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When we say westside, we’re talking Northwest, Southwest and the suburbs beyond—that’s where you’ll find perfect salts and chocolates, Persian tea and Lebanese bites (you can find them at the airport now, too; more on that below). So whet your appetite and start your journey.
Barbur World Foods and World Foods Everett
9845 SW Barbur Blvd., 503-244-0670, worldfoodsportland.com. 8 am–10 pm daily. 830 NW Everett St., 503-802-0755. 8 am–8 pm daily.
You’ve technically got two westside options for World Foods. The first, on Southwest Barbur Boulevard, leans a little more suburban, while the Northwest Everett Street location is a smaller space. But in both, the goods feel rooted in city life, equal parts international, elevated and local. The primarily Mediterranean markets were a natural progression for owners John and Mirna Attar. The two emigrated to Portland from Lebanon and, missing certain foods, eventually started the restaurant Ya Hala in Montavilla in 1999, then Barbur World Foods in 2004, followed by the Everett location in 2014. In fact, there’s a new Barbur Foods, a slimmed-down version of the market, in Portland International Airport’s newest terminal. All the locations remain a family affair, with John and Mirna still at the helm, along with their kids Joyce and Pascal. The family tries to source local goods from companies developed by the nonprofit Built Oregon (where Joyce serves as a board member), but the market’s real crown jewel is its deli case. All the prepared foods come out of Ya Hala, still overseen by Mirna, the executive chef. All those delights in tiny clamshells are labor intensive and made from scratch. Enjoy every loving bite. ROBIN BACIOR.
Grab one: We’ll say this—if it’s in the cold case and has the Ya Hala sticker on it, eat it.
Cedar Halaal
4255 SW Cedar Hills Blvd., Beaverton, 971-727-3167. 10 am–8 pm daily.
A small market in a Cedar Hills strip mall, Cedar Halaal offers Middle Eastern staples like couscous, dried pulses and turnip pickles, as well as tempting snacks like hazelnut wafer cookies and sour watermelon candy. In the refrigerated section, you’ll find phyllo, Danish butter and labneh. The spice section is amply stocked, and the canned preserves include exciting options like whole-strawberry jams and rose preserves. The store also includes a halal butcher and a small deli whose menu include shawarma, roasted chicken and falafel sandwiches, all for less than $10, making for an affordable lunch after you make a run to stock up on goods. (The shop is also situated next door to Salsa Market, making for an easy grocery run if you need to stock your pantry with Mexican ingredients too.) CHRISTEN McCURDY.
Grab one: Sera Pickled Garlic with Pepper Sauce ($4.99). I haven’t cracked the jar open yet, but the possibilities feel endless: salad dressing, deviled egg filling, pasta sauce, ramen broth? Yes.
Bazaar Food Market
10255 SW Canyon Road, Beaverton, 503-641-1352. 9 am–8 pm daily.
Here you’ll find a whole aisle of different kinds of olives, a massive selection of hot sauces, plus big bags of rice and dried pulses including chickpeas, red lentils and moong dal. Bazaar also carries pickled lemons, teas, jams, syrups and a variety of chutneys and Indian pickles. This shop also doesn’t disappoint in the snack section: You’ll find halva (a crumbly, fudgelike treat made from tahini), baklava and Turkish delight. Those with more savory palates will find Tiger brand halal chips as well as Turkish Doritos (seasoned with poppy seeds and tomato flavoring). You can also get fresh-baked flatbreads here, and Bazaar Restaurant—situated near the checkout counter—offers items like lamb shank over rice ($19), falafel over rice ($15) or a halal beef or chicken burger ($10). CHRISTEN McCURDY.
Grab one: Mechaalany Pickled Wild Cucumbers (starting at $5.99). These tiny, pale pickled Armenian cucumbers pack a tangy, salty, slightly bitter punch—and are nicely firm and crispy.
