There’s something afoot in the culinary tourism world. They’re called culinary walking tours and they combine two of my favorite pastimes: eating and walking.
Earlier this spring, I took Amtrak to Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C., on two separate weekends. My mission? To eat and walk in these two Pacific Northwest destinations.
To my delight, not only did I savor the food and drink along the way, I learned a lot, too.
It’s a fun and fresh way to explore a city.
Epicurean excursion in Portland
Why is a Brooklyn boy giving guided tours in Portland? David Schargel’s strong New York accent threw me off at first. But his energy and enthusiasm for his adopted city of 10 years is contagious.
As owner of Portland Walking Tours, Schargel is also one of the guides. On a blustery and rainy Saturday, he led 11 of us on the “Epicurean Excursion” tour, one of the most popular of his company’s offerings.
We were a mixed group, a blend of West and East Coasters, from Portland to Boston. After passing out bottles of Oregon Rain water, Schargel took us to the Flying Elephant Deli for a sample of tasty orange-tomato soup.
| If you go…
Edible British Columbia Culinary Walking Tours Granville Island, Chinatown, Commercial Drive $49; $71 with three-course lunch www.edible-britishcolumbia.com 888-812-9660 Portland Walking Tours Epicurean Excursion Pearl District – $59 www.portlandwalkingtours.com 503-774-4522 Amtrak www.amtrak.com 800-872-7245 Four Seasons Hotel 791 W. George St., Vancouver, B.C. 800-819-5053 www.fourseasons.com Hotel Lucia 400 SW Broadway, Portland www.hotellucia.com 877-225-1717 Typhoon at the Hotel Lucia 410 SW Broadway, Portland www.typhoonrestaurants.com 503-224-8285 West Restaurant &Bar 2881 Granville St., Vancouver, B.C. 604-738-8938 www.westrestaurant.com |
Let the eating begin.
“There are two things different on our tours from others,” Schargel said. “Constant commentary and revisiting themes.”
He didn’t let us down on either count. Throughout the tour he’d reiterate the FLOSS philosophy: Fresh, local, organic, sustainable and seasonal.
Our group boarded the Portland Street Car to the historic Pearl District, where we spent the next three hours. Schargel pointed to one of 179 drinking fountains in the city as he gave us a primer on the “Pearl.” Formerly the city’s warehouse district, it’s now a hip urban neighborhood.
Our first stop was Bridgeport Brewing, the oldest brewery in Oregon. Bridgeport’s “Cellar Brewer” Todd Fleming took over at this point. Although it was only 10:30 in the morning, we sampled a variety of their offerings: Blue Heron, IPA and Rope Walk. IPA is my favorite.
We’re able to go behind the scenes before it opened to the public and were even allowed into the hop room, where we inspected what would eventually brew into ale.
Next was one of my favorite spots in Portland, the Pearl Bakery. We got an inside peek into the bowels of the bakery, and sampled sourdough bread, baguettes, croissants, gibassier (a sweet bread with citrus and anise) and bouchon (a chocolate-type cake).
By now it was pouring outside, and we scooted into the comfortable chairs at In Good Taste, a cooking school and gourmet shop in the Pearl. Schargel introduced us to three different mustards, along with a Mayasara 2002 Estate Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley.
“What does estate wine mean?” I asked Scharvel.
He explained that not only are the grapes grown on site, the wine is made there, too. After all my wine tastings, I learned something new.
On to The Tea Zone, a casual and nonhoity-toity place where we tasted various teas: green (Jasmine Dragon Pearl), oolong (“It tastes like my grandma’s!”) and black (exotic). Schargel’s banter continued, and I learned that tea is second only to water in worldwide consumption.
After all the liquids, we felt a bit peckish. Hot Lips Pizza is in the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. The former 1895 warehouse underwent a “green” restoration and reopened five years ago. Today it’s a community-friendly and environmentally sound building.
We sat down at large tables and dug into one of Hot Lips’ artisan pizzas of potatoes, broccoli and onions (no tomatoes or cheese). It was unusual but tasty and washed down nicely with a Hot Lips handcrafted soda of apple, cranberry and ginger.
