Happy Hour of the Year: Carafe
Restaurant Guide '08: All listings
23Hoyt
The delicious contradiction of 23Hoyt can be explained by its name: A combo of the two streets where the building sits, it sounds simple and straightforward—but the moniker does little to signal the mix of city chic and woodland whimsy inside. Similarly, the 23Hoyt menu seems familiar, at first: some sweetbreads and foie gras here, a pasta dish and roasted trout or chicken there. There’s little indication of the alchemy 23Hoyt’s new chef, Aaron Barnett, performs with comfortable ingredients. That foie gras is actually an impossibly rich “royale” soup, swimming with chanterelles and garlic; super-creamy sweetbreads, served lightly fried like Popeyes of the Gods, mingle with tender pearl onions and spicy mustard. Pause for a puckery cocktail from the bar before digging into standard proteins—from lamb to steak, expect them perfectly cooked and dressed with unusually flavorful sides like braised escarole and airy whipped spuds. And that trout? It’s decorated with a grocery list of taste-teasers, from a bright mint pesto and smoky olives to chewy baby octopus and preserved lemons. It’s overwhelming—and yet, it really, really works. Kinda like 23Hoyt in general.
IDEAL MEAL: Crispy sweetbreads, arugula salad with housemade giardiniera and anchovies, roasted trout, and anything off pastry chef Jennifer Surmi’s outstanding dessert list.
KELLY CLARKE. 529 NW 23rd Ave. 445-7400. www.23hoyt.com Map50 Plates
Concept restaurants are viewed with a certain amount of justifiable suspicion—often too much effort is made in service of the concept and the food is just an afterthought. Despite some uninspired sandwich offerings, the menu of tweaked comfort food at 50 Plates—a sleek, earth-toned new venture from Lake O-based JoPa Restaurant Group—manages to steer clear of the usual pitfalls and delivers on its promise of cuisine inspired by old-fashioned American regional favorites with a clever upscale twist. The Garanimal mix-’n’-match structure of the menu rewards experimentation: Start off with any of the stellar salads, like the winning Green Goddess with pink shrimp, butter lettuce and avocado; consider the “mac ’n’ cheese,” a small bowl of layered rigatoni, each tube stuffed with chicken and fennel and lightly bathed in a rich cheese sauce, accompanied by a small, perfectly dressed fennel and watercress salad. Couple that with a side of salt-roasted beets and you’ve assembled an eminently satisfying meal. Who says whimsy has no place at the dinner table?
IDEAL MEAL: Sliced-tomato salad, fish over succotash, Faux Hos (chocolate sponge cake in a chocolate shell).
BRIAN PANGANIBAN. 333 NW 13th Ave. 228-5050. 50plates.com MapA Cena
This little Italian house had a rocky start when it replaced Sellwood’s Assaggio in late 2007—until chef Gabriel Gabreski took over the kitchen in May. Now the restaurant’s warm, soothing dining room and Gabreski’s beautiful but unpretentious dishes make A Cena a dining destination thanks to his devotion to ripe ingredients. On recent visits, we mostly found downright pyrotechnic dishes, exploding with the flavors of fresh meats and seafood, as well as vegetables that tasted like they had been plucked out of some sunshiny bower of ripeness (or, in some cases, A Cena owner Chris Custer’s own garden). A preparation of raw fish created a delectable tension between lemon, capers and long threads of chile, and we had no complaints about the house-cured olives. A dish of housemade tortelloni featured heavy mascarpone and sweet summer squash basking in an acidic, colorful pool of tomato jam. And a tender Sweet Briar Farms pork chop with soft, decadent mascarpone polenta proved an irresistible sweet-and-savory match.
IDEAL MEAL: Feeling flush? Gabreski’s six-course tasting meal is a steal at $70 per person.
TIFFANY LEE BROWN. 7742 SE 13th Ave. 206-3291. MapAlba Osteria & Enoteca
Perched in the Southwest hills, Alba is quietly turning out some of Portland’s best and most adventurous Italian food. Carne cruda (raw chopped beef), lengua (cow tongue) and sweetbreads (veal thymus glands) all make appearances on the menu, largely to good effect. But try starting with something slightly more domestic, like Alba’s whole roasted onion stuffed with chanterelles and Gorgonzola. You can eat a whole onion, I promise. For more hearty comfort try the brasato al nebbilolo, a sort of Italian beef stew of tender meat braised in red wine and ladled over mashed potatoes. The duck breast, laced with amber fig sauce and nestled on creamy polenta, is another stellar choice, especially when you wash it down with a bottle from Alba’s all-Italian wine list. If the varietals don’t look familiar, or just unpronounceable, don’t worry—the servers are very knowledgeable.
IDEAL MEAL: Roasted onion, duck breast with fig sauce and polenta, raspberry crème brûlée.
ETHAN SMITH. 6440 SW Capitol Highway. 977-3045. www.albaosteria.com MapAlu
THE RESTAURANT HAS SINCE CLOSED AND REOPENED UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP.
The name isn’t French or Italian, but a reference to the corrugated aluminum siding cladding the anonymous Eliot neighborhood storefront. Behind this glinting exterior is a plush lounge serving an ambitious collection of small plates of vaguely German influence. The verdict: charming but erratic. Service is earnest and friendly but hardly expert—on a recent visit, our waiter didn’t know all the dishes on the menu. And Alu’s dozen and a half plates are wildly inconsistent. At one end of the spectrum is the unlikely but lovely combination of Niçoise olives, shallots and tarragon in the endive salad. Likewise, the lamb rib chop, rubbed in rosemary and parsley, will have you sucking the bones for any stubborn morsels. But other flavors fall flat—or, in the case of the mustard sauce on the pork-and-veal skewer, knock you flat, overpowering all else on the plate. Still, with the right choices, there’s plenty on offer for a fine meal, especially paired with one of Alu’s affordable wine flights. Moreover, there are enough good ideas on the menu and good intentions in the staff to suggest Alu will only get better.
IDEAL MEAL: Belgian endive salad, ratatouille “Richard Olney,” lamb rib chop.
ETHAN SMITH. 2831 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 262-9463. www.aluwinebar.com MapAndina
An overwhelming consensus—i.e., The Oregonian (2005 Restaurant of the Year), Robb Report and WW’s own readers (who voted it 2008’s Best Place to Take a Date in the Pearl District)—favors this slick Peruvian restaurant, and for good reason. Appearance-wise, it’s a pretty classy joint, with a nifty copper-topped bar and a truly open kitchen. Servers are attentive, although some come off as too cool for school. The food, mostly Alice Waters-influenced takes on Peruvian staples served either tapas-style—a standout is grilled asparagus with garlic olive oil—or as full entrees, tends toward thick sauces and strong, simple flavors: The butternut squash and Gorgonzola ravioli served with the adobo de cerdo (pork sauce) is a tasty example.
IDEAL MEAL: Try everything on the tapas menu and hit the cocktails (happy hour 4-6 pm daily).
COREY PEIN. 1314 NW Glisan St. 228-9535. www.andinarestaurant.com MapApizza Scholls
You might have thought that when Apizza Scholls expanded into the space next door nearly two years ago the hour-plus waits would slim. You might have also thought that since chef-owner Brian Spangler and his crew no longer craft all of the 24-hour-fermented pizza dough by hand (they’ve finally purchased a mixer) the nightly dough shortages would cease. Well, think again. Apizza Scholls, known for 18-inch, gravity-defying, perfectly charred pizza—with attention from the likes of Anthony Bourdain and The New York Times—is as slammed as ever, slinging an average of 100 pies a night. Baked to 900-degree-pushing perfection six at a time, Apizza pies are delicious enough to burn the roof off your mouth repeatedly; restraint knows no friends here. Words to the wise: The original space isn’t as loud as the addition, and you even get your own table.
IDEAL MEAL: Vegetable plate with grilled artichoke hearts, Fior di latte (buffalo milk mozzarella), semi-dried tomatoes and more; sausage and goathorn pepper pizza; bottle of the house red.
LIZ CRAIN. 4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 233-1286. apizzascholls.com/ MapAutentica
So unstoppable has been the dirty-velvet Tex-Mex/fake-Mex revolution, it’s become desperately rare you ever see Mexican restaurants (as opposed to taquerias) that jibe with the best of what’s in the provinces. And while Autentica, too, is no carbon copy of what Mami made (which would be cynically fake, anyway), chef Oswaldo Bibiano has placed the Guerreran food he grew up with into the broader fine-dining tradition in which he was trained. And with the occasional exception of a braised boar-rib special, Autentica uses fresh ingredients local to the Northwest. Though the restaurant has often struggled with service (the overworked servers do mix those sterling margaritas personally), it has never faltered on its excellent small plates, particularly the tostada con puerco frito. The seafood cocktails are likewise well-balanced between citrus and fresh-fish flavors, with neither overwhelming the other. We do wonder about the $7 guac, the soups—the corn milk-thin, the tortilla soup indelicate—and the occasional bland fish special. But, still, as ever, the mole, the mole, the relleno sauce and the mole…I’ve commissioned a pool ($15 at Wal-Mart), and I’ll be filling it with the stuff.
IDEAL MEAL: Tostado con puerco frito, cocktel tradicional (fish in tomato sauce), pollo en mole teloloapan (half chicken in eight-chile mole).
MATT KORFHAGE. 5507 NE 30th Ave. 287-7555. www.autenticaportland.com MapBanh Cuon Tan Dinh—THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED
Talk about getting a lot of mileage out of a simple concept. This awkwardly shaped storefront in the Fubonn shopping center—for our money the best Vietnamese restaurant in town—specializes in giving diners a stack of thin, dried rice-flour sheets, some warm water in which to soften them, and various sorts of stuff to wrap in them. You can wrap up housemade Vietnamese ham, yam tempura, shredded pork skin, ground shrimp, crispy rice cakes and so on and so forth in little packets to shovel into your mouth. Sure, you could order one of the 13 soups or 18 noodle bowls on the menu, but they aren’t nearly as joyfully hands-on as the Tan Dinh dishes, which leave adults giggling uncontrollably. Don’t like meat? Ask for the surprisingly large secret vegetarian menu.
