I am no stranger to lefse, having eaten the delicious, Norwegian, tortilla-like potato pancake/flatbread in such vaunted centers of Scan-American culture as Chicago, Mineapolis and Seattle. I can say with certainty that the 21st Century Lefse served at VIKING SOUL FOOD (VSF), Portland’s only Norwegian inspired soul food fusion cart, is the best I’ve ever had. Light and fluffy with just a suggestion of healthy richness, their handmade lefse is the basis for any number of delicious wraps, both savory and sweet.
VSF has been located at Good Food Here, the food court next to Movie Madness, 4262 SE Belmont Ave, Portland Or, since November 4, 2011. The owners, Megan and Jeremy, serve their wrap-based specials from a shiny, antique Airstream trailer they call Gudrun. The two have 20+ years of food service experience between them. They’ve made and served everything from Classical Italian to Polynesian cuisine.
A few years back, Jeremy was making Lefse and Norwegian meatballs with Megan’s family, he wondered aloud why this delicious global cuisine was heretofore unknown on the street and in the food scene, and the idea for a Norwegian Soul Food trailer was born. In August of 2010 they began selling their delicious lefse.
Traditionally, lefse has only a few ingredients– potatoes, flour, butter, cream and salt– and outstanding lefse is said to come from secretive traditional methods of mixing, handling and griddle-baking the dough. VSF has improved the process and has substituted extra virgin olive oil for the butter and cream to accommodate vegans and those with dairy allergies. The result is a light, delicious and modern bread which they fill with varieties of meat, fish, sausage, vegetables and savory sauces for their main dish wraps, and with honey, nuts and fruit for the sweet wraps.
Discerning Portland foodie Austin Haas is a fan of Viking Soul Food and describes it in this way, “I haven’t had lefse anywhere else, but I can attest to Viking Soul Food providing one hell of a product. It is one of my favorite places to eat in Portland and, in my opinion, the best snack in town ($4.50 for a meatball or cured salmon lefse). The salmon one is great when you are craving cured salmon, but don’t want to spend $8 on a tiny portion from the grocer. And the way they dress it up with the greens and the dill creme fraiche is perfect. I haven’t tried any of the sweet ones, but I really liked the barley french-onion-kind-of soup they had a few weeks ago.”
Here are some other satisfied customers:
“Their beef based hot sauce is worth trying as well.”
“Oh, this cart is so damned good. I used to eat there often when they were on NE MLK, but then they moved away and I never saw them again… I cried that day. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. Maybe.”
“With Viking Soul Food added, I think there’s no real question that the Belmont and 42nd cart pod is the best in Portland right now.”
“Viking Soul Food is awesome. It’s one of my favorite carts for several reasons:
1. They serve things you can’t get anywhere else (cured salmon, meatballs with gjetost, lefse).
2. The food is delicious.
3. It’s a good deal (two savory lefse wraps for $8).
4. It’s one of the few places where you can get a decent snack (i.e., not a full meal–strange that is so rare among food carts).”
Viking Soul Food is open 12 to 8 Tuesday – Thursday and 12 to 9 Friday and Saturday. While the menu introduces new specialties all the time. Here are some of the basic items which are always available:
Lefse with butter and flor de sal
OR butter and local honey-
$2.50 or 2 for $4.00
Norse meatballs, Gjetost sauce, pickled cabbage
Akevitt cured, Gudrun smoked salmon, dill creme fraiche, pickled shallot, watercress
Mushroom-hazelnut patties, rogue blue cheese, beets, parsley sauce.
$4.50 or 2 for $8.00
Local lingonberries and Gudrun cream cheese
Lemon curd and spiced pecans
Caramel custard, chocolate sauce, toasted almonds, and hand harvested sea salt
$3.50 or 2 for $6.00
Combine one sweet and one savory lefse wrap for $7.00
