An Epicurean Excursion

     As Saturday was the last day of my extra-long weekend visit with Romaine before leaving for Los Angeles, she  planned something special for that day:  a culinary walking tour of  downtown Portland.

    The tour was with Portland Walking Tours, which offers half-a-dozen themed guided  tours of the city.  Romaine chose for us the Epicurian Excursion, a 3 1/2 hour walk during which we visited an assortment of vendors and eating and drinking establishments which are considered by local in-the-know foodies to be among the gems of the Portland culinary scene.
    Besides Romaine and myself there were two nice young couples in our tour group,

     ...and our friendly, over-the-top-accomodating guide was food critic and travel writer Adam Sawyer, who regaled us with his energetic wit and voluminous knowledge of all things Portland and gastronomical.

     On our way to our first stop Adam pointed out to us the Heathman Hotel,

....where many of the naughty scenes from the movie Fifty Shades Of Grey  were shot.   Though I missed the movie (and plan to never, ever see it) I would in fact liked to have taken a peek inside the hotel to see where the film was shot.  Apparently there's a tour that lets you do that.

    But alas, we passed by that point of Portland interest and headed to our first destination, a tiny upscale chocolate boutique called Cacao,

...where we were each offered a sample of a liquid chocolate called Rivoli to sip,

....while we listened to an interesting talk by the store's manager on the art of fine chocolate-making.

     As I'm not a chocolate aficionado I declined the proffered sample, though the others in the group pronounced the drink wonderful.  I did enjoy the lecture, though,

...as well as the store manager's awesome Portlandesque socks.

     Next we visited Benessere, an olive oil and vinegar shop

for the purpose of sampling the oils and vinegars.
   

      Now, to be perfectly honest, I was initially not tremendously excited over the prospect of sampling oils and vinegars.
    OMG.  I swear, this was a life-changing experience.  I swear, if I lived in Portland I'd worship like a dog at the the shrine of these oils and vinegars - all right, perhaps I wax a weence hyperbolic, but words can scarce express the lingual sensation,  the sunburst of flavor produced by a few  drops  of one of these these  oils, these vinegars - the far-removed aristocratic relatives of the proletariat stock I've been buying my whole life from Krogers -  upon the tongue.
     After our initiation to the astounding world of really good oils and vinegars we were invited to wander the store and help ourselves to samples of the dozens of varieties available.

     I left the store seriously jonesing for a salad.
     Fortunately (and probably not by accident), our next sampling was of something delicious enough to distract our hyper-stimulated taste-buds from the memory of those oils and vinegars.

    Adam led us to the food-cart nerve center of downtown,   

...to a stand called Steak Your Claim,

....where we each were given a quarter of a pastrami sandwich and a portion of pickle spear to sample.

     The pastrami was melt-in-your-mouth tender, seasoned with a savory mustard and I don't know what else but soooo tasty!
     I vowed that  before the sun set on that day I'd return to this place for a whole sandwich and maybe a mess of the gorgeous-looking curly-fries I saw the customers carrying away.
    Our next stop was at a crowded little hole-in-the-wall coffee place called Courier Coffee,

...where we were each offered a cute little cup of brew,

...which I declined, not being a coffee-drinker, either.

     Romaine found the coffee a little foo strong for her taste, though the youngsters in our group cooed over the flavor.

     Our coffee stop was followed by a visit to a restaurant called Oregon Table specializing in fine wine and food pairings.

     We were each given three food samples: olives, a delicious pate and a piece of salmon in sauce; and a sampling of three different wines, one to go with each food.

     While the others oohed and ahhed over the wondrous taste experience of the food-wine combos, I, the teetotaler, sipped my room-temperature water and nibbled my samples, longing to know what all the fuss was about.
     Romaine offered me a try of her wine. I tried.
     "Do you like it?"  she asked.
     "No,"  I replied.
     It was at that moment I realized that I'll never be an epicurean, gourmet, or culinary foodie of any stripe whatsoever.  I have the palate of a 10-year-old.

       I'd prefer a fine vintage Peeps.

      Still, I regained my stride at our next stop,

....The Pearl Bakery,

...where we went back into the bakery to learn a bit about how the bread and pastries are made,

...and to sample a plate of the baked goodies.

     I traded out my portion of brownie for an extra slice of the sugar raisin bread.  My palate may have a low IQ, but it knows what it likes.

     After The Pearl Bakery we stopped by McMenamin's Ringler's Pub, a microbrewery located in a historic building,

...where we were given three brews to sample while Adam recounted to us the colorful history of the place.

     I however, was able to switch out my sample of craft beer for a draft of my favorite libation,  a glass of diet coke.   As Romaine was rather wined-out from our previous visit, she joined me in teetotaling with a glass of water.
     Our final destination was a dessert stop at an ice cream emporium called Ruby Jewel,

...where we tried one of the shop's delicious ice-cream sandwiches,

...lemon-basil ice cream between vanilla sugar cookies:  or maybe it was vanilla ice cream between lemon-basil cookies:  in any case, it was one yummy concoction.

         And then our delightful Epicurean Excursion, with our delightful guide Adam Sawyer, was over.
         Did I say over? 
         Ah no, there was one more stop to make.

     Back to the food cart center Romaine and I headed,

...to Steak Your Claim, for  a full portion of pastrami and fries to share,

...in the square.

     It was heaven on earth.