IDEAL MEAL: Pork spring rolls, steamed flour sheets with shredded pork skin, Vietnamese ham and barbecue pork, young coconut.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 2850 SE 82nd Ave., Suite 11. 445-6807. MapBar Avignon
Nancy Hunt and Randy Goodman have transformed the space that once belonged to the Red & Black Cafe. Where once was a newspaper clipping of Bruce Springsteen scrawled with the words “The only boss we listen to” is now a sleek bar lined with bottles of single-malt scotch near an exposed kitchen crafting dishes like chicken-liver pâté. The Boss has left the building. In his place is a stellar wine list (most bottles are available “to go” for 25 percent off), and a chocolate-and-blue space with down-tempo music. The ever-changing meat and cheese boards are fun: Pick a cheese or cured meat and an accompanying condiment like herb-roasted olives, dense Italian panforte fruitcake and Buzzing Canyon honey—hand-harvested in Estacada. Whatever big tastes you choose arrive in Lilliputian portions with a few slices of baguette. Other tasty options include the chilled leek-and-potato soup and the salt cod brandade. Bar Avignon’s light and creamy take on this classic French fish bake is served with a baguette and tart housemade slaw.
IDEAL MEAL: Cheese board, wine, panino, aperitif.
LIZ CRAIN. 2138 SE Division St. 517-0808. baravignon.com MapBastas Restaurant and Bar
Ignore the off-putting exterior of this pleasant Italian eatery on busy Northwest 21st Avenue (in a previous life it was a Tastee-Freez) and step inside for its offerings of staple Italian dishes and a fine mix of wines to complement the meal. Attentive service and intimate tables are perfect for couples needing a candlelit evening away from the kids. For starters, the antipasto plate of meats and cheeses is more generous than usual appetizer fare, and tasty to boot. Calamari fritti with salsa verde are fried just so. Save the ciuppin—a $19 fish stew of clams, mussels, calamari and seasonal fish over crostini—for when you need warming up on a cool night. The chicken scaloppini sautéed in white wine is good for any season. If you’re not ready to say basta (“enough”) after appetizers and dinner, don’t pass on either the moist chocolate torte or ginger molasses cake.
IDEAL MEAL: Antipasto misto, ciuppin, ginger molasses cake.
HENRY STERN. 410 NW 21st Ave. 274-1572. bastastrattoria.com MapBeast
“Let’s get it on,” Marvin Gaye croons, the come-on echoing through the low-lit space. “Let’s get in oooonnn.” The song’s about sex, but it makes a fitting soundtrack for one of Beast’s six-course gastro-seductions. Former Ripe co-head Naomi Pomeroy’s tiny communal Northeast Portland kitchen—pink, pig-themed and decadent—deserves all the accolades it’s racked up since opening last winter. Like its stellar brunch (see page 28), Beast has a prix fixe dinner that’s a delicious exercise in overload. You will eat to ruin here, and go home with a smile on your face (although you’re liable to still be food-drunk in the morning). Dishes are often French-inspired and always locally sourced, like farmers-market cauliflower alchemized into creamy, curry-laced soup. Beast’s heart belongs to the animals (its website infamously includes a polite yet firm “no substitutions” warning), and nowhere is that more apparent than the “around-the-clock”-style charcuterie plate, which recently included a duo of quail’s egg and oniony steak tartare on toast at 3, chunky, velvety pork liver and prune pâté at 7 and, at midnight, a salty, feather-light foie gras bonbon resting on a peanutty wafer and topped with a Sauternes “grape” jelly—a queenly PB&J. Eat slowly: A beautifully prepared, often braised or roasted meat course and a double-punch of Steve’s Cheese and dessert are still to come. Servers are warm and respectful, but the freewheeling soundtrack and cheerfully profane chalk graffiti in the bathroom remind you that this ain’t no white-tablecloth restaurant. Cheers to that.
IDEAL MEAL: You don’t get to choose your menu at either of the two nightly seatings (6 or 8:45 pm). That’s what makes it taste so good.
KELLY CLARKE. 5425 NE 30th Ave. 841-6968. www.beastpdx.com MapBeijing Hot Pot
Southeast 82nd Avenue’s nondescript Wing Ming Square, right next door to the Asian super center Fubonn, is fast becoming a food lovers’ mecca. Cheap-eats seekers flock to Wing Wa BBQ and the Viet-breakfast stop HA & VL. But diners searching for a more leisurely experience should swing by the mall’s new traditional Chinese soup stop, Beijing Hot Pot. First-timers would be wise to order the “two-person special,” which includes everything from chewy housemade noodles and thin-sliced pork, beef or lamb to fish balls, tiny enoki mushrooms and dried egg strips to dunk into your DIY soup (which, really, would easily fill three bellies). A foot-wide enameled copper pot with a burner is inset into each of the sparsely decorated restaurant’s tables—the bowl’s divided, so you can request both a “nourishing” chicken broth with ginger, dates, green onion and beef-bone broth and the hotter, chile-laden spicy soup-base. Generous portions of sauces and ingredients, which range from veggies and seafood to Spam, mean you can experiment to your heart’s content, the flavor deepening as the broth thickens. Don’t miss Beijing’s excellent handmade pork dumplings: savory, pillowy flavor-packets that are liable to cause a Hungry Hungry Hippos-style brawl between diners when they pop to the surface of the bubbling broth. Bonus: Hunkering over a boiling cauldron for an hour and a half is basically a spicy steam bath for your face. Soup’s on.
IDEAL MEAL: Hot pot with spicy broth, romaine leaves, mushrooms and pork dumplings. Free fruit and ice cream balls end each visit on a sweet note.
Belly
Although some Portlanders see a dark shadow over the newly opened restaurant in the space that last housed short-lived and stigmatized Terroir, the restaurant is as earnest and promising as they come. The roster: fresh/local/seasonal dinner and Sunday brunch. Bamboo tables and wicker chairs, deconstructed wine barrels, and a framed photo of humble russets set the scene in the 60-plus-seat dining room. If your appetite is solid, follow a starter and precede your entree with pasta. The “loaded potato” gnocchi is one of the best. Tasty entrees include pan-roasted sockeye with corn-kernel-studded polenta and sautéed green and wax beans, and grilled culotte steak topped with a puck of bordelaise butter and served with simple russet fries.
IDEAL MEAL: Egg salad “sandwich,” gnocchi, brined pork chop.
LIZ CRAIN. 3500 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. 249-9764. www.bellyrestaurant.com MapBelly Timber
“Belly Timber” is 19th-century slang for food, especially that which sticks to the ribs. The menu at this new diner, described by chef David Siegel as “local, simple Pacific Northwest cuisine with Italian and French influences,” is what you might expect from the name: warm, hearty and, for the most part, quite good. Two standouts that have already attracted praise from local food-fetishists are the “pigstrami” (pastrami-cured pork) on the charcuterie plate and the excellent, crisp fries served with bone-marrow aioli. Seared halibut over spring greens and pierogi are also first-rate. Salads are large and creative in a good way. You could hardly pick a better setting for an early autumn dinner—the shaded patio and porch of the stately converted Victorian are set back just far enough to make Hawthorne seem peaceful. The neighborhood has long wanted a good seasonal restaurant, and, with a cold drink and a pile of fries, Belly Timber fits the bill.
IDEAL MEAL: Charcuterie plate, fries, salad and a half-order of pierogi.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 3257 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 235-3277. www.bellytimberrestaurant.com MapBeWon Korean Restaurant
Both veterans and virgins of kimchi and bulgogi—not to mention serious meat eaters and vegetarians—can dine in harmony at this upscale Nob Hill outpost of Korean cuisine. Make a meal of a refreshing salad (carrots, avocados and cucumbers are dressed in light yet flavor-packed dressings) and one or two items from the long list of starters: pajeon—egg pancakes with scallions and seafood—or japchae, stir-fried sweet potato noodles with vegetables that are chewy (in a good way) and habit-forming. Hearty soups of meat, vegetables and seafood are clean and restorative, and a large variety of “traditional dishes” including kimchi stew and several versions of the ubiquitous bibimbop. Accompanying most entrees are nine tiny side dishes, including mild and spicy kimchis, pepper-spiced squid, sautéed spinach and fried vegetable patties.
IDEAL MEAL: Han Jun Shik—a prix fixe meal in which four side dishes are served along with a main course of the diner’s choice, plus a sweet cinnamon-ginger drink and dessert.
JOANNA MILLER. 1203 NW 23rd Ave. 464-9222. www.bewonrestaurant.com MapBijou Cafe
A cozy cross between an American diner and a French country restaurant, the Bijou is one of Portland’s favorite brunch palaces for some very good reasons. Hearty dishes like oyster hash and a French-style omelette with Cypress Grove goat cheddar fuse imaginative ingredients with rustic tastes, and the housemade sausages can’t be beat. Brunchtime greatness does come with a price—the wait can be long (up to an hour on weekends), but the staff is happy to keep the coffee or mimosas flowing while the dining room bustles around you. On weekdays the lunch crowd comes for similarly creative concoctions like the grilled steak sandwich with kalamata ailoi, sautéed onions and arugula, and the buckwheat noodle salad with julienned vegetables and hijiki.
IDEAL MEAL: Nancy’s yogurt and fresh fruit; French omelette with cheddar, roasted onions and potatoes; sparkling wine.
