Portland

Some additional FAQ and tips to help maximize your Monktoberfest enjoyment and your real Portland visit. To point you in the right direction, we’ve compiled a small list of our favorite haunts, conveniences, and closest amenities.

FOOD

Get a coffee?

Like Fake Portland, we are partial to our locally-owned coffee shops and we support them heartily. Speckled Ax is a favorite of Monktoberfest attendees—just ask @aneel or @monkchips. We also highly recommend the excellent Bard Coffee, Tandem Coffee, and Arabica Coffee Company, all located in downtown Portland.

Get breakfast?

Monktoberfest will serve breakfast items both days beginning at 10 AM. If you require sustenance before 10 AM, and you want to venture beyond the confines of your hotel’s kitchen, we recommend the following:

  • Bayside American Cafe: A Portland favorite, Bayside American Cafe serves up a mean breakfast. In particular, it’s known for two things: creative egg benedicts and decadent french toasts. It is open for breakfast/brunch everyday from 7am-2pm.
  • The Friendly Toast: Conveniently attached to our room block hotel the Hampton Inn. The Friendly Toast is a lively and eclectic restaurant known for its retro-inspired decor and inventive take on classic American comfort food. It also serves all-day breakfast!
  • Staying on the West End? Swing by Henny’s for a breakfast sandwich (served all day).
  • If you’re an early bird, Becky’s Diner opens at 4am and serves a variety of diner favorites. They also serve lunch and dinner, open until 9pm.
  • This one is off the peninsula, but it’s worth a mention: Norimoto Bakery. Owner Atsuko Fujimoto recently won a James Beard award in the Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker category. Trust us — it’s well deserved.

Get lunch?

Monktoberfest will provide lunch with local beers on Thursday. If you’re looking for lunch options on Wednesday or Friday, Portland is not short on places to eat. To help narrow your choices, may we recommend:

  • Sushi: Miyake on Fore Street is hands-down the best sushi in Portland, if not the northeast. Try Oxbow Beer’s tasty Sasuga Saison, a rice ale fermented with brettanomyces and saison yeast, brewed especially for Miyake. Tasty alternatives include Mr. Tuna on Middle Street or Yosaku on Danforth.
  • Dine-in with bar service: This one is a monkchips fave. Another popular Portland eatery, The Honeypaw has an irresistible menu with bar and full dining options. Event organizer Lily’s favorite spot is Crispy Gai. This is a must try for folks who enjoy fried chicken done right.
  • Quick & easy: The Portland Public Market is located across the street from the Portland Public Library. It offers a la carte dining from a variety of vendors with take-away or dine-in options.

Eat if you’re a vegetarian?

The Green Elephant, or Green Dragon as it sometimes known, is the preferred choice of our area veggie-loving friends.

Food late night?

Need a post-Monktoberfest snack? Brave the late-night coeds, if you dare: find Portland’s best late night options here.

BEER

Buy beer?

Get a pint or three?

  • Duckfat: Right across from the Hampton Inn if you’re staying there, Duckfat is a small eatery with a limited but upscale beer selection. And the frites are, as you might expect, cooked in duckfat.
  • LFK: LFK serves up a small, but mighty tap/bottle list. Friendly service, good eats.
  • Novare Res: Impressive bottle list, we recommend pairing your beverage with the local cheese and meats.

Hit up a brewery?

Portland is home to several excellent, small-scale breweries, several of which have tasting rooms and tours on Fridays. Allagash Brewing is the obvious one – you’ll already be there! While you’re in the area, you can also go to Bissell Brothers, Foundation, and Austin Street; Rising Tide Brewing, Maine Beer Company. The wonderful Oxbow Beer has a blending and bottling room over on Washington Ave. The main Oxbow brewery is a scenic 45 minute ride outside Portland, meanwhile, but well-worth the trip up the coast.

WINE

Buy wine?

Even though Monktoberfest is a conference celebrating the diversity of beer, we have plenty of attendees who absolutely love wine! Feel free to ask @monkchips what he thinks about natural wine. Some notable places to taste and buy fine wines include Grippy Tannins on Middle St. and Maine and Loire on Washington Ave., the latter highlighted in Lettie Teague’s review on Substack.

MISCELLANEOUS

Find a taxi and transportation?

Portland is a very walkable city but in the event the New England weather conspires against us, here are a few ways to get around:

Taxis

Portland is now an Uber/Lyft city, if you use that service. If not, here are the available cab companies:

  • ASAP Taxi: (207) 791-2727
  • ABC Taxi: (207) 772-8685
  • Jetport Cab: (207) 807-9797

* Please note: not unlike San Francisco, cabs are not as frequent in Portland as they may be in other cities. If you plan to travel by taxi, we advise calling 10 or more minutes ahead for a cab.

Other

  • Portland METRO: Not having used the city’s bus system, we can’t vouch for its reliability, but we can tell you it is quite popular and widely used by Portland’s denizens.
  • Car Service: Mermaid Transportation provides car service to the Portland International Jetport (PWM) and Boston/Logan Airport (BOS).
  • Concord Trailways: Regular bus service to Logan Airport and Boston’s South Station. Free WiFi.
  • Downeaster Amtrak (Anyone else singing Billy Joel? No? Just me?): Daily service between Portland and Boston’s North Station. Free WiFi.

Get office supplies/ship things/send a fax/etc.?

There is a Fedex/Kinkos located directly across the street from the Portland Public Library and next door to the Portland Public Market.

Go for a run?

Portland has some of the prettiest running trails/paths in the country. Find your ideal run here.

Find a pharmacy?

We have multiple CVS Pharmacies, as well as Walgreens scattered throughout the city.