My New Happy Place

I'm just finishing it now.  The Tequila Tres Leches cake that K and I picked up after dinner.  I love it even more today.  It could be because I stuffed my face silly last night and picking up the piece of cake for a very un-needed dessert was simply to satisfy my obsession with Tres Leches (3 Milks). No, this cake is worth it.  If you really knew me you'd know that means something.  I'm not usually a cake kind of person.  I prefer Pie.  Almost every time.  Tiramisu or Tres Leches would be the exceptions.  So let's talk about last night, and the delight that I found at the Portland Mercado.  Or, make that plural, Delights, we brought home a lot of good food.

We had gone looking to simply "check it out".  Friends had shared pictures from the Grand Opening a couple of weeks ago and I was excited to see how it turned out.  We entered the vividly glowing building through the foyer that holds Cafe' Revolucion.  That is where I first saw the Tequila Tres Leches.  Sitting in a lovely pastry case next to an equally scrumptious looking flan, this particular Tres Leches indicated something a little special with it's fresh lime slices sitting atop the pillowy whipped cream frosting. If there was truly tequila in the cake, I couldn't taste it but no matter.  The cake itself was the perfect spongy white cake consistency just slightly soaked in sweet condensed milk.  The frosting was creamy, cool and carried the lime flavor through out the layers of lusciousness.  Granted, it was the first thing I saw and I wanted it immediately but thought we should have dinner first.  With eight food carts and the beer/wine shop, Barrio,  calling our names, I decided we would return for it later in the evening.  Barrio is definitely worth looking into.  Growlers and bottles "to-go" along with a fine tap list and wines from Latin America to savor "in house".  After K and I gathered all the food we could carry we picked out a prime seating location and took in some highly enjoyable and lovely people watching.  We plan on spending many of our summer days parked in this same spot.

I enter the main room somewhat timidly, afraid to miss a single thing.  There are good things happening all around us, including a meat counter.  You can tell this place is poised to become a hub of the community.  The perfect neighborhood hang, with meat counter to boot.  A juice bar with line out the door, a dulceria (sweet shop), and did I mention the meat counter?

The lure of fresh spicy chorizo drew us quickly to The Don Felipe Chorizeria.  There we found Salud and Angelica and their absolutely delicious chorizo.  Hard to choose between the Red Chorizo, one of the best chorizos I have had or the exotic Green Chorizo, styled after chorizo popular to the Toluca region of Mexico just southwest of Mexico City.  We chose green this time and K whipped up chorizo and eggs this morning that were so fantastic I am still smiling about it 8 hours later.  Seriously. This giddiness may take me through Monday.


Let's get back to last night's dinner:  8 food carts, all highlighting cuisine from deliciously diverse regions of Latin America.  Salvador, Colombia, Cuba, Argentina, Mexico; amazing, but now what to choose?  Again with the choices people.  Good thing I choose to come back another couple hundred times, this place wins.

K and I do finally choose to sample off of three different carts and with fabulous results I must say.
First: our appetizer.  Yuca Frita from Que' Bacano.  Oh sweet heaven above.  These Yucca Fries are cut into little wedges and fried to crispy perfection.  Dense and moist, served with a garlic sauce that makes ketchup bow it's head in shame.  Enough for two to enjoy as a starter or just make it a deliciously reasonable meal.  But who said I was reasonable?












On to Fernando's for a Tuc Burrito.  A delicious vegi burrito featuring Nopales.  I cannot bring myself to go through the tortuous task of preparing and cooking cactus segments and so I am really happy I have found a place that will do it for me and then wrap the "leaves" into a big fat burrito full of goodness. The menu here is so enticing I can say that at least three of my next five trips to the Mercado will include a fresh, spicy delectable burrito from here.  All of the  burritos at Fernando's EASILY serve two.  Thank goodness I was splitting this monster with K.

Normal people would have stopped there.  By now, you've deduced I'm not normal people and so onto Mixteca. Hailing from Oaxaca, Mexico, Paula Asuncion easily makes some of Portland's most delicious tamales.  She's won awards for them for crying out loud. She started selling her tamales at Portland area farmer's markets in 2012 with business training and support from Micro Mercantiles.  But I wasn't here for the tamales this time.  Not this time, for there it was- a dish that is interpreted very differently everywhere you go but almost always turns up with delightful consequence: Mole (MOH lay). I like to say it slowly, drawn out, Mooooooooh laaaaaaaay.  The Mixteca cart at the Mercado had Mole, either in a full plate meal or as a bowl.  K and I went with the bowl: shredded chicken, black beans, white Mexican rice w/ veggies, Mole Negro sauce and topped with the Mixteca salad, a spicy lime-dressed coleslaw.  Authentically tasty.

And THEN we went back inside to purchase the Tres Leches.  To bring home.  To eat later.  K grabbed a fork and handed it to me.  "For the ride home".

Take note: Serious heart and soul went into this food.  Actually, serious heart and soul went into this entire venture.  The Portland Mercado is an incubator for small businesses and an economic development project of Hacienda.  Micro Mercantile runs a beautiful kitchen here, available for small businesses to use for a reasonable rental fee.  While we were there, a small cooking class was using the space.  This place really is a win-win situation for this neighborhood and this community in general.