Since moving back to Portland after living in Japan for three years, everybody asks which Japanese foods I miss most. Honestly, these days Portland probably has more exciting Japanese dining options than the actual Japanese town where I lived. My ramen, sushi, and izakaya quotas are easily filled here. But there’s one food I still fantasize about—the onigiri I used to buy for $1 at 7-Eleven: compact triangles of rice stuffed with savory pickles or fish, and hugged by a sheet of nori (the seaweed on a sushi roll).
Onigiri are the ultimate J-snack: cheap, portable, filling little carb bombs. They’re the kind of soul food everyone knows how to make without ever needing to look at a recipe, a kid’s bento box staple, and the last thing you order after a night of drinking to sop up the alcohol. Once you go hiking with a backpack full of onigiri, you’ll never buy trail mix again.
I was thus inspired to hunt for Portland’s best onigiri, and my expedition began at red-lanterned izakaya Yataimura Maru (3810 SE Division) with a fist-sized triangle of warm, sticky white rice wrapped in still-crisp nori ($2.50). The first under-seasoned nibbles were underwhelming, until I broke through to the eye-wateringly tart umeboshi (pickled plum)—my favorite of all onigiri fillings.
Marukin Ramen’s (609 SE Ankeny) dashi-infused takikomi onigiri spiked with shiitake ($2.50) has disappeared from their summer menu, but will supposedly make a comeback next season. (Fingers crossed, because I actually liked ’em better than their soymilk ramen.)
After that upset, I decided that if I wanted authentic onigiri, I was going to have to borrow a car and make a journey—one not quite as tedious as a 11-hour transpacific flight to Japan, but almost; I’d have to go to Beaverton.