Being right here in Portland, you begin to suppose,
you realize, it is a little overrated.
Are we in some kind of Portlandia episode?
Well, I used to be in a Portlandia episode.
We’re not cooks. I believe what we ordered
is known as tsukemen.
It’s pronounced tsukemen.
[chilled music]
Hey, Gregory Gourdet right here.
Today I’m taking you to all my favourite, the greatest,
most attention-grabbing eating places in Portland, Oregon.
This is Where The Chefs Eat.
[upbeat music]
We’re at Akadi,
one in every of my favourite eating places in Portland.
There’s an unimaginable story behind this restaurant.
Chef Fatou truly began making West African meals
in her dorm room at PSU when she was a pupil,
as a manner to feed herself and simply provide her tradition
to a few of her associates and colleagues.
That rapidly become Akadi,
which began in northeast Portland.
That restaurant had fully blown up, received limitless awards.
So throughout COVID, Fatou closed the restaurant,
to truly go house again to the Ivory Coast, Cote d’Ivoire,
and spend time together with her mom, her kinfolk,
and simply study extra conventional recipes
and produce that tradition, carry that inspiration again.
[chilled music]
This seems actually good, so I wanna eat some.
[laughs] Yes, please dig in.
Alright, let’s get into these wings.
Yeah. So inform me a little bit
about mustard in West Africa.
So that got here via colonization,
and I all the time say that that is the solely good factor
they introduced, [chuckles],
once they got here to West Africa.
Because we have now so many superb dishes now
that we had been in a position to take from them
and create our personal twist of West African delicacies.
So this sauce that goes with the suya wing
is a type of that is known as dibi,
and normally it is like a marinade
that’s used to grill meat, fish,
and even prepare dinner a yassa,
in case you’re aware of the Senegalese yassa.
But I made a decision to pair it with this suya wing
as a result of I believe it goes rather well,
surprisingly, with the peanut rub on the hen.
These wings are hitting.
[both laugh]
They are so crispy.
Thank you.
This stage of suya spice on the exterior is unimaginable.
Thank you. It’s like completely spicy.
There’s truly tons of texture.
It’s so good. Thank you.
[both laugh]
It’s like throughout my fingers, I find it irresistible.
Hmm, all proper, let’s get into the jollof.
Yay.
I opened Akadi and I’m considering, okay,
Jollof originated from Senegal,
proper, from the Wolof individuals. The Wolof individuals.
So I begin with the jollof from Senegal,
and I’m very proud, I’m very excited.
And the jollof from Nigeria is the one which promote the most.
[both laugh]
The previous basic jollof wars.
You know, as a rice, that is actually scrumptious.
It’s actually savory.
If you have not had jollof,
jollof is a spiced rice,
tomatoes, ginger- Yep.
Scotch bonnet. Yep.
Onions, all that great things.
Yeah, precisely.
Somewhat little bit of smokiness there, yeah.
Let’s speak about the fufu
and let’s speak about you bringing fufu to Oregon.
Yeah, that was enjoyable.
And let’s speak about how many individuals
eat this with a fork and a knife.
Ah. [both laugh]
I hoped individuals will eat fufu with their palms.
I gave that up.
You have to eat along with your hand, clearly,
like the chef is doing right here.
You take a little piece
after which simply take your stew with it,
along with your thumb there, identical to what you are doing.
But I perceive individuals did not develop up
consuming with their fingers,
however I used to be pleasantly stunned to know a lot,
90% of my clients order fufu.
I believe that is superior.
Yeah. Yeah.
I imply, it is simply such a distinctive factor.
It’s, if you have not had fufu, it is creamy.
it is simply savory, it is actually simply comforting.
And there’s a ton of various form of fufu.
That’s the factor I would really like individuals to perceive.
We have the corn fufu,
which is a little like cornbread.
Okay. And then we have now
this pounded yam that’s extra impartial.
Okay. So it pairs nicely
with nearly all the dishes.
But then in Ivory Coast we have now the plantain fufu,
which is a bit candy, it is my favourite.
Yes, sure.
And then we have now the cassava fufu.
We even have the sorghum fufu, the millet fufu.
There’s so many.
[upbeat music]
Oh man.
Okay. There you go, chef.
So we have now the pompano fish right here
in the peppered fish stew.
It’s peanut butter combined with ginger, habanero, garlic.
All the good issues.
And this one is definitely from Sierra Leon.
Oh, okay. It was my mother-in-law
who truly taught me how to make this.
Oh wow. It’s a bit spicy.
Oh, we love that.
That’s good.
I find it irresistible as a result of the fish simply tastes so recent.
And then you’ve gotten this cool,
form of peanut buttery, oniony,
form of combination to dip into. Yeah.
It’s actually flavorful. Thank you.
