Joe's Birthday Experience
Continuing this years theme of "try something new", we went to the Rouge Ale Public House for Joe's b-day on Tuesday. Joe got to try one of their beers for free, but the real find was the Kobe Beef Burger with wasabi mayo. This is the bext burger I have had since leaving Las Vegas. I had tried a kobe beef hot dog previously at my work and thought it was overpriced and worthless, but the burger is worth every penny.
After dinner we walked to Urban Wineworks and took a wine blending class. I never drink wine, and I'm not being all Dracula about it- alcohol tastes like broken glass to me, but this was Joe's birthday, so I tool the class and sipped my wine and made it through. We each got to blend a whole bottle of wine and learn some wine basics. I am still a wine idiot, but it was a fun class- even for someone who hates wine- and the inside of Urban Wineworks is awesome. They have artists come in and paint the barrels so not only is the inside all wine cellar-ish and dark and cool, there are a hundred different pieces of art to look at. I highly recommend this if you are looking for a different kind of activity for a birthday and enjoy wine.
Last night the plan was to go to Benihanas and then bowling. I will skip to the latter- you can no longer find a bowling lane on Friday night in Portland. We went to two places and at both the waits were over an hour. Needless to say we had an early night.
Back to Benihana. In Las Vegas this chain resturaunt is in the Hilton. I remember going there several times when I was young- it is called "The Village" in the hotel, and the inside is decorated with a stream, plants, simulated rain, and it looks like you are outside in a village in Japan. In the 80's they even had this tree with animatronic birds that would do a little show while you ate. No such luck at the Beaverton location, but it was still a lot of fun and the food was very good. A note of caution- it is located in the worst parking lot in the entire world, so if you go, drive carefully.
