The lefse-lovers responsible for Viking Soul Food recently hitched their wagon to Teutonic Wine Company's new urban winery in Southeast Portland. The result? A Nordic-German odd couple with stellar smørrebrød sandwiches paired with ballsy Rieslings and gewürztraminer.

Teutonic opened at 3303 SE 20th Ave at the end of March, moving their widely-respected Alsatian-style wine operation from Oregon City to just south of Powell Boulevard. Inside, their crimson and gold, shoebox-sized tasting room holds just a few tables and a four-seat birch tree mosaic bar. Behind the bar, you’ll find Barnaby and Olga Tuttle, Teutonic owners and wine-makers who somehow find time to explain their affordable, Spinal Tap-themed wine list to customers, rotate the vinyl collection from Iron Maiden to the Beatles, and crank out some of the best vintages in the state to high demand. 

Parked outside, Viking Soul Food’s second operation, the Wild Hunt, cooks Nordic classics out of a converted school bus. Chef-owners Megan Walhood and Jeremy Daniels reach more broadly from the Northern European playbook than at the original, lefse-focused cart, rushing saffron-spiked seafood chowders and a collection of smørrebrød (open face sandwiches) from their mobile kitchen through the big, open garage door. 

Let the Tuttles be your guide (no one is more qualified for the job), and go from there. The “Deep Probe” is a super-funky 2013 Riesling that tastes more like a dry Basque cider, and goes particularly well with bites of blood sausage layered with goat cheese and apple, or pickled herring cloaked in a dill cream sauce. The meatloaf here is the way to go, despite looking like cafeteria leftovers (when does meatloaf not?)—a fatty slab of pork and lamb loaded with caramelized goat’s milk gravy and punchy pickled cabbage. Pair it with “Recorded in Doubly,” a pure, sweet Muscat wine with apricot notes. 

Right now, there is something special happening at Teutonic: some of the city’s most beloved food cart talents are matching their cooking to one of Oregon’s most obsessed-over wine-makers. And they’re all there, in person, just to feed and sate you. Don’t keep them waiting. 

Teutonic Wine Company Tasting Room/The Wild Hunt
3303 SE 20th Ave.
503-235-5053
12–9 p.m. Sunday–Thursday
12–10 p.m. Friday
11 a.m.–10 p.m. Saturday