‘Top Chef’ Alumnus Sara Hauman Designed the Menu at Portland Gallery Hopscotch | Eater Portland

"Developed as an interactive, playful gallery experience, Hopscotch opened in Southeast Portland’s Goat Blocks on June 9 with 14 installations from Portland-based and international artists, caves made from 86,000 upcycled bags and a color-changing ball pit. Nicole Jensen and Hunter Inman—who began Hopscotch as an Austin pop-up and later opened a permanent gallery in San Antonio with rotating food trucks and a bar stocked with edible glitter and popping boba—insist on a strong food and beverage presence; cocktails here are elaborate, sometimes garnished with flaming limes and cerulean butterfly pea syrup. Top Chef alumnus Sara Hauman developed the menu to be playful and accessible, leaning on local products rather than house-made everything (she says about 80 percent isn’t house-made) so the team can serve crowds every 15 minutes: Hot Mama’s guajillo-chile oil over popcorn with Albina City corn nuts and cotija; popcorn topped with salt from fish sauce barrels and candied peanuts as an homage to Portland’s Thai scene; Oregon albacore transformed into sushi-style spicy tuna served on a waffle with seaweed salad; a totcho reimagined as a tater-tot waffle with tobiko; a dairy-free mac and cheese folded with mapo tofu; and cheese-filled, jalapeño-popper-inspired fried mac and cheese squares meant to be eaten with your hands. Desserts lean on Tillamook ice cream—topped with potato chips or matcha milk drizzle, rose-lemon curd, or in the Forager’s Dream sundae, porcini-dusted fudge and chocolate-covered truffle potato chips—alongside banana-Nutella waffles and graham cracker marshmallow-and-chocolate sandwiches, all designed to feel nostalgic, unpretentious and fun." - Brooke Jackson-Glidden