La Quinta Resort & Club

The La Quinta Resort & Club is a Waldorf Astoria property, a brand of Hilton.  The resort is a golf destination for many with 5 courses, most notably The TPC StadiumCourse at PGA West, where The Skins game was held for years.

During the winter and spring, this is a destination for many snowbirds trying to get away from the cold weather.  During these times however, room rates skyrocket in the Palm Springs area.

During the summer months, many hotels and resorts practically give their rooms away, and green fees plummet.  After all, who wants to go out to the desert when it’s 115 degrees outside, let alone play golf?

I was able to snag a pretty low rate since summer had rolled around.  Also, booking through a Virtuoso agent also provided extra perks such as free breakfast (normally included with Hilton HHonors Gold Status, but not at Waldorf Astoria properties), a $100 resort credit, and a room upgrade if available at time of check-in.  In checking the rates the week before my arrival, I noted that rates had dropped another $20 but figuring all of the benefits included in my rate I was not too disappointed.

The resort is huge, with over 400 rooms and no building standing taller than two stories.  There are 41 pools, although many are small, 53 hot tubs along with 23 tennis courts.

At check-in, the front desk agent explained most of the Virtuoso benefits including breakfast and the $100 resort credit.  I was upgraded two room categories into a SpaVilla Suite, which was going for $600 a night during my stay.

The hotel does have valet parking, but with the resort so spread out self-parking is probably more convenient.  There is a $27 resort fee per day which includes:  local, toll-free, and credit card calls (no access fee); high speed internet access; self-Parking; golf bag storage; transfers to and from PGA WEST; driving range use; and lawn games.

Spa Villa Suite

The Spa Villa Suite is located close to Spa La Quinta, hence the name.  There is a large bedroom with a living room, small dining table and full kitchen.

There are two separate entrances to the room, one to the bedroom and the other to the living room.

Bed

Desk

The bedroom is very spacious with a small desk.

Sitting Area & Bedroom Balcony

There is a sitting chair, along with a balcony along the bedroom.

Bathroom

The bathroom is huge, with a walk-in shower and large tub.  Water pressure is excellent, perhaps the best I have experienced in a hotel, and water temperature stays even.

Bathroom

Bathroom

There are double sinks, and a separate toilet area.

Living Room

Fireplace

The living room has a large sofa, two chairs and a fireplace.  The TV is on the smaller side.

Dining Table

There is a small dining room table.

Kitchen & Breakfast Counter

The kitchen is fairly large with a small breakfast counter.

Balcony

There is a larger balcony off of the kitchen with two lounge chairs and a small patio table.

Guest Bath

Guest Bath

There is a full guest bathroom with a shower/tub combo.  Oddly, the guest bathroom has a bathtub Jacuzzi, while the master bathroom doesn’t.

Breakfast via the Virtuoso benefit is in restaurant Twenty6.  Their specialty is Eggs Benedict, as there are 11 different kinds.  The restaurant does “American food with a twist”.  Although their specialty drink is a Bloody Mary with Bacon, I did not partake.  Breakfast is very good, and the option of the buffet can also be had.  Their Cinnamon French Toast Bread Pudding is outstanding, but just a tad on the sweet side.  There are many hot and cold options in the buffet, and breakfast for two came out to $54 with tax and tip, which was removed at the time of check-out.

The La Quinta Resort & Club does have an aged feel, and could use some renovations, but keeping with the Spanish Villa look and feel should be maintained.

Urban Farmer - Portland

Urban Farmer is located within the Nines hotel.  It is a steakhouse which brands itself as “Sophisticated Farm to Table Dining in Oregon”.  Sounds good on the surface.  I love a great steak.  I like the farm to table concept.  The only problem here is that their idea of a steakhouse sort of misses the mark in my opinion.

The restaurant has an open floor plan with no ceiling.  It is located in the atrium area of the lobby of the Nines hotel.

Since I had $100 food and beverage credit thanks to my Virtuoso booking, this seemed like an easy choice.

Oysters

The oysters ($15) were fresh, briny and sweet.  Although on the smaller side the oysters were a good way to start any meal.

Farmhouse Vegetable Salad

The Farmhouse Vegetable Salad ($12) is a mélange of local fresh vegetables that are in season.  The salad included greens, carrots, asparagus, rapini and corn among others.  The salad is good in concept, but was drowned in dressing that the vegetables wilted and could not really be tasted.  I thought the farm to table concept was to be able to taste each ingredient and let them shine on their own?  Throw on two monster pieces of cheese toast and this dish goes downhill pretty quickly.

