República - Review - Pearl District - Portland, OR - The Infatuation

"There aren’t many places in town to try food highlighting Mexico’s culinary history—while also managing to be fun, modern, and delicious. If you want to have the kind of transportive experience found in contemporary Mexico City restaurants, República’s seven- and ten-course tasting menus offer a great approximation closer to home. You’ll get small bites made with Mexican and Indigenous ingredients like annatto, palo santo, and plenty of corn, alongside dishes that draw from ancient Mayan times. Come here for a special occasion and add on a wine pairing that features pours exclusively from BIPOC, female, and LGBTQ+ winemakers, with a focus on Mexican and Mexican American producers. photo credit: Caroline Harper Food Rundown The menu at República changes frequently, but here’s a taste of what you can expect when you visit. Scallop, Foie Gras, Strawberry, Tobiko This show-stopper begins with a foie-infused masa cone that gets filled with a “ceviche” of seared foie gras and scallops poached in chile de árbol-infused ghee. If that wasn’t enough, this mixture then gets tossed with strawberry aioli, put in the cones, and garnished with tobiko. Pollo, Repollo, Prawn, Carrot Honoring Mexico’s Filipino influence, this chicken soup deconstructs sopa de ombligo and comes with one-bite cabbage rolls of chicken, prawns, and jalapeño served with chayote and chochoyotes, a.k.a. masa dumplings, for a light, comforting soup that’s an edible history lesson." - Krista Garcia