City Guide: Portland
A City Guide from a local friend of Shop Boswell, Andrea Roseberry.
As I stare down the barrel of the cross-country move I’m calling a “try-out” (no commitments here! why commit!) I was so happy to build out my own version of a Portland City Guide for Shop Boswell, one of my longtime favorite shops in town. This small selection could never fully encompass every place I absolutely adore here, but it features many of my favorite locations for putzing, biking, browsing, snacking, drinking, and all other ways I’ve enjoyed my time in this place for 12 years. Let’s call it a good start :-)
Angel Face
I can’t even tell you the amount of time I’ve spent gabbing/yapping/dishing/chatting over a martini at Angel Face. My “order” is a gin martini with a wash of vermouth and two olives, but you do you. Now that they have a menu (go see it for yourself), a recent new favorite is the Tuxedo #2. There’s no better dessert than a gin-soaked cherry at the end of my drink.
Mother Foucoult's
For lovers of books and book stores, all things esoteric, old, and worn, Mother Foucault’s feels like your Grandpa’s library if your Grandpa was into Portuguese existentialist novels, niche vintage art books, or local poetry readings…mine just liked brandy.
Providore
Ugh. Go here and shop like you don’t have a credit card limit, then put 90% of your cart back on the shelves (crucial), check out, and enjoy your Hillary Horvath bouquet and imported french mustard on baguette like the rest of us.
Wilma
Not only does Annie have impeccable taste in vintage furniture, she’s also a complete sweetheart and the easiest person to spend an afternoon with as you poke around her studio.
Guero/Anything from Megan Sanchez
It’s true! I love Meg & all of the people she trusts in this restaurant. If you’ve been to Guero, you know that it’s a never-fail, when-nothing-else-sounds-good type of place that seems to have a meal for every mood. Her summertime pop-up Farag’s is equally as hard-hitting but made a little chicer with live jazz and Ben Skiba’s #1 mezcal martini.
Willamette bike loop
I’ve lived in NE Portland for 8 years so the loop that I know like the back of my hand starts on the eastern side of the Steel Bridge, follows the Eastbank Esplanade into the Springwater Corridor alongside the Willamette, then back across the Sellwood bridge, up the western side of the Willamette following the dips and dodges through parks and paved paths until you hit OHSU and eventually the Waterfront Park, and ends riding back across the Steel Bridge. This particular view is facing south on the Steel Bridge in the spring of 2016. Check out that skyline!
