Portland recommendations

Anyone hit Crispygai yet? I'm hearing amazing things.

 

I posted about it a couple pages back. It’s fucking insanely good. Food and cocktails are both among the best in town, maybe the best. Go now.

 

I'll be there next weekend, not for Leon Bridges or Trey (neither of whom I knew were there until this morning), but definitely for Oktoberfest at Novare and Crispygai -- and a few other spots around town, food & beer.

 

I was legit told this last week by someone up there.

 

All I can think of when I read this is Crispyboi...

 

I plan on having both crispygai and crispyboi, possibly together!

 

I don’t even remember if they have beer—I’m sure they do—but I’m telling you, go for a cocktail. I’m strictly an old fashioned or neat whiskey guy if I’m not drinking beer, but their fancy cocktails blew me away.

 

Consider it done. I’m popping into a couple breweries beforehand. I was considering going cocktails-only at the restaurants. This seals it

 

I liked your post, but I didn’t want to, because I wasn’t sure if you were legitimately using the term “crispyboi” or not.

This would temporarily ban you from the lager fan club.

Have you been to Independent Ice Co.? It just got named as the ninth best bourbon bar in the country by Yelp, for whatever that’s worth.

 

Oh wow, I hadn’t seen that, but I do really like that place. It’s one of those awesome-but-not-really-talked-about spots in Portland.

 

Well, cat's out of the bag...

https://www.boston.com/travel/travel/2021/09/01/maine-top-10-bourbon-bars-in-america-yelp/

Also, why were people bagging cats?

 

I can picture the place I was thinking of in my head but I can't recall the specifics of the restaurant I am thinking was the Painted Burro. It's certainly not the restaurant we are talking about here. I want to say I was thinking of some place more in the Winter Hill or closer to Tufts. So now I need to go to the Painted Burro since I've clearly not been there Maybe its the age, maybe its the beers, maybe its both but sorry for the mix up, lol

 

Well now I'm curious what place you were thinking of!

 

Is there any way to do Portland on a lodging budget?

In about a week I'm going to start a 15 night solo trip of breweries, food, and hiking/backpacking that will take me into northern PA, Finger Lakes NY, Waterbury VT, White Mountains NH, Portland ME, MA, CT, potentially the Hudson River Valley, back through PA and home to MI.

I've never been east or north of Rochester, NY so it's all new to me. Most of the time I'm going to be camping and sleeping in my car (which is something I'm comfortable with). This is a bit of an odd question (understandably) but I'd like to spend a few days in Portland but I don't want to spend $300-500 a night for a hotel just for me. I know I can find campgrounds out of the city and drive in and out each day but Portland seems like the type of place I'd like to walk the city and indulge in beer and food so avoiding having to drive like 45 minutes back to a campground at the end of the evening seems very desirable as driving safely and soberly is a must..

Just finding a place to park and sleep is something I've done for years but of course this becomes much more challenging in cities. Does anyone know of a cheaper option within the city? Even just crashing in a parking garage is something I've been happy to do in the past. I've done Walmart's but that's put of town. I've done church parking lots but never in a city.

I know it's a strange request and I'm sure the obvious answer is pay to stay in the downtown hotels or deal with having to drive in and out of the city each day but I wanted to throw this out there just in case. It's not that I'm some slacker hippie with no funds but I'm not used to these insane lodging prices here in MI.

Thanks!!!

 

Can't help you with lodging, but did find this is the closest camping to Portland (as they state on the website): https://wassamkisprings.com/

Looks like you would be 13 minutes from the industrial breweries and 17 minutes from East Bayside and Old Port. If you do have some funds, that could be reasonable Uber/Lyft rates. (Someone else can comment on how readily available Ubers and Lyfts are currently.)

 

You could look into staying at a hostel.
https://www.blackelephanthostel.com/

 

Definitely the cheapest option is the hostel recommended above. Once I went to Portland solo (usually stay right downtown with the wife and kids) and went the cheap route by staying slightly out of downtown at the Fireside Inn and Suites. One day I ubered in and walked back and the other day I biked in and out.

 

Unfortunately peak tourist season in Portland runs Memorial Day to Columbus Day, thus the elevated hotel prices. I can't vouch for the hostel referenced above, but that is prime location near the Old Port and walking distance to many of the best restaurants/breweries. Bissell (potentially walkable) and the Industrial Way breweries (Allagash, Battery Steele, Foundation, Definitive, etc.) would require the only Uber/Lyfts. I was in town back in late June staying in a similar location and had no issue with Uber.

 

Boosting this up. Ate at Crispygai last night. Unreal meal. Exactly what I needed. Go with a cocktail too.

 

I'm thinking about visiting Portland in February. Are any of the places/breweries mentioned above closed for winter? And the opposite, anything winter-specific I should consider visiting?