The same foodie guy who strongly suggested we go to Dean's Scene in Portland, the ultimate man cave bar, also recommended visiting the very meaty Olympic Provisions. Since I had such a great experience in the aforementioned dude haven I opted to trust his judgment again. Good choice.
Olympic Provisions is a European-style restaurant and salumeria, with onsite curing facilities. They serve lots of meat. Delicious meat. I know because their sign says so.
They have two locations in Portland, Oregon and because we are serious meat lovers, we went to both. That is the justification for the crap load of food that I am about to admit to eating.
The Euro breakfast board was a good introduction to the Charcuterie that is made here, featuring just one salami and a selection of house pickled vegetables. The salami, saucisson d'alsace, was a unique blend of cinnamon, clove, and allspice. All was tasty, except for the lone egg. I don't like eggs. Even fancy pickled ones.
If you want something a bit more adventurous try the pork rillette, liver mousse and country terrine plate. Though, for me, this meat board confirmed that liver should sit on the same plate with the uneaten egg.
Course 2 or 3, depending on how you look at it, was a nice after meat board snack; the pork rillette hand pie, filled with a rustic pate. Apparently, there is no escaping more meat.
…and for lunch the Finocchiona and Capicola sandwich on a baguette was calling my name. Not only because of the carefully crafted provisions, but also because of it being loaded with pepperoncinis.
After the meaty gluttony, my body was begging me for a salad….enter this delicious melon version.
At the end of our meals, the cook gently put a plate down in front of me filled with what looked like another salami. I was getting ready to politely decline when he said it was chocolate salami.
I was envisioning some sort of chocolate laced Charcuterie and my taste buds could not decide if that was a good thing.
This Italian chocolate salami was actually a meatless dessert made with chocolate Grenache, pistachios and dipped in powdered sugar. The perfect ending to an overly meaty meal.
Where have you had the best Charcuterie? Have you ever had chocolate salami?
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If they have cured Spanish meats and cheese, I'm in. If not, I'll just take the chocolate salami. My husband would go crazy for this place though!
My husband makes his own charcuterie so he was a HUGE fan.
Haha, the chocolate salami looks both creative and tasty. I'll be in Portland soon so I just may have to check this place out!
There are so many fantastic places in Portland and this is one of them
Haha! What a clever idea for a dessert!
I am a sucker for unique food. This was an unexpected pleasant surprise!
Chocolate salami is very common in Italy. So nice to read it's available elsewhere!
I’m going to look for it next time I’m in Italy!
Portland is moving WAY UP on my list of places to go, Soon.
So far, Portland is on my top 3 favorite cities I have travelled to.
Wow… I know there are lots of great reasons to visit Portland, but this place alone would be all the justification I need! BTW, I read Little Princes last year on my way back from Asia – what a wonderful story! Hope you're enjoying it as much as I did
I am only halfway through Little Princes, but am loving it. What an inspirational story. Any recommendations for my next book?
That is a lot of meat. Never heard of chocolate salami before but its really something for those who love it.
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It was a day of meat gluttony! But, the chocolate salami was the perfect digestif
My husband would be in heaven!!! I don't know how many times each week he declares the "we need more meat in this house!!" nothing looked familiar to me so I don't think square of a stomach would be adventurous enough to try any of that!
Awesome article!
We were traveling through the hill towns of Portugal, visiting castles, and eating our lunches in whatever town square we could find, alongside groups of old men playing chess, or music, or just talking and laughing. We had a great bottle of port that we had picked up during our port house tours in Porto, and were buying fresh local bread, cheese, and meat from a local store when I noticed something that looked like salami but was in the pastry section. I excitedly asked, "what the heck is that???" After that first taste, we never passed up on Salami de Chocolate again – it became our main staple for these town square lunches. Drea even went as far as to try to make me some for my birthday…but we need to fine tune the recipe.
Just one more reason to put Portugal on my bucket list! Happy belated birthday