Portland Ranked #1 for Food

The Washington Post ranks Portland, OR as the #1 Food City in America! Post writer Tom Seitsema took his time in many U.S. high profile destinations before he decided on The 10 Best Food Cities in America. Portland topped such culinary kings as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and San Francisco.

Seitsema writes: “Everything you see on ‘Portlandia’? It’s kind of true,” a friend said during my swing through the city that I’d most want to move to if I didn’t already have the job of my dreams. I relish the abundant quirks: lines for (stellar) breakfasts, even midweek, and strip clubs inclusive enough to offer vegan fare. And I applaud the sense of pride demonstrated even by fast-food operators, foremost Burgerville, which rolls out raspberry milkshakes and Walla Walla onion rings in the summer. But most of all, I love the ingredients here – 300 kinds of truffles, berries so delicate they don’t leave the state – and what a small contingent of talented chefs does with them. One of the scene’s few missing ingredients: fine-dining establishments. “Portlanders prefer places where they feel comfortable in their hiking boots and fleece,” says Michael Russell, the restaurant critic for the Oregonian. Personally, I’d pick first-class farmers markets or some of the country’s trailblazing Asian retreats (hello, Pok Pok!) over a place that charges triple digits for dinner. Admittedly, I picked summer to visit, when Portland’s flavors are peaking. But superb coffee, wine and bread – crucial building blocks of any gastronomic destination – know no season. And it doesn’t hurt that everyone, fellow customers and servers alike, is Minnesota Nice. In one week, I never once heard a car horn.

Defining moment: At New Seasons Market, one of my favorite grocery stores anywhere, I asked an engaging clerk about what looked like bullet-shaped blueberries, at which point he introduced me to honeysuckle fruit from Siberia.

Best breakfast: The inevitable line outside the southern-accented Screen Door in Portland is partly explained by the restaurant’s buttermilk fried chicken stacked on a sweet potato waffle.

Read more about Portland in The Post, including a map of Tom Seitsema’s Portland food tour.

Seitsema’s Post piece is similar to this Thrillist listicle which ranks all 50 states by their food and drink. Oregon came in with a fantastic #6 ranking. No wonder, because it has the BEST city, of course. Next time you are in town, stay at Hotel Eastlund and visit our rooftop restaurant Altabira City Tavern, which is quickly becoming the talk of the town for it’s sweeping views and foodie charm.

Header photo from Feast Portland 2015.