DarSalam (restaurant)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Ghaith and Tiffany Sahib
- Shaymaa Alquriqche
| DarSalam | |
|---|---|
.png) | |
 Exterior of the original location on Alberta Street in northeast Portland's Concordia neighborhood at night in 2024 | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 2012 |
| Owners |
|
| Food type | Iraqi |
| Location | Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, United States |
| Website | darsalamrestaurant |
DarSalam, or Dar Salam,[1] is a small chain of Iraqi restaurants in Portland, Oregon, United States. The original restaurant opened in northeast Portland's Concordia neighborhood in 2012 and a downtown location followed in 2015. The business has also operated on Hawthorne Boulevard in southeast Portland and in northwest Portland.
Menu
The family-owned Iraqi restaurant chain DarSalem operates in Portland, Oregon. The business name means "house of peace".[2] There are locations on Alder Street in downtown Portland[3] and on Alberta Street in northeast Portland's Concordia neighborhood. The Concordia location operates in a former carriage house and has a garden and patio.[4] The interior of the downtown location has a mural resembling Babylon's Ishtar Gate,[5] a bar and private dining room, and a stage.[6] DarSalam has also operated on Hawthorne Boulevard in southeast Portland and in northwest Portland.[7][8]
DarSalam's menu includes meze, chicken and rice, baklava, and cardamom tea.[9] Red lentil soup and beet salad are among appetizers.[10] The restaurant has also served baba ganoush[5] and hummus with pita,[11] dolmas,[12] falafel and queema, as well as lamb stew with chickpea. Lamb shanks are served with eggplant stew or pickled mango salad. Meats are halal and organic.[1] There are many gluten-free and vegan options.[9]
Drinks include Iraqi beer,[13] an anise-flavored cocktail, Lebanese wines, coffee, and mint lemonade.[10] Other cocktails use Middle Eastern ingredients such as hibiscus, saffron, and tamarind. The Tree of Life has sage-infused gin with Herbsaint, Peychaud's barrel-aged bitters, dry cider, and grenadine.[3]
History
_069.jpg)
Spouses Ghaith and Tiffany Sahib are co-owners, along with Shaymaa Alquriqche.[14][15][5] Ghaith Sahib has been credited for starting the Concordia restaurant in 2012.[10] The business suffered a fire in 2013.[16]
The downtown location opened on August 12, 2015.[3] DaSalam was Portland's only brick and mortar Iraqi restaurant in 2016.[5]
In 2017, a marine was charged with hate crime after he threw a chair at one of the servers at the Concordia location.[2][17][18] The charges were later dropped.[19]
Like many restaurants, DarSalam was forced to close temporarily upon the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both locations closed and multiple employees were laid off.[20] The downtown location was burglarized in 2022.[21]
Reception
In 2020, Karen Brooks of Portland Monthly said the restaurant's falafel was arguably the city's best.[15] Brooke Jackson-Glidden included DarSalam in Eater Portland's 2025 overview of the city's best halal restaurants. She described DarSalam as Portland's "most famous" Iraqi restaurant.[1]
