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—"This Bud's for You," Jan. 29, 2014
The best longshoremen's bar in Portland: Nicolai Street Clubhouse. "Situated in a gritty section of Northwest, its tides ebb and flow with the shift changes of the union men who work the docks at the Port of Portland and come here for free popcorn, a turn on the shuffleboard table and a loud argument about who was the best defensive end ever to play the game."
Beer of the Year: Pfriem Belgian Strong Dark, "a rabbit hole of structured complexity. It unfolds like a well-written mystery novel—dark, spicy and sweet characters deceive in one chapter then reveal in the next."
—Portland Beer Guide, Feb. 5, 2014
Best comedian: Amy Miller, as determined by a vote of her peers. "With her round face and blunt strawberry-blond bangs, she knows she's both cute and non-threatening, and she milks this to her advantage.â
—"The Funniest 5," Nov. 20, 2013
Food Cart of the Year: Burrasca, which "doesn't really feel like a cart so much as a fine open-air restaurant—or maybe a home windowsill one might as well be stealing from."
Best New Band: Ural Thomas, "a powerhouse performer who once shared stages with James Brown, Otis Redding and Stevie Wonder" and who, in the last year, went from "being an artifact in a record collector's crate to a local living legend, headlining sold-out gigs at Doug Fir Lounge and Mississippi Studios."
— "Best New Band," May 14, 2014
Bar of the Year: Enso Urban Winery, "a new model for what the wine bar can be."
Best pita: TarBoush, which "does pita—and pretty much everything else—right."
—Restaurant Guide, Oct. 16, 2013
Best Iraqi restaurant: Dar Salam.
—Restaurant Guide, Oct. 16, 2013
Best Middle Eastern restaurant, period: Dar Salam.
—Restaurant Guide, Oct. 16, 2013
Best cronut: Joe's Donuts of Sandy, "tastier than any doughnut-type breakfast pastry in this city."
Best strip-club steak: Sassy's, "the Mercedes of strip-club steak…that it was served during a dance by a woman named Mercedes was just a happy coincidence."
—Strip Club Guide, March 12, 2014
The best pizza in town, "and arguably for 1,000 miles around Portland": Apizza Scholls.
—Restaurant Guide, Oct. 16, 2013
Best new cafes and coffee roasters: Cathedral Coffee, Din Din, Either/Or, Heart Roasters-West End, Kenilworth Coffeehouse, Nossa Familia, Olé Latte, Portland Roasting Co. tasting room, Ristretto Roasters-Couch, Stumptown Annex and Rose City Coffee.
—"Hook It to My Veins," Dec. 4, 2013
Best single-serving pizza: Pyro, where "pizzaiolos aren't afraid to walk the razor's edge, firing foot-wide pies until the thinnest bubbles turn black and pop, leaving the rest of the crust at ideal crispness."
—"Pizza for One," Feb. 19, 2014
The last, best burger cart: Burger Guild (RIP, Burgatroyd).
The best 9-plus-ABV imperial stout in bottles priced under $9: Gigantic Most Premium Russian Imperial Stout. "Like hazelnut hot cocoa—big and a little crunchy."
The "best onion rings you will ever have": Lincoln's crunchy cornmeal onion rings.
—Restaurant Guide, Oct. 16, 2013
Two best IPAs in Oregon: Laurelwood Workhorse and Boneyard RPM.
—Portland Beer Guide, Feb. 5, 2014
Best macaron: Farina, "as pretty as anything on the market, and tastier than the rest."
—"Macaromania," March 12, 2014
Best Hawaiian plate lunch: L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, "voted best plate lunch on the island in 2008 by The Honolulu Advertiser. There really is no reason to get plate lunch anywhere else in Portland."
Best drinking movie of 2013: The World's End, which "runs through all the motions of a drunken night out—excitement, nostalgia, sadness, the urge to punch somebody in the face."
—"The AP Film Awards," Dec. 24, 2013
âThe best songwriter ever to emerge from this city,â according to many critics:
Elliott Smith. "A few years ago, Paste magazine ranked Smith the very best thing about Portland—above Powell's, Mount Hood, the book Geek Love and Gus Van Sant's entire oeuvre."
—"The Last of the Sad Bastards," Oct. 16, 2013
The best westside Spanish joint in a generation: Ataula, which "brings a renewed focus on top-quality tapas that has been missing in Portland for more than a decade."
—"Bravo Barcelona," Nov. 6, 2013
The best surprise party ever: âEvery dayâ in the life of the band Haim, according to Haim, which headlines MusicfestNW next month.
—"Sister Lovers," Oct. 16, 2013
Best honey: Bee Local Portland Farmland, which comes from Pleasant Valley and is "the color of grade-A maple syrup and has a nice, strong blueberry flavor."
—"The Portland of Milk and Honey," Sept. 18, 2013
Best milk: Garry's Meadow Fresh, "sold in glass bottles with little globs of white fat stuck to the cap…even in a blind tasting, this milk stands out for its thickness and freshness."
—"The Portland of Milk and Honey," Sept. 18, 2013
Best performance of the Portland International Film Festival: Luminita Gheorghiu as the mother in Child's Pose, who is "restrained but powerful, breathing life and credibility into what could have been an overwrought role."
—"PIFF Into Darkness," Feb. 5, 2015
Best micro-budget movie about writers on motorcycles you'll see this year:
The Best Bar in America, about "a world-weary writer scouring the Southwest for the prototypical pub."
—"The Best Bar in America," June 4, 2014
Best pumpkin beer: Elysian's The Great Pumpkin.
—"The Greatest Pumpkin," Oct. 9, 2013
Best pumpkin cider: Doc's Draft.
—"The Greatest Pumpkin," Oct. 9, 2013
Best Oregon sparkling wine: 2010 Argyle Vintage Brut. âBeautifully dry, like an old farmhouse cider but with thousands of tiny bubbles.â
—"Sparkle Party," Dec. 24, 2013
The best $5 burrito in Portland: Lindo Michoacan, which "starts with the stretchy handmade flour tortillas, which have the same surprising strength as super high-end paper towels."
The best New Mexican food in town: La Panza.
The best commercial pitchman at Pickathon, which is "the best li'l roots-ish music festival in town": Dale Watson. "At his raucous Galaxy Barn show on Saturday, his band would break into a faux-bossa-nova swing, while Watson flashed a pearly grin, extolling the virtues of Lone Star."
—"The Best of Pickathon," Aug. 7, 2013
Best damn chile verde you'll ever have cooked by a Dutch woman: The Standard.
The best criticism any WW staffer could level at anything in a $26 box of treats from the newish Sugar Cube bakery: "Lack of contrast between the citrus almond cake's hyper-lemony curd center and extremely lemony zest-heavy cake."
—Sugar Cube review, Oct. 2, 2013
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