No tour is complete without dessert, so it was time for our final stop at Via Delizia, a dessert and coffee house. That’s where we sampled gelato and sorbet.
A perfect ending to an enlightening epicurean excursion.
Grazing on Granville
As a frequent visitor to Vancouver, B.C., sometimes I think I know it all. But after my husband and I went on two culinary walking tours with Edible British Columbia, I gained a whole new perspective about my favorite city on the West Coast.
Eric Pateman and Cecelia Yong were our guides for the Saturday morning tour. Partners in Edible B.C., they took us on the three-hour Granville Island Market tour.
Our first stop was a place I’ve frequented, La Baguette &L’Echalote. General manager Mark Tilkin, who hails from Belgium, said that people were lined up for blocks when it opened in 1982. As the first French bakery in Vancouver, it’s known for the signature baguettes, Le Petit Pain Au Chocolat and the French style cranberry pecan sourdough bread, their best seller.
South China Sea Trading Co. is a favorite spot of local chefs. As a chef and self-described foodie himself, Pateman frequents it often. The ethnic specialty store has unique products such as Meyer lemons, green papaya, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves. We picked up a bottle of ginger/hot pepper salad dressing made by owner Don Dickson’s wife. (No problem bringing it back across the border).
Pateman says you never know whom you’ll meet at the “little square table” at Granville Island Tea Co. We sampled Matcha tea and Masala chai tea, new tastes for both of us. Pateman pointed across the way, saying that Edible B.C. plans to open a retail spot in June of this year, featuring 200 local products.
Other stops along the way included the Stock Market (homemade soups and demi glace), Nons Drinks To Go (nonalcoholic cocktails such as a fresh peach puree bubbly Bellini), Oyama Sausage (best selling shop in the market), Armando’s (fine quality meats) and Terra Breads (try their signature fig anise bread and the yummy cornbread with chives, cheddar cheese and red onions).
As we head out from the main market, we stop in at Barbara-Jo’s Net Loft, a satellite bookstore to her main shop in Kitsilano. And if it’s a sunny day, Lobster Man will cook fresh lobster or crab that you can enjoy outside with other fresh foods from Granville Island Market.
Another slice of Vancouver
My first memory of Vancouver’s Chinatown is a bunch of dead chickens hanging in windows, complete with claws and beaks. Stephanie Yuen, our Chinatown Market Tour guide, laughed when I told her of my first impression.
A native of Hong Kong, Yuen has been living and writing about food and wine in Vancouver since 1977 and rattles off facts and information about the area’s food and people.
As she gave us a brief history of Chinatown, we walked through the Dr. Sun-Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden, the largest Chinese garden outside China.
Our next stop was at MyLite Soya Foods, a soy store, where we sampled mango soy dessert. Forget ice cream, this stuff is good. Forum Home Appliances has a wide array of rice cookers and Ten Ren’s Tea &Ginseng Co. carries a variety of tea and teapots.
“The purple clay ones are the best,” Yuen said.
I sip the ginseng variety, finding it quite bitter, and prefer the oolong tea from Taiwan.
Nearby is the Boss Bakery &Restaurant. Yuen describes it as a “Hong Kong” style bakery, very international. I have my first taste of Chinese wedding cake, which in fact is a red bean wedding cake. Strange taste, and I move on to the curried beef turnover that’s more to my liking.
Grocery stores carry a variety of produce including palmetto and lotus root, and Tinland is a bargain hunter’s paradise for cookware, restaurant equipment and supplies. We found unusual rectangular plates for $3 each.
At Dollar Meat, I sampled an array of products: barbecued pork, Chinese sausage, octopus, pig’s ear and tripe. At Top Taste I was happy to bite into the pork bun that helped me forget about the pig’s ear and tripe.
After the tour, Yuen took us to Jade Dynasty Restaurant on Pender Street. We’d been walking all day, and it was a treat to sit down and have her order the dim sum for us. We dined on prawn dumplings, steamed beef balls with bean leaves, steamed radish cakes with dried scallops, rice flour rolls with barbecued pork and bean leaves and stuffed eggplant with shrimp puree.
And pots of tea.
Sue Frause is a Whidbey Island freelance writer and photographer. E-mail her at skfrause@whidbey.com.
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