BLOGTOWN

Food Fight! Kathleen Marie / Mercury Staff

Not once in my five and a half years of living in Portland have I ever thought, “Gosh, I wish I knew where I could find some good food around here!” As every insufferable national trend piece will tell you, we’re a veritable foodie mecca. But not every Portland food specialty translates to an ideal holiday gift—a pastrami sandwich from Kenny & Zuke’s might seem like a great gift at the outset, but wait until the grease bleeds through your artisanal wrapping paper!

But there are plenty of local shops here stuffed with packaged food items that will make lovely gifts for the home cook, food snob, or munchie-prone loved one in your life. Here’s a small sampling of those shops—a taster tray, if you will.

MoonBrine Pickles

Look, there are basically two types of people in this world: Pretty Hot and Super Dill. Oh, did I say person? I meant pickle—at least, those are the two types you’ll find at MoonBrine Shop N’ Snacketeria, a shop meant to satisfy your briniest cravings. (2505 SE 11th, 11 am-3:30 pm Monday-Friday or by appointment.)

Food Fight! Grocery

The only thing more “Portland” than local food is vegan local food, which happens to be Food Fight’s specialty. Here you’ll find a range of delightfully unhealthy vegan junk food and desserts, the perfect stocking stuffers for your favorite herbivore. (1217 SE Stark and 11155 NE Halsey, 9 am-8 pm daily.)

Pok Pok

The best edible Christmas gift I ever received was a sample pack of Pok Pok drinking vinegars, which included flavors like basil, tangerine, and ginger. These tart, slightly sweet mixers make great cocktails and mocktails, and will have the instant effect of making you feel like a fancy mixologist. You can pick up a pack of your own at the restaurant. (3226 SE Division, 11:30 am-10 pm daily.)

World Foods

The last time I visited World Foods, I couldn’t get the Frank Ocean lyric “you made me lose my self-control” out of my head. Frank was presumably singing about some great forbidden love, but I was singing about the unmatched selection of worldly treats and goodies at this local grocery story. I could list them, but what’s the point? You’ve got to go, experience it for yourself, and fill up your cart with presents for your entire family and extended friend group. Oh, and as a bonus, they’ve got a stellar beer selection. (830 NW Everett, daily 8 am-9 pm; 9845 SW Barbur, daily 7 am-10 pm)

John's Marketplace Kathleen Marie / Mercury Staff

Belmont Station

Portland’s ultimate beer den has expanded greatly from its days as a hidey-hole next door to the Horse Brass (back in the days when it was actually located on Belmont). Now located on Stark, Belmont Station is a veritable compound of all things beer, with their 34-tap Biercafé adjoining a selection of more than 1,400 different kinds of bottles and cans, and more coming in each week. This is the place to score the newest, freshest, rarest thing to drink, but be sure to stop in often, because limited releases can disappear off shelves in a matter of days. There are also tons of tastings, tappings, and special events on their calendar, and they even collaborate with breweries for special Belmont Station beers you won’t find anywhere else. (4500 SE Stark, belmont-station.com)

John’s Marketplace

An old grocery store that’s been stuffed to the gills with beer, John’s Marketplace has one of the city’s biggest selections; wandering through its shelves is like getting lost in a musty, stack-filled bookstore, except with beer. They’ve got a great selection of kegs for sale, too, plus a huge amount of wine (if your household swings both ways), and there’s a deli counter where you can score super-cheap burgers. Keep your eyes peeled for John’s to open their second location sometime in 2020, located on Southeast Powell in the former home of the Original Taco House. (3535 SW Multnomah Blvd, johnsmarketplace.com)

The BeerMongers

Drink your beer here or take it to go: The BeerMongers, in addition to having lots of coolers jam-packed with bottled and canned beer, has a 10-tap bar and a cozy rec-room feel, with TVs, board games, and plenty of beer obsessives to chat with over a pint of something uncommon and good. Located in inner Southeast Portland’s beer nexus, it’s a stone’s throw away from Apex Beer Bar, Grixsen Brewing, Baerlic Brewing, Vagabond Brewing, and lots more, so it can either be part of an epic beer crawl or you can make it a destination in its own right. (1125 SE Division, thebeermongers.com)