Clear Creek Distillery Each spring, friends and family tie hundreds of glass bottles to flowering tree limbs in the McCarthy family’s fruit orchards. The result – Clear Creek Distillery’s distinctive pear-in-the-bottle brandy. Each mature pear is surrounded by a fine brandy made using centuries-old European methods.

Portland, Oregon Dining: Food, Wine and Beer

Restaurants: Northwest Fresh

Lately, Portland has become something of a magnet for world-class chefs who revel in creating menus from the cornucopia of foodstuffs harvested within a 60-mile radius of the city. That’s right – just 60 miles. Our produce doesn’t have a frequent flier plan.

We’re talking salads of fresh-picked frisee, arugula and chervil, spiked with hazelnuts and local cheeses. Entrees of alder-smoked salmon, Dungeness crab, razor clams and morel mushrooms. Naturally, seafood is just the start of our citywide menu, which features more than 40 different types of cuisine.

And while our seafood is fresh, our prices are very well-mannered. The fact that we have no food and beverage sales tax just adds to your dining pleasure.

To accompany your meal, may we suggest an Oregon wine? Perhaps a delicately perfumed Pinot noir? Or, maybe one of the riot of handcrafted beers that places Portland at the center of America’s craft-brewing movement? Finish with a fresh Marionberry tart and a snifter of our local eau de vie, which is known to rival the best of France.

Indeed, the “City of Roses” sits at the apex of a valley as fertile as the Normandy region of France, filled with delicious mushrooms, horseradish, peppermint, berries, cherries, hazelnuts and pears.

“Oregon has the same micro-climate as my native France,” says Philippe Boulot, Executive Chef of The Heathman Restaurant. “The ingredients here are the best quality I’ve found in the States – if not the entire world.”

In fact, Gourmet magazine recently praised Portland as “the Burgundy of America, rich in produce, laden with seafood, and blessed with fabulous wines.”

You see, Portlanders have an almost French reverence for sustenance, reflected in the profusion of world-class restaurants, wineries and microbreweries that draw from Oregon’s expansive resources.

The restaurant scene runs the gamut from Northwest cuisine at Wildwood to the maternally inspired Mother’s Bistro & Bar to food with a view at the new Portland City Grill, located on the 30th floor of the US Bancorp Building. A tradition of seafood cookery is reflected in fine old crab and oyster houses such as Jake’s Famous Crawfish and Dan & Louis’ Oyster Bar. Other Northwest delicacies can be found – and devoured – at Higgins, Caprial’s Bistro, Red Star Tavern, Huber’s and Bluehour.

If you’re a spur-of-the-moment diner, why not head to “Restaurant Row” in the city’s bustling Northwest/Nob Hill neighborhood. Northwest 21st Avenue is home to eateries such as Paley’s Place, Wildwood, Lucy’s Table, Zinc Bistrot and Marrakesh Moroccan Restaurant. You won’t lack for choices here.

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Beer

You also won’t lack for variety when it comes to beer in Portland, long recognized as America’s craft-brewing mecca. Pure water from the Cascade Mountains, tall barley and bitter hops all set the stage for a beer-lover’s region.

Many of Portland’s best brew houses are also the most unique. BridgePort Brewing Co., Oregon’s first craft brewery, is housed in an historic building – formerly a cordage factory that made ropes for turn-of-the-century sailing vessels – that sits smack on the route of the new Portland Streetcar. Nearby, Portland Brewing Company’s tasting room overlooks beautiful copper brewing tanks that were imported from a 16th century Bavarian brewery.

Meanwhile, canine visitors are always welcome in the outdoor seating area of the Lucky Labrador Brewing Company, which resides in an historic warehouse in the ultra-funky Hawthorne District. And Full Sail Brewing Co. at RiverPlace affords one of the best views of the busy Willamette River waterway and RiverPlace Marina.Scattered throughout the Portland area, McMenamins pubs and breweries mix historic ambience with great beer and casual fare. Each McMenamins pub is literally covered, from ceiling beams to floorboards, with a profusion of decorative art created by local artists. Star properties include the Kennedy School, a former elementary school; McMenamins Edgefield, once the county poor farm; and Ringlers, located downstairs from the legendary Crystal Ballroom with its “floating” dance floor.

It almost seems unfair that Portland should boast a region so perfect for producing excellent food and beer as well as support a climate ideal for some of the world’s most exquisite wines. It’s the truth, though, and we know our visitors wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Directory: Portland, Oregon Dining

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