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The Concierge

Michael Rowland
Chef Concierge
Benson Hotel
Portland, Ore.

What service can you provide to groups that they normally might not receive?

It’s my long-term relationships with the finest restaurants that make for those surprise “extras”—when you arrive for dinner only to see your name on your keepsake menu, an appetizer from the concierge and that window table most people have to wait for, or a couple of theater tickets to that advertised “sold-out” performance.

What are your group restaurant recommendations?
We have more restaurants per capita than any place in the U.S., plus five James Beard Award winners. Some of favorites (in addition to our in-house London Grill AAA Four Diamond-rated restaurant and our new Palm Court restaurant and bar in our historic lobby) are Jake’s Famous Crawfish, Portland’s oldest continuously operated restaurant and the “mothership” for all McCormick & Schmick’s outlets nationwide; Higgins, featuring fresh, organic Pacific Northwest cuisine; and Andina, Nuevo Peruvian in the Pearl District; just to mention a few.

What are your bar or nightclub recommendations?
Our Palm Court has great live jazz, but also Jimmy Mak’s in the Pearl District, Aura for disco, The Greek Cuisina (where throwing plates is an art form), and Fernando’s Hideaway for salsa.

Can you recommend a good place to take a stroll?
My favorite place to send people on a stroll is to Waterfront Park, and over to the Eastbank Esplanade along the seawall to the Marina, where they can enjoy a nice dinner and a hot beverage or a microbrew.

Are there any quirky places we should check out?
That would be the haunted Old Town Pizza Parlor, a tour of the Shanghai Tunnels, Voodoo Donuts, and a short drive to Edgefield Manor, which in the early 1900s was a poor farm but now is a European Village with a hotel, winery, brewery, and golf course—it is said to be haunted as well.

If we only have an hour or two, what should we definitely check out nearby?
I would recommend one of our many gardens: Washington Park with the Rose Test Garden and the Japanese Gardens, or the Classical Chinese Gardens only a few blocks away. The Japanese Gardens were proclaimed the most beautiful, largest and most authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan. If you are interested in a breathtaking city view with beautiful grounds and antiques, you need to definitely check out the Pittock Mansion. I would also suggest the Pearl District for some great shopping and a stop at Powell’s Book Store, which is one of the largest bookstores in the U.S., or a walk to the Historic Portland Art Museum to check out the current exhibit.

Have you ever had an unusual request from a group?
I do remember these two gentlemen from Ireland that decided they wanted to play at this prestigious golf course on the coast 250 miles away, so I arranged a helicopter to pick them up 10 blocks from the hotel and called the director of golf to clear a parking lot for them to land.

A party of 12 wants to have dinner right away. What restaurant can accommodate last-minute requests of this size?
My favorite restaurants to call outside the hotel are OBA for South American cuisine, Sauce Box for Pan Asian, and McCormick & Schmick’s.

What’s a unique event that has taken place at your property?
In August 1993 there was an event in the Crystal Ballroom for the 300th Anniversary of Dom Perignon, and Robert Gourdin constructed a 27,000-champagne-glass cascading pyramid and used a sword to cut off a magnum bottle to mark the event. By the way, Wine Spectator has awarded our London Grill with the Award of Grand Excellence for its outstanding wine collection.