Food carts - Portland has so many of them due to enterprising ambitions, a healthy sense of “fuck the man,” and lax laws about starting new businesses.
Street food has existed all over the country for decades in the form of hot-dog vendors, taco trucks, and the like. What makes Portland’s street food scene so distinctive and appealing—is the way vendors continually push the genre’s traditional boundaries, so that today, entire food cart villages have laid down roots and offer increasingly sophisticated and varied cuisine. After all, how many other places can you sample white truffle sea- salted fries, salmon fettuccini, perfectly seasoned Pad Thai, and the city’s best espresso—all from a street vendor selling out of a bicycle, a truck, or even a World War II military mobile kitchen?
Artisanal, quirky, independent, and an exceptionally good value, the food carts are in many ways the perfect symbol of what Portland is all about. They bring the local community together with the lure of good food, and the pod system has enabled vendors to create a strong cooperative ethic among themselves. It’s fair to say that the food carts both stem from Portland’s famed livability and contribute to it, forming a virtuous cycle of sorts. - Cartopia
Nong’s Kao Man Gai was the first food cart I ever went to in Portland. Believe it or not, during the last few times I was in Portland, I never tried any food carts. The pork belly arepa at Fuego de Lotus is also a favorite on the south east side as well as poutine from Potato Champion.
Stumptown at the Ace Hotel
1026 SW Stark. Portland, OR 97205
Ah, Stumptown. A local tradition and institution. Every time I got to Portland, I always try to visit the Stumptown at the Ace Hotel and then sit in the lobby, dropping in on conversations. If Portland is where people in their twenties go to retire, the Ace Hotel is where they do it. As you sip on your coffee, you can see people just sitting for hours on the sofas playing with their phones or having “meaningful” conversations about the philosophical differences between a fixie vs. a single speed bicycle. It’s smelly and kind of damp, like those sofas have been around for a really long time.
The lifestyle of denizens in Portland is interesting, and it really is like that show Portlandia. Since unemployment benefits are pretty good, and the cost of living is pretty low, people in their twenties can move there after college, work about 20 hours a week at a coffee shop, and live in a house with a bunch of other people. They spend the rest of their time working on pet projects, making art, hanging out, reading, and going out. There is a certain air of laxity, an extension of youth where authenticity is more valuable than ambition.
It’s a strange world, completely different from any world I’ve known. But it seems like Portland is a great place for people to work on their passions, crafts, and expression.
Justa Pasta
1326 NW 19th. Portland, OR
Even though many of us have resolved to eat fewer carbs for the new year, this place is worth putting your resolutions on hold for. I went here with my dear friend when I first went to Portland in 2009, and I came back again during this trip. There’s just something great about sitting in the exact same spot you sat in two years ago and reminiscing about the time that has passed.
It is the most delicious pasta I have ever had in my entire life, hands down. Nothing compares with the al dente style they have perfected over the years. If you go there, I highly recommend the spaghetti with garlic chili oil and the butternut squash ravioli with brown butter and sage, but I haven’t gone wrong with anything from this place.
Mee-Sen Thai Eatery
3924 N Mississippi Ave., Portland, OR 97227
Portland is a city that specializes in food, beer, and coffee, so most of our trip consisted of trying various places that were recommended to us by friends, guides, and the internet. We had our fair share of mediocre places, even places that came highly recommended, but I don’t think mediocre things are worth blogging about, so this series of food posts will only be about my favorites.
Post New Year’s Eve festivities, my body was hurting for some soupy sustenance and an injection of vitamins. We headed over to Mee Sen Thai Eatery in the North side of town to satisfy my craving for sour and spicy noodle soup. In the standard Portland way of doing things, many of their interior decorations were made by re-purposing and re-using things that people didn’t want anymore. We sat at a wooden table with a bicycle wheel on the edge, serving as a statement piece that gives the place character. The place was rustic, like a cabin in the woods, with these little quirky elements.
I love a good Thai noodle soup, something that more modern Thai places seem to overlook, so I was excited to hear that they specialize in noodle soups. I had the Look Chin Pla Tom Yum, a glass noodle soup with fish filet, fish balls, ground pork, chili, crusted peanuts, and vinegar in pork broth. Christopher had Khao Soi Gai was a curry noodle dish with roasted chicken and egg noodles served with pickled mustard, red onions, crispy egg noodles, and roasted chili paste. Both were perfect for such a rainy, cold day.
