Ok, this is wild! We were booked on the Art Food Tour on Alberta Street with Eat Adventures. But a water main broke on Alberta Street closing all the stores and restaurants as water was rushing down the street. The power was out as well. Eat Adventures quickly put together another tour of fine dining of Portland. We had a choice between getting a full refund(84) or going on a tour at 2:30. Because of their excellent planning we enough time to get to the Headwaters Restaurant and take the tour.
At the Headwaters inside the Heathman Hotel, we had sturgeon pastrami, smoked herring schmear, house crackers with a Heather Allen Pilsner Beer. It was incredible! I had never had sturgeon pastrami. Ok, I’m had regular pastrami and turkey pastrami but not sturgeon pastrami. Wow! The smoked herring was awesome! Of course it was made with cream! I wanted to put the smear on everything. It was that good! I figured we got our moneys worth right here. I have walked by this restaurant every time I have been to Portland but didn’t think to go in the restaurant.
Next, we went to Q Restaurant and Bar and had mahummara & house made lavash. The mahummara had olives, feta, herbs, walnuts, and pomegranates. It was described as a fancier version of hummus. We also had a small glass of Chardonnay by Cameron Dundee Hills, OR, 2016.
The Front of Q Restaurant 
The Q Bar 
Mahummara & Chardonnay 
Mahummara & lavash 
Q Kitchen at work
Our next stop was Dar Salam, an Iraqi Restaurant. Once again, I have never been to an Iraqi Restaurant. To start we had the Adis Soup (Curried Lentil Soup), some hummus which was made of chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice and garlic, garnished with paprika and olive oil. We were also served Tahziki, which is a yogurt blended with fresh garlic, lemon juice and cucumber and garnished with zaatar and olive oil. We had Baba Ghanoush as well. This Baba Ghanoush was a very smokey roasted eggplant ground with tahini, garlic and lemon juice. We also had two pieces of fafalel on a bed of rice. Da Salam’s pita bread was outstanding! There was a big run on the pita bread by the tour group.
Inside Dar Salam 
Another view of the inside 
Fafalel on a bed of rice 
Great hot sauce 
Baba Ghanoush 
Curried lentil soup 
Pita 
Our friendly host 
The outside of Dar Salam
Our next stop was Bao Bao a Portland Food Cart. A Bao Bao is a bread like a dumping. We had the mushroom one and also the sweet red bean. Once again, I have never had a Bao Bao although I really like Chinese food.
Bao Bao Food Truck 
Two Bao Baos 
The inside of a Bao Bao
At The Crown at by Imperial, which was our next restaurant, we had a slice of the Imperial pizza without the chicken. This gorgeous pizza had a ranch sauce with pickles, yellow peppers, we also had a Bramble cocktail which is a gin drink with lots of shaved ice topped with a lemon. Delicious! What a pizza and a lovely cocktail to boot!
The Front door of the Crown 
Inside the Crown 
The Crown Bramble with a kick 
The Crown Imperial Pizza with Chicken 
Crown Pizza with out chicken
Lastly we went to Cacao’s for a drinking chocolate. Excellent chocolate it was a fun way to end the tour.
Cacao Storefront 
Inside Cacao 
The Counter at Cacao 
A Cup of Drinking Chocolate 
The Front of a Cup of Drinking Chocolate
Thank you to Alexis who was our knowledgeable and helpful tour guide. (Remember to tip for this memorable experience).
I highly recommend going on food tours in different cities. Food tours take me out of my comfort zone and expose me to different kinds of cuisine. Food tours also take you into different neighborhoods that you might often miss. It is very helpful that the food tour lists their possible restaurants on their websites so you can see what you are getting into. You can also make arrangements with the company to accommodate your dietary needs. We emailed Eating Adventures that we are pescatarians so they would know ahead of time. They were able to plan accordingly to make the tour work for us.
I have found that I really know a city much better by taking the time to investigate its food.
Santa Fe City Different Foodie 