Jul 11, 2025 - Food and Drink

Alma debuts in Portland, spotlighting bold Balkan flavors

Meira Gebel

Chef in plaid shirt and apron stands arms crossed in front of a mural (left). On the right, hands serve vibrant Balkan dishes including whole fish, grilled octopus, dips and spreads at Alma in Portland. — Chef Vedran Jordan's Alma features a whole roasted branzino drenched in Turkish seafood sauce. Photos: Courtesy of Moni Kovacs

Lamb kebabs drizzled with sticky pomegranate sauce, roasted eggplant stuffed with tomato and umami-rich mushroom salata are all dishes you can find at Balkan tapas spot, Alma, which opened last month in Portland's King neighborhood.

State of play: A refugee from Sarajevo, Bosnia, owner and chef Vedran Jordan — formerly of Bamboo Sushi, Oma's Hideaway and Langbaan — came to Portland when he was 12 years old.

He named the restaurant after his mother. Much of the menu relies on family recipes and Ottoman-era classics he grew up eating, though executed with contemporary techniques and a focus on using hyperlocal ingredients.
Alma is an expansion of Jordan's pop-up, Balkan Nights, which previously took place at The Knock Back and Lansdowne Social.

Best bites: Some dishes stick to the traditional Balkan script. For example, tomato corba, a Turkish soup with vermicelli noodles, is thickened by ariz, a blend of dehydrated yogurt and wheat.

Every part of the animal is used for the kebab offerings — lamb liver, heart and neck, as well as chicken gizzard and wing.
Other dishes, like a Kanpachi crudo served with pickled watermelon rind, shiso and Aleppo, could be considered a nod to Jordan's culinary influences: chefs Gregory Gourdet, Colin Yoshimoto and Tracee and Brandon Hirahara.

If you go: Alma (5237 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.) is open Thursday through Monday, 5-9pm. Reservations and walk-ins are welcome.

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Alma debuts in Portland, spotlighting bold Balkan flavors

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