Mark and Jennifer Turner Bitterman opened North Portland's The Meadow in the summer of 2006 as a floral shop with a small section of specialty salts in the corner that they'd acquired during years of travel. The North Mississippi shop is now home to more than 90 specialty salts, a wall of hard-to-find wines, ciders, bitters and vermouths, more than 300 types of chocolate bars, edible flowers such as acacia, apple blossoms, hibiscus and more.
It's the kind of place where you crouch down to see what's on a low shelf and discover what Mark Bitterman deems, "A game changing soy sauce." Then you turn 90 degrees and discover a tin of the couple's favorite anchovies.
Ever heard of black truffle salt or sugar maple salt? They have these and other hard to find culinary salts at The Meadow.
The Meadow regularly hosts classes in the evenings on everything from Himalayan salt block cooking, to an introduction to artisan salt or salted caramels. These classes usually cost $15-$20 and fill up fast. Go to their website for more information and to check out their growing online selection of 600-plus salt products and more.
Flowers and chocolates...
The staff is always super informative if you have questions otherwise you can just take your time checking out the food, drink and flowers. My favorite thing to do is check out the vials of specialty smoked, sea, flake, gray and more salts from around the world that line the walls.
Owner Mark Bitterman sampling wine and salt with customers
The Meadow 3731 North Mississippi Ave. 503.288.4633 888.388.4633 www.atthemeadow.com