Book Review: Doug Pitassi's 15 Best Restaurants in Portland

When visiting a new city, or even just deciding where to go tonight in your own, it can be tough to make up your mind. Your decision may be made on the cuisine you’re in the mood for, the price range you want to pay or just that you want to go somewhere different tonight. The Yellow Pages were a great aid in making this decision in days gone by, but few people keep these tomes around. So what are you to do? If you’re in Portland, I suggest you pick up a copy of Doug Pitassi’s 15 Best Restaurants in Portland.

NOTE: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a review on this blog. Also, links to purchase this book go through my Amazon Associate links, so if you purchase the book using these links I will receive a small percentage of the sale as compensation.

SUMMARY
The book’s title pretty much says it all: This slim book provides a list with descriptions of what Doug Pitassi believes are the 15 best restaurants in Portland, Oregon. Given that he’s lived there since 2013, he probably has a good idea of which ones those might be.

WHAT WORKED FOR ME
This book is a very quick read. The language is simple enough that pretty much anyone can glean the information they need from it in an expeditious manner.

The introduction gives you a nice overview of Portland and why it might be a decent culinary destination.

Each chapter provides a summary of what to expect of the restaurant in question, some suggestions of what to order there, and website links for more information. Some chapters also include operating hours.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME
This book could use a good editor. There were several typos and font size often changed between chapters. But worst of all, the writing style came off more like a commercial for each restaurant than an honest review. There were times I felt like I was reading a script of one of those thinly veiled travel shows that are really infomercials for travel locations.

RECOMMENDATION
If you can overlook the few flaws of this book, you will find that it is a decent resource for choosing a good place to eat while staying (or living) in Portland. And, since it is priced quite modestly — less than $6 for the paperback as of this writing — it is worth the small investment if Portland dining is in your future.

RATING

I give this book three out of five chefs because it can be a useful guide, however it has flaws that keep it from being a must-have book.

SPECS
Format: 6 x 9 inches, Paperback, 52 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 1, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1517627850
ISBN-13: 978-1517627850