Tierra del Sol Cuisine - Montavilla

Checked out this lovely little Oaxacan place last weekend and had one of the best mole and nopalito (cactus) dish in a while. My party ordered a black bean and nopalito stuffed blue corn tortilla and a customized nopalito mole plate. Everything with the salsas tasted so delicious and fresh.
And it ended up being a lot of food to share too. The place wasn't busy at all during peak lunch hours so it was quick to get our food. Will definitely be back!

Owner response

This place is located inside next to 2 other food stalls.
One is sushi, African cuisine, and this place oaxacan.
We ate here.
Ordered the mole Amarillo and a picadita de rez.
Loved the picadita.
The mole was a bit too spicy for me but still delicious.
They serve it with a side of rice and fresh made tortillas.
Yum 😋 their aguas frescas were also delicious.
I got the pineapple Mango and my friend the horchata.
Normally I don't care for horchata but this was to my liking.

Owner response

For my first visit, I had the Tlayuda (pictured), which is a large, crunchy, pizza-sized baked tortilla, with refried beans, Oaxacan cheese, fresh cilantro, cabbage, red onion, tomatoes, avocado, and radish slices.
I ordered it with carne asada (steak) and their "Amore Picante Salsa," which was an absolutely fantastic, smoky and medium-to-very spicy salsa. The Tlayuda was like a (very) crunchy, thin crust pizza, but with a distinctly Oaxacan flavor profile.
It was very large - definitely enough to feed two people, but notably difficult to photograph well, because it was so big. On my second visit, I tried a bowl of Mole Amarillo (also pictured).
This yellow mole from Oaxaca features generous portions of very tender chicken (it came cleanly off the bone), chayote (which is also known as mirlton squash), green beans, potatoes, chochoyotes (which are masa dumplings), and is served with three organic blue corn tortillas, and rice.
It was definitely very good as prepared, but I found it to be particularly fun with a bit of the Amore Picante Salsa - the flavors combined, absolutely wonderfully! Especially with the cooler upcoming seasons, I will certainly be back to try more of their different moles! Both visits, the workers were very friendly and helpful.
The food was ready, quickly, once ordered, and was bright, colorful, and presumably pretty healthy.
If one were to opt not to add a choice of meat, I believe Tlayuda may be vegetarian(?) Also, I think that much, or maybe all of their cuisine is gluten-free (?) Tierra del Sol is a local, Portland small business with two locations; Both are family-owned, Hispanic-owned, and my understanding is that at least one is woman-owned.
When I first visited, the Montavilla location had primarily outdoor seating, with bright, colorful tables, under large tents, and in the time since, there is now significantly more seating available, inside - just in time, for the changing weather! The other location of Tierra del Sol Cuisine is on SE Foster in the Portland Mercado food cart pod. If you like my photographs, I have a foodie Instagram that focuses on the greater-Portland-area, and almost exclusively small / local restaurants.
You are more than welcome to follow it! Instagram: jonathan.grubb

Owner response