It’s fun for me to connect to Costa Rican cuisine here in Portland. Many of you have heard of the Portland Mercado on SE 72nd and Foster, but there are other locales that feature interesting Latin American food. There are for instance, dozens of Farmers Markets all around Portland, Beaverton and Hillsboro. Recently, I found ceviche here in PDX through a Costa Rican-owned business called Pura Vida Ceviche.
I got a chance to talk with Natalia Dresser, who along with her American husband Kyler, have been making ceviche for several years. On the table, there were three kinds of ceviche for sale. A few folks came up and sampled while I asked about Natalia’s love of Ceviche and Costa Rica. Natalia is originally from Puntarenas and she loves making food for her family and community. Her stand features a rather large Costa Rican flag as seen below.
The Pura Vida ceviche is made with Patagonian shrimp in a style that delivers a citrusy limey wallop. The more subdued vegan ceviche is made with heart of palms. The fish ceviche was quite popular as well (sampling was free). Tasting all that ceviche helped me to recall my jaunts into the open markets in downtown San José, Costa Rica back in the early 1980’s.
The ceviches (vegan, shrimp and fish) are all reasonably priced, US$7 or US$8. If you would like to meet Natalia and Kyler, they will be at the Westmoreland Market for the duration of the market’s season which runs through October 24, 2018. The market is in SE Portland on the corner of SE Bybee & 14th St. The Westmoreland Farmers Market is open 2pm to 7pm in the summer. I’m sure you’ll enjoy Natalia’s ceviche and the healthy produce you’ll find all around Westmoreland. Está muy rico y Buen provecho!
Oregon + Costa Rica 