Happy Hour of the Year: Carafe
ISSUE #34.49 • SPECIAL SECTION •
Restaurant Guide 2008
Our 100 Favorite Restaurants and the Restaurant of the Year.
BY BEN WATERHOUSE | bwaterhouse at wweek dot com
[October 15th, 2008]
OK, it’s a fair question: Why would we print a guide to our favorite amazing eateries in the midst of an economic crisis? Haven’t we heard about the oncoming depression?
Oh, believe us, we know. When money’s tight, the last thing you want to do is spend big bucks on a mediocre meal. Luckily, the changes in the economy are a lot easier to swallow when you’ve got an incredible plate of house-cured meats or flourless chocolate cake in front of you. To make sure you get the most for your money in these trying times, we’ve spent the past two months eating our way across the city. We ditched a few restaurants that cost more than they should and replaced them with joints that deliver value over luxury. And, although our Restaurant of the Year, Sel Gris, definitely isn’t cheap, we guarantee you chef Daniel Mondok’s out-of-this-world food is worth every penny.
We’ve made a few other changes, too. Here’s the rundown.
THE DIRECTORY We’ve done our best to make this year’s guide indispensable. We want you to find it handy enough to keep in your glove box and refer to all year—olive oil smears be damned. We’ve provided more ways than ever to find a great meal. In these first pages our favorite restaurants are indexed alphabetically, by the days they’re open and by the meals they serve.
THE MAP Every year readers write asking us to include a map of our favorite restaurants. Here you go.
RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR In addition to our favorite new restaurant, we honor the very best brunch, happy hour and dessert we tried this year.
LISTINGS We organized our reviews by cuisine this year, to make the guide more user-friendly. Restaurants that have opened since August 2007 are marked with a NEW icon.
HIGH FIVE Throughout the listings you’ll find our top picks in 25 different categories. A few of these restaurants aren’t in the top 100, but you can find their addresses on page 69.
RESERVATIONS Places that won’t take a reservation for a four-top might as well not take them at all. The ones we’ve listed as taking reservations will hold a table for four or fewer.
NO-SHOWS Don’t see your favorite restaurant here? Check our Cheap Eats guide next March (the 2008 guide is here) or our new Market Guide in April. If it’s not there, we probably haven’t heard of it. Send me your must-try tips at bwaterhouse@wweek.com. We’ll head on over.
THE MONEY THING Every restaurant here has a dollar rating:
$ Inexpensive:most entrees under $15
$$ Moderate: most entrees under $20
$$$ Expensive: most entrees under $30
$$$$ Very expensive: most entrees more than $30
As always, while the hours we’ve listed are accurate as of Oct. 3, they are subject to change. So call before you go. And cheer up—after all, in this town we already grow our own food. We’re ahead of the curve.
$$ Moderate: most entrees under $20
$$$ Expensive: most entrees under $30
$$$$ Very expensive: most entrees more than $30
Happy eating,
— Ben Waterhouse, editor
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Scootboy: As Ben mentioned in the intro, we print an entire Cheap Eats guide every spring. The latest one has more than 140 places to get lunch or dinner for under $10, dinner for under $15. You can find it here:
Your restaurant guide is utterly useless for real people. Economic crisis aside, who has money for this sort of thing? Not normal working people, that's for sure. You're certainly not eating at these restaurants on a journalist's salary.
A single $ is for entrees averaging under $15. And even then those are few and far between in your guide. Plenty of $$ options, but that's still an $18 entree! I'm not against having a restaurant guide, but dear lord, it's like you're from another planet! Who is eating at these places? I feel weird enough spending $8 on a burrito-- I have a hard time buying into the idea that Portlanders can afford to drop $50 on dinner at the sort of places listed here with anything even resembling regularity. This is a useless, irresponsible guide, completely out of touch with your actual readership. If I want to read about stuff no honest working person can afford, I'll read Robb Report, not the ostensibly-liberal Willy Week. "The most for your money"? No, not even. You wasted our time, and yours. Glove compartment resource my fat red-blooded American rear end!
For shame, Willy Week, for shame. I know the advertising dollars these places are throwing your way help keep you afloat, but that shouldn't mean you have to make us feel bad for not making $100k a year, as though we, the huddled masses were some breed of degenerate for considering it an indulgence to spend $12 on a nice dinner, which is entirely possible at any number of really tasty restaurants around the city (not mentioned in your guide), restaurants who don't have the resources to shape the conversation the way your advertisers clearly have.
So remember! You're a cheap peasant if you don't spend at least $80 on dinner for two!
Thanks for the note, Uriah. Again, I refer you to our spring Cheap Eats guide: wweek.com/editorial/3419/10524.
For the record, you're right: Few of us at WW can afford to visit these pricier places except on WW's dime (and sometimes not even then). But it's good to know where to go for a special meal. And for the rest of the time, there's Cheap Eats, or Trader Joe's, or Food 4 Less....
I haven't even read the article yet, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it. I'll happily check off the restaurants I've been to and earmark the ones I haven't been to but can't wait to try. Financial crisis aside, people need an oasis away from everyday life, especially if that oasis serves delicious food and alcohol. Don't worry about naysayers that gripe about their money woes, WW is a FREE magazine anyway, which ensures a healthy dose of the cheap and ignorant. Kudos and thanks for the recommendations.