The Meating Place
6495 NW Cornelius Pass Road, 503-533-0624, meatingplacepdx.com. 9 am–6 pmTuesday-Saturday, 9 am–5 pm Sunday.
Look for the Ford Ranchero painted with T-bone steaks and you’ll know: Here’s the beef. The cattle-customed car marks the entrance to a 20,000-square-foot butcher’s campus that includes a mobile slaughtering service ($150 per hog, with a markup if it weighs more than 301 pounds), a beef herd sold under the “Meating Right” brand, a raw dog food line dedicated to the owner’s German shorthaired pointer Lucy, and a cafe serving burgers and turkey sandwiches. It’s a lot to take in, even before you get to the checkout counter with T-shirts reading, “Stop staring at my rump.” (There’s a cartoon drawing of rump roast.) But owner Casey Miller has a philosophy at work, a kind of carnivore’s dilemma: He wants to reduce the packaging, shipping and other climate impact that’s packed into supermarket chuck. “Meating Right is humanely raised 14 miles away from where you’re standing right now,” reads a sign over the prime rib ($24 a pound), “for the lowest carbon footprint possible.” AARON MESH.
Grab one: If you’re not feeling the ambition to cook up some oxtail—hard to track down in a local meat case, and available here for $13 a pound—then stop by the freezer case for premade items like ground beef seasoned for Taco Tuesday ($14).
Apna Bazaar
1815 NW 169th Place, #6022, Beaverton, 503-533-0424, apnabazaarpdx.com.10:30 am–9 pm daily.
Situated in a nondescript office park next to Apna Chat Bhavan, Apna Bazaar carries 20-pound bags of basmati as well as atta (a flour used to make flatbreads like roti), corn flour and millet, and a wide variety of legumes; the produce selection includes kavela, Chinese and Indian eggplant, and methi. You can also find frozen naan, a huge variety of pickles and chutneys (including lemon pickles) and convenience foods such as Minute Meals curries and Ching’s Secret ramen (we snagged packages of the Schezwan and Singapore noodle flavors). The snack aisle features Lay’s Masala Chips and a wide variety of crispy dal and lentil mixes. You can also find Indian personal care products, Ayurvedic herbal remedies, and an entire aisle of incense and incense accessories. CHRISTEN McCURDY.
Grab one: A freezer case near the entrance offers frozen entrees made at Apna Chat Bhavan ($6.99 for vankaya masala; $7.99 for chana masala).
Négociant
655 NW 21st Ave., 503-384-2946, negociantpdx.com. 11:30 am–8 pm Monday–Saturday, noon–6 pm Sunday.
“Everything we stock here is ready to go on a picnic,” says Sami Gaston, owner of Négociant, a French wine shop, cheese counter and cafe on Northwest 21st Avenue. Négociant is sort of the daytime counterpart to Gaston’s nightlife business just two doors down, Bar Diane. It stocks all manner of tempting European goodies—I could have filled a grocery bag in five minutes, but it would have been a very spendy grocery bag—so Gaston points out a few of the most popular items. The Donostia manzanilla olives ($9) have “a cult following,” she says; a sales associate says the Brets potato chips with French blue cheese ($9) might be sprinkled with magic for how good they are. In-the-know shoppers make a beeline for the tinned fish, such as Jose Gourmet’s sardines in tomato or lemon ($11), and the three to five specialty butters in the refrigerator in the back, such as one with sea salt crystals ($11). That’s actually Gaston’s weakness, she says: “This one’s for toast, this one’s for cooking, this one’s for when I need something special. It’s a problem.” A delicious problem to have. RACHEL SASLOW.
Grab one: A chocolate tarte aux mendiants ($10) topped with nuts and dried fruit made by Southwind Microbakery. It’s rich and big enough for sharing and has a hidden layer of caramel.
The Meadow
805 NW 23rd Ave., 503-305-3388, themeadow.com. 10 am–8 pm daily. 3731 N Mississippi Ave., 503-974-8349. 11 am–7 pm daily. 3731 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-288-4633. 11 am–7 pm daily.
