Neighborhood:
Cully & Concordia Poorer than most parts of PDX, the Cully neighborhood often gets both a blah and a bad rap. Somehow Portlanders are unable to differentiate between Gresham and outer Northeast Portland, leading to all sorts of hand-fluttering about meth labs, gang violence and suburbanites in this sprawling ’hood bordered to the south by a graveyard and to the north by the PDX airport. (read more) Not to say those sketchy elements don’t exist, but for the past few years, this area has been infiltrated by even more forceful elements: young locals in search of homes that cost less than $200K, a strong neighborhood association (cullyneighbors.org) and enterprising small-business owners. Cully’s still working on its lack of public parks, but its vibrant main thoroughfare, Northeast 42nd Avenue, is busy these days, with taquerias, a custom bathing-suit shop, old-school Rose’s Ice Cream (5011 NE 42nd Ave., 256-3333), Caribbean Spice market (4516 NE 42nd Ave., 493-2737) for the adventurous, and an awkwardly named tribute bar, Nepo42 (5403 NE 42nd Ave., 288-8080). Down the street, The Spare Room (4830 NE 42nd Ave., 287-5800), a former bowling alley turned cultural equalizer that lures both hipsters and grannies in for live music, cheap booze, big breakfasts, ballroom dancing and karaoke, presides over all the changes with nary a change to its goofy circa-1960s decor. —Kelly Clarke
Featured in Restaurant Guide 2009
Do not go to Beast on a first date. A dinner at Naomi Pomeroy’s bijou restaurant requires you spend well over two hours with your dining companions, with no opportunity for escape. It’s not so great for the third, either. While the low light, blue tile, glittering glassware and quiet R&B are certainly romantic, the six-course marathon of animal fat (we consumed five different species at a recent dinner) will leave you too food-drunk for nookie. The deliberately intimate restaurant is best enjoyed in the company of old, comfortable friends who won’t be offended by your overenthusiastic devouring of the renowned charcuterie plate—which includes steak tartare with quail egg, a thick chicken-liver mousse, rich pork pâté and a decadent “bonbon” of salted foie gras—or lip-smacking over the cheese plate. In such company, loud, tipsy and teetering on the edge of gluttonous euphoria, Beast is magical. BEN WATERHOUSE.
Order this: You have no choice. The menu changes weekly, and substitutions are forbidden.
Best deal: Brunch.
I’ll pass: The optional wine pairings are nice, but expensive. At $35 for six half-glasses, you might as well just buy a bottle.
Ben Waterhouse
