Huge Pickles in Portland

Travel

Hello from Portland, the beer capital of New England!

I love Amtrak because it’s such a relaxing way to travel. I read my novel for an hour and Matt and I had pb and j for lunch. We arrived at Jeff’s this afternoon and caught up on fun cable shows before heading out to dinner at Nosh Kitchen.

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I had a Smuttynose Maibock, which was thick and delicious, but very high in alcohol. I had to sip it slowly!

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Matt and I are fried pickle connoisseurs, so we had to try these huge tempura fried spears. Probably the largest fried pickles I have ever seen. The batter was slightly sweet = perfect.
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The restaurant served all local, grass-fed meats, but I ended up ordering the falafel flatbread because I was in the mood for flatbread. Lesson learned: never order a sandwich just because the bread sounds good. While I liked this wrap, it was a little dry and I was quite jealous of all the burgers at the table.
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Nosh knows how to do burgers. I ended up having about four bites of Matt’s burger with bleu cheese, a fried egg, and garlic pesto, and it was hands-down one of the best burgers I have ever tasted.
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After dinner, we head to Grace, a bar and restaurant in an old church! This place is gorgeous….I want to go back for dinner!
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Given that my first beer was 9% abv and we’re getting up to go skiing at 6:30 tomorrow, I opted for a light blueberry ale. It turned out to be a great choice, because it was very flavorful – much better than Wachusett’s blueberry beer.
Now I’ve got to lay out my ski clothes and mentally prepared for the early wake-up and cold temperatures, but I’m excited to ski. Night!

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  • katy {of} katy loves.
    January 16, 2011 at 12:06 am

    Girl after my own heart! I love Smuttynose, have you had their Star Island Single? I love it! Tonight I tried a “Mama’s Little Yella Pils” at a local bar and it was pretty good! Light with just a slight bitter taste. I’ve noticed the higher alcohol content in craft beers as well. Just one or two and I’m feeling it!

    • Laura
      January 16, 2011 at 4:28 pm

      I haven’t tried that one, but I’ll keep a look out!!

  • Felicity
    January 16, 2011 at 6:25 am

    That church/bar is beautiful! I’ve made a mental note *places to visit, if I ever make it up there.

  • Lacey @ Lake Life
    January 16, 2011 at 8:27 am

    The only fried pickles I’ve ever had were like eating a salt lick. I’m glad to hear that not all of them taste like that!

    Good luck on the slopes 🙂

  • Danielle
    January 19, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Portland is my hometown, glad to see you enjoyed your visit!
    Grace is a beautiful place, a friend of mine had their wedding reception there over the weekend.

    I highly recommend visiting Ptown in the summer time, it is bustling with people and there are so many cool spots to check out on the waterfront.