Portland is the only city to land three restaurants in the new New York Times list of the “26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024.”
The local food involved includes Mussels With ’Nduja Butter at the restaurant Heavenly Creatures, the Mushroom Breakfast Taco at Ocotillo and Tuna de Tigre at Mr. Tuna.
Portland’s three restaurants on the New York Times list was followed by the cities of Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit and Houston, which had two each.
The Times was highly complementary of the Mr. Tuna’s sushi from its original food truck “You’ll find the impeccable, sustainable sushi and handrolls that made Jordan Rubin and Marisa Lewiecki’s food truck such a fixture of Portland,” said the review.
The Times also did not hold back in raving about the Tuna de Tigre dish at Mr. Tuna. “Listed on the menu under ‘Dressed Up Sashimi,’ the cubes of ruby fish are decked out in a tangy-sweet sauce of puréed coconut, lime juice, fish sauce and chiles, and crowned with a tangle of crunchy, golden shallots. It might seem unwarranted to dress up a fish already so exquisite in the raw, but Mr. Tuna makes an irresistible case for opulent attire.”
The New York Times reviewers were especially impressed with the use of local ingredients and preparation of the Mushroom Breakfast Taco at Ocotillo.
“The local shimeji mixed with maitake mushrooms are meaty and chewy, and perfumed with cumin, garlic and black pepper.,” read the Times review. “The soft scrambled eggs provide a fluffy textural counterpoint to the crisp potatoes. But then the real whammy is the house made salsa macha, a brick-red drizzle exploding with toasted chiles, nuts and seeds, and sweetened with roasted garlic — the kind of haunting sauce you’ll want to slather on everything.”
The Times seemed to be particularly impressed with the attention to detail of the Mussels With ’Nduja Butter at Heavenly Creatures
“Seafood and sausage are common enough platefellows, but the tingle of the ’nduja butter – each shell meticulously topped up with the crimson elixir – accented with the zip of fresh mint and lime, was an unexpected delight.”
Earlier this month, Oun Lido’s in Portland was named by Esquire magazine as one of the “The Best New Restaurants in America, 2024.”
