Lovely Hula Hands
4057 N Mississippi Ave
Portland, OR 97227
(503) 445-9910
$$$ (dinner for 2 with a bottle of wine could be in the $80 range)
One time I got a CD out of the library of old hawaiian songs and there was a song on it called "Lovely Hula Hands" — a really sweet-sounding old timey song that I used to love to listen to. Maybe that's why I was first drawn to eat here. This gem of a restaurant is really good. I think it's been my birthday restaurant for the past 3 years. They used to be located in a bright pink Victorian house just south of the N. Mississippi area, right off the highway but they've recently renovated a building right on Mississippi and made their new home. The house was very quaint and felt like a special dining experience, but it was small and required much waiting. Their new space seats more than twice as many and it still has that old-world feel.
As is pretty typical for Portland they have fine fare for both vegetarians and meat eaters. Exotic things like north African vegetable stew and standard things like burgers. For those of us without too much extra dough laying around, this is kind of a "special occasion" spot, but a good one to remember.