In which I attempt to eat my way around Spain from home

We’re home to an unlikely number of good Spanish restaurants, along with hispanophile shops, bars and even wineries. You don’t need a festival to explore the diversity of Spanish food and drink here—you can work your way around the country, from Andalucía to Valencia, any time you like.

Every day is Tapas Day: Where to find Spain’s best regional dishes in Portland

How this humble roll became Portland’s signature sandwich bread

Though not quite the household name of Amoroso’s in Philadelphia or Leidenheimer’s in New Orleans, the rolls have become popular enough that the phrase “on Fleur de Lis ciabatta” is now a local byword for quality sandwiches. And if it weren’t for the persistence of a couple of first-time restaurateurs, it might never have made it beyond the bakery.

Read more at the Oregonian.

In which I drink an awful lot of stout

St. Patrick’s Day approaches, which means it’s time to break out the flocked top hats, dump dye in the rivers and order the obligatory pint of Guinness. But before you crack the top on that widget-bearing can, consider the 5,000 miles it had to travel to reach you. Wouldn’t you prefer a fresher pint?


On St. Patrick’s Day, ditch Guinness for these Oregon-brewed Irish stouts

Hiro dreams of snack bread

For most of his life, Hiro Horie was an organization man. He spent 25 years working the Japanese baking giant Pasco, starting on the English muffin line and eventually running the company’s American wholesale operations in Los Angeles and, later, Portland. So it took a lot for the soft-spoken baker to leave the corporate fold two years ago and open his own shop.

At Beaverton’s Oyatsupan Bakers, experience translates to smaller scale

So. Much. Mercury.

America’s latest food sensation is raw tuna. Poke, the Hawaiian dish of cubed, marinated raw fish, usually served with seaweed, onion and sesame seeds, is showing up everywhere from grocery store deli counters to Beverly Hills hotel restaurants. In 2014, Yelp declared Da Poke Shack in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, the best place to eat in America. Fast-casual joints serving build-your- own poke-and-rice bowls are opening all over Los Angeles — and, now, Portland.

Poke-mania hits Portland: Where to find the city’s best raw tuna

How Sebastian Cisneros became Portland’s most interesting chocolate-maker

Cisneros, a lanky 31-year-old with a shy but warm demeanor, is both a chocolatier, making flavored chocolate bars, and a chocolate-maker, producing bars from cacao beans. His childhood story explains much of his philosophy: his one-ounce square bars, packaged in white cardstock sealed with wax, evoke vivid memories and, with ingredients such as fernet and bee pollen, not a little confusion.

Read more at the Oregonian.

Review: We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915

The ostensible subject of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s play is a group of performers, three black and three white, attempting to create a play about the Nambia genocide, in which Germans killed at least 65,000 members of the Herero people through starvation, forced labor, execution, and medical experiments. As we watch the company’s increasingly tense rehearsals, we realize there’s much more going on.

Read more at the Oregonian.