Seared Greens

The Seared Greens ($9) is a rather large bowl of greens with a ton of mustard seeds.  Although tasty, the greens were not seared but rather steamed as there was no char to the vegetables.  A slight char would have brought out the natural sugars and made it a little sweeter.

Twice Baked Fingerling Potato Tart

The Twice Baked Fingerling Potato Tart ($10) is a great dish, especially for cheese lovers.  By twice baking the potatoes, the flavor becomes really concentrated.  With the bacon, cheese, chives and sour cream, this is an upscale “potato skin”.  The “tart shell” tasted like it was made out of nothing but cheese, so this dish is very rich.

Anson Mill Grits

The Anson Mill Grits ($7) was a total disaster.  It was so watery that it had to be sent back.  I thought that by breaking the soft boiled egg that it would tighten up the dish and make it less watery, but sadly this was not the case.

Halibut

The Alaskan Halibut ($36) was seared perfectly to give it a great crunch, but remained tender and delicate on the inside.  The fish was moist, and the portion size was on the larger side.  The broccoli rabbe’s bitterness paired well with the slight sweetness of the halibut.

Painted Hills Porterhouse

The 24 oz. Painted Hills Porterhouse ($55) was not cooked as requested.  Although flavorful, it would have been a lot better if the steak was actually aged.  There was a fair amount of gristle and fat that was inedible.

Here’s the thing about Urban Farmer that doesn’t qualify it as a steakhouse to me.  They have a large selection of steaks from local ranches.  Big plus!  When talking to the server, he mentioned that they butcher their meat in house.  They also age their steaks in house.  The only problem is that unless it specifically states that the steaks are aged, they are not.  This means that out of the 12 different steaks they offer, only 2 are aged.  He tried giving me this line that the reason that they don’t age their steaks is so that the diner can actually taste the flavor of the beef.  Isn’t that what aging is all about?  To concentrate the flavor of the beef?

With the prices that are being charged here, it is a crime that you are not getting an aged steak.  If what the waiter was saying was true, then why do places like Morton’s, Mastro’s, Peter Luger’s or any other top steakhouse age their steaks?

Since breakfast comes with a Virtuoso rate, this was again served at Urban Farmer.

Eggs Benedict

The Eggs Benedict ($13) comes with the most amount of meat I’ve ever seen with the dish.  The dish typically comes with Canadian bacon or a slice of ham, not the generous portion here.  The only drawback to the dish was that the Hollandaise sauce contained so much lemon juice that it detracted from the dish and made it difficult to eat.

Steak & Eggs

The Grilled Flat Iron Steak & Eggs ($17) comes with 2 eggs any style, and a hashed brown patty.  The dish is also served with country gravy which is lacking in flavor.  I am not a big fan of country gravy, so my opinions might be biased.  The dish also comes with toast or muffin, and I was able to snag one of their bacon and cheese biscuits.  The biscuit was really dry and salty, and was rather unpleasant.

My dining experiences at Urban Farmer left something to be desired on both occasions.  Without the Virtuoso benefits, I doubt I would come back.

Little Bird Bistro - Portland

During my recent trip to Portland, I knew of a couple places where I wanted to try, but the first night I did not have anything planned since I didn't know the exact time I would be getting into to town.

After getting to the hotel and being extremely exhausted after having taken a day trip to explore the Hood Mountain area, I just wanted something close.  Taking a quick look on Yelp! and Trip Advisor showed that Little Bird Bistro got fantastic reviews on each.  Not expecting for good French food in Portland, we decided to give it a try.  It was an easy walk from the hotel.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the restaurant was that the table were extremely close together.  The restaurant was full, which was a good sign, and hopefully meant good food as well.

In looking at the menu, the first thing that struck me was that this was a French restaurant in disguise.  Instead of doing classic French food, there was a little twist on each dish, something that I hoped would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Field Greens Salad

The Field Greens, Banyuls Vinaigrette and Le Chevrot salad was composed of different types of greens, but was overly dressed and super sour.  There wasn't enough oil to balance out the acidity of the vinegar.

Mushroom Bisque

The Mushroom Bisque was silky smooth and rich.  It has an earthy taste because of the mushrooms, but the mouth feel of a lot of cream.  A pretty nice way to start the meal.

French Onion Gratin

The Gratin of French Onion, Gruyere, Breadcrumbs and Sherried Chicken Sausage is a take on the classic French Onion Soup, expect that there is no soup.  In a way, it is a concentrated version of the dish, but by reducing or eliminating the stock, the dish was rather salty.  Instead of having a nice hearty piece of bread to counteract the saltiness of the dish, the meager amount breadcrumbs was not able to accomplish this.  The chicken sausage just seemed out of place in this dish.

