectacular views and the steak is good too.
- vegetarian: Once the meat sweats overcome you, there's a great vegan restaurant downtown, Prasad. Even for a regular "me-gan" like myself, there's a lot of tasty dishes.
- Mexican: Haven't found a great one in Portland. Once you've been spoilt by the fresh corn tortillas and home cooking of La Tarasca in Centralia everything else pales in comparison.

Shopping:
- Pioneer place is similar to most downtown shopping malls, Apple Store and Victoria's Secret included. There are also numerous bestbuy stores in the greater area.
- there are many galleries in the Pearl District area of Portland, and they hold an art walk there the first Thursday of each month (Explore The Pearl | First Thursday in the Pearl, Portland, Oregon)

That's about all I can suggest, though I do like the idea about an Amazon locker. Would save a friend from receiving many parcels as an indication of my next visit ;-)

Hope this helps, Mike

Depending on when you go (if after March 1st) I recommend port lands Saturday market (open Saturday and Sunday) there's a garage close by (you can find it on plug share) with a 14-50 and it's free to charge

I also like the shopping at Woodburn. Really good stores and all tax free.

If you are in to some of the planet's most gorgeously-crafted hand tools, and don't mind having to sell your Model S to pay for, let's say, two wood planes, then John Economaki's Bridge City Tool Works is a place to drop a few shekels. Home page - Bridge City Tool Works.

These are not hand-carved items; rather, they are exquisitely machine-tooled pieces. All out of unobtanium and the like. He melds old-world craftsmanship with cutting-edge toolmaking.

I've purchased all my Bridge City items on line and so far resisted visiting them; thus still have enough funds to pay the gas bill for the Tesla. My investment accounts shudder at the thought of my ever stepping into their showroom, which, if it's of interest to you, is off Barbour Blvd. (full address on the "contact" page of their website).

Ava Genes on SE Division, get a reservation.
I second the recommendation for Lemongrass.
A lot of people recommend Pok Pok (also on SE division), but honestly I can't recommend it.

You went all the way to Portland to buy some sneakers? I've heard they sell them at malls and such.