Brunch

La Neta dining room

My wife and I met younger son for brunch yesterday at La Neta, a new restaurant in a new hotel in Portland's Chinatown. The food was good, but being as this is some kind of hip, trendy place, the food was hip and trendy, I guess. $60 for three, with coffee, no alcohol, out the door.

Downtown Portland is a compromise location, about equally distant for both of us. It saves driving the winding roads over the hills, but I really don't like downtown. There are two reasons for this. One, driving in downtown is like driving in a parking lot. You can't go more than about 10 MPH and the streets are cluttered with pedestrians and cyclists. The other is the large number of bums you see everywhere. Most of them behave themselves, but there is always one who is making a scene, hollering or accosting people. Even the well behaved ones are a little scary. You just have to put on a brave face and have faith in the law of averages that says that scary looking guy isn't a psychopathic killer. And I'm not going to even mention the $10 it costs me for parking every time I go there.

The Hoxton Hotel some months ago

You gain entrance to the restaurant through the front door of the hotel. The entrance is kind of cool, but I couldn't find any pictures of it. This Streetview image is all I could find and it is from when the place was under construction. I should get my camera fixed, or get a new one. Get a new one goober, I haven't done anything about getting any of my old ones fixed for months and it's unlikely that I will.

Nothing to see here

The restrooms are accessed through a door in the rear of the dining room that leads to a hallway. There is a door to the kitchen there and this sign was posted on the door jamb.

Dick Cepek Mud Terrain Tires

Younger son bought a new set of tires for his pick-em-up truck. I was surprised to see they were Dick Cepek tires. Dick was the original big tire guy. Hadn't heard the name in a long time.

Penzeys Spices

Our last stop was Penzeys Spices. I'm not much of a cook, but my wife was intrigued, so we went in. She found a couple of items to buy. I was surprised by the low bill. I had been expecting thimble sized bottles of stuff for precious prices, but they seem to be on par with what the local supermarkets charge. I suppose something like this is a natural response to the expanding number of hip & trendy eateries and the growing population of foodies. I hope they succeed. Spice of life, you know.