Bone Marrow

The Roasted Bone Marrow came with calamari, and instead of toast came with a squid ink tortilla like bread.  The bone marrow was rich and luscious, but did not work well with the calamari or the squid ink bread.

Macaroni Gratin

The Macaroni Gratin is their version on Mac and Cheese.  Although loaded with cheese and a slightly crunchy topping it was good, but was not outstanding.

Steak Frites

The Hanger Steak Frites, Chermoula, Watercress and Harissa Creme Fraiche is another take on the classic Steak Frites.  The dish has a Tunisian twist with the chermoula and harissa.  The steak was cooked well and tender, but was lacking some salt.  Rather than tasting like Harissa the sauce had a Southwestern feel too it.  It did have a nice little spicy kick to it though.

Cassoulet

The Cassoulet was the most classic presentation, but again had a little twist to the dish as it contains pork belly.  This hearty peasant dish, fills you up and makes you warm inside.  This is a solid dish, and worth ordering again in the future.

I think Little Bird Bistro would be better served sticking to the classic recipes of each dish, but based on the crowds waiting to get in, my opinion is in the definite minority.

Points Hound

Points Hound is a hotel booking site that gives you extra miles or points with the program of your choice.

Current partners are United, American Airlines, Delta, US Airways Virgin America, Hawaiian Airlines, Etihad Guest, Baltic Miles, AeroMexico, and Best Buy.

Their prices are normally the same as the hotels own website, but you do get the extra perk of bonus miles with each booking.  The more nights or stays you book, the more miles you will get as you move up in tiers.

What is especially great about Points Hound is that they have something called "Doubled Up" in which you not only get the extra miles, but your booking through Points Hound will also count towards elite night stay credits.

The number of properties participating in the Double Up program is limited right now, but I see more and more properties added every day.

I have booked several reservations using the Double Up option and the rates are exactly the same as what is listed on the hotels website.  My stay credits usually post within two days.  The miles earned through each booking can take up to six weeks to post.

Points Hound also has a referral program, in which you will earn an extra 250 miles to the program of your choice by using a referral link.

Below is my referral link.  Please note that I will earn an extra 250 miles for each person that uses my link for their first booking.  Please feel free to leave your referral link in the comment section so that everybody can take advantage of this offer.

https://www.pointshound.com/tyclpf

Pine State Biscuits

Sign

Pine State Biscuits has been getting a lot of attention lately, being featured on Diners, Drive-In and Dives, as well as Unique Eats.

Typically, when restaurants get featured on TV shows, the restaurant becomes super crowded and the food goes downhill, usually rather quickly.

Menu

Pine State Biscuits sits somewhere between a fast food restaurant and sit down restaurant.  There is very limited seating, which is first come first serve.  After waiting in a usually long line, you order at the counter, and wade through the herds of people looking for an empty seat.

The Reggie

The "Reggie" ($7) is deep fried chicken breast, bacon and cheese biscuit sandwich with gravy.  The chicken breast has a great crunch, but remains moist inside.  The bacon adds some smoke and saltiness, but the cheese sort of gets lost.  The gravy is full of black pepper, and adds a bit of spice to the dish.  The biscuits are flaky and hold up well as a flavor delivery vehicle.

The Reggie Deluxe

The "Reggie Deluxe" ($8) is a deep fried chicken breast, bacon, cheese and fried egg biscuit sandwich with gravy.  The egg was overcooked, so instead of the sauce being another sauce, it was disappointingly just a firm egg yolk.

Shrimp & Grits

The Shrimp and Grits ($7) looks great on a plate, but just doesn't work for some reason.  The shrimp is overcooked and somewhat dry, while the grits simply had no flavor.  Some salt would have worked wonders on the dish.

Chicken Pot Pie

The Chicken Pot Pie ($7) was another dish that just does not seem to work.  The top crust is just too much bread for the amount of filling of the pot pie.  The pie filling is super rich, they must add a ton of cream and butter.  Unfortunately, frozen vegetables are used instead of fresh.

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

The Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes ($6) are a real winner.  Three large pancakes filled with fresh blueberries along with real maple syrup and butter complete the dish.  The pancakes are both fluffy and have some substance at the same time.  The blueberries add an acidic punch, while the cornmeal adds some unexpected and surprising crunch.

It seems like sticking with the biscuit sandwiches at Pine State Biscuits are the way to go.  Straying away from the basics may lead to some disappoint, but at this price point its definitely worth it to explore the menu a little, or preferably a lot.