JAMES PITKIN. 32 SW 3rd Ave. 222-3187. MapBiwa
Sluuuuurp. Mmm. You know, you’d think a ramen bar would be a great date spot, but—chew, chew, chew—it turns out it’s so hard to stop yourself from munching on the—crunch—pickles and bits of grilled pork belly, garlic and seasoned ground chicken on sticks—urp—that it’s kind of tough to get a conversation going. And don’t get me started on the—suuuuuck—miso and udon and incredible housemade noodles. You’re just so engaged in eating that you don’t get to know the person you’re dining with in the warm wood and concrete basement of the La Luna building until, sated and sleepy, you kick back with a glass of sake and watch the cooks at work, trying to remember every moment of the meal. Aaahh.
IDEAL MEAL: Gyoza, pickles, vegetable salad, tsukune, udon.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 215 SE 9th Ave. 239-8830. www.biwarestaurant.com MapBluehour
Still one of the most elegant and evocative rooms in town, Bluehour has amped up its service from professional to cordial; no attitude here. But judging by several meals over the past couple of months, the food has lost some of the edge that justified the sky-high prices. Heirloom tomato soup was bland, and a shrimp risotto contained exactly six tiny bites of shrimp; on the other hand, perfectly grilled calamari was the star of an exuberant platter with Israeli couscous and spicy sausage. Then there was the dinner entree of porchetta ($29), an impressively bronzed pinwheel that proved to be almost entirely pork fat, hiding a mere nugget of meat. I asked the waiter if perhaps the fat was meant to be eaten; “It’s normally left behind,” he said. Stick to less creative options, like the horseradish-crusted salmon ($37), grilled chicken ($29), or whatever steak or chop is featured. The real excitement here is on the bar menu, where chef Kenny Giambalvo (now on paternity leave) serves up satisfying dishes like his “Mom’s meatballs” and the pulled-pork mini-pizza. Happy hour’s even better, with bargain-priced drinks and fabulous snacks for a few bucks.
IDEAL MEAL: It’s in the bar: Caesar salad, the great house burger, a side of “Kenny’s fries.”
HEIDI YORKSHIRE. 250 NW 13th Ave. 226-3394. bluehouronline.com MapBlueplate
A soda fountain so credibly old-timey you can almost see George Bailey getting his ears boxed behind the candy jars, Blueplate has an apothecary atmosphere that belies the innovation of its ice-cream-float mixology. The drugstore standbys are here—from chocolate malteds to egg creams—but the house specialties are original concoctions: The Hawaiian Sunset blends pineapple, coconut and strawberry syrups, while the Eastern Connection is accented with lemongrass and lime leaf. Meanwhile, the rotating menu of platters and sandwiches offers, hands down, the best hot lunch I’ve had in Portland. Wednesday’s special—bacon and mushroom mac ’n’ cheese—is a hearty pepper-Jack affair, with liberal applications of button mushrooms and garlic. The three-cheese ravioli (Thursdays) is a bit thin, but the best thing on the menu is there every day of the week: the Northwest sliders, two fist-size burgers topped with Tillamook cheddar and tangy basil mayonnaise. They’re served with a heap of mashed potatoes that may contain more butter than actual potato. Which double-aughts decade is this again?
IDEAL MEAL: Northwest sliders, vanilla milkshake.
AARON MESH. 308 SW Washington. 295-2583. eatatblueplate.com MapBroder
Can’t make it to Sweden? Or even Northeast Airport Way? Though sometimes it seems a flight to Europe might be quicker than a meal at this adorable Clinton Street cafe, those who seek their non-IKEA Scandinavian fix or just want one of the cutest breakfasts in Portland line up here on weekend mornings. A weekday lunch gives a bit more elbow room, and mellower dinners are back as of the beginning of September. With service that adeptly straddles the fine line between hipster and friendly, Broder’s meals are carefully prepared and gorgeous to look at: Your order will appear on a wooden board, with the plate nestled into a carved hollow. Baked eggs arrive in their own iron mini-skillet, with a fabric cozy over the handle. A gravlax bord with house-smoked salmon, pickled vegetables and a dynamite horseradish cream is almost too pretty to eat. But that careful preparation takes time, and lots of it: Consider packing a PowerBar to tide you over if you’re ravenous when you write your name on the wait list.
IDEAL MEAL: Swedish breakfast bord, baked scramble with wild mushroom and caramelized onion, Swedish meatballs.
CARIN MOONIN. 2508 SE Clinton St. 736-3333. broderpdx.com MapCafe Castagna
Sometimes restaurants that try to please everyone wind up pleasing no one at all. Castagna doesn’t have that problem. Between the elegant main restaurant and low-key but still high-minded Cafe Castagna, there really is something for just about everyone. Castagna proper specializes in luxuriant preparations of the finest cuts of meat and fish, with hefty price tags to match. Alaskan king salmon, Harris Ranch steaks, Cattail Creek lamb, all perfectly spiced, sauced and paired with sides, then laid on starched white tablecloths in Castagna’s sleek and minimalist dining room. Just on the other side of the wall, Cafe Castagna sizzles along, dim and romantic and decidedly more casual, not to mention affordable. Small plates, salads and cracker-thin pizzas start the menu, most in the $6 to $12 range. The arancini are Italy’s sophisticated answer to mozzarella sticks: deep-fried risotto balls oozing fontina cheese and aromatic saffron. Entrees range from the excellent hamburger to lamb skewers and housemade sausage. Both restaurants do what they do very well. Let your mood (and maybe your pocketbook) choose the right one for you.
IDEAL MEAL: Salad of Sauvie Island egg, frisée, lardons and toast; arancini; anything with lamb.
ETHAN SMITH. 1758 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 231-9959. www.castagnarestaurant.com/index.php MapCaffe Mingo
This intimate and lively neighborhood trattoria prepares homestyle Italian dishes simply and beautifully. The antipasto plate is a glistening jewel box of cured meats, cheeses and vegetables roasted in olive oil. Salads are ample and lovely, but the Salmone starter—house-cured sockeye with shaved fennel served with fresh baked marjoram crackers—should not be missed. Mingo’s signature penne, tossed with grass-finished beef braised in Chianti and espresso, is as intense and surprising as it sounds. Two pizza options plus the Cascade flatiron steak with grilled vegetables and Pesce all’Aqua Pazzo (a hearty chunk of lingcod in a broth of local greens, tomatoes and bead-size pasta) round out the short menu. The solicitous staff will provide suggestions from the list of mostly Italian wines, and never make you feel you’ve outstayed your welcome, despite the growing line of eager diners.
IDEAL MEAL: Pepper-and-fennel-flecked shrimp and croutons on skewers, butterleaf lettuce salad, Carlton Farms pork chop with polenta and charred peppers, baked chocolate pudding with fresh whipped cream.
JAMES PITKIN. 807 NW 21st Ave. 226-4646. www.caffemingonw.com/ MapCarafe
Simple, exquisitely prepared French bistro fare is the hallmark of Pascal Sauton’s cozy establishment, parked in a garage across the street from the Keller Auditorium. A diverse menu accommodates diners with a wide variety of agendas and budgets, from the early-evening show-goers wanting to grab a quick plate of briny-sweet Dungeness crab salad in a cool tomato soup to those who want to linger over a piece of perfectly seared albacore atop a stew of tomatoes and wax beans. Economics have forced the restaurant to up the price of its famous three-course prix fixe menu to $25, but it still remains an outrageous bargain. Warmer evenings allow for sidewalk dining, and while the corner of Southwest 3rd Avenue and Market Street may not be the Champs-Élysées, it certainly lends atmosphere. With an extensive wine list, a bar pouring creative cocktails and a genuinely engaged staff, Carafe remains the most accessible and authentic French dining experience in town.
IDEAL MEAL: Roasted beet salad, bifsteak frites, a quarter carafe of French merlot.
BRIAN PANGANIBAN. 200 SW Market St. 248-0004. www.carafebistro.com MapCarlyle
If a miraculously resurrected F. Scott Fitzgerald decided to have a night on the town in Portland, he’d probably lead his glamorous, drunken entourage toward Carlyle for dinner. Bruce Goldberg’s Slabtown destination diner is fancy but fun, friendly and casual, and refreshingly detached from the downtown/Pearl scene. It’s a low-lit rendezvous with a come-as-you-are dress code—very Portland. Bonus: The food is simple and delicious, with great attention to detail. The seared foie gras starter ($19) is a pure fatty delight of vaguely illicit bird liver, as it should be, but what makes it a great dish is the lowly sweet corn succotash underneath. Best corn ever, yo. If you want to feel like Hagar the Horrible, get the lamb loin entree and gnaw the meat right off the bone. Yarrmf! For straight-up make-you-happy food, try the hand-cut pappardelle with pork ragoût. The wine and cocktail list is exemplary: Notably, the “margatini” (tequila, triple sec and orange liqueur) comes with a limit of two per guest. Apparently, the bartender got into some trouble with this invention. Ignore his warning at your peril.
IDEAL MEAL: Meat, wine, meat, wine, wine, apricot soup.
COREY PEIN. 1632 NW Thurman St. 595-1782. www.carlylerestaurant.com MapCastagna
Sometimes restaurants that try to please everyone wind up pleasing no one at all. Castagna doesn’t have that problem. Between the elegant main restaurant and low-key but still high-minded Cafe Castagna, there really is something for just about everyone. Castagna proper specializes in luxuriant preparations of the finest cuts of meat and fish, with hefty price tags to match. Alaskan king salmon, Harris Ranch steaks, Cattail Creek lamb, all perfectly spiced, sauced and paired with sides, then laid on starched white tablecloths in Castagna’s sleek and minimalist dining room. Just on the other side of the wall, Cafe Castagna sizzles along, dim and romantic and decidedly more casual, not to mention affordable. Small plates, salads and cracker-thin pizzas start the menu, most in the $6 to $12 range. The arancini are Italy’s sophisticated answer to mozzarella sticks: deep-fried risotto balls oozing fontina cheese and aromatic saffron. Entrees range from the excellent hamburger to lamb skewers and housemade sausage. Both restaurants do what they do very well. Let your mood (and maybe your pocketbook) choose the right one for you.
IDEAL MEAL: Salad of Sauvie Island egg, frisée, lardons and toast; arancini; anything with lamb.
