Portland Walking Tours – Epicurean Excursion

Chris (Boyfriend) and I started this cute little gift-giving tradition while we were in Minneapolis this past Spring.  We’d stopped in at the Walker Art Museum (no relation) and picked up a few things in the gift shop, so we had this cool gift bag from there that we managed to hold onto.  Somehow, the tradition started that we’d pass it back and forth to each other but always with a gift inside.  So far, that bag has contained both tasty desert treats and a Twins hat he gave me for my birthday.

Row 13, Seats D and E

So here we are on our DEN > PDX flight a couple of Friday mornings ago, getting situated since takeoff is soon and the cabin door is almost closed.  Chris reaches into his carry-on laptop bag and pulls out the flat gift bag and hands it to me.  I laughed and protested, “You can’t give that back to me if it’s empty! That’s against the rules!” And he replied, “Oh, I think you should make sure there’s nothing in there.”

And that’s when I pulled out the confirmation e-mail he’d received from Portland Walking Tours, confirming our 10AM Epicurean Excursion tour. #bestboyfriendever

Sure enough, Sunday morning we were ready – cameras in hand, walking shoes on, and taste buds over-eager for some of what the Portland culinary scene has to offer.  Here’s how that all went down, mostly in pictures.

Cacao Drink Chocolate

We met at the Heathman Hotel, a luxury hotel in downtown Portland where we met our tour guide Herb (who I can say right now was one of the best parts and total highlights of the tour – he was amazing).  We left the lobby and walked downstairs into Cacao – a chocolate shop connected to the hotel.

Sipping chocolate is one of those things I always wanted to try, but never quite knew where, when, or how to do do.  Turns out, the right answer to those questions was “Cacao, Portland, OR; 10:00AM on a Sunday morning, and slowly and lovingly.”

And that’s exactly what I did.  While we sipped, we learned about chocolate and tasting and how doing so can be like coffee tasting or wine tasting – different growers and different regions have their own unique styles and signatures about how they make their chocolate, and the more you taste, the more you can pick up on these subtleties.

Cacao doesn’t have their online store open for shipped orders just yet, but a friendly email exchange with their people this week let me know I’d be able to secure a pound or two just via email.  Naturally, I fully intend to be a professional chocolate taster in my next life.  I’m already practicing.

Violetta

This is the only place I didn’t get a photo because my fingers were covered in the powdered sugar from their delicious made-from-scratch New Orleans style beignets.  Violetta’s located on a corner of Director’s Park downtown, and the sign on the small little building announces their approach: “Slow food fast.”  I can get behind that.

Further research reveals that Violetta also has a food cart – a relatively new part of the Portland food scene, but one that is booming and setting examples for other cities who are adding street cards to their dining options.  I saw a Pho cart, and yes I’ll be trying that one first.

Stumptown Coffee

Everyone and their mother told me to try Stumptown Coffee while I was in Portland, and I kept hearing this nickname of Portland and never quite knew why.

After this stop on our tour, I now understand why the obsession with the coffee, and thanks to Herb, know why Portland is called “Stumptown” at all.

First the coffee. I’m not a professional coffee-taster (yet), but Stumptown Coffee is definitely different than any other roast I’ve tried yet.  It’s got a stronger flavor, a bit more complex than your pantry coffee, and as Herb explained – is part of what coffee professionals are calling the Third Wave of coffee in America.  Wave #1 – Folgers and your pantry coffee as you know it.  Wave #2 – our national obsession with all things Starbucks.  Wave #3 – Stumptown.  I’m sold.  It’s a coffee I’d drink black because any additives seem as though they’d kill the essence of the brew.

Portland “Stumptown” Oregon.  The short story of that nickname is this: when Portland the city was being settled, they had to clear the land of some of the forests in the area to actually build the city.  Back in the day, they were working with handsaws which took two people, with arms at shoulder-height, to saw through the trunks and clear out the trees.  The stumps then were shoulder-high and at night, weren’t visible.  Due to some passersby passing by and running into them with their carts and horses, the stumps were then painted white so they were visible at night.  And the cleared land with all of the giant white stumps was nick-named Stumptown.

Pearl Bakery

Clockwise from left: tray of baguette and sourdough slices and olive oil; best croissant I’ve ever had; pastry tray; gibassier.