Paging through your restaurant guide, I saw Roux, Screen Door, and the Delta Cafe. I am flabbergasted by the omission of Acadia on NE Fremont. I have not had the opportunity to eat at Roux yet, but having lived in New Orleans for a spell, I can honestly tell you that Acadia runs circles around the Delta Cafe and Screen Door. The fact that you've included almost every other Southern restaurant in town...it looks to me like Acadia was deliberately passed over. Say it ain't so. Please give them another chance. You won't regret it. Real red beans and rice and jambalaya await you there.
Love and mostly agree with the list. Also LOVE the new map format, very helpful! My only suggestion would be to focus on downtown Portland. We don't really need restaurant suggestions for the burbs. Adding them in only takes away from many great downtown restaurants that should be on the list.
Oh, no! Another restaurant guide! I wonder how many of these restaurants will still be in business when the next restaurant guide comes out?
Dear Guide Loathers: The Cheap Eats Guide was already mentioned. The lousy economy was already mentioned. If you find a few moments in the day when you're not thinking about yourself, please ponder this:
a) Some people do eat out. The guide helps to ensure it is not a disappointment on those occassions, which are far fewer than before.
b) Portland is known nationally for its vibrant food scene - a point of pride for many.
c) Most importantly, these restaurants are local businesses. They employ people. They help to sustain local farmers. They are contributing to our local economy in a way that nourishes our community literally and figuratively. Talk to any of the talented people running these places and they are not in it for the money; it's a labor of love in a fickle and precarious business that is more likely to fail than succeed.
When the economy does turn around, I hope to find more than the soulless chain restaurants still operating. Keep up the good work WW. Keep up the great work, restaurateurs & chefs!
Ben Waterhouse writes on Oct 22nd, 2008 8:35am
Thank you, Linda. We will.
And for the cheapskates: we're already working on narrowing down our list of 200 great places to eat for under $15 a person. Look for that in March.
donna bleth writes on Oct 24th, 2008 5:51am
I saw this little magazine in a coffee shop in vancouver wa and would love to attain one. Where can I get one? Thank you. donna
Nancy H writes on Oct 24th, 2008 4:00pm
I agree Banh Cuon Tan Dinh is a superb place to eat, great food and the most attentive staff ever...but I went there today, and it was closed. Did it move?
Where can I get my roll your own salad rolls? I am bereft. Please tell me this is temporary!
Ben Waterhouse writes on Oct 25th, 2008 10:46am
Unfortunately for us all, Nancy, it isn't. The family decided to close last week. A terrible loss to Portland's restaurant scene.
tony writes on Dec 13th, 2008 3:37pm
The next time I see a raving review of LePigeon, I am going to barf. That is the most over hyped, over rated restaurant in Portland. I ordered their signature squab. There was no more than 2 ounces of meat on that rat and I was so starved, I needed to down a few appetizers and loads of bread. I took my wife their for our anniversary thinking it would be great and we were both disappointed. I don't care if they have creative combinations of flavor if I am given appetizer portions of food. Give me a break. The wine at $12 a glass is obscene! Our bill came to over $100, for what?
cheapskate writes on Dec 31st, 2008 12:44am
Why is the cheap eats guide out in March? we kinda need one now....
but thanks for the excellently researched guide which I shall not read because I just lost my job...I do appreciate the effort, its just lost on me :)
Ben Waterhouse writes on Dec 31st, 2008 9:15am
Until the new one comes out (I'm working on the review list today!), please refer to last year's Cheap Eats guide, which is still fairly up-to-date: wweek.com/editorial/3419/10524/
julrosec writes on Jan 12th, 2009 2:13pm
Great guide, thanks for such a great special section tradition :). Even if I can't afford them it's always fun to browse through and dream about these places.
I have one suggestion for next year's online guide - it'd be nice for those of us who are looking for a new place for a place to splurge to be able to search by price. It's cool that you're listing the price breakdown, but I'd like to be able to limit my search to stuff I can definitely afford.
Thanks again for the great publication.
Mike writes on Feb 8th, 2009 11:45am
Thank you for the guide. I use it for business dinner ideas as well as for ideas for when my wife and/not kids go out. The prices are what they are - shop according to your means.
S. Williams writes on Apr 25th, 2009 12:39pm
Update: Noble Rot has moved to lower East Burnside.
Ken writes on Sep 11th, 2009 6:33pm
Who is eating at these places? Everyone I know. You seem to think you know what all about what "no honest working person can afford", and yet I know lots of honest working people who can afford and appreciate good meal.
You also seem convinced that you know what the actual readership of WW is like, but based on your post, and my knowledge and experience with the city of Portland, it seems like you're the one that's out of touch, not WW.
Comment on the "Restaurant Guide 2008" article
Restaurant of the Year: Sel Gris
BY HEIDI YORKSHIRE | Mondok world: A self-taught iron chef who rules with an iron fist.
BY HEIDI YORKSHIRE | Mondok world: A self-taught iron chef who rules with an iron fist.
A to Z
Live Music
Food
A better title might have been:
"Restaurant Guide 2008 For People With Money To Burn".
Why do you even have a "single-dollar" Inexpensive Rating? Out of the 100 listed, only one had just a single-dollar rating. I threw it in the re-cycling bin after flipping through it.You'd think with the economy in the toilet, you'd have paid more attention to places that ordinary readers can afford.