Tasty n Sons
3808 N. Williams, Suite C, Portland, OR 97212
Brunch. It’s my favorite meal of the week because it’s usually accompanied by mimosas, sunshine with an outdoor patio option, and fashionable people who may or may not be nursing a hangover in some shades. In the rainy, foodie paradise that is Portland, brunch is serious business, as it should be. There are several fantastic brunch places we wanted to try, but we ended up trying just Tasty n Sons, a new American joint with an innovative menu.
Since there was an hour-long wait, we went a few doors down to Risretto Roasters to get some coffee and work-time in. They roast seasonal, handcrafted coffee in small batches to both ensure perfection and appease the hipster masses. Both Risretto and Tasty n Sons share the same Pacific Northwest aesthetic that I love so much - tables and chairs made of beautiful natural wood with metal accents on the appliances, giving the space an industrial edge. Even though it’s a new American place, everything is in tapas form and designed for sharing, the way food should be consumed.
The bacon wrapped date was incredibly rich, drizzled in maple syrup with an almond inside. The polenta and sausage ragu with mozzarella and a fried egg was really cheesy and rich but great in small doses. I love how they take traditionally Italian elements and manage to update it, evoking a playful sense of something that looks like creme brûlée and slapping an egg on it. Christopher’s favorite was the shakshuka red pepper and tomato stew with a baked egg on top, and he has big plans to make it when he gets back to San Francisco.
I love taking elements from different cooking traditions and bringing them together in a mishmash of different tastes. This place does it elegantly with an extensive menu that is sure to satisfy all.
Yesterday I flew from the sunny paradise (with the exception of Hilo) that is Hawai’i to the rainy hipster-filled Portland to join my boyfriend for New Year’s Eve. We took the Vayable Keep Portland Weird tour as part of my Christmas gift to him! We went on a grand adventure, where I exposed myself to a statue, heard a sermon, ate bacon with maple syrup, and could have gotten married if I really wanted to.
We started out in Pioneer Square, Portland’s “living room,” that was made of bricks purchased by Portland residents with their names etched on to fund the project. There is an eco-chamber there that is sure to delight anyone who happens to run into it or knows that it’s there. We went to tons of historical landmarks that highlight Portland’s quirks like the Expose Yourself to Art campaign, where Mayor Bud Clark flashed a statue to raise money to fight venereal disease.
Did you know that Portland was named in a coin toss and that the other option was… Boston? Imagine how confusing that would be; differentiating between Portland, Maine is hard enough. 1% of funding that goes to public projects is required to be allocated towards public art, which explains why so much of it is scattered throughout the city close to official buildings. We visited the world’s smallest park, which is adorned with little decorations that reflect the zeitgeist - Occupy tents, Christmas ornaments, and so forth.
After meandering through several of Portland’s food cart pods, we found the perfect place and had a delicious meal of chicken and rice at Nong Khao Man Kai, one of our guide’s favorites. We ended up at the 24 Hour Church of Elvis, where we heard a sermon from the spirit of Elvis himself manifested through an old school TV monitor. Some people even get married there and also at Voodoo Donut, a local and not-so-local Portland favorite.
Heather was a wealth of knowledge, passionate about all things Portland and travel, and we even ended up with two pages worth of recommendations for places to go during the rest of our trip!
Every once in a while, you happen upon a place that you’re convinced is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Waipi’o Valley in the Hamakua District of Hawai’i is that kind of place. As soon as you get to the lookout, your breath is swept away by the expansive shape with lush greenery and black sand beaches battered by crashing waves.
Beneath the steepest road in the United States, San Francisco hills pale in comparison, are hidden delights - wild horses, taro farms, beautiful vegetation, and waterfalls that are 2000 feet high. It is a sacred valley that once housed thousands of Hawaiians and was the childhood home of King Kamehameha I, who unified the islands of Hawai’i.
Today, without the modern day luxuries like electricity, running water, and cell phone service, a mere 100 people live there. With strict rules on what travelers can and cannot do, the land is preserved and unspoiled by outside interference.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park is home to some of the world’s most active and massive volcanoes. There are a lot of dormant craters from eruptions past, and the terrain is otherworldly, full of dried up lava flow, like something out of Starcraft. Kilauea is an active volcano, and at night the vent Halemaʻumaʻu emits gases with an orangey glow. Seeing the pattern of creation and destruction is really interesting and inspiring!
