Our Hot Spot of the week is the delicious Shalom Y’all! Shalom Y’all is the Israeli street food focused offering from the wildly successful John Gorham restaurant group. It is located in a cute brick building in inner SE Portland. They serve lunch, dinner, happy hour, and even brunch on the weekends, so you can stop in and check them out any time!
We were pretty impressed immediately upon walking in the door by the beautiful design of the space. The black accented bar was a beautiful contrast to the clean, white subway tile and the hanging plants scattered around the space added a lovely, natural feel.
We started with drinks, as always. There was a lovely Spanish Cava on the happy hour menu that I jumped at. It was crisp and dry with nice, small bubbles. My dining companion opted for the Turkish Delight Slushy, which contained limoncello, ceylon tea, and orange blossom water. It was like summer in a glass!
Like most of the Gorham restaurant collective, Shalom Y’all is designed for sharing. As small plates for the table is my favorite way to eat, we happily obliged and ordered several dishes. One of our favorites was the Labneh with fried artichokes. The house made yogurt cheese was properly tangy, and the fried artichokes were crispy and tender simultaneously, and smothered in a hearty pile of garlic.
We also loved the Hummus ‘Pitryot’, which was topped with sauteed maitake mushrooms (YUMMM) plus dill and paprika. The Chard and Feta Safayech was amazing as well. It was almost like a spinach pie inside of a grilled pita with a wonderful tzatziki on the side. Both the Labneh and the Hummus were served with warm, fluffy pita that our wonderful server was happy to provide more of after we quickly devoured the first few.
While many of the dishes at Shalom Y’all are vegetable focused, the presence of hearty additions like fried artichoke to the dishes will leave even the omnivores satisfied. We can’t wait to come back and try so many more delicious items at Shalom Ya’ll! Check out their menus and hours here.
Have you tried any of the restaurants from John Gorham’s restaurant group? Which was your favorite? Let us know in the comments!