ETHAN SMITH. 1752 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 231-7373. www.castagnarestaurant.com MapChen's Good Taste
18 NW 4th Ave. 223-3838. MapChennai Masala
The surreal Streets of Tanasbourne may be a bit of a trek from Portland, but the dosas at Chennai Masala are worth it. The long, crispy crepes, carted out by the friendly staff at this no-frills South Indian eatery, are stuffed with numerous fillings, many based on a tasty onion-potato curry and served with a trio of sauces that can both cool and burn with equal facility. Crisp, airy samosas are a great way to begin, and the traditional Indian dishes shine: A lamb saag comprising fork-tender chunks of lamb swimming in a vibrant emerald spinach sauce begs to be sopped up with warm and stretchy garlic naan. Chana masala, a tomato-based spiced garbanzo stew over a mound of basmati, is superb, the beans cooked through without a hint of mushiness. Cool your throat with a tangy mango lassi and try to convince yourself that you really don’t need to order just one more dosa for the table.
IDEAL MEAL: Spinach masala dosa, samosas, chicken tikka masala.
BRIAN PANGANIBAN. 2088 NW Stucki Ave., Hillsboro. 531-9500. www.chennaimasala.net MapCiao Vito
There’s much to be said for simplicity. Many of Portland’s legion of Italian joints try too hard to overstimulate your palate with too many flavors, but sometimes all you want is a good bowl of spaghetti agli’olio and a nice glass of red wine. Ciao Vito’s undaunting and family-friendly atmosphere—with freshly cut sunflowers and a courteous host at the door—offers many hits; namely, the rich and buttery housemade gnocchi, topped with nearly as many chanterelle mushrooms as potato dumplings, and the risotto balls stuffed with three cheeses and an earthy pesto. Though a few of the entrees are a bit bland, the appetizers more than make up for it—especially a salad of warm, crumbly goat cheese and slightly sweet beets soaked in a balsamic glaze and easily cut with a fork. Asking for a dessert selection isn’t hard with such a friendly staff, and what a relief to find the mushy delight of a nice cup of tiramisu.
IDEAL MEAL: Roasted beet salad, potato gnocchi, tiramisu.
MICHAEL MNNHEIMER. 2203 NE Alberta St. 282-5522. www.ciaovito.net MapClarklewis
The oh-so-humbly-lowercased [not here! -Ed.] remnant of the Ripe conglomerate is named for a duplex of pioneers, and along with its now-defunct sister restaurants it was indeed one of the granddaddies of the modern regime of Northwest dining: local, organic, seasonal ingredients; casual-industrial decor; open kitchen; self-righteously catholic taste; sloppy accounting, you know the drill—the stuff that has The New York Times sticking its tongue in our ear almost every other week (it tickles, thanks). The restaurant now has a new owner and its third chef in two years (Dolan Lane of Bluehour), so you wonder: How’s it going over there? Well, the menu changes every day, so it’s rare you’d eat the same thing twice, but the salads—especially a recent orchid watermelon dish served sliced in the rind with goat cheese, mint and sea salts—are often refreshingly complex, effectively pairing sharply bitter or salty notes with sweet fruits, and the housemade pasta is consistently well-textured. The wine list has been wholly rehabilitated since last year, and while the entrees are much less exciting than in days of yore, they remain satisfying and approachable; still, they don’t always keep pace with the ambitious pricing.
IDEAL MEAL: Roll the dice with the chef’s dinner (chef’s choice), and treat yourself to half the menu.
MATT KORFHAGE. 1001 SE Water Ave. 235-2294. www.clarklewispdx.com MapCLOSED Alberta Street Oyster Bar & Grill
The new team at the Oyster Bar (which closed last August and was reopened four months later by Bruce and Kathy Kaad) keeps some elements of the old restaurant and makes some tweaks, providing an experience that is totally indulgent yet refreshingly low-key. Chef Laurel Gunderson’s new, slightly less adventurous menu focuses on French traditions and Northwest ingredients. Meaty mains like braised pork cheeks in a rich jus with fingerlings are voluptuous, but it’s the seafood that really shines: fat steamed mussels in fennel and garlic and, of course, the namesake mollusk, often regional and excellent naked or with a vanilla-pepper mignonette. Wine buyer Nita Jacura’s picks, focusing on our own backyard, pair wonderfully with the plates, and mixologist Derek Palmer crafts fun, fruity cocktails, many with house-infused spirits. A respectable list of after-dinner spirits and dessert wines guarantees a lovely finish.
IDEAL MEAL: Kumamoto oysters, smoked duck and wilted spinach salad, braised pork cheeks, Clear Creek pear brandy.
CLOSED Cava
While no one disagrees that the Foster-Powell neighborhood is on the uptick, making gritty Southeast 53rd Avenue and Foster Road a destination for duck confit cassoulet still seems a stretch. This is part of Cava’s charm. Antique light fixtures dangle over custom-built wooden booths fashioned from reclaimed lumber, and the walls are painted a deep hue of pomegranate red. On a cold and windy night, a friend likened Cava’s softly lit interior to being in the womb. Entrees are mainly Southern European-inspired, like the tasty bouillabaisse, with tender slabs of cod, chubby mussels, clams and shrimp in tangy tomato broth served with grilled bread and a glob of garlicky rouille. Cava’s burger—ground sirloin on a dense housemade bun—rivals Castagna’s. Like its thoughtful roster of well-priced European red and white wines, Cava’s dessert menu sports a variety of dessert wines for around five bucks a glass.
IDEAL MEAL: Seasonal salad, burger, pecan pie.
CLOSED Encanto
Deep Lombard is known more for payday loans and fast food than for fine New Mexican fusion dining, but Encanto shines like a beacon in the North Portland night. Diners are greeted by a big, open kitchen and long bar with plenty of natural lighting. But it’s in the gravel back-patio area—enclosed by a colorful scrap-fence and Christmas lights—that this joint really feels special. Not that the heavy, amazing menu hurts at all. Encanto’s rock shrimp in white wine chipotle sauce is even more delicious than that mouthwatering description would suggest, and it’s accompanied by a sizable chunk of fried avocado and a generous pile of chips. Goes great with the delicious housemade sangria or tequila drinks. The Pueblo-style enchiladas are a rich, layered treat big enough to split, especially with Encanto’s juicy/crispy seared hanger steak on top. Attentive service, laid-back setting and considerably cheaper than a place this nice in inner Portland. Man, Lombard is so cool!
IDEAL MEAL: Rock shrimp, green chile stew, tequila, tequila, tequila.
CLOSED Fife
Plenty of Portland restaurants tout seasonal, fresh-from-the-farm menus, but few take that ethos to such lengths as the Beaumont neighborhood’s Fife, where local farmers and ranchers deliver the goods daily to chef-owner Marco Shaw and where these deliveries, in turn, dictate the menu. A Fife favorite you can always count on, despite the nightly changing menu, is the cast-iron chicken. In late summer the tender bone-in bird might be served with sautéed runner beans and potatoes and topped with a crush of salty peanuts, while in the fall it might be encrusted in walnuts over a bed of pork-braised chard. Starters often feature seasonal fruits and vegetables, such as a cucumber-tomato puréed soup with chive sour cream or a beet grapefruit salad with toasted bread crumbs, while entrees generally showcase meat and fish such as roasted rabbit, buffalo brisket and sturgeon. Desserts by pastry chef Jessica Howard follow the Fife ethic—simple, delicious preparations loaded with local seasonals.
IDEAL MEAL: Heirloom tomatoes with marinated onions and rosemary oil, Willapa Bay flash-fried oysters, cast-iron chicken, berry crostata.
LIZ CRAIN. 4440 NE Fremont St. (971) 222-3433. www.fiferestaurant.com MapCLOSED Roux
Yes, it’s true Roux owner Dwayne Beliakoff has a much-anticipated, buzz-worthy restaurant slated for the new downtown Park Block across from Fox Tower, but let’s not forget the North Portland Creole cafe that started it all. Long live the croque monsieur salad, the andouille-stuffed quail and the spicy, buttery crawfish pie. Located in an old curtain factory on North Killingsworth Street, Roux is on the fringe in more ways than one. Where else in Portland can you find grilled housemade andouille, chaurice and boudin blanc sausages on the menu alongside soft-shell crab? Classy drinks like the house Sazerac, with cognac, Peychaud’s bitters and Absente, set the libation scene, along with a slew of Kentucky bourbons. Service is charming and spotless, but if you sup on the amazingly rich, almost candied ribs, your shirt may not be.
IDEAL MEAL: Half-dozen oysters on the half-shell, croque monsieur salad, crawfish pie, ribs with horseradish mashed potatoes, warm chocolate chip cookies, trip to the river and back to walk it off.
LIZ CRAIN. 1700 N Killingsworth Ave. 285-1200. www.rouxrestaurant.us MapClyde Common
What owner Nate Tilden humbly refers to as an 80-seat tavern manages to be all things to all people. The Ace Hotel’s resident eatery boasts a lively bar where the stylish and hip gather, a convivial dining hall for friends and colleagues who linger over communal tables under Clyde’s tall ceiling, and a romantic mezzanine enclave whose two-tops are among the most intimate dining real estate in Portland. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better lunch than the house burger with pickled onions, or the ploughman’s platter: a rotating assortment of cheese, flatbread and charcuterie that’s nearly enough for two and $13 well spent. An appetizer of soft scrambled eggs and thin slices of cured pork loin in an olive-oil bath is a case study in simplicity, as is the grilled whole fish, handmade tagliatelle braided with spring onions, morels, chard and grana Padano, or a side helping of seasonal vegetables, repeatedly excellent, often simply broiled and drizzled with olive oil. Cocktails excel.
IDEAL MEAL: Chicken-fried chicken livers, housemade pasta, grilled whole fish, summer berry shortcake with lemon-verbena ice cream.
