Bao are pretty plentiful in the Portland area thanks to the city's integral and diverse Asian community. You'll find similar versions of light, spongy, steamed buns with filling inside under different names, because the bao is a popular to-go food across Asia. A fun note on the word bao is that, in this context, it essentially means "bun." So saying "bao buns" is like saying "buns buns." It's the ATM machine of the food world.
Co-owners Sabrina Zhang and Randy Richardson started Bao Bao in a food cart at Southwest 10th and Alder, selling their beautiful little handmade buns for $3 a pop. They opened their brick and mortar on Northeast Couch just in time for society's massive pandemic-related shutdown, but their base of food cart fans clamored hungrily for the flash frozen bao the restaurant began to offer. Now Bao Bao sells frozen bao and frozen dumplings, as well as steamer baskets to steam them up in. They even keep the reheating instructions handy on their website.
The lotus and red bean bao are sweet-tasting buns, which could put them in a dessert category bao to some. The chicken curry bun is absolutely perfect and needs nothing, only to exist in this world. Spicy tofu wasn't joking around, but was worth the nostril burn. At Bao Bao you can tell the different bao apart by the deliberate folds that top each one. Practically speaking, you'll tell them apart because you'll simply order them, but at home when you're fighting over the remaining bao, the little folds hold the clue as to what filling is inside.
Bao Bao, 545 NE Couch, (503) 477-8911, baobaopdx.com
Suzette Smith is a former arts editor and current freelancer for The Portland Mercury. She writes about books, comics, performance, and anything else that looks like it might be art if you squint at it right.
Suzette Smith is a former arts editor and current freelancer for The Portland Mercury. She writes about books, comics, performance, and anything else that looks like it might be art if you squint at it right.
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Contact | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Takedown Policy