Market Hauls and Local Noms

If you had asked me to name a single Norwegian dish before last week, I sadly wouldn’t have been able to give you an answer. Now, thanks to Viking Soul Food—a cozy Norwegian spot in Portland’s Woodstock neighborhood—I’ve not only learned about lefse (pronounced lef-sa) but also discovered how beautifully Nordic traditions can meld with Pacific Northwest flavors.

Viking Soul Food is the brainchild of Megan Walhood and Jeremy Daniels, a talented duo who met while working as chefs at Nostrana, a celebrated Italian restaurant in southeast Portland. During their time there, they started a supper club, which eventually inspired them to strike out on their own. And because we’re talking about Portland—a food truck paradise—what better way to break into the culinary scene than with a food cart? As Megan explained, “At the time, food carts had gotten really huge in Portland. It was the cheapest way to get your food out there.”

The concept for Viking Soul Food took shape when Megan, the daughter of a Swedish mother and a Norwegian father, introduced Jeremy to her family’s tradition of eating lefse—a Norwegian flatbread made with potatoes—during Christmas. While lefse is usually enjoyed with just butter, Megan knew they were onto something when Jeremy, who moved to Portland from Hawaii in 1994, suggested adding fillings. They ran with the idea, drawing inspiration from the foods Megan grew up eating to create a menu they describe as “Pacific Northwest-meets-Nordic cuisine with our own spin on it.”

When the couple first opened their food cart in 2010, many of their initial customers were older Scandinavian people who were craving lefse but didn’t want to go through the trouble of making it themselves. Over time, they also attracted a loyal following in Portland’s small but mighty younger Scandinavian community. Another key to their ongoing success since transitioning from food cart to brick-and-mortar in 2022 has been Portland’s adventurous food scene. As Megan put it, “People doing unusual things is well received here, which is why we’ve done well.”

While you can certainly come to the petite but welcoming restaurant to enjoy lefse (rolled by hand and baked on a griddle every day) the traditional way—with just butter—I’d highly recommend trying one of their wraps. The fillings include Norwegian meatballs, smoked salmon, pølse (wine-poached Swedish pork and potato sausage), and mushroom and hazelnut patties. Being vegetarian, I opted for the latter, which comes with homemade mushroom and hazelnut patties, toasted hazelnuts, Danish blue cheese, mild greens, parsley vinaigrette, and surkal—sweet and sour purple cabbage pickled with apple cider vinegar and caraway. Knowing that Oregon is the nation’s primary producer of hazelnuts, I appreciated how the wrap seamlessly combines PNW and Norwegian influences into one filling, flavorful, and unique meal.

Other great examples of Megan and Jeremy’s fusion creations are the Kraken Snack and Troll Snack. The former, which they describe as “a Norwegian tuna melt,” features herring and horseradish cream spread on toasted rye bread with Jarlsberg cheese—a mild Norwegian cow’s milk cheese often compared to Emmental. The latter, pictured below, consists of roasted garlic and Jarlsberg cheese spread smeared on rye crackers and garnished with surkal. I loved how the salty, creamy Jarlsberg spread complemented the briny surkal and would definitely consider adding the side to my regular snack roster if I had all the ingredients on hand!

When I asked the couple how they’d describe Portland’s food scene to someone who’s never visited, Megan didn’t hesitate. “Diverse,” she said. “Standards overall here are very high in terms of quality of food execution [and] quality of ingredients being used. This is a great city to live in if you want to learn how to be a really good cook and have access to great food and great ingredients. It’s kind of a mecca for cooks, as well, so it kind of perpetuates itself that way.”

And for those of us who (sometimes, often, or always—no judgements here!) prefer eating to cooking, I should add that Portland is also a fantastic place to visit if you want to expand your culinary horizons and try innovative dishes by talented chefs like Megan and Jeremy!

Visit Viking Soul Food:

Address: 4422 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97206

Website: vikingsoulfood.com 

Instagram: @vikingsoulfood