Voodoo and Phở

by Matt Dela Peña

Ever since Spring semester started, I've been stuck in the metro area with pretty much nothing to do. During such occasions, I always go to Portland with some friends just to walk around and find new places to eat. In a tradition that dates back to high school, I now pretty much know most of the downtown area like the back of my hand.

Today, I went with my friends Alex and Hai since it was surprisingly nice out. In fact, we never usually see the sun out this early in the year, so I really couldn't pass up the chance.

We left campus at around 11 AM. Our first stop was to get phở since Hai had a good time last night and needed some soup. There actually aren't many Vietnamese establishments in the downtown area that we know of, so we had a hard time finding a good place to eat.

Google Maps eventually led us to Silk by Pho Van, which was a mere northbound Green Line Streetcar ride from Pioneer Square to the Pearl District. (Get off at SW 10th and Stark and it's like, right there.)

This restaurant is both classy and pricey (for a phở restaurant), but the phở itself was okay. In fact, there are plenty of other places that serve really good phở elsewhere in the metro, especially in the Beaverton area.

I got: wonton noodle soup, $11; mango nectar, $3.50. Pretty good.

After lunch, we decided to go to Voodoo Doughnut, arguably the thing Portland is internationally known for. It is Portland's pride and joy; the city's number one tourist attraction. One does not simply go to Portland without leaving with a pink box filled with donuts in one's hands. And so on, and so forth.

For those of you who haven't already heard about it, I'm not gonna be the person to tell you because we hipsters locals absolutely hate waiting in the long line that continuously plagues the place.

I will say that when you go there, be sure to have cash with you because the owners really like to keep up the Amish tradition of refusing to adopt the many conveniences of modern technology. Or maybe it's just another hipster thing.

Though I'm not much of a fan of donuts to begin with, I always get the Old Dirty Bastard whenever I'm there. However, I highly recommend the Cock and Balls... just because.

Classic.

Finally, to end the day, we walked a long ways away to Hawthorne Bridge, crossed it, and hung out at a pier which had a spectacular view of the waterfront skyline. It's one of the many reason why I love this city.

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