There’s no better place to eat locally than in the Pacific NW. On our trip to Oregon, we had fresh Coho salmon, took the kids peach & berry picking on Sauvie Island, visited a downtown farmers market where lovely morels were $24/lb. (I’ve paid $20 for a small box in DC) … then there was wine, Umqua & Tillamook (fresh and rBGH-free local dairies) ice cream and cheese at the Coast, blackberry shakes & Walla Walla onion rings at Burgerville (sustainable fast food doesn’t have to be an oxymoron). A great trip, capped off with a parting dinner at this awesome coffee shop/bakery in North Portland, Random Order. Thanks to Lelonopo for the tip – we had some amazing (local, organic) pies! Blueberry vanilla cream, Jamaican stone fruit, and plum and ginger were our picks. They also serve Stumptown coffee – yum!
4 responses so far ↓
1 Lelo // Aug 27, 2008 at 10:04 am
Yeah for pie! Aren’t their pies lovely? So fresh and tasty. Thank you for reminding me how lucky we Oregonians are to have all these great local resources. Sorry it rained so much while you were here. 🙁
2 Sylvie, Rappahannock Cook & Kitchen Gardener // Aug 28, 2008 at 8:46 pm
ah yes, that all sounds great. The NW definitively has a lot going in terms of food – but it could also be that because – as a people – they pay more attention to what they eat and how they eat it, they get it. I mean: because there is a demand, there is a supply.
I think things have vastly improved in the last 20 years on the East Coast because there has been more demand. I remember moving to DC over 20 years ago, and not a decent local artisan bread to be had. And very few farmer’s markets. And where were the local cheeses? (even now, you still have to look for those)…
The more we ask, and the more we are willing to support our farmers or foragers, the greater will be the availability (and variety, and affordability) of local food stuff.
Enjoy the rest of your vacation, Colleen.
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// Sep 3, 2008 at 10:27 pm
@ Lelo – Yep, it took us quite a while to narrow down our pie choices. They all looked amazing. Fortunately we had the whole fam with us so we could pass around several. Thanks again for the tip! And even the rain wasn’t too bad, it was actually clear the entire time we were at the Coast, which was a rare treat.
@ Sylvie – So true. Hopefully we’ll keep making progress here in DC. One of the things that surprised me out there were how many more farms were certified organic. Here, we are grateful for local and don’t seem to really force the issue … at least I don’t. Food for thought.
4 FoodieTots.com » Pacific NW Snapshots: Portland Market Peppers + Morels // Sep 8, 2008 at 3:22 pm
[…] my previous wrap-up of our vacation, I mentioned the fabulous North Portland coffee shop Random Order where we had […]