Good use of a parking lot
John’s Le Pigeon post (below) doesn’t mention our other open-kitchen dining experience on Saturday: Lunch at Amnesia Brewing Co. on Portland’s rapidly gentrifying North Mississippi Avenue. We noticed they were open for lunch when we checked out Mississippi Pizza a couple weeks ago, and decided to swing by for a little al fresco lunch on a rainy afternoon under their giant parking lot-sized tent. The menu is limited by what can be cooked on the big charcoal grill in a corner of the outdoor seating area — burgers and sausages (both veggie and meaty). John chowed down on a Hungarian sausage, while I tried a Tofurky beer brat. The food was all right, but really, it was about sitting outside sipping an IPA (unfiltered and not unlike a less-sweet Mac and Jack’s). The outdoor seating area is huge, like a few other memorable patios in Portland – there just aren’t comparable chances to sit outside in Seattle. Portland’s luxury of expansive patio seating seems to be a product of so many converted warehouses with parking lots being converted into bars and restaurants — and the parking areas have been transformed into outdoor seating. I’ll take a patio over a parking lot any day.