If you’re wondering what a gilbassier is, I was too.  It’s a pastry slash sweetbread that’s flavored with orange peel, anise seeds, olive oil, and orange blossom water before it’s sprinkled with baker’s sugar.  It’s a sweet and savory slice with some really subtle-but-intense fresh flavors.

The croissant was my favorite, as croissants are one of my favorite things, and this one topped them all.  Light and buttery, we learned this one is 27 flaky layers of perfection.

I should also note that it’s probably a good thing I haven’t uploaded Chris’ pictures from the walking tour yet, or I’d be tempted to show you photos of us in the hairnets we had to wear to visit the backroom and kitchen of the Pearl Bakery.  Stylish, indeed.

In Good Taste

This was easily one of my favorite stops – it’s a cooking shop that doubles as a school and offers a variety of culinary classes.  We enjoyed an Oregon Pinot Noir here, paired with some of the gourmet dips and sauces offered in the shop.  I checked out some of the ingredients in the ketchups and mustards we sampled and loved to see that they’re made with simple ingredients I keep in my own pantry and can try homemade versions of myself.

See the salt in my hand there?  That’s Black Truffle infused Sea Salt, and it was as amazing as it sounds.  I bought some, and will tell you right now that it was absolutely worth it splurging on salt like that.  Chris found a lemon infused sea salt and we picked that one up too.

Hot Lips Pizza

Next stop – pizza shop!  Herb explained to us the FLOSS acronym/idea at the beginning of the tour to stand for Fresh, Local, Organic, Sustainable, and Seasonal.  He told us that many of the places we’d taste would include one or most of those qualities.  Hot Lips Pizza nails all five of them, my favorite of which is seasonal.  With only a couple of exceptions, they make their pizzas to highlight what’s seasonal at that moment in that place, which makes for a really fresh-tasting pizza pie.

They also make their own fruit sodas there, and we got to sample this raspberry one.  It was so fresh and berry-tasting that it tasted more like a homemade fruit punch than a soda.

McMenamin’s – The Crystal Ballroom

It only made sense that after the pizza we go for beer!  We walked down to The Crystal Ballroom, a McMenamin’s pub non the west side of Downtown Portland.  We sampled three and a half beers, which I’ll explain in a second.

The first beer we tried was the Ruby.  I liked this one, Chris LOVED it.  It had a little tiny hint of raspberry, was really light and smooth, and evoked the out-loud musings of “I could drink this with breakfast!” from the crowd.

The second beer sampled was their IPA.  No official name for this one, and it was HOPPY.  But that’s how I like my IPAs and it had a really great, strong flavor.

We finished with the Terminator, a stout-style beer that was smooth and delicious.

The half-beer was – as we were told – started as an attempt at “man”-ifying the easy-sipping Ruby ale by mixing it with the dark and strong Terminator.  Naturally, they call this The Rubinator, and yes – it was really, really good.

Mio Gelato

Final stop – dessert!  Our last stop was here at Mio Gelato, where we sampled three of their homemade gelato flavors – toasted almond, hazelnut and strawberry sorbet.  I was determined to like the nutty ones the best, but the strawberry sorbet tasted so fresh and sweet that it was tough to pick a favorite!

A Tasty Experience

The tour is absolutely something I’d recommend to other Portland residents or visitors.  I also learned that they do tours six days a week – Monday-Thursday and Sundays – and I’ll have to try the weekday tours and the Sunday afternoon tour sometime in the future.  Herb promised that they’re all a little different, and I think sampling every taste Portland has to offer is a task I’d like to start working on!

Have you ever done a food tour or found one you must try?  Are you from Portland or have a favorite place there?  I’d love to hear about it!

The rest of my (unedited, just uploaded) photos from the tour can be found here in my Flickr account.

doniree

Doniree Walker is the Nomadic Foodie. She loves the exploration and community of food, and currently lives in Portland, Oregon, and loves the region's focus on local and seasonal food, daily farmers' markets and food carts at seemingly every turn. She's on twitter as @doniree and @nomadicfoodie, and blogs her adventures and life in general at doniree.com.

Tagged as: Cacao, Epicurean Excursion, food tour, Gelato, giveaway, mcmenamin's, microbrews, Oregon, Portland, Portland Walking Tours, stumptown