Tamer Riad is Sous Chef at Boke Bowl in Portland, OR.
What was the food highlight of your year?
I went down to Mexico for a friend’s wedding this past year and was completely blown away by how different the food was from what I expected it to be. It wasn’t the Mexican food I’m used to, but rather a very ancient version of it! It was great, clean, and very vegetarian which I thought was awesome. I was definitely pleasantly surprised and stoked about trying something I didn’t expect.
What was the music highlight of your year?
I’ve been listening to quite a bit of pop/r&b this year. I’m not talking underground indie stuff that no one’s heard of.. but literally the pop hits radio stations - the cheesy shit! It’s really grown on me. I blame my girlfriend for this new found disaster. However as much as everyone rips on it, it seems that everyone knows the words whenever I put it on.
Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?
My friends Lizzy and Cam are in a band called Radiation City here in Portland. They had a pretty big year and totally blew up. It was cool to know them before and after the band success and I still get excited for them when I hear them out and about. I remember on my birthday dinner last year I went to Roe - great, great, great meal - and while we were having dinner, we heard a lot of Radiohead, Smiths, Sigor Ros, Bon Iver, and then Radiation City came on and I can’t say it could have gotten any better. It was as if someone handed them a mix of favorite tunes.