And it compliments the fish rather well.
That peanut butter is banging.
[both laugh]
It’s so good with the chili.
I really feel like peanut butter is,
we prepare dinner it- Oh my God.
With each meal in West Africa.
It’s so good.
Peanut butter stew. Yeah.
Peanut butter marinade, we do suya.
We put it all over the place. [laughs]
[gentle music]
Good to see you. It’s so good to see you.
Yeah, yeah, come right here.
Bye guys. Thank you.
[chilled music]
Right now we’re in downtown Portland
and we’re about to enter Nodoguro
which is one in every of the greatest eating places in Portland, Oregon.
But it is truly in a fairly uncommon house.
But in case you go round the nook
and also you go up the stairs,
what awaits you is one in every of the greatest eating places
and one in every of the greatest Japanese kaisekis in Portland, Oregon.
My nice pal Ryan and Elena’s restaurant Nodoguro.
I’ve been associates with Ryan and Elena for a lot of, a few years,
and we playfully combat for the primary title
of Portland’s greatest eating places.
Come with me and let’s have a look at
why they’re all the time at the high of that record.
[chilled music]
The benefit of being in Portland,
it is this place the place you’ll be able to come in
and simply have a actually inventive imaginative and prescient.
Try and do one thing unique,
attempt to do one thing new.
So our model was the kaiseki with out the guidelines,
which was form of a Japanese high-end delicacies.
But our level of origin was proper right here
in the Pacific Northwest, Portland, Oregon.
One of the most enjoyable issues about shifting to Portland
was that you simply see so many elements right here
that we do not have different locations in the US
and a lot of these share commonality
with issues that you’d discover in Japan
and even are the very same factor.
We share a lot of volcanic terrain with Japan too.
And Mount Hood, the manner that it is enriched our soil
actually offers us unimaginable elements right here.
And you see the similar form of factor in Japan.
Fun little dish that we have been engaged on
is pairing our oysters
with a little bit of citrus
such as you would usually see with an oyster.
And then at this time we have taken it simply a little additional.
We’re gonna high this off with a shaved ice
comprised of cucumber vinegar we have made in home right here.
This is thrilling.
So we’ll begin with our shaved and our oyster.
Wow, so that is completely an explosive,
superb, scrumptious chunk.
The oysters are plump, they’re briny.
There’s a little little bit of saline.
The cucumber vinegar,
you get that lovely, heat summer season style of cucumber,
but it surely’s bracingly acidic, it is ice chilly.
This is a incredible beginning chunk.
What’s subsequent?
Okay.
We’re diving into this little meringue scenario.
Oh.
Wow.
Mm.
So that is like a savory meringue
black garlic mushroom.
Very distinctive to get that texture in one thing savory.
There’s a little little bit of sweetness,
but it surely all performs actually, rather well collectively.
That was very, very good.
[chilled music]
And we’re entering into this very hanging
squid ink toast with king salmon and caviar.
Very inquisitive about this bread, Ryan.
It seems like a piece of charcoal. [laughs]
The unique model of this dish truly was charcoal
‘trigger what we discovered as we went via,
it form of appeared extra our fashion
and gave it higher texture and taste utilizing the squid ink.
So a lot nice umami to it.
From the salmon to the caviar,
to the crispiness of the bread,
it is actually a incredible chunk.
Some extra goodies, I suppose we’ll simply go clockwise.
So I like abalone.
Abalone is certainly a very, very particular ingredient.
It’s a sea mollusk.
It could be a little robust if it is cooked incorrectly.
But this has a texture very related to conch.
Mm, so good.
It’s truly fairly creamy, steamed in sake,
shiny, floral.
So what we have now right here is inexperienced tea poached octopus,
a little little bit of marinated shiitake
and a creamy aerated potato,
and a little little bit of Spanish paprika.
Let’s dig in.
Hmm, creamy, wealthy, these unctuous nuggets of that shiitake.
This lovely piece of octopus.
Wow.
Some tender octopus, Ryan. [laughs]
[chilled music]
For dessert, we’re simply gonna carry in
a multi-tier bunch of little desserts.
I need ’em to be form of playful, really feel of a bento.
Elena discovered these actually cool nesting doll type-
Like little face.
Yeah, it is like a Russian nesting doll fashion bento.
So on the high layer we have now our little set of snacks.
Okay.
Then on the backside of your- Oh goodness.
Dessert. I forgot there’s extra.
Oh, wow.
[Ryan] Matcha tofu, little strawberry jam.
Hmm.
I’m getting this unimaginable, in the greatest manner potential,
Japanese strawberry cheesecake scenario factor taking place.
And as somebody who grew up on Junior’s Cheesecake
that is by far the greatest model, [laughs],
of an elevated fashion that I’ve ever had.
