meals with best friends – twoOregonians

Food, Oregon

Long, Long: Rambles from Lincoln City (and Life)

April 6, 2015

My little brother calls Lincoln City the “Chile of the Oregon Coast.”

The long, long skinny beach town hugs Hwy 101 for miles: a rambling collection of nondescript businesses, gas stations, and strip malls dotted with a few eye catching boutiques, outlet stores, and saltwater taffy shops. I remember my parents taking us to the shoreline in the eighties and nineties to watch soaring cloth birds fill the sky during the annual Summer Kite Festival, but my adult memories of Lincoln City consist of passing quickly through on drives to destinations north or south: never quite enough time or reason to simply stop and be there.

This trip, though, the pin on the map at the end of our route was just a west turn off Hwy 101 and two blocks from the sand: a cheery little beach house in Lincoln City, proper. Continue Reading…

Brunch, Food, Oregon, Portland

oso market + bar: oh-so thankful for friends

November 30, 2013

Earlier this month, we bundled Lucie in her little beige sweatshirt and bright yellow leggings and set out for Saturday brunch with friends at Portland’s newly opened Oso Market + Bar.

After all the meals around the world, there’s still nothing like breaking bread (or splitting charcuterie plates, as it were) with people we’ve known since childhood.

“The Six of Us” are three couples who have palled around for decades (since grade school in several cases), and considering we’re only hovering at three-decade mark in median age, that’s saying a lot. Darian, Rebekah and their daughter Ashlynn were home visiting Oregon from transplant life in Nebraska, and Ryan, Sara and their daughters Genevieve and Madeleine made the hour drive up from Molalla. As part of our Portland reunion, “The Six of Us + Offspring” planned to start our day together at Oso Market + Bar, where Ryan’s brother Jason is executive chef.

Ryan, Ted, and Lucie with Oso owner Holly Johnson

“Spanish Brunch!” boasted the clever little shop sandwiched among the trendy taverns and tasty restaurants of the Central Eastside Industrial District. The bright orange chairs popped against sidewalks of Portland cement, and blustering fallen leaves chased us in the front door. Lucie slept contentedly, bundled in her blanket, oblivious to the cold and the commotion. Continue Reading…