DarSalam Restaurant and Catering - Portland, Oregon

Sometimes Father’s Day comes, and you and your father haven’t talked in a few years—and that’s okay, because some fathers suck. And so when that feeling of moroseness and depression hits, it’s maybe time to get out of the house. Mostly I just wanted to be away from home and not sitting around the house feeling invisible. My two kids came with me, and we decided to have a slightly random afternoon in downtown Portland.

Not long after we found a place to park, my youngest mentioned that she’s hungry. Normally I would find a place that has burgers and french fries and the usual kid-friendly sorts of things that we all acquiesce to in our weaker moments. But it’s Father’s Day, damn it, and I wanted to eat something that I wanted to eat and the kids would just have to fucking deal with it. Because that’s the true meaning of Father’s Day. For just one day a year, we do what dad wants.

After a quick and cursory search of restaurants in the area, I realized that middle eastern cuisine sounded like the tits to me. I went about the slightly arduous but not altogether unpleasant process of herding my two children through the busy streets of downtown Portland until we arrived at DarSalam.

When we stepped in the door, it was like being thrown inside of a colorfully decorated Iraqi temple. I don’t actually know that, though, because I’ve never been to Iraq. But the decor was absolutely turned to 11. There were murals all over the walls, stencils, pottery, masks, decorations, things I definitely can’t identify as a terribly unknowing and slightly heathenistic American.

But my kids were suitably impressed, and I thought it was great. Beautiful. And very welcoming. As were the staff.

A nice gentleman greeted us and led us to our table and I went about the slightly difficult task of finding something that my kids would like. There was no children’s menu, which typically is a bit of a danger when traveling with kids under 12. Especially picky eaters like these two. I swear, they can complain about literally any food so long as it suits them.

I ordered a starter, which was the hummus plate that came with some pita. Both kids, being the suspicious sort that they are, weren’t sure what to do with this weird and slightly awkward arrangement of ingredients. But once I showed them that the pita is fucking delicious—and it was, holy fuck, great pita—and you can glide it through the hummus plate, they were more or less hooked.

Well, my youngest was hooked. She loved the hummus plate. My older son wasn’t having it. He’s a texture kid, so take that however you like. I think he would have liked it if he could get past the texture. But if you enjoy hummus, or if you’re hummus-curious, it would be very hard to go wrong by coming here.

I’ve been to more than a few middle eastern restaurants that serve hummus that’s either a.) obviously store bought and slapped on a plate or b.) sort of weirdly mealy and gritty? Ew. But no, this was smooth as a baby’s bottom. But also, maybe an analogy that doesn’t make you think of baby butts.

The kids shared a chicken kabob plate on a bed of rice. They both love rice and so that’s usually an easy win. I got the Iraqi Shish kabob plate. They both came with pita again, which both kids loved. They nibbled at the chicken kabob, which “oh my god, it’s yellow dad” was an indicator of how well that was going to go. It was charred wonderfully and was still flavorful and juicy. You ever have a chicken kabob and it’s wonderfully charred but then you take a bite and it’s like chewing chalk because of how dry the meat is? Yeah, this wasn’t like that.

I thought the chicken was great, but the kids were more meh on that front. It’s not their cuisine, so maybe they’ll come around. The rice was also excellent and both kids had lemonades.

Their dish came with a slow-cooked chickpea stew, and I definitely didn’t think they—or I, for that matter—would like it. But I was wrong. They both loved it. It was wonderfully sweet and complex and earthy flavored. I could have eaten a bucket of that and come back for more. Can’t you see how sophisticated a diner I am?

The shish kabob, which was beef if you haven’t guessed, was also great. Maybe just sliiiightly overcooked for my tastes. It was just a tiny bit crispy on the edges. But I still went about destroying everything on my plate. From the charred veggies to the beef to the hummus that came along with my meal. Nothing lacked in flavor, nothing was overcooked, nothing was gimicky. Just good cooking and mostly standard recipes.

My kids, for their part, still left the restaurant full, despite kind of picking around the food they received. They also had the baklava—I didn’t get a chance to try it—but it had resounding reviews from both of them. After the initial confusion of trying to understand why it was so flaky. They were onboard pretty quickly after the first bite, though.

I would come back without a hesitation. The staff were polite, made small talk with my kiddos. and were accomating because we were rushing to catch a movie shortly after lunch. If you’re a fan of middle Eastern food, or if you’re wanting to try it for the first time, I’d recommend trying it here first.

The Portland Critic Verdict

Cost: $$. Not street food prices like you might expect, but not too bad, either. I think each plate was about $25. Which is a bit of money, but given the price of eating out these days, that’s more or less par for the course.

Taste: 8/10 thumbs up. The flavors, textures, and cookery were all solid and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal. But they’re not doing anything necessarily groundbreaking or entirely complex. And that’s okay! But a 10/10 is usually reserved for “I’ve literally never tasted anything this interesting and good in my life” category.

Staff: 9/10 thumbs up. Polite, responsible, kind. They were great. We ended up waiting a bit for the check, even though the room wasn’t that busy. I also understand we’re all human.

Ease: 6/10 thumbs up. Parking in downtown Portland is a biiiiiitch. That being said, they also have a location further out on Alberta, and I bet that parking is probably better. But I didn’t go there so I don’t know.

If you’d like to go check them out, I encourage you to do so:

DarSalam Restaurant and Catering
320 SW Alder St
Portland, OR 97204

https://darsalamrestaurant.com/