Ladies Portland Food Tour

I have a new favorite activity for a girls day out, and it involves food. A lot of food. Also, a completely free (of plans) day. And I mean a WHOLE DAY. And I suppose it helps to live near a city big enough for people to rate the top places to eat in it... so if you live near a city, love food, and want to devote a whole day to eating out at new places with a bunch of girlfriends, I present to you: the Ladies Food Tour!

{myself, Becca, Claudia, Danielle, Amy, and Joni enjoying breakfast at Mother's Bistro}

My friends Danielle and Amy were the ones who came up with this awesome idea. They polled facebook for everyone's favorite/must visit places to eat in Portland and came up with our game plan: 

Mother's Bistro for breakfast

Pips Original Doughnuts for, well, doughnuts

Nicholas Restaurant for lunch

Salt & Straw for ice cream

and La Provence (in nearby Lake Oswego) for dinner and dessert

They invited a bunch of ladies to carpool and do the whole shebang, or come to any part of the day that worked for them. I believe my response was, "I'm in, baby, and I mean ALL IN." We broke up the day with a little local shopping between breakfast and lunch, and an afternoon movie break at the theaters between lunch and dinner. All in all we were out for 12 hours and basically closed out La Provence at night, where two more girlfriends had joined us for dinner and dessert. It was the best day!

{These babies come out piping hot and they are gooooood}

{Joni & Amy with a giant fresh hot pita at Nicholas}

{It was our first time trying authentic Lebanese!}

{The many weird and wacky flavors at Salt & Straw}

{I was so full I had to get a kid's cone, haha. My favorite flavor is strawberry honey balsamic with black pepper. It's amazing! And yes that's a snazzy bandaid on my cheek. Sexy, I know.}

{Our group joined by Linley and Erin for dinner at La Provence}

{Desserts galore!}

{The best part about ordering food with girlfriends is getting all different things and then trying everyone else's!}

We decided we definitely need to do this again in the fall. There are so many more must-try places to check out in Portland! And I was pleased with how much I spent overall, which was quite a bit less than I thought it might be. Several times I split meals with one of the girls, and I only ordered a drink with dinner, so that helped.

You guys have got to try a food tour day with friends! And then please invite me along ;)