Romance, Exquisite Cuisine and Delicious Desserts at the Portland City Grill

May 2, 2007


By Gloria Zacharias

With four teenagers living at home, it isn’t often that my husband and I can sneak away to take some time for ourselves. However, my husband arranged a surprise outing on the occasion of our tenth wedding anniversary and even the kids didn’t give the secret away.

On a recent Saturday night, a chauffeur-driven black Lincoln cruised up to the front of our home to take us to our surprise (for me) destination. It was a beautiful spring evening in Oregon, and once I stopped hounding my husband for information about the restaurant he was taking me to, I relaxed and enjoyed the drive up I-5 to downtown Portland.

Once in Portland, we arrived at the US Bancorp Tower on SW Fifth Avenue. We then rode in the elevator to the 30th floor to the Portland City Grill. After being seated at a table by the window, all we could do for the first few minutes was try to take in the amazing view of downtown Portland, the Willamette River and Mount Hood. We could even watch the Max train arriving at Saturday Market!

The waiter gave us a few moments to enjoy the view and then offered to bring us a sushi menu. Although my husband loves to eat sushi, he abstained for my sake and instead, he ordered a bottle of champagne to toast our ten years together. We did however order the hors d’oeuvre sampler plate which was quickly placed before us. My favorite was the wonderful teriyaki chicken spring rolls, but I think my husband would say the skewered shrimp were the best.

After our appetizers, the waiter reappeared with another bottle of champagne and took our dinner orders. With a little helpful advise from the waiter, I chose the grilled salmon, freshly caught on the Oregon Coast and my husband chose a type of fish I can’t even begin to pronounce from Hawaii. Both turned out to be excellent choices.

Although the main course was good, the view was spectacular and of course my husband’s undivided attention was great, I have to admit that my favorite part of the evening was dessert! The Portland City Grill is the only restaurant I have ever been in where you can order cookies that are baked just for you after you place your order! Six huge, warm and gooey cookies were served with two scoops of ice cream, just for me! My husband opted to go with the bread pudding which he thought was great, but I know for sure that nothing could top the cookie heaven I was in.

If you decide to try the Portland City Grill, I highly recommend you order your dessert first. You may not need to have dinner after that.

For more information on Portland restaurants, please visit our Places to dine section.

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Comments (3)

Zach Steele:

I LOVE COOKIES!!!!!! JUST LIKE MY MOMMY YOU!!!!

Posted by Zach Steele | May 3, 2007 11:12 AM

Roxanne Shingleton:

Dear Ms. Zacharias-

Great write up! Sounds like you had a very romantic evening. That husband of yours must be something.

Could you please send directions of how to get to Portland City Grill from Umkomaas, South Africa? And yes, we will be starting with dessert.

Many thanks!
The Shingletons

Posted by Roxanne Shingleton | May 4, 2007 12:45 PM

Hayley Steele:

hey that was a great write up mom you should write my english homework

Posted by Hayley Steele | May 30, 2008 2:22 PM

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