So, thanks, Ryan.
Being right here in Portland, you begin to suppose,
you realize, it is a little overrated.
Are we in some kind of Portlandia episode?
Well, I used to be in a Portlandia episode. [laughs]
That’s proper, yeah.
We have one order of tsukemen.
Oh. Tsukemen.
This is it our chilly Japanese dipping noodles.
More garnishes will likely be popping out.
I do not suppose that is what we ordered.
We do not work right here.
Are you, are you asking us to, to make it?
Yeah, we’re not cooks.
I believe what we ordered is known as tsukemen.
It’s pronounced tsukemen. Tsukemen?
Enjoy.
I believe at the finish of the day,
a few of the issues that we joke about,
you realize, the issues that form of made it on to Portlandia
are literally factor that we take fairly significantly.
Yeah. And I believe the pleasure
in that humor is how significantly we take, you realize,
moral sourcing and native elements
and you realize, I’m, you realize,
simply geeking over tayberries, you realize.
Portlandia guys did their analysis.
Regulars of yours, no? Yeah.
All proper, so.
I believe they hit the nail on the head.
They hit the nail, they hit a lot of issues on that.
[both laugh]
Mm.
Mm. Thank you a lot.
Thanks for being right here. Yeah.
[upbeat music]
We are in Southeast Portland.
We’re at Paadee.
Paadee is an unimaginable and iconic
Northern Thai fashion restaurant.
It’s been a part of the group for a lot of, a few years,
and it is undoubtedly one in every of my favorites.
Oh.
Thank you. All good.
I completely adore these chive desserts.
They’re actually, actually attention-grabbing
as a result of it has a very, very cool texture.
Really conventional in a lot of Asian flavors,
particularly all through Southeast Asia.
But there’s like a little bit of those chives.
It’s completed with toasted garlic,
and it is drenched in this type of like
darkish, deep soy form of dressing
that has a little little bit of vinegar as nicely.
So it is like savory, it is funky.
It’s bought this actually chewy, heat inside.
But the exterior, as a result of it is fried,
it’s actually, actually crispy.
It’s heat, it is chewy, it is crispy.
It undoubtedly hits on so many notes.
Oh, thanks.
So right here we have now an asparagus and shrimp salad.
And that is like a lovely illustration
of the actually conventional flavors.
So we have now some lovely inexperienced asparagus,
sauteed or wok fired,
simply till it is good and shiny,
crispy, crunchy, shiny, juicy.
And I see some toasted shallots.
I see some recent shallots.
The shrimp are plump.
They’re simply completely tenderly cooked.
Its a lovely distinction to that basically crispy,
crunchy, juicy asparagus.
[upbeat music]
Oh, shit.
We’ve bought crab fried rice. Oh my goodness.
[Server] And alongside is that prik nam pla.
Thank you a lot. Welcome.
Wow.
It’s like a type of olfactory conditions,
undoubtedly entails all the senses,
and odor is certainly one in every of ’em.
So I all the time like to odor my meals earlier than diving in.
I simply odor recent crab.
It’s oceanic, it is briny, it is brisky,
and it makes you actually excited.
I see these large, lovely hunks of crab.
We love crab right here in Oregon.
We are a crab city, and that is undoubtedly
one in every of my favourite crab dishes in the metropolis as nicely.
We have this lovely marinade of garlic and chilies
and simply a little little bit of fish sauce.
And I’m gonna drizzle that
simply to give the rice dish a little bit extra kick.
I’m gonna squeeze on a little little bit of lime
simply to add a little little bit of acid,
and we’re going to dive in.
It’s so good.
You have that crab,
which is definitely a little bit candy,
and it truly pairs rather well
with the funkiness of the fish sauce.
And it is heat, it is fluffy, it is so comforting.
You have the scrambled egg, the onion.
[chilled music]
Ooh. Pandan pudding.
Awesome. Thank you.
I like all desserts,
however I particularly love Southeast Asian desserts
as a result of they’re closely targeted on coconut,
which is one in every of my favourite elements.
A pandan custard,
pandan is that this actually lovely floral leaf
that is used as an fragrant and herb
all through Southeast Asia.
It’s been become this jiggly, wobbly,
mildly candy custard.
It’s scrumptious.
It has a lot taste, a lot depth.
There’s a grassiness to it.
That coconut milk has that wealthy sweetness to it,
but additionally identical to a little little bit of saline from the salt.
It’s actually rounding it out actually superbly.
[chilled music]
Today we went to a few of my favourite eating places
in Portland, Oregon.
We had scrumptious, explosive, northeastern Thai delicacies.
We had a lovely elegant Japanese kaiseki fashion menu,
after which iconic West African flavors.
Back to my common job.
I hope you place these eating places in your record
while you come go to us.
Till then, be nicely.