Kay needed me to return a tea set that she had purchased from the Portland Japanese Garden that she decided she didn’t want after all. Not that I ever need an excuse to spend time there, but that gave me a great reason to head over and see how the garden had evolved since I had last visited a couple weeks earlier. From there, I ended up planning out the rest of my morning.
I always like to get to the garden shortly after it opens for members hours at 0800 so that it is peaceful and quiet. The gift shop doesn’t open until 0900 though, so today I arrived around 0830, took a stroll through the garden, tea set box under my arm, admiring the constantly ebbing and flowing changes in the garden that occur every time I visit, even when only weeks apart. Today, the gardeners were carefully snipping a branch here and there, perfectly manicuring everything and I noticed that the Wisteria covering the lattice gateway to the garden was blooming.
In addition, there was this rather large pagoda that has been there probably 50 years that I hadn’t recalled seeing before. Just being able to go about the garden slowly and thoughtfully allowed for a more focused visit. I also noticed this time that all of the rocks in the Zen Garden were purposely pointed towards the obelisk as if they were boats heading towards an island or metal shards attracted to a magnet. Now that I’m trying to grow bonsai at home, I also took a moment to stop by the bonsai garden and got a real close up look of this beautiful Korean Boxwood, not having really explored it up close so intently in the past.
Once the gift shop opened and I was able to carry out my primary mission I headed out for other parts of Washington Park. I was first headed to the International Rose Test Garden, hoping that by now the flowers were blooming. Nothing was out yet, and it looked like it might be a couple more weeks. This was the first time I had actually walked through the garden instead of just driving the loop through the park around it. The part I did see was rather large, but then when I noticed the signs below I realized that what I was seeing was just a small fraction of the upper middle section in yellow and that there was so much more to see. I expect that when I come back in 2-3 weeks things will be in full bloom.
From the map above on the right we see that the Japanese Garden and the Rose Garden are only two of many attractions throughout Washington Park. Another one that I’ve been meaning to get to is Hoyt Arboretum.
It’s a five-minute winding drive at 20 mph through the park to get to the Arboretum. I headed that way, parked and headed out on the hiking trail.
I was there primarily for two things: the Bamboo Garden and the Redwood Observation Deck. I first ran into the Steven’s Pavilion, a nice covered year-round picnic area. Proceeding past that down the trail I came to what I might call a copse of bamboo. I was expecting more, but I found this little area to be a bit overgrown with shrubs and unimpressive. It looked like they might be doing some work to the area, so I do hope they clean up the brush and thicken up the bamboo into more of a grove.
The Redwood Observation Deck was another 10-minute hike further along the trail. When I finally came upon it there was a wedding planner setting up for a wedding that morning. We briefly spoke and she told me about the intimate 30-person gathering being planned (I shortly ran into the rest of the party when heading back up to the Visitor Center). The Redwood grove is scenic, peaceful and has that lovely smell of redwood that permeates the air.
After another 30-minutes or so, with my morning hike complete it was time to go get a quick bite to eat. I headed down Burnside, the 8-minutes back into downtown, bound for Elephant’s Delicatessen.
I had seen pictures and reviews online, but even with that, and after seeing the outside, I was a bit taken off guard when entering as it was all a lot to take in. It was almost like entering a small-town drug store in the early 1900s. I walked up to the bar counter and asked, “Ok, how does this work” wherein they walked me through everything.
I ended up just ordering one of their bacon sandwiches to eat. To drink, I’m a pretty simple black coffee no sweetener kind of guy, but this morning I saw the Raspberry Mocha on the menu and decided to get it and I was so glad I did.
The drink was hot, creamy, and full of raspberry and chocolate notes. Super delicious and I was very happy I ordered it. I didn’t get a picture of the sandwich because it didn’t last long enough. It was substantial but delicious as well and I just dug in and forgot to get a pic.
After finishing my sandwich and coffee I walked around the deli and ended up picking up a number of salads (macaroni, potato etc.) and in the bottom left corner of the picture above I spotted a wedge of Rogue River Blue. I had just read the day before about how this particular Oregon cheese was awarded Best Cheese in the World back in 2019 and that it was pretty hard to find (I’m finding living in Portland is starting to have its advantages). At $60/lb. I picked up the small slice and added it to the rest of my groceries.
After leaving the Deli I headed across the street for my final destination of the morning, Zupan’s Market. This past week in the evenings I’ve been binge watching Portlandia, a tv show comedy sketch with Fred Armisen that aired for 8 seasons in 2011-2018 all about the quirkiness of Portland and its inhabitants. In the second season I saw this store Zupan’s in a sketch where the shopper forgets his grocery bag and the whole sketch is about the snooty cashier giving him crap. As I got out of my car I was remembering the episode and thought, “Oh don’t forget your bags” as I opened the tailgate of my Mach-e. Seeing that I too had forgotten my bags at home this morning, I genuinely had a little apprehension as I entered the market (I needn’t fear. Everyone was extremely friendly throughout and they gladly packed up my groceries in paper bags).
I didn’t really see too much of the store in the episode so when I entered what I experienced was quickly unlike anything I had ever seen in a market. This place is Disneyland for foodies. As soon as you walk in the hot food section is full of the most delicious quiches and other dishes, the deli section has smoked wagyu deli meats, the refrigerated section has multi offerings of duck, rabbit and goose and there is a whole section of the meat counter dedicated just to prepared skewers and Japanese A5 wagyu. It was heaven.
Here's a little platter I made up for lunch from some stuff I picked up at Zupan’s. You have your normal foods like Raincoast Crisps Rosemary Raisin Pecan crackers, plump blueberries, Dill Havarti and Spanish Marcona Almonds but then they sell Mama Lil's (a local Portland brand of Pickled goods) like their Pickled Hungarian Goathorn Peppers (I've been thinking all along these were Pickled Calabrian chilis on my pizza and that they were unique to Oven and Shaker Pizza, but turns out not the case at all) and their Pickled Spicy Asparagus. Wow.
Where they shine (amongst many areas) though is their meat case. They have (left to right above) Smoking Goose Spruce Tip Smoked Wagyu Bresaola, Olli Sumeria Calabrese Salame and Smoking Goose Smoked Wagyu Beef Bologna (you read that correctly, smoked wagyu bologna. Who does that?) all perfect for an upscale charcuterie (And, when they thinly slice them upon order the $70/lb. for the wagyu smoked meats makes it possible to get about 20 slices for a very reasonable $6).
The star of the show though was that wedge of Rogue Creamery’s Rogue River Blue cheese, wrapped in a Syrah grape leaf and soaked in pear liquor that I talked about earlier. It only comes out once per year, and as mentioned, it was awarded best cheese in the world in 2019. The first for an American cheese ever.
So that was my Saturday morning. Time to take a nap and for something completely different, get ready for this evening’s festivities… an evening at the Clinton Street Theater experiencing what should be a very strange outing that I haven’t done in about 35 years when growing up in Sacramento…. watching the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show. This time with the Clinton Street Cabaret…. Portland likes to keep things weird. This show has been occurring continuously at the Clinton every week since 1978, and I expect it to be the very epitome of a weird Portland….