Last year Jim, Josh, Stacey and I began a tradition of celebrating Christmas together by taking advantage of this wonderful city that is our oyster. Instead of exchanging Christmas gifts we resolved to put the money we could have spent toward a night with each other out on the town - taking in the sights and sounds, and enjoying a few cocktails and a nice meal. We dubbed this event "Christmastime in the City," which seemed an appropriate title.
On Saturday evening Josh, Stacey and I continued this tradition even though our fourth member was there only in spirit. We toasted Jim and hoped he was warm and well-fed in the Bend.
Though the snowstorm I already posted about was well underway by Saturday evening, it wasn't enough to slow us down. Josh proved his all-weather driving skills and Stacey ensured that all of our planned destinations were still open in the storm. We were undaunted.
Our first stop was the Heathman for a pre-dinner cocktail. The Heathman is one of the high-end hotels on Broadway in the heart of downtown. It has a lovely little restaurant and bar in its lobby that Josh and Stacey have come to enjoy for celebrating special occasions. This was my first time to the Heathman and it proved to be a lovely setting:
For dinner, we moved on to Fenouil, a French restaurant in the heart of the Pearl District. I have been wanting to try this restaurant for quite some time, as it is regularly named one of the top restaurants in the city.
While it is located on the ground level of a very new condominium tower overlooking Jamison Square, the decor of this restaurant is a lovely melding of urban modern and French country elements. With warm fireplaces and lighting, and beautiful views of the snow falling on the park outside, it was a perfect spot for a Christmas meal.
The food was wonderful as well. Stacey and I both had the roast duck, which was served with a poached duck egg sitting atop toasted brioche. Josh was even more adventurous, enjoying the wild boar. A nice bottle of Loire Valley wine and a cheese course added to the authenticity of our foray into French cuisine.
After dinner we took a brief walk through Jamison Square and then along Broadway, taking in the Christmas lights and the shop windows amid the falling snow.
We concluded our evening with an after dinner drink at Saucebox, a trendy little restaurant and bar on Broadway near Burnside. Josh has been eager to try this place for quite some time, less because of their Asian-fusion menu and more because of the interesting name, and the monkeys on their neon sign! We enjoyed it but decided that we definitely needed to come back on a warmer and busier evening in order to get the full effect.
One simply couldn't ask for a better Christmas celebration - good food and drink, great friends, and snow to boot! Father Christmas has indeed been good to us!
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