Signature cocktails such as The Hurricane, festive colors, beads and masks may entice you to definitely enter the New Orleans experience bought at Portland's Tapalaya, but it's the surprising multi-cultural cuisine that can keep you returning. Tapalaya beautifully reflects New Orleans' rich cultural traditions now features Asian-Cajun dishes in the updated, exciting tapas menu.
Why New Orleans Cuisine is SpecialNew Orleans, the famous Gulf Coast city, certainly reflects the traditions with the French who settled the area in the 1700's. But which is only part with the story. It is said that this local indigenous people bartered with colonial French settlers for European trade goods and, in turn, introduced the French to locally-grown foods and herbs, including corn, beans, squash, pumpkins, and melons. Add within the shellfish and wild game and also the tradition of Creole cuisine came to be.
Africans came as slaves to Louisiana. Their food traditions had a lasting relation to Creole cuisine, starting with the introduction of okra and gumbo, produced by West African 'gombo' stew created using okra.
And then there were the French Acadians have been given land grants in the Mississippi from New Orleans and moved in the swamps, bayous, and prairies of Louisiana to farm the land. They raised their unique meat. Their culinary traditions evolved being the Cajun food we understand today. Cajun food reflects this rural influence, featuring wild game, pork, beef, and cured and fresh sausages.
People from Spain, Germany and France located Louisiana and brought together their tastes in food. But this blending of rich culinary traditions is not only just relegated to early history. If you haven't been to New Orleans, may very well not be aware with the influx of Vietnamese refugees escaping the incoming Communist regime at the end from the vietnam tours War. Many Vietnamese fled to America inside the mid-1970s, and a good large number settled in Louisiana. Vietnamese culinary tradition has created its mark on the standard Cajun/ Creole cuisine too.
Tapalaya Reflects New Orleans' Vibrant HeritageAll this is being played out daily at Tapalaya on NE 28th Avenue, one of Portland's trendy dining streets. And this can be the reason you will want to dine there. Whether it is a signature cocktail, small plate or full dinner, you'll savor the cuisine, both the traditional and also the blended. For inside Tapalaya, you will find a fusion of culinary traditions rooted in this which makes New Orleans such an important destination.
Tapalaya's reputation is a result of the vision of owner Chantal Angot, as well as the halong world heritage and creativity of Chef Anh Luu. Born in New Orleans where she grew up with her Vietnamese family, Chef Anh Luu experienced a melding of culinary cultures early in her childhood. She grew up with the flavors of Southeast Asia from her parents' cooking alongside the classic French, Spanish, Caribbean and African cuisine of New Orleans. This delicious culinary melange inspired her halong world heritage years later to make the unique Asian-Cajun tapas cuisine that they and owner Chantal Angot have introduced at Tapalaya in Portland, Oregon.
The Tapalaya ExperienceBuilding upon the restaurant's contemporary Cajun/Creole tapas cuisine, Angot and Luu recently launched Vietnamese-inspired special dishes and introduced a brand new menu featuring their Asian-Cajun tapas cuisine. Look for the small special menu.
When you dine at Tapalaya you can actually choose from a selection of dishes. If you like traditional Vietnamese, it'll be there. Try the Vietnamese coconut caramelized pork with pickled mustard greens. If you want to reminisce about your days within the deep south, you can look at something like the blackened shrimp or catfish po'boy.
You'll find dishes that you could expect to get traditional Cajun or Creole. But when you taste them, you'll find some Asian influence. It might be the addition of lemongrass or it may be the hint of fish sauce that surprises you. Foodies is going to be drawn to these innovations.
While trying new things is fun and exciting, I always appreciate basic food that is done well and it has just a small creative twist. At Tapalaya, I savored some of the basics and appreciated what Chef Ahn had done using them. The creamy grits, a southern staple, was noteworthy. Try their Grillades and Grits, slow braised beef cheeks with onion gravy, and you're going to get hooked. Order their fried chicken and you should not only get excellent buttermilk fried chicken, you'll experience their delightful bourbon pecan syrup (served on the side).
And ask your server about what's new. After sampling such a variety of tastes and traditions, I thought there was nothing more Tapalaya could do in order to surprise and delight me. Wrong! For dessert we were offered new things... rice pudding with red bean frozen treats and red bean caramel sauce. And it was amazing. This was a great send-off after nighttime in Portland's little bit of New Orleans.
Tapalaya prides themselves on serving locally sourced ingredients anytime you can. The food is fresh, willing to order plus they are responsive to people that might be vegan, vegetarian or have food allergies.
More Information Tapalaya WebsiteTapalaya Facebook Page28 NE 28th AvenuePortland, OR 97232
(503) 232-6652
Lunch, Dinner and Happy Hour
See Also: Tapalaya Review from Portland Sustainable Foods Examiner
Note: As is common in the travel industry, the writer was given a complimentary meal for that purpose of review. While it have not influenced this review, the writer believes completely disclosure of most potential conflicts of curiosity.