Dave Knows Portland

With a Flourish: Second Thursday Social on Mississippi Avenue

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Mississippi AvenueEvery second Thursday of the month North Mississippi Avenue, between Fremont and Skidmore, hosts a social showcasing the diverse local businesses and talent along the avenue. The event runs from about 6pm until 10pm.

This particular social (September 13th) features Flourish, a fashion show exhibiting items from Phlox, Gypsy Chic, Sameunderneath, Pin Me Apparel, Blue, Amalee and Black Wagon. The show will be at the corner of Mississippi and Beech, right next to Amnesia Brewing. A silent auction and raffle begins at 6pm and the fashion show starts at 7pm. A mere $2 is the suggested donation. Proceeds benefit the Historic Mississippi Business Association and Albina Youth Opportunity School.

The MeadowThe Meadow (3731 N. Mississippi Ave), a local purveyor of gourmet salts, chocolates, flowers, wine, amongst other things, maintains a neighborhood visitors guide with more details about the social and area businesses. Also, like any self respecting neighborhood, Mississippi Avenue has a MySpace page.

I’ll be attending my first Second Thursday Social this month, as I’ve recently moved into the neighborhood and I figure I ought to know of what I blog, so see you there!

Monday Night Outdoor Movies @ the Rexall Building

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RexallMoxie Rx, in the lot just north of the Rexall Building at N Mississippi and Shaver, is the place to be Monday nights in late summer. Outdoor movies are the reason:

Come down tomorrow night for a special menu of hot dogs, beer and lemonade.

Almost poutine: Portland’s disco fries

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Gravy (3957 N Mississippi) is known for its breakfast (and the 30 people out front Saturday and Sunday late mornings waiting to get in), and rightfully so.

But Gravy also has a happy hour . . . and Gravy Fries.

I tried them for my first time last night. As I have long been searching for poutine in Portland (which I’ve found), I thought I’d give them a try to see how they compare.

They hold up quite nicely. The pleasant surprise was the shredded cheddar on top. I understand our New Jersey and New York brethren refer to gravy fries with cheddar as disco fries.

The gravy is rich and plentiful, with mushrooms and bits of unidentifiable vegetables. It was a bit too salty, but perhaps one of my companions got to the bowl first with the salt shaker; I will have to investigate.

You can pick at the crispy fries at the top with your fingers, but I recommend a fork (or maybe even a spoon) for the majority of the fries deep in the bowl. After I’d downed the fries, a bit of gravy remained at the bottom of the bowl. I snagged a few fries from a companion’s plate to soak up the goodness.

Only $3 and with a $1.50 pint of Pabst, damn, an excellent deal on Mississippi!

Find your neighborhood’s Walk Score

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Walk ScoreEnter your address and press GO at Walkscore.com and you are presented with a Google map mashup showing you all the local walkable grocery stores, restaurants, bars, schools, libraries, etc. You also get a “walk score”. On a scale of 0-100, the walk score gives you a general idea of how walkable your neighborhood is (here’s a full explanation of how it works).

Downtown Walk ScoreIt’s not perfect (it cannot, for example, determine if that freeway cuts you off from otherwise nearby businesses, or if your street lacks sidewalks), and of course some of the Google map information is inaccurate, but in general I’ve found it to be a useful tool.

I grew up in a not entirely unwalkable suburban neighborhood that scores a 60 now (though would have scored much lower when I was a kid), but my current residence (downtown) scores a 98. Check out that pretty cluster!

Mississippi Ave RestaurantsNext month I’m moving to the Boise Eliot neighborhood, however, and my new address only scores a 74, but I’ll be right on Mississippi Avenue, so I think it’s a fair trade (see some reasons to the left).

The busiest weekend of the summer is here

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I suppose there are only so many weekends in the year, but there are just too many event and festivals this weekend. Special planning will be required, and that’s where I can help. Of course you could just go to the Oregon Country Fair for the whole weekend, but why leave town on a weekend like this?!

Today

The Portland International Beerfest in the North Park Blocks starts at 4pm today (runs through Sunday).

The Timbers kickoff against the Victory at 7pm up at PGE Park. Tonight is Timber Jim Bobblehead night!

Saturday

At 10am the Mississippi Avenue Street Festival begins and runs until 7pm.

The Pearl’s 2007 Bastille Day Festival (waiter races, pétanque exhibitions, probably some cheese, and French music) begins at 11am at Jamison Square.

Pix Patisserie’s Bastille Day Block Party runs from noon until 2am!

Sunday

At 2pm on Sunday the Brazil vs. Argentina Copa América 2007 Final will be shown anywhere you can find GolTV.

At 6pm Sunday watch the Timbers vanquish (in all likelihood) the Victory once again.

Whew! Now where did I leave my Trimet Frequent Flier Miles card . . .

For one possible weekend itinerary check out this previous post: It pays to plan ahead: July 13-15