‘KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD’ shouts a sign from the side of a building. Portland’s alternative fraternity has always embraced its eccentricities, from its own Portlandia TV comedy parodying the city’s effervescent locals, to the annual World Naked Bike Ride and Goat Yoga. On my recent rambles through Oregon’s largest city located in the USA’s Pacific Northwest, I also discovered how Portlanders please their palates. From foragers to purveyors, brewers to chocolatiers, and the oddball to the opulent, Portland harvests a flavourful pantry, from where I raised my glass, and my pinkie, with a dash of quirk on the side. EERIE BREWS Old Town Brewing in Portland’s historic neighbourhood offers small-batch beers and big-flavour pizzas. But it wasn’t the hops or the dough that brought on a touch of psychosomatic indigestion. Peel back the floorboards of what used to be the 1880-built Merchant Hotel and you’ll find the infamous Shanghai Tunnels that led to the Willamette River docks. Backing up Portland’s legend, it wasn’t just goods they trafficked during the gold rush. “They were strong-bodied sailors, but were totally unsuspecting,” shares the chatty bar woman. “They had their drinks spiked before being dropped through trap doors, and were sold to ship captains as slave crewmen bound for Shanghai.” Hence, the heinous act became known as ‘Shanghaiing.’ The brewery’s Shanghai’d IPA pays ‘homage’ to the city’s notorious tunnels, clearly popular due to the number of punters queuing up to taste it in beer paddles. I order the Ghost Pie pizza. Intrigued, I question my waitress about its name.“Oh, it’s named after Nina," she replies, in quite the nonchalant tone. "Head round the back there to view our old elevator. Nina haunts it. She was a prostitute thrown down its shaft back in the day.” I eat my pizza — with one hand firmly clasped to my chair. ENCOUNTERS OF THE COCAO KIND I couldn’t walk past without booking myself in. Creo Chocolate in Portland’s Lloyd District, runs Make-a-Bar classes. While getting sticky fingered, many a flavoursome story is shared by chocolatier, Janet Straub, of this ex raspberry-farming family business. She talks through their seed-to-fruit and bean-to-bar chocolate-making process, accompanied by excellent video footage. As I fashion my own bar of happy hormones, Janet talks about Creo’s sustainability: “We believe in real chocolate (handcrafted), real relationships (working direct with Ecuadorian cacao farmers) and real change (giving back to communities).” Every piece of machinery in Creo’s factory shop has been invented or repurposed, such as the lentil crusher. “We’ve MacGyvered everything,” says Janet, as I refrain from licking the nibs tumbling out of the refashioned winnower. “I actually designed the chocolate mould," she adds, "which rounds the corners on our chocolate squares allowing a soft feeling in the palate.” I get to lick them! DOUGHNUT DELIGHTS When I spot salivating humans carrying bright pink boxes along Portland’s streets, I know I’m nearing Voodoo Doughnut: a sugar and spice-spiked institution. Featuring unconventional fillings and eccentric names, bakery staff members dare the sweet toothed to try their signature Voodoo Doll impaled by a pretzel stick. Also on the revolving cake stand is the Maple Bacon Bar: topped by maple frosting and a strip of, yes, bacon! More heated is the cinnamon-dusted Ring of Fire, sporting a red chilli pepper in its belly. Their slogan: ‘Good things come in pink boxes’ may be questionable. However, it’s an apt euphemism - some of the doughnuts are more than naughty. And as if they weren’t surreal enough, the business has a marriage licence. Would you “I do!” in the middle of a doughnut shop where penis-shaped doughnuts rise? Perchance you've already 'dined' on one here (and that’s what led to your engagement?). FARM-TO-FORK FEASTS Within the art and mannequin-filled atrium of The Nines Hotel is Urban Farmer Steakhouse. Portland’s finest steakhouse ingeniously juxtaposes its stylish décor with the country charm of a farmhouse kitchen. A six metre-long Douglas fir forms the large share table, while more intimate dining tables sit beneath hundreds of jars of pickled banana peppers, golden beets, parsnips and okra in the intimately lit corner known as The Pantry. Executive Chef, Matt Christianson, brings his art teacher mother’s touches to his menu. From sustainable and organic Pacific Northwest suppliers, his farm-to-table dishes include the steak-tasting medley: grass-fed Oregon beef, and corn-fed prime and 30-day dry-aged cuts (each in 170g portions), around which lay foraged shiitake, maitake and abalone mushrooms, and sunflower seeds and Parmesan crisps. Meals come garnished with cuttings from the roof’s herb garden. Benjamin buttons, nasturtium, marigold, camomile, lavender and flowering thyme (which decorates the steaks) burst with colour, while busy beehives overlook the extensive bounty that covertly blooms above Portland’s urban skyline. HAUTE TEA ‘Drink Tea, Be Merry’ is the mantra at Hotel DeLuxe’s High Tea experience. I sample Portland’s own Stephen Smith tea leaves brewed in ornate teapots. And nibble on finger sandwiches filled with chicken, cranberry and pecan, ham with granary mustard mayonnaise, and smoked salmon with tarragon cream cheese. I struggle to pace myself, however. Next come scones crowned with English clotted cream, chocolate mousse with mocha almonds, and a lemon curd tart. All are made onsite by the deft fingers of pastry chef, Kate Cordes. And this is Portland after all, so Hotel DeLuxe also offers High Tea for pets. “Woof!” FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE Portland is also home to a Russian Tea experience. At the Heathman Hotel’s Headwaters restaurant, I experience high tea beneath a chandelier-lit library littered with literary tomes, many of which were signed by authors during their own visits. I sip on freshly brewed leaves, from Georgian Caravan to chocolate peppermint, between vases of fresh flowers as saturated in colour as the opulent décor around me. With the samovar in mind, acclaimed chef and cookbook author, Vitaly Paley (alongside pastry chef Megan Jeans), delivers to the cake stand recipes handed down by his Russian grandmother. The Khachapuri (cheese breads) and Steopka (grandmother’s sour cream and walnut cake) have me raise my teacup to salute wonderfully weird Portland.
FURTHER INFO: www.travelportland.com |
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