VittlesVamp

Portlandia - The Farmers Market

A recent West Coast business trip afforded me the privilege of a quick weekend getaway to Portland to see friends and discover whether or not the city is truly "Brooklyn lite," or if Brooklyn is actually "Portland heavy."

More on that soon.

Today's post is simply focused on snapshots of one of the city's most impressive features.

Love or hate the city's laid-back, tribal-tattooed and organic-obsessive sensibilities, there is no question that Portland knows how to put together one hell of a gorgeous farmer's market. And, these pictures speak for themselves...

And, then there was this...

Yeah. No surprise here. The city has a cage-free, compost-or-die rep for a reason.

Get Your Fine Self Over to Shelsky's of Brooklyn

I'm so not kidding. See that photo up there? It's a photo of a New Catch Holland Herring from Shelsky's with all of the classic accoutrement, namely finely diced sweet onion and minced pickle.

This stuff isn't just good: it is fish butter.

Strike that.

It is fish butt-aaah. (Emphasis on the "butt" if you throw in too many bagels schmeared with Ben's Cream Cheese on the side, along with a dozen house-baked Chocolate Babka Muffins.)

And, if Shelsky's is out of the New Catch Holland Herring (it has a ridiculously small season), they have plenty of other herring to offer. I'm a bit leery of the Fiery Jamaican Jerk Herring, but the French Oak-Smoked Herring has been known to illicit oohs and aahs from yours truly.

Then there is their righteous Smoked Whitefish Salad, smoked salmon options that run the gamut from Irish Double-Cured Organic Salmon to House-Cured Szechuan Kung Pao Salmon to classic Belly Lox, and let's not forget faves like Sable, Fancy Lake Sturgeon and Bering Cisco.

And, if you're inept at piling all of these tasty trappings onto a bagel, they have experts there who can do it for you, with a hunger-inducing menu of sandwiches like the Fancy Pants, featuring the above-mentioned Fancy Lake Sturgeon, as well as House-Cured Gravlax, Ben’s Cream Cheese, Tomato and Red Onion served on a Bagel or Bialy.

Good stuff.

Strike that.

Great stuff.