Oregon is home to a lot of restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Portlanders aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food players to share their recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential.
Kate Monroe is the leader, strategist, and all-around organizer of Division Winemaking Company. Born in Bahrain to an English father and Malagasy mother, Monroe's exposure to food and wine is extensive. She's lived in England, Switzerland, and France; after a year-long experience working and learning how to make wine in France, Kate moved to Oregon with her two loves, Tom and their dog Cass, determined to make approachable and balanced wines that are affordable. After establishing Division Winemaking Company in 2010 with Tom, the pair went on to form the Southeast Wine Collective in a response to a growing public interest in urban wineries. The worldly duo still like to hit the road, just a little closer to home, like Hood River, where you can find Monroe grabbing a slice and quaffing a pint at Double Mountain Brewery.
There's nothing quite like great pizza and beer. Together. I'm sure everyone has heard of Double Mountain Brewery — their beers are quite fantastic. So delicious in fact, that shortly after sampling their Devil's Kriek at the Portland International Beer Fest for the first time, I jumped in the car, off to the brewery in Hood River, thirsty for more! Their taproom is casual, warm, and inviting, with a myriad of lovely beer offerings. The bonus of the visit is always the pizza. Fresh, simple toppings, beautifully charred thin crust, CT in style (harkening back to my high school days and the great Frank Pepe). The selections are concise, but the pizza is noteworthy, the perfect compliment to beer. Whether I'm headed back to Portland from a hike along the Columbia, a show at the Gorge Amphitheater, a vineyard recon trip, or a ski day on Hood, I always crave a pie stop at Double Mountain. On a beautiful summer day, I follow up the pizza and beer with a huckleberry milkshake at Hood River's Mike's Ice Cream—a simply perfect trifecta!
· Double Mountain Brewery [Official site]
· All Previous Dining Confidentials [Eater PDX]
Photo of Double Mountain courtesy Facebook