If you’ve ever drunk tequila out of a shot glass with a salted rim and thought, “Why don’t they make the whole shot glass out of salt?” you need to visit The Meadow. This store, founded in 2006 by Mark Bitterman, offers a set of four pink Himalayan salt shot glasses for $34. You can also get a sushi stick ($12) or platter ($46) made of Himalayan salt, with the aim of giving your homemade sushi or your charcuterie board a little something extra. This store also has a wall of chocolate bars from around the world, tinned fish, local and imported preserves, housemade pastas, and Bitterman’s own line of salts, as well as a mind-bending array of salts from around the world. This isn’t the place to go to stock up on staples; it’s the place to get something for your foodie friend who has everything. If you want to learn more about artisanal salt and how to use it, though, The Meadow has you covered; Bitterman’s Craft Salt Cooking (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 176 pages) is available for $20. CHRISTEN McCURDY.
Grab one: Among the more accessible items—in terms of price point and practicality—are the infused salts, which come in flavors such as chili lime, Sriracha, buttery popcorn and Parmesan truffle. These start at $12; I snagged a jar of smoked cheddar salt, figuring if nothing else, it would make movie night a little more fun.
Zupan’s Market – Burnside
2340 W Burnside St., 503-497-1088, zupans.com. 7 am–8 pm Monday–Sunday.
“Squeeze the day,” the sign says, amid images of green and orange and red citrus fruits, cut enticingly in the round. The sign greets shoppers as they enter Zupan’s flagship market on West Burnside Street, one in a set of three presided over by president and CEO Mike Zupan. The first sight within: swarthy oranges, arranged in a bountiful pile. A few feet yonder, more delights. Asparagus—both green and white—impresses with its uncommon girth. Farther along, mist floats down over psychedelic purple cauliflower. I told various people I was going to Zupan’s, and they inevitably responded, “That place is expensive,” which is true. If you need, say, the classic Huy Fong Sriracha sauce, you should probably just go to Freddy’s. But that’s not what Zupan’s is about. It’s about the honeycomb in the cheese zone. Or the coconut date rolls a few aisles over. It’s about two adolescents froliclicking through the aisles, as Robyn’s ethereal melodies pulse through the sound system above. Do you need the frozen brie en croute with raspberry for $19.99? Perhaps not. But like Mr. Zupan himself, I say, “Squeeze the day!” ANDREW SCHWARTZ.
Grab one: Usually I resist premade pasta sauces, supposing that I’ll whip up something more refined from scratch. The problem is that the vodka sauces I make are actually always disappointing and terrible. If yours are too, consider grabbing a pack of “Fussiloni Giganti” ($8.99) and a jar of Carbone’s “World Famous” Spicy Vodka Sauce ($8.99, on sale), and pouring them together (make sure you follow the instructions and pour in heavy cream too). The result is very good.
Rose International Market
6153 SW Murray Blvd., Beaverton, 503-646-7673. 10 am–7 pm Monday–Saturday.
The original owner of Rose International Market opened its doors in 1989 with a credit card and $6,000, says Sadri, a current co-owner. “It’s been here for forever.” He and his business partner took over about seven years ago to continue breathing life into the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern grocery, which packs an extraordinary variety of products into a couple of stuffed aisles. The store largely specializes in dry goods, with bulk bins carrying everything from falafel mix to green lentils. There’s an impressive selection of Persian teas—the most popular, Sadri says, is a black Shamshiri Persian Tea from Quality Tea Company that’s flavored with bergamot and citrus ($17.99). The produce is limited and rotates seasonally. On a Thursday in April, standout items included sour oranges, often used in fish dishes and richer stews, and green almonds, unripe fruits slightly larger than your standard grape with a green apple-like tartness. A couple of refrigerated cases also stock sautéed herb stews catered toward specific dishes, including ghormeh sabzi, a blend of leek, parsley, fenugreek and spinach. Sadri notes the store has a loyal customer base that keeps growing. “The in-laws will go for a visit and ask, ‘Where’d you get that? I like that dish,’” he says. “We carry products that you really can’t find anywhere else.” JOANNA HOU.
Grab one: Sadri recommends first-timers try the market’s packaged pastries. Try the bite-sized chickpea cookies ($11.99), which are clover-shaped and melt in the mouth. They’ve got a slightly nutty flavor and a subtle sweetness, with hints of cardamom and rosewater.
This story is part of Pantry Companion, our guide to filling your kitchen cupboards. Pantry Companion is a small magazine, distributed free throughout Portland. Find out where to get yours by checking this map.
