We gave the kids the afternoon off to hang out downtown and do whatever they wanted by themselves. Then, later in the early evening we went over to Portland Hopscotch, an immersive art gallery and fun experience for all ages found only in San Antonio and Portland.
Upon arrival they have a very moody techno-like lounge and bar where one can get a drink to carry throughout the “art experience”. We grabbed a couple flaming drinks and headed into the cavernous maze-like gallery checking out the 14 exhibits spread out over 23,000 square feet of warehouse.
The ball pit with LEDs was fun. B3 wasn’t going to try it out, saying it was for kids, until his girlfriend pointed out that I was already playing in the pit.
The rainbow cavern was colorful and had a weird texture. Upon inspection it was thousands of wadded up white plastic bags.
I had a couple Italian restaurants picked out for dinner this evening after Hopscotch, and since we had some excellent pizza from Oven and Shaker Friday night after the kids arrived in Portland I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to hit Ken’s Artisan Pizza, but I thought I’d ask and all were in agreement (Ken’s is rated #3 pizza place in America and #18 worldwide by 50 Top Pizza an Italian organization that rates pizza joints globally).
We made our way the five minutes over to Ken’s and I dropped everyone off at the door while I circled the block looking for parking. The wait is typically an hour or more every day of the week, and they informed us it would be the same tonight. However, within about 15 minutes they seated us right up front with the open windows where the mid 70s breeze wafted through the restaurant. B3 and I ordered Manhattans and we all ordered our own pizza (which we also shared). Kay ended up getting a beautiful batch of grilled calamari over a chunky spicy tomato "relish”. The three pizzas we ordered were the Burrata with pepperoni, the Genovese with braised beef and the fennel sausage with Calabrian chilies.
Let’s just cut to the chase. Is the pizza worth the wait and is it really worthy of being called #3 in America? I’ll say that the pizza Ken’s makes is definitely world class. For those that like Neapolitan style pizza it’s some of the best I’ve ever personally had. I tend to gravitate to the Neapolitan style, but I also love Chicago and Detroit deep-dish and we are incredibly blessed with places like The Star that make incredible deep-dish. Look, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and have no complaints about Ken’s, and mid-way through the meal Kay informed me “we’re coming back here”, so that in my mind was the ultimate endorsement and we’ll return for sure.
To wrap up what I was hoping would be the final perfect end to the evening I suggested we head over to Salt and Straw for a scoop of their premium ice cream. We’ve only Doordashed their goods but loved what we had previously ordered. Today, we got to the counter, I looked over all the flavors, one caught my eye and I told B3, “I’m going for it”. He looked confused and I told him I was ordering a scoop of the Pear and Blue Cheese. Kay ended up getting a kids scoop of Strawberry, Balsamic and Black Pepper (her favorite which she thoroughly enjoyed again this evening).
Bottom line, I took 3-4 bites and ended up throwing the rest of the cup away. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good. It wasn’t anything. It tasted like cold milk and I was completely bored and I wasn’t going to keep eating it just because it cost $6 bucks. I was really hoping for and expecting some sweet pear or funky blue cheese flavors, but…absolutely nothing (though I should note, when Kay tried a bite she said the same then 10 seconds later she said, “Oh there it is”, and B3 said it was bland and tasted like a Korean ice pop he’s familiar with). . . You win some and you lose some. I’ll still give them another chance, but I do need to discover a different Portland ice cream place.
Stay tuned for tomorrow when we head out to Cannon Beach and a drive down the Oregon Coast.