The Food Lovers' Guide

55 tasty destinations for the culinary adventurer in you (Hope you're hungry!)

By Mike Thelin, Martin Patail, Kaitlyn Evans, and Eva Hagberg

Photo: Stuart Mullenberg

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PORTLAND OFTEN GETS PEGGED as the least ethnically diverse major city in America. But statistics tell only one story.

As anyone who’s passionate about food knows, the Rose City offers a rich panoply of international cuisines and cultures. All it takes to find them is curiosity, openness, and a willingness to visit parts of the region not traditionally known as culinary destinations.

We hope our Food Lovers’ Guide will offer you both inspiration and a road map. We combed the region for the finest ingredients and discovered a wide range of people and communities devoted to food—a local importer of olive oils from Italy; a purveyor of single-origin French chocolate bars crafted from Venezuelan cacao; and Beaverton’s excellent Indian and halal grocers. We’ve turned up the best of our own native bounty: wild-caught salmon, summer berries, earthy morels, grass-fed beef, and the most sumptuous varieties of pork. To get you started—or further along—we’ve researched local options for cooking classes, found bargains on high-quality cooking gear, and even tracked down the best guy to sharpen your knives. We’ve also collected cookbook recommendations from some of the best teachers, writers, and chefs in the country to guide you in the kitchen. And if you’re too busy to cook, take a look at the suggestions we’ve gathered from some well-known, time-strapped Portlanders for the best takeout options in town. Share your own favorites on our Facebook page to win a meal at a top local restaurant.

So go forth and learn, shop, cook, and eat. But, above all, explore. There’s a wonderful, wide world of food to be discovered right here in the increasingly global Willamette Valley.

Bon Appétit

Eat up the rest of our Foodie Guide

Market Madness
From SW to NE, a helpful guide of where Portland farmers markets are sprouting.

Cookbook Club
Food aficionados share their favorite cookbooks. The experts include some of the best chefs, writers, and teachers in the country.

A Baker’s Dozen
A history lesson in the artisan bakery trade of Portland. Listings include different pastry shops and the variety of treats they offer.

Back to School
A wide range of prices, locations and food choices, Portland chefs offer you the opportunity to learn their favorite dishes.

Order Up!
Busy Portland notables share their local takeout favorites Dante Cunningham heads to P.F. Chang’s, Naomi Pomeroy goes for rotisserie chicken.

Ranch to Table
Buy your meat from local Portland farms, or butchers, or farmer’s markets, using this resource guide to get started.

Cash Crop
The Portland Farmers Market has slowly blossomed into one of the city’s leading economic pulses, but lack of city support has put Portland vendor’s fees among the highest in the nation.

Tools of the Trade
Three different locales are highlighted for those who are in dire need of crockery supplies, such as knife sharpening or restaurant quality porcelain.

Raise and Write
To increase your food expertise, join how-to-workshops about raising your own chickens or writing about food.

And don’t forget the Portland Plated blog , an interactive journal of Portland’s edible environment.

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Published: March 2010

Comments

By karen on Mar 13, 2010 at 1:56AM: Have you checked out Limbo’s Wall of Herbs on SE 39th next to Trader Joes.
Great place to buy small amounts of 700 different herbs, tea and spices. Yeah jars are kind of gross but I risk it to expand my horizons.
By karen on Mar 13, 2010 at 2:05AM: I also shop at People’s Food Co-op, Food Front for specfic ingredients and cutting edge products. You don’t have to be a hippy to shop there. I just bought knives and sharpening at Hawthorn Cutlery and got great service.
By mary johnson on Mar 25, 2010 at 8:42PM: I love sheridan fruit company, want to go there to see if they have beer sausages, forgot to check when I was there, does anyone have any information on this?