This is at Punalu’u Black Sand Beach, one of the most famous black sand beaches in the world. If you want to see sea turtles but haven’t had luck while snorkeling or diving, this is the place to see them because they are abundantly basking in the sun here. The black sand is created when lava flows into the ocean and explodes into tiny little pieces, which is why the sand has the same iridescent quality that lava rocks have.
This post is dedicated to food in Hawaii, so here are some iconic foods I had (and liked) that are typically Hawaiian! Traveling with your family plus two other families puts a bit of a damper on eating adventures because everyone has their own weird way of being picky. Nonetheless, I was able to insist and try some places that serve authentic regional food.
Okinawan Sweet Potato and Haupia Pie. I had this at Yama’s Fish Market in Honolulu, and it is now one of my favorite desserts! It is a three-layer pie with a crust on the bottom, a layer of Okinawan sweet potato in the middle, and haupia (made from coconut milk) on top. Full of natural flavor, it is not that sweet, and the purple color of the sweet potato gives it a fun twist.
Laulau. Also from Yama’s, this is pork wrapped in taro leaves and then wrapped with ti leaves. It’s steamed for three to four hours, which allows the aroma of the taro leaves to seep nicely into the meat and tenderize it. When eating, you unwrap the ti leaves, but I’m pretty sure you can eat the taro leaves with the pork because it’s adequately mushy.
Malasadas. I had them at Leonard’s Bakery in Honolulu, where they are super famous. They are donut-like things that are in the shape of balls made of yeast dough and coated with sugar. Some of them have fillings like chocolate, custard, and coconut, but I enjoyed the plain ones more. They are not my favorite thing in the world, but it’s not like I’m going to be saying no to them any time soon.
Poke. Poke tasting was my favorite food activity during this trip next to shave ice tasting, and the absolute best place I tried was an unassuming fish market called Suisan in Hilo on the west side of the Big Island. They are a fish distributor that ships fish all over Hawaii, and we got it straight from the source right next to their warehouse. For $5 - $7 a bowl, depending on how many types you get, it’s a steal for slick, pillowy, fresh pieces of heaven. Da Poke Shack in Kona also has damned good poke.
Breakfast - mahi mahi, eggs, and fried rice. On our second day in O’ahu, we had breakfast at Diamond Head Market & Grill, which I highly recommend. They also have a delicious lemon crunch cake and kombucha!
Liliko’i gelato. Liliko’i is a type of Hawaiian passion fruit that is tart and sour. When made into a gelato, it gives you that tingly feeling around the corners of your jaw as you put in your mouth the first couple of times. I got it at Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill in Kona.
We flew to the Big Island on Christmas and went kayaking and snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay the next day. In the Kona part of the island, Steve Jobs’ favorite vacation spot, it’s always sunny and warm outside. The water was pristinely crystal clear, and schools of fish swam about feeding on the beautiful coral.
The Polynesian Cultural Center is a strange place that is part theme park, part living museum. While I appreciate the idea of preserving local culture, they do it in an inauthentic way that feels exploitative and overly manufactured. I have mixed feelings about it, though, because the center also provides opportunity to those who might otherwise not be able to get an education or travel to the United States to work.
The center is owned by Brigham Young University - Hawaii, which is owned by the Mormon Church. 70% of the center’s 1,300 employees go to BYU Hawaii, and 97% of the 2,800 students at the school are Mormon. The Polynesian Cultural Center is Hawaii’s number one paid tourist attraction, and since tourism is Hawaii’s largest industry, this operation is a real cash cow for the Mormon Church. Of course part of the proceeds go towards paying for tuition, which is actually really smart, and towards the school.
The mission of Brigham Young University–Hawaii is to integrate both spiritual and secular learning, and to prepare students with character and integrity who can provide leadership in their families, their communities, their chosen fields, and in building the kingdom of God, particularly in the Pacific and Asia.
With 1,093 international students (or 43% of total enrollment), BYU Hawaii “has a higher percentage of international students than any other baccalaureate institution in the United States.” Something tells me that the students are largely people the Mormons have converted on mission trips to Asian countries. It is really really strange, but it’s a damned good international expansion strategy if you ask me. To give the promise of opportunity to those who are vulnerable and churn out accountants.