MIKE THELIN. 1014 SW Stark St. 228-3333. www.clydecommon.com MapCountry Cat
God is in the grits and heaven in the hog at the Country Cat. Although the focus is on classic American Southern fare, the twists (molasses-hickory-smoked duck legs, an old fashioned floated with sweetened iced tea in a tall glass) are enough to make you twang in tongues. Chef-owner Adam Sappington’s signature dishes include cast-iron fried chicken; Strawberry Mountain barbecue beef; and smoked pork shoulder, rolled belly and brined chop—the “Whole Hog.” The whiskey and bourbon shelf is long, and the bar menu chalked on the wall beside it should not be missed. Highlights include buttery, hot pretzels sprinkled with salt and served with whole-grain mustard, and the pulled-pork sandwich with a tall stack of shoestring fries. Your tattooed server will happily serve bar bites along with a full meal with a wink and a nod.
IDEAL MEAL: Butter-lettuce wedge with Green Goddess dressing and poached egg, Cattail Creek Farm lamb chop and lamb meatball with goat cheese dumplings, peach pie with honey-lavender ice cream.
LIZ CRAIN. 7937 SE Stark St. 408-1414. thecountrycat.net MapDaily Cafe
At the Daily’s Northwest 13th Avenue location, this light-filled eatery decked out with lime-green plastic chairs and simple wood tables serves artful grilled and cold sandwiches (roast chicken with basil pesto and roasted tomato jam; tuna salad with wasabi mayo and cucumbers) as well as salads and soups, registering on most diners’ radars as a lunch destination only. But don’t overlook this casual joint for a satisfying dinner. A “saltimbocca-style” pan-roasted chicken breast aside a ragoût of fresh shell beans and toybox tomatoes; bruschetta with camembert, fresh figs and hazelnuts; and a variety of salads and sides sourcing the local bounty can be enjoyed in the evening hours at prices more modest than those of most of its Pearl District neighbors.
IDEAL MEAL: Baked 10-ounce Carlton Farm pork chop with risotto-mascarpone cakes and Italian plum sauce; Singing Pig greens and aged balsamic vinegar; brandy and vanilla-poached peaches over pound cake with whipped crème fraîche and black currant sauce.
JOANNA MILLER. 902 NW 13th Ave. 242-1916. www.dailycafe.net MapDOC
The latest addition to the Gourmet Gulch at Northeast Killingsworth Street and 30th Avenue, D.O.C. is a storefront meant to feel like a chic Italian grandma’s kitchen. Really, her kitchen: The dishwashing station is immediately on your left as you walk in, with the cooking area on your right. It’s an audacious design move, but it may not look so swift when winter sets in and people waiting for tables find themselves loitering in the middle of a slammed kitchen. The back of the space accommodates about 24 diners, and more tables are added on the sidewalk when weather permits. While it’s only been open a few months, we predict this will be one of Portland’s most exciting new spots. Our meals at D.O.C. have been bodacious—the food is inspired and the wine list is shrewd. This latest outpost of the Beast/Yakuza gang is a restaurant to watch.
IDEAL MEAL: A starter of squid, cherry tomatoes, oil-cured olives and fennel fronds; tender, oil-poached albacore in a spicy purée of peaches and Padrón chiles.
WILLAMETTE WEEK STAFF. 5519 NE 30th Ave. 946-8592. www.docpdx.com MapEast India Co.
This subversively named restaurant is full of surprises, starting with the entrance. A narrow, generically decorated bar, visible from the street, opens into a large, high-ceilinged dining room with curtained, cushy white-leather booths bathed in the red glow of an enormous light fixture recessed in the ceiling. The understaffed host station and corny, oversugary cocktail list suggest India House-style Westernization, but the mustard-heavy pickles will take your head off, and the leftovers from the enormous platter of fiery tandoori murgh (chicken marinated in yogurt and cayenne served with onions and peppers) will fill your fridge with an overpowering scent of woodsmoke. There aren’t very many misses on the lengthy menu. Three must-tries are the muchli ka tikka (tandoor-grilled, spice-encrusted seasonal fish), the chana pindi (mysteriously delicious chickpeas) and the sweet, creamy murg makhani (“butter chicken” simmered in tomato curry). Don’t skimp on the sides: The various flatbreads come steaming fresh from the tandoor oven.
IDEAL MEAL: Pakora, tandoori murgh, chana pindi, garlic kulcha.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 821 SW 11th Ave. 227-8815. eastindiacopdx.com MapEl Gaucho
At the cusp of a recession, the obvious question about this increasingly spendy steakhouse is whether its beef merits the bucks. Upon reflection, however, this query is pointless: Anyone who drops $60 on a ribeye is not a person who cares whether that ribeye is worth $60. But yes, this is an excellent cut of cow. The house specialty, Steak El Gaucho ($54), is a 12-ounce top sirloin so juicy the flesh swells out from between the crusts when you cut into it. (It’s topped with béarnaise sauce and two lobster medallions.) Everything on the menu at El Gaucho—which is Argentine-themed, inasmuch as two South American cowboys play guitar in the corner of the dining room—is blunt and grandiose; the tomato-and-mozzarella salad, for example, consists of three halves of beefsteak tomato and three slabs of cheese, bathed in balsamic vinegar. It’s all horribly ostentatious, and completely satisfying.
IDEAL MEAL: Steak El Gaucho and whatever sides you can afford.
AARON MESH. 319 SW Broadway. 224-2700. elgaucho.com MapFarm Cafe
Tattooed fixie cyclists and middle-aged matrons happily coexist at the vegetarian- and seafood-centric Farm Cafe. It really is as fresh as fresh gets here—friendly and efficient service notwithstanding. If it’s warm, sit out on the small but lovely patio, or, in any weather, enjoy the cozy farmhouse’s romantic vibe (which never topples into twee). The menu isn’t massive, but it might as well be—everything just looks so damn good, deciding is enough to provoke an anxiety attack. Baked brie? The hummus plate? What about the heirloom tomato stack? The Farm’s housemade veggie burger is one of the best in town, and the kitchen sure knows its way around a piece of fish—the halibut is plate-licking good. Inevitable repeat visits are also good for karma, as the Farm sources its ingredients locally: Freddy Guys hazelnuts, Ota tofu, Viridian Farms tomatoes, etc.
IDEAL MEAL: Rosemary-roasted hazelnuts, seafood Caesar salad, herb-crusted tofu with mushroom marsala.
CARIN MOONIN. 10 SE 7th Ave. 736-3276. www.thefarmcafe.net MapFirehouse
The first thing you spy at this honest-to-goodness former firehouse in Northeast Portland’s burgeoning Dekum food triangle is the garden. Owners Matthew Busetto and Eric Rose have created a leafy green wonderland of raised beds full of veggies and small fruit trees along one side of their orangey-red restaurant, while a big stone patio sprinkled with happy diners sipping wine and chomping on crisp pizzas straight from the wood-fired oven wraps around the other side of the building. Inside the vibe’s even more cozy, with tall walls decorated with old photos of the 95-year-old building and laid-back servers delivering small appetizers like smoky-hot roasted Padrón pepper bruschetta and tasty house dry-cured salmon. Don’t expect a lot of creative whiz-bang from this kitchen; its stock in trade is simple plates from that garden and the warm beast of an oven. A perfectly grilled hanger steak rests on a bed of just-picked—when possible—arugula and fat curls of lemony grana Padano. The salmon gets a nice blast in the oven before it’s paired with grape tomatoes from the garden. And the pizza—with just enough tomatoey sauce and toppings like fresh anchovies or fennel-heavy house sausage—is good enough to make you wish you’d had the smarts to buy a home in the neighborhood years ago.
IDEAL MEAL: Housemade ginger soda, garden salad, rotisserie chicken or pizza and a dynamite caramel-drizzled espresso semifreddo with crunchy cinnamon wafers, to share with a friend.
KELLY CLARKE. 711 NE Dekum St. 954-1702. www.firehousepdx.com MapFratelli
This intimate, high-ceilinged Pearl space turns out simple, well-balanced Italian dishes built around local and seasonal ingredients. Fratelli’s lengthy menu spans antipasti, bruschette, salads, polenta and pasta, rounding out with meaty main courses and finally desserts—all of which vary depending on the latest harvest. Bruschetta with ricotta and peppers is saved from blandness by the anise-sweetness of fennel marmalade. Tossed with summer squash and goat cheese and a crisp shimmer of fresh mint, the potato gnocchi highlight the kitchen’s knack for flavor combinations. And Fratelli is at its best when flavors stay bright and distinct. A pork shoulder disappointed at a recent visit because the heirloom tomatoes, pancetta and arugula had been stewed until their tastes ran together, but a leg of lamb triumphed with caramelized onions and inventive pistachio aillade, which cut nicely through the brawny flavor of the meat.
IDEAL MEAL: Bruschetta with baked ricotta, crushed pepper and fennel marmalade; potato gnocchi with summer squash, goat cheese and fresh mint; grilled leg of lamb with balsamic caramelized onions and pistachio aillade.
ETHAN SMITH. 1230 NW Hoyt St. 241-8800. www.fratellicucina.com MapGenoa—THIS RESTAURANT HAS REOPENED.
