Tag: Viking Soul Food

Around the World in Portland, Oregon: Local Noms Guide

Here’s a list of my favorite places to eat in Portland, Oregon, organized by country or region.

BULGARIA

The Bulgarian Job: A bright yellow food cart run by Ilin and Boris Georgiev, two brothers with a passion for sharing Bulgarian culture, food, and history. Check out this post to learn more.

Top left: Shopska Salata—a Bulgarian national dish made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, parsley, olive oil, and sirene (Bulgarian brined white cheese). Bottom left: Mixed olives sautéed with spices, red pepper, and garlic. Right: Fire Roasted Djob—a bread pocket stuffed with roasted red pepper and sirene, served with crispy fries.

CAMBODIA/LAOS

Mekong Bistro: A Cambodian-Laotian restaurant, family business, and vibrant gathering space featuring a concert area and dance floor. Check out this fantastic article by Elizabeth Mehren to learn more about Saron Khut, the owner of Mekong Bistro and founder of the Mekong River Band, and his incredible story and commitment to building community.

Som-Lar Maju Kreung: A Cambodian sour soup with ong choy (water spinach), tofu, and a homemade blend of herbs and spices.

COLOMBIA

Que Bacano: A Colombian food cart (and member of the Portland Mercado) that expanded into a brick-and-mortar restaurant on SE Hawthorne Blvd in 2020. The name comes from a Colombian slang term referring to something cool, nice, hip, or radical. Click here to learn more about the former dentist-turned-owner Andres Felipe Perez and his business.

Vegetarian Paisita (a spin on the classic Colombian Bandeja Paisa) with beans, rice, plantains, avocado, two fried eggs, and an arepa.

COSTA RICA

La Carreta Pura Vida: A delightful family business serving up vibrant Costa Rican fare inside the Pine Street Market in Old Town. Check out this post to read more about co-owners Alvin Pérez and Liliana Gaitán and the story behind their business.

A vegetarian take on the beloved Costa Rican Casado, featuring rice, beans, salad, plantains, pico de gallo, panela cheese, and eggs.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Patience S Cuisine: A small but welcoming Congolese joint that opened in Old Town in June 2024. Head here to learn more about how Patience, the incredible one-woman force behind the business, reclaimed her relationship with food and is using Congolese cuisine to share her culture and build community.

Top left: Madesu (tender beans cooked in a savory sauce and garnished with fresh herbs); bottom left: Makemba (fried plantains); top right to bottom right: Kpadamu (groundnut soup), Pondu (cassava leaves simmered with peanut butter and palm oil), and Nkovi (collard greens cooked with peanut butter).

GUYANA

Bake on the Run: The first and only food cart serving Guyanese food on the West Coast. Founded by mother-and-son duo Bibi and Michael Singh, Bake on the Run opened in September 2018 and is part of the WonderLove Food Cart Pod. Check out this link to learn more about their story and menu.

Top left: Bake (semisweet Guyanese puff bread) with Guyanese Chana Aloo (chickpea potato curry). Top right: Bake with pumpkin butter. Bottom: Chef Bibi’s Guyanese Vegan Chow Mein (made with award-winning noodles imported from Guyana).

JAPAN

Obon Shokudo: A cozy spot in Portland’s Central Eastside offering plant-based Japanese comfort food. Check out this post to learn more about co-owners Humiko Hozumi and Jason Duffany.

The Combo: Two onigiri (nukazuke pickled ginger & carrot, and Buddha’s hand with hominy miso), one giant panko-crusted tater tot, one curried korokke (a mixture of Japanese sweet potatoes, raisins, and curry spices, coated with panko breadcrumbs and fried to perfection), one kakiage (a savory fritter made with onions, cabbage, and seasonal ingredients), and a small side salad with sesame dressing.

NEW ZEALAND

Nico’s Ice Cream: A business serving New Zealand-style ice cream (real fruit blended with vanilla ice cream) at two locations in Portland and two in California. Check out their website for more information.

Nico’s Real Fruit Marionberry Ice Cream: A creamy blend of Oregon marionberries and vanilla ice cream.

NORWAY

Viking Soul Food: A wonderful restaurant in Portland’s Woodstock neighborhood serving innovative Pacific Northwest-meets-Nordic cuisine. Click here to read more about co-owners Megan and Jeremy and the story behind their business.

Left: Troll Snack (roasted garlic and Jarlsberg cheese spread on rye crackers, garnished with surkal—sweet and sour purple cabbage pickled with apple cider vinegar and caraway). Right: Lefse (Norwegian flatbread made with potatoes) wrap with homemade mushroom and hazelnut patties, toasted hazelnuts, Danish blue cheese, surkal, mild greens, and parsley vinaigrette.

SRI LANKA

Mirisata: A BIPOC/worker-owned, vegan, and tipless Sri Lankan restaurant on SE Belmont. The name can loosely be translated from Sinhala (one of Sri Lanka’s two official languages) as ‘spicy curry.’ Check out their website for more information.

Rotating Rice and Curry Plate with pumpkin curry, tempered long beans, deviled potatoes, cucumber sambol, and pol sambol (a Sri Lankan condiment made with grated coconut, chilis, onions, and lime), served on a banana leaf. Always accompanied by Parippu (Sri Lankan lentil dahl curry), Kaha Bath (yellow rice), and Papadam (crispy lentil flour cracker).

SWITZERLAND

Swiss Hibiscus: A cozy restaurant in the Alberta Arts District serving Swiss classics like fondue and Spätzli (Swiss-style pasta). The name pays homage to the restaurant’s Swiss-Hawaiian heritage, which you can read about here.

Vegan lentil stew with vegan rösti (Swiss-style hash brown).

VENEZUELA

El Salto PDX: A vibrant Latina-owned food cart specializing in vegan Venezuelan fare. The name refers to El Salto Ángel (Angel Falls), the world’s tallest uninterrupted waterfall, located in Venezuela’s Canaima National Park. Check out this post to learn more about the business and owners, Paola and Pablo Cruz.

A vegan take on the Venezuelan dish Arepa Reina Pepiada with homemade chickpea poyo, garlic aioli, and creamy avocado. Also pictured: sweet plantains and guasacaca (a zesty, creamy Venezuelan green sauce made with cilantro and peppers).

January 10, 2025

Bake on the Run, El Salto PDX, La Carreta Pura Vida, Mekong Bistro, Mirisata, Nico’s Ice Cream, Obon Shokudo, Patience S Cuisine, portland, Portland Food, Portland Restaurant Guide, Portland Restaurants, Que Bacano, Swiss Hibiscus, The Bulgarian Job, Viking Soul Food
Viking Soul Food: A Portland Gem Where Pacific Northwest Meets Norwegian

Viking Soul Food’s bright blue exterior

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.”

A look inside the restaurant

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.”

Another glimpse of the restaurant’s bold red and blue interior

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.

Lefse wrap with mushroom and hazelnut patties

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!

Troll Snack

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

November 25, 2024

Lefse, Norwegian Food, Portland Food, Portland Restaurants, Viking Soul Food