Hang on to your hats, it’s time for (another) Portland meal recap!  In all seriousness, we had so much delicious food in Portland that I feel like I must share all these places.  You’ve already read about Mother’s Bistro and Bar and my slightly underwhelming experience at Voodoo Doughnut.  Next up is our fantastic dinner at The Picnic House.

The Picnic House is a restaurant and bar that happened to be located just up the street from our hotel in downtown Portland.  We almost went here for lunch because the lunch menu looked so good,  but ultimately I decided dinner at The Picnic House was the way to go.

One of the things I loved most about The Picnic House was the whimsical decor.  The restaurant had high ceilings, large wooden tables for groups to dine at, and a bear with a monocle over the bar, which was pretty rad.

Since we arrived at the tail end of happy hour, we decided to take advantage of some of the specials and started our evening with a glass of rose and a beer.

I had my eye on the cheese board, so we decided to order that as our starter.  It came with a delightful array of cheeses, nuts and fruit.

All of the cheeses were outstanding (especially the brie) and paired nicely with the marinated olives and baguette we had also ordered for the table.

The Englishman had a strong craving for garlic bread so we got some of that too in all of its garlic glory.

I was on a serious chicken kick while in Portland and ordered the roast chicken as my entrée yet again.  Only this time it was a lemon roasted chicken with creamy whipped potatoes and summer squash.

While this chicken was not quite as good as Mother’s, I still managed to clean my plate.  The chicken was cooked perfectly and the lemon gave it a nice zest.  And of course creamy whipped potatoes are almost always guaranteed to be a win and the Englishman and I fought over the final bites.

We had saved a bit of room for dessert, and decided to order the mini chocolate chip cookies with a shot of cold milk.I loved the presentation of this dessert!  It was so cute and the mini chocolate chip cookies definitely hit the spot without being overly sweet.  It was the perfect little dessert without being too much.

If the restaurant wasn’t already cool enough with the whimsical decor and the bear with the monocle at the bar, they presented our bill in an old English history novel, which I thought was pretty creative.

Overall our dinner at The Picnic House was a delight.  If I lived in Portland, I could definitely see myself visiting the restaurant frequently for a quick bite or happy hour with some friends.

If you ever find yourself in downtown Portland, be sure to check out The Picnic House!