**WW has not rereviewed Genoa since it reopened in December 2009. Look for a review of Genoa and its new cafe, Accanto, in the coming months. **
Very-special-occasion restaurants—the sort of place where you are willing to drop half a paycheck—must have the following qualities: picture-perfect ambience, hints of romance and poetry, assertive but unobtrusive service, and, most of all, food that is remembered long after the last bite is taken. For 37 years the humbly located but genuinely superior Genoa has done just that. But recent meals have found this once reliable prix fixe Italian kitchen scrambling to find solid footing—at least, in the haute cuisine department. The reason for the disconnect is unclear, but we do know that Adam Kaplan, who previously worked the line at both Bay 13 and Uptown Billiards, took over the kitchen’s top rung in early September. At first blush, Chef Kaplan is holding his own, which is saying something considering Genoa’s mystique was built on the reputations of local legends like former owner/chef Amelia Hard and Nostrana’s Cathy Whims. But it’s too early to tell if Kaplan can consistently rise to the level necessary to compete with Portland’s elite eateries. The $80, seven-course prix fixe meal includes several stellar items, like a salad of roasted local beets that played nicely with pickled mustard seed and Gorgonzola, as well as a plate of tender gnocchi in a sea of boldly cured prosciutto and duck confit. But a meal here should dazzle throughout, and some courses only gave off a faint glow of what they might be—from a tasteless gazpacho and a too-salty escolar to uneven temperatures on other dishes. Even more surprising, despite the number of courses served, Genoa’s ’70s-spa-cuisine-size portions had this diner leaving the table wanting more. On a happier note, the newish cheese course is full of flavor, the desserts heavenly and the wine choices are still pricey, if priceless. Let’s hope Kaplan gets his game face on—and fast.
IDEAL MEAL: If the economy hasn’t swallowed you whole, try gulping down the $130-per-person grand tasting menu.
BYRON BECK. 2832 SE Belmont St. 238-1464. www.genoarestaurant.com MapGilt Club
Plush room. Posh drinks. Pretty patrons. You’d be (half) right if you were under the impression this was the joint to snag a drink and a naughty one-night stand. But those Gilt-y pleasures aside, this club is more than just a banging nightspot—it’s also quite the Old Town eatery. Starters can be cheesy, but that’s a good thing when it comes to the golden manchego fritter with roasted red pepper sauce, or a platter of three cheeses (lately it’s been Pierre Robert triple crème and a Cali, as well as a Port Townsend ash-rinded goat cheese). Handsome cocktails and a handpicked wine list, created by co-owners Jamie Dunn and Cynthia Challacombe, complement Chef Pete Gadd’s various simple yet elegant entrees. Inexpensive and ample choices include a buttermilk pork loin brined in black tea, and a duck breast poached in vanilla and covered in cracklins. The Gilt Club is a real pick-me-up, and the desserts won’t let you down: The candy platter, full of bite-size bits, is nothing short of confectionery smack.
IDEAL MEAL: The crunch of the mâche, a salad of cukes and radishes, followed by perfectly seared sea scallops and a platter of candies or the chocolate cashew torte with candied bacon.
BYRON BECK. 306 NW Broadway. 222-4458. www.giltclub.com MapGiorgio's
From its butter-yellow walls and pitted antique mirrors right down to those charming hexagonal tiles that line the floor, this Pearl District restaurant is exactly what it ought be: an elegant corner bistro serving well-made French/Italian dishes for those who have the disposable income to enjoy them. And really, who needs globe-trotting fusion flourishes when you’ve got an excellent plate of earthy wild boar ragoût tossed with ruler-wide housemade pappardelle noodles and topped with a small molehill of Pecorino Toscano in front of you and a chilled glass of pinot bianco at your wrist. The patrons are split between neighborhood regulars and canoodling special-occasioners, but all can agree on starters like perfectly seared scallops and a recent late-summer-in-a-bowl corn soup with crunchy bits of lobster mushroom gremolata, as well as rib-stickers like seared steak tips or, for lighter appetites, tender ravioli stuffed with sweet Dungeness crab. Skip the utterly pedestrian olive-oil cake but do sip Giorgio’s coffee, Johnnie Walker Red and Bailey’s wake-up call “Lost in the Pearl” for dessert. It’s nice to part on a sweet note.
IDEAL MEAL: Pistachio goat cheese and endive boats or seared scallops, boar ragoût with pappardelle, one of Giorgio’s lovely housemade fruit sorbets.
KELLY CLARKE. 1131 NW Hoyt St. 221-1888. www.giorgiospdx.com MapGood Taste Noodle House Southeast
When you visit Good Taste Noodle House, bring a friend. They are not shy about portions at this anonymously decorated cafe off Southeast 82nd Avenue, and you’re sure to need backup to finish a Super Bowl order of won ton noodle soup, brimming with plump dumplings stuffed with pork and shrimp and mounds of roasted-in-house meats. Good Taste covers standard Chinese well, from shrimp fried rice to kung pao chicken, and a whole section of the menu is devoted to congee (rice porridge), but it’s the signature bowls of noodle soup that will get you in the door. The won tons bathing in the salty-sweet broth are excellent thermal insulators. Even if the dumplings’ surface is just a touch warm, the core can be molten—be careful! Your precautions will be rewarded with a five-spice-laced pork bomb with almost whole shrimp buried within. The slices of barbecue pork, bits of roasted duck (use your fingers) and chunks of roast pork swimming alongside, including crackling pork skin, are just a bonus.
IDEAL MEAL: All you need is the Super Bowl.
Heathman Restaurant & Bar
This grande dame of Portland cuisine has been wowing critics from around the country since long before our city was the darling of the national food press. And despite the surging thicket of new and ambitious Portland restaurants, the Heathman’s French-cum-Northwest flavors remain elite. A salad of Oregon bay shrimp, baby leeks and fennel bulb expertly balances crisp with hearty. The Caprese salad presentation is a touch sloppy, but its heirloom tomatoes are sweet and earthy and its mozzarella fresh. The Heathman clearly saves its A-game for entrees. The dainty roasted quail in a nest of crème fraîche polenta, roasted figs and verdant, candy-sweet sugar snap peas is superb. The star of the menu is a single buttery diver scallop, seared brown on the top and bottom and dressed with pine-nut vinaigrette.
IDEAL MEAL: Bay shrimp salad, roasted quail, profiteroles.
ETHAN SMITH. 1001 SW Broadway. 790-7752. www.heathmanrestaurantandbar.com MapHiggins
Higgins’ interior is generic dark hardwood and white tablecloth, its mood elegantly formal, its servers breezily chin-up. For a restaurant that pioneered Pacific Northwest cuisine and local seasonal ingredients, the mood inside—even in the less swanky bistro—couldn’t have less in common with Portland’s predominantly urban-casual approach to fine dining. But the professional sheen is no accident: Higgins has some of the best execution in town. This means not only that the breading on the tender pork schnitzel is light enough to be unironically called ethereal, the duck confit ungreasy, the salads airily pleasant, the fresh green beans left satisfyingly crisp, but also that the service attends itself handily to the specific needs of each table: formal with the formal sorts, friendly with the friendly sorts, without any break in composure. And while the menu is not as in-your-face innovative as some local haute cuisine, each dish contains a subtle turn from the expected, a refined twist or local nod that makes its own very definite impression on the palate.
IDEAL MEAL: The menu changes each week, but some advice: Even though vegetarians are handily accommodated, this is one place where entree viandes are both satisfying and delicate, with subtle accents and sauces. Break vegan, right here. Do it gently.
MATT KORFHAGE. 1239 SW Broadway. 222-9070. MapHiroshi
Hiroshi may sit only steps away from the Pearl’s frenetic, kid-clogged Jamison Park, but entering this sushi house is like stepping into another world, a subdued temple of exacting seafood artistry presided over by chef and owner Hiro Ikegaya. Place yourself at the long sushi bar to get the full effect—watching Ikegaya and his staff meticulously slice, clean and assemble a rainbow of fish and ocean dwellers, from crimson tuna and pungent mackerel to viscous, phenomenally fresh orange uni (sea urchin). Although the selection of sushi is top notch, Ikegaya’s appetizers are the more unique offerings. Tuck into a warm, creamy cup of chawanmushi, a Chinese egg custard with shrimp and mushrooms, or get luxe with the restaurant’s signature pairing of monkfish liver and caviar. By the time you savor the silky crunch of Hiroshi’s halibut maki—delicate, paper-thin cuts of fish wrapped around yellow peppers and cucumber and dotted with sour-salty balsamic tama miso sauce—you’ll be food-drunk without a single sip of sake.
IDEAL MEAL: Halibut cucumber maki, chawanmushi, fried shrimp heads and a chef’s choice of sashimi, nigiri and rolls.
KELLY CLARKE. 926 NW 10th Ave. 619-0580. MapJake's Famous Crawfish
It seems like Jake’s serves only two kinds of people: those who have been in Portland for 40 minutes, or for 40 years. Now in its 116th year and written up everywhere from The New York Times to Fodor’s, Jake’s has a laser focus on fresh seafood that makes it justifiably the city’s most famous eatery and a bastion for tourists as well as those who consider themselves as much a part of the city’s establishment as the restaurant itself. The food is outstanding and occasionally creative in an understated way—among local classics like the Copper River coho with Mount Adams huckleberries, you’ll find inspirations such as lingcod marinated with cilantro and lime served with rice and chipotle beurre blanc. Each dish’s place of catch is noted on the menu (halibut cheeks from Kodiak, oysters from Willapa Bay). Surprisingly, the waiter warned us away from the signature dish—Jake’s Live Crawfish Boil—proving Jake’s is staying honest in its old age.
IDEAL MEAL: Baked escargots with garlic and butter, wild king salmon with dill beurre blanc, Jake’s famous truffle cake.
JAMES PITKIN. 401 SW 12th Ave. 226-1419. www.mccormickandschmicks.com/Locations/portland-oregon/portland-oregon/SW12thAve.aspx MapKaram
Karam, in Lebanese, means “generous.” The owners aren’t kidding. This downtown locale remains my favorite Lebanese restaurant in Portland, and not merely because of the genuinely off-this-planet, out-of-your-gourd grape leaves and sterling falafel. Both in portions and in spirit, one always feels well-served, and in the best tradition of Mediterranean hospitality one always also feels welcome. You can expect the owner to stop by your table personally, affably, to see how you liked the food—he’s not worried you didn’t, because you did. Like all Lebanese fare, Karam is vegetarian-friendly, but I’ll admit my favorite items on the menu are the goat and lamb dishes—in particular the molokhie, a double-platter number where you get to drape the savory-leafed molokhie and spinach across the lamb and rice, just like you would a sumptuous velvet gown onto your own body.
IDEAL MEAL: Split a veggie mezza or meat mazawat sampler, then try out the pumpkin kibbee (a bulgur dish with walnuts), goat bil tfeen (goat in red wine sauce) or molokhie. You’ll roll out the door, rosy from Lebanon’s traditional arak liquor, deeply sated.
MATT KORFHAGE. 316 SW Stark St. 223-0830. www.karamrestaurant.com MapKen's Artisan Pizza
Although 12-inch, wood-fired pizza is the cornerstone at Ken’s Artisan Pizza—and yes, you’d be a fool to pass on the pie—be sure to eat your vegetables as well. The focal wood-fired oven, surrounded by mezzaluna-wielding cooks, perfects lightly charred, delicious roasted vegetables. In late summer the vegetable platter included cooked-to-collapse smoky eggplant with spicy tomato sauce and oregano pesto, roasted green and yellow wax beans, and herby squash and poblano pepper. The prosciutto pie, one of 10 house pizzas, is a cured-meat quilt stitched from thinly sliced prosciutto di San Daniele, Ken’s signature spiced red sauce, mozzarella and basil. The Arrabiatta is the same, but subs in spicy Calabrian chiles for the meat. Most nights the wait is a-walk-to-Laurelhurst-Park-and-back long, but the bar is always up for grabs.
IDEAL MEAL: Caesar salad, roasted vegetable plate, fennel sausage and onion pizza with Calabrian chiles, vanilla-bean panna cotta, roasted Mission figs and Riesling honey syrup.
LIZ CRAIN. 304 SE 28th Ave. 517-9951. www.kensartisan.com/pizza.html MapKenny & Zuke's Delicatessen
Can a restaurant with a kids’ menu and really good food coexist? Yes. Bridging the divide is Ken Gordon and Nick Zukin’s big, busy deli in the Ace Hotel building, where you can stuff yourself with an absurdly large sandwich of incredible house-cured pastrami and corned beef or a boat-size Cobb salad while your tyke tackles a much more manageable grilled cheese or bowl of buttered noodles. They’ll steal your pastrami-cheese fries, but there’s no way you were going to finish them anyway. The servings here are so large the double-decker club should come with a stenciled warning: Do Not Attempt. Save half for later. The various meats are good and all, but don’t miss the excellent pickles and soups, and at least consider forgoing the usual pint for one of dozens of bottled sodas, selected with great care by Zukin.
IDEAL MEAL: Pastrami-cheese fries, pickle assortment, meatloaf sandwich, Bundaberg Ginger Beer.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 1038 SW Stark St. 222-3354. www.kennyandzukes.com MapKir
To the throngs of faithful who have frequented Kir since its inception early this summer, this pocket-size wine bar shelled in dusty pink and vintage gold is the type of place about which they’d prefer to keep quiet. This isn’t because there’s fault to be found in a brimming bowl of plump mussels in a tasty bath of white wine and Spanish chorizo, or because the rations of salami and cheese on the charcuterie platter are too generous, or because summer’s roster of rosé nearly outnumbers the thoughtful selections of whites and reds by the glass (few of which ever top 10 bucks). No, it’s because Portland is home to 560,000 residents, and, for now, living-room-size Kir is the city’s best-kept secret. One taste of the mussels and a few moments spent with owner Amalie Roberts, and you’ll want to visit again and again. So keep it under your hat, ’kay?
IDEAL MEAL: Seasonal salad, charcuterie platter, mussels, Two Tarts cookies.
MIKE THELIN. 22 NE 7th Ave. 232-3063. kirwinebar.com MapLauro Kitchen
Now in its fifth year, Lauro keeps the home fires steadily burning, consistently turning out Mediterranean-influenced comfort food that always fits the season. Watch the culinary pros at work in the theatrical open kitchen, anchored by a gas-fired pizza oven, or perch at the bar and delight in the fact that, among the seasonal specialty cocktails scribbled on the chalkboard wall, there’s still a great classic Manhattan. Service is friendly and fast, which is good because you won’t want to delay the delivery of items like summery butter lettuce salad or a crisp prosciutto, date and arugula pizza. Grilled items show off Lauro’s strengths: lamb sirloin, eggplant moussaka and salmon arrive exactly as ordered, with the perfect mix of sear and softness. This neighborhood place isn’t going anywhere, which brings relief to us all.
IDEAL MEAL: “Fattoush” chopped salad, grilled sockeye salmon, pudim flan.
CARIN MOONIN. 3377 SE Division St. 239-7000. www.laurokitchen.com/ MapLe Pigeon
Gabriel Rucker is fearless in his application of animal fat. At one recent meal at his tiny bistro on East Burnside Street, pork fat made its way into an appetizer, both entrees and dessert. A word of advice: Before you join the young and attractive ranks of diners clustered at the long tables around Rucker’s altar to the divine hog, spend a day or two on a steady diet of celery and wheatgrass juice. Do so, and the lamb “BLT” (a seared square of lamb belly atop a slice of tomato, a disc of toasted sourdough and some lettuce dressed, as far as we could tell, in pork fat) may seem merely decadent, rather than lethal, as the delicious lamb fat slides down your throat. Whatever you do, don’t skip dessert.
IDEAL MEAL: Lamb “BLT”; the fish of the week; apricot cornbread with maple ice cream, bacon and honey.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 738 E Burnside St. 546-8796. www.lepigeon.com MapLincoln
Why did chef Jen Lewis, who runs the fine catering company Culinary Artistry, and her husband, David Walsh, one of the city’s top-notch waiters and a producer for public radio, decide to venture into the risky and brutal world of owning a restaurant? Beats me, but their new venture, Lincoln, which opened in July on North Williams Avenue, is a great-looking corner space in a newly renovated building, with a lofty ceiling, wooden beams and walls of windows. A single meal about a month after opening revealed food that was pleasant but almost aggressively uncomplicated, like thyme flatbread with smooth brandade and a tangle of grilled green onions and potato and sage fritters, crisp and creamy. Simple roast chicken came with shoestring potatoes, an item which in the history of the restaurant universe has never been delivered hot. This time was no exception. A savvy little wine list and capable service will make it agreeable to sit back and see what this restaurant evolves into.
IDEAL MEAL: Bruschetta topped with a pleasantly sharp salad of squid, green olives and capers; hanger steak with fine onion rings; hot fudge sundae.
HEIDI YORKSHIRE. 3808 N Williams Ave. 288-6200. www.lincolnpdx.com MapLolo
Don’t let the relatively plain, open, decidedly non-Spanish interior fool you; Lolo knows its tapas. From the chirpy, attentive staff to a few knockout cocktails (try the hibiscus margarita or ginger-infused cosmo), it’s an ideal spot for a late summer happy-hour catch-up with an old friend or an order-everything-on-the-menu feast with the whole gang. The constantly rotating menu offers many pleasures, but you can’t go wrong with the city’s de facto favorite potato chips—thin, not-too-crunchy slices topped with fried herbs and just the right amount of sea salt—which you’ll devour so quickly you’ll have to place another order and swear off Frito-Lay products for life. The seafood ceviche, buried under radish cubes and topped with a creamy cucumber sorbet, is just about the lightest, most refreshing pairing to a humid evening. Conversation proves difficult during busier hours, so sit away from the bar (and the bus stop outside) and order the freshly made churros, fried golden-brown and ready for dipping in the nutty, rich chocolate on the side. Childhood never tasted so fancy.
IDEAL MEAL: Hibiscus margarita, potato chips with sea salt and fried herbs, serrano ham and manchego-cheese croquette, seafood ceviche, churros with chocolate and honey.
MICHAEL MANNHEIMER. 2940 NE Alberta St. 288-3400. www.lolopdx.com MapLovely Hula Hands
You can’t out-cute the Minnick Sisters. Whether you sit in the boisterous pink-and-white main dining room, the intimate den of two-tops upstairs or the Chinese-lantern-adorned patio, an evening at this adorable remodeled storefront on North Mississippi Avenue guarantees canoodling later in the evening. Looking for a third-date spot? This is it. ‘Course, the food is good too. Chef Troy MacLarty spent four years in the kitchen at Chez Panisse, and the slow-food ethos is evident in the fresh flavors on his menu. A late-August entree of halibut with sweet corn, Roma beans, cherry tomatoes and basil was summer on a plate, and the burger, a 1/3-pound monster dressed with caramelized onions, cheddar and aioli and served impaled with a steak knife, is a heart-stopping beef bonanza.
IDEAL MEAL: Fried Padrón peppers and cherry tomatoes, marinated olives, grilled Strawberry Mountain ribeye for two, chocolate pot de crème.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 4057 N Mississippi Ave. 445-9910. www.lovelyhulahands.com MapMalay Satay Hut
The interior of this unobtrusive “hut” in the Fubonn shopping center has about as much appeal as the Tiki Room, but the thatched movie-island motif isn’t the only reason you risked parking your car on 82nd Avenue. It’s the slippery slide into the mysteries of what one waitress described as “Malaysian Chinese food” that’s the real attraction here. The menu is easy on the eyes, with nearly every item illustrated by a color photo, which helps when you try to spit out words like “lobak,” “rojak” or “Kang Kung belachan.” And while it may look intimidating on the page, when an entree such as the Buddhist Yam Pot (the “pot” is made of a root veggie) or barbecued Pompano fish plops down in front of you, it’s best to open your mind along with your mouth and just eat it. Stirring other Southeast Asian countries’ spices and Indian curries into the mix, Malay Satay Hut is a great vacation spot for those who would like to travel far from the Portland dining scene and still get home on a full tank.
IDEAL MEAL: Pancaked roti telor (or canai), Sinagpore rice noodles, Indian rojak, Buddhist Yam Pot, Malaysian Chinese pork chops.
BYRON BECK. 2850 SE 82nd Ave., #104. 771-7888. www.malaysatayhut.com MapMasu
This hip, modern and elegantly sparse upstairs space draws loyal fans of sushi, sake and socializing. Other than its happenin’ happy-hour scene, Masu has long been known to carve up some of the best-quality fish flown into town and turn it into esoteric sashimi, pristine nigiri and jewel-studded, artistic sushi rolls. The sushi chefs at Masu raise commonplace rolls to a higher standard, going so far as to make their mayonnaise daily. Try the flaming St. Helen’s Volcano, a perfect formula of smoky-sweet crab, shrimp and avocado, or the sassy spicy Japanista with tuna and seared hamachi. Fish is always fresh and elegantly prepared. The full menu offers Japanese-inspired starters, salads and entrees, like a thin-sliced seared tuna with ponzu and confit of carrots—tasty enough, but not worth passing on sushi for. Masu has an extensive selection of sake and a short wine list.
IDEAL MEAL: Miso soup, Holy Kobe roll, eel and avocado hand roll.
Meiji-En
Japanese restaurants in Portland generally live or die by the cuts of their nigiri, their sashimi, the sometimes goofy compilations wrapped up in their maki. And Meiji-En is no slouch in this category. Though the kitchen does make use of international pseudo-Jesus-freak Rev. Moon’s True World fish—as does just about every sushi restaurant in Portland save three—the fish is well selected and cut, and its Hawaiian maki (well-proportioned tuna, salmon, mango and avocado) is among the better-conceived rolls in town. Still, the real heart of Meiji-En’s menu is at its fringes. The poke salad with tuna, cucumber and daikon is marinated in a citrus sauce that doesn’t overpower the individual flavors. The mackerel, which elsewhere is usually overpowered by salt and skin, is cooked tender and subtle, with only a hint of pepper to bring out the flavor of a highly underregarded fish. The service can be sometimes affably inattentive, the chefs blank-eyed at questions asked in a language that isn’t theirs, but the true merits of the restaurant lie behind the sushi bar and in the kitchen.
IDEAL MEAL: Mussels, Hawaiian ooke, any given udon (gyoza in particular), Hawaiian maki roll and sashimi to satiety.
MATT KORFHAGE. 2226 NE Broadway. 284-6774. MapMeriwether's
“Oh, what a shame,” diners cried when chef Tommy Habetz left this upscale country kitchen last June. “It was getting so good!” No worries—it turns out current chef Earl Hook has continued the restaurant’s local-food obsession, highlighting produce grown at Meriwether’s own Skyline Farm (located just up Highway 30) and reveling in combinations of Oregon favorites like mushrooms and hazelnuts. Lunch brings playful takes on crunchy chickpea fritters, shrimp po’ boys with spicy harissa remoulade and pint glasses of basil lemonade, while dinner features twists on classics like a meltingly tender, smoked paprika chicken with toothsome braised greens or halibut perked up with prosciutto and preserved-lemon relish. Dishes occasionally overshoot their mark, like a cloying coconut-curry crust on an otherwise excellent, juicy chicken ’n’ waffle (with grilled nectarines to boot), or a slough of soupy sauce at the bottom of a unique “lasagna” of layered noodles, creamy mascarpone and local mushrooms, but the menu’s good points outweigh the overwrought. Plus, Meriwether’s has one of the best year-round patios in town—a made-for-Mother’s Day collection of bloom-adorned flagstone circles and covered gazebos (there’s even a fire pit) that provides the best accompaniment to brunch, lunch or dinner one could ask for.
IDEAL MEAL: Chilled cucumber soup with cayenne (if available), chickpea fritters, paprika chicken and a glass of Oregon wine in the spacious dining room or, even better, on the patio.
KELLY CLARKE. 2601 NW Vaughn St. 228-1250. www.meriwethersnw.com MapMint/820
Delightful flavor combinations take center stage in this industrial yet intimate restaurant and bar tucked in a pocket of North Portland near the foot of the Fremont Bridge. Combining Mediterranean, Latin American and Northwest influences, Scott Guynn’s dishes are composed not to be showy but to optimize each ingredient’s potential, from salads that balance fresh and salty flavors to a coconut tapioca with lemon and guava. A seafood risotto is punctuated with generous morsels of brilliant charred shrimp, assertive mahi-mahi, bright cilantro and youthful microgreens, a constant delight with each bite different from the last. Owner and bar manager Lucy Brennan has been leading the boozy way for years with her culinary cocktails spiked with infusions and unusual ingredients. Try the Ruby, with beet-infused vodka and citrus, or her signature avocado daiquiri. One cocktail tends to lead to another here. Happily, the Interstate MAX is just a block away.
IDEAL MEAL: Pear and celery salad, seafood risotto, the G Sling (G Joy sake, banana rum, lemon and lime).
SHOSHANNA COHEN. 816 N Russell St. 284-5518. www.mintrestaurant.com MapMiss Delta
If the Delta Cafe (4607 SE Woodstock Blvd., 771-3101) was Portland’s grand old dame of Cajun cooking, then Miss Delta is her scandalous little sister: tattooed and catty, but still able to whip up a mean pot of jambalaya. Opened in 2007 by the Delta Cafe’s original owners, the sequel is simple comfort food on Portland’s hippest street. Generously portioned fried appetizers—hush puppies and black-eyed pea fritters are standouts—preface gut-busting main courses, served with heaping side plates of red beans and rice or mashed potatoes with andouille sausage gravy. The Southern fried chicken is rightly beloved for its rosemary crust, but the secret weapon of Miss Delta is its shrimp Creole. It’s basically a splatter of stewed tomatoes, bell peppers and bite-size gulf shrimp poured over white rice, but my God, is it good—rich and bracing and soothing, like a foot massage for your stomach.
IDEAL MEAL: Shrimp Creole, mashed potatoes, black-eyed pea fritters.
AARON MESH. 3950 N Mississippi Ave. 287-7629. www.missdeltapdx.net MapMother's Bistro & Bar
“Just like Mother’s” has a dual meaning at this downtown favorite dedicated to all things Mom. In addition to chef Lisa Schroeder’s comfort-food greatest-hits menu—featuring such standards as slow-cooked chicken and dumplings, braised pot roast and Strawberry Mountain beef meatloaf—recipes from a real live “Mother of the Month” are featured on a rotating “M.O.M.” menu. Inclusions during a recent visit were a spot-on Caprese salad with housemade mozzarella and balsamic reduction, and sautéed chicken breast and broccoli in a Thai coconut-peanut sauce. Service in the chandelier-studded shabby-chic dining room is quick and attentive, and anyone who’s seen the groups milling about out front on Saturday and Sunday mornings knows Mother’s is a popular weekend breakfast spot as well, beloved for both standard scrambles and decadent specialties like cornflake-battered challah French toast. Also be sure to stop by the attached Velvet Lounge for $3 happy-hour snacks Tuesday through Friday, featuring everything from mini-burgers to chopped liver and crackers. Proof Mother always knows best.
IDEAL MEAL: Stewed white-meat chicken and herbed dumplings, crème brûlée.
KAT HYATT. 409 SW 2nd Ave. 464-1122. www.mothersbistro.com MapNavarre
One of the originals in a wave of terroir-driven Portland eateries, Navarre feels less like a restaurant and more like the kitchen of a chef who’s so excited about his housemade preserves, his tins of olive oil and paprika, his dried blades of pasta and his impressive roster of wines that he’s made decor of them. This is fitting. Though chef John Taboada tilts toward the rustic country fare of France, Spain and Italy, his restaurant eschews the gospel of any particular style of cooking, instead proselytizing the integrity of great ingredients, which is the crux of all great gastronomical regions on Earth. With local trout broiled in parchment paper, the wonderfully addictive pickled turnips, morel-studded crab cakes that taste of tide and forest, a tender roasted chicken in a chunky pool of paprika pepper sauce, French radishes served raw and naked with sea salt and butter, and Navarre’s legendary red velvet cake, a diner can do little wrong.
IDEAL MEAL: In terms of value, the $25 “We Choose” prix fixe meal is without equal in Portland.
MIKE THELIN. 10 NE 28th Ave. 232-3555. www.navarreportland.blogspot.com MapNoble Rot
Noble Rot is what a wine bistro should be: refined but casual, friendly, open to the air—as if you were on any European avenue and not Southeast Ankeny Street. You can order by the glass or the bottle, of course, and avail yourself of your server’s gentle nudgings, but the wines also come in flights arranged by similarity so one can economically taste one’s way from South Africa to France and back before making the really hard decisions. The heart of the food menu is in the small plates—more a garnish to the wine than vice versa. But still, the chicken confit salad pretty much encapsulates the feel of summer, the entrees are serviceable, and we do hope you already know about the onion tart. It remains true as ever, terrifically ugly on the top with flaky crust beneath, artfully drizzled with balsamic reduction, chockablock with richness. It looks like a mistake and tastes like sweet-bitter ambrosia.
IDEAL MEAL: You’re kidding, right? You came for the wine. But still, try the tart. Get some olives and a cheese plate. Or the charcuterie. Whatever.
MATT KORFHAGE. 1111 E Burnside St. 233-1999. www.noblerotpdx.com MapNostrana
Although Nostrana packs ’em in with long waits on weeknights, widely spaced tables and cathedral-high ceilings keep claustrophobia at bay. Old windows used as mirrors make the room appear even larger, and the dizzyingly tall bar is constructed of salvaged planks. The cuisine follows suit: rustic, fired Italian—wood-oven-baked pizzas (which arrive at the table uncut), grilled rabbit, pork, flatiron steak and seasonal fish. Even veg-heads can indulge: A mista salad brims with snappy greens, and housemade pasta specials ensure no one will want for anything homey and delicious. The wine selection is centered on Italy, with a smattering of California and Oregon creations and a surprisingly solid selection of wines by the glass. Locavores will delight in the roster of local suppliers listed at the bottom of the menu—the culinary equivalent of the post-movie credit reel.
IDEAL MEAL: Charcuterie plate, funghi verde