Travel Dining Itineraries: Pacific Northwest Edition

I spend hours researching restaurants before I go on a vacation, heck, even a business trip. Then I tend to be shall we say negligent about writing about my travel dining experiences after the fact. Lest my hard work go completely unappreciated, I thought I'd start an occasional series in which I share with you the fruits of my labors.

To get things started, if you're heading to Washington or Oregon any time soon, here are the places that made the cut on our summer 2011 trip:

Seattle

• Quinn's - Hipster gastropub
• Anchovies and Olives - Italian influenced Pacific NW seafood
• Revel - Korean comfort food
• Emmer & Rye - Local, seasonal, yada yada yada

Portland

• Pok Pok and Whiskey Soda Lounge - The Thai place everyone is still talking about years later
• Food carts - we particularly liked Big Ass Sandwich
• Gruner - Germanic goodness
• Clyde Common - the epicenter of the hipster universe - think charcuterie and lots of skinny jeans at the Ace Hotel

Willamette Valley

• Thistle - tiny New American
• Nick's Italian - nothing fancy, but it's slim pickings in McMinnville. 

More to come from New Mexico, NYC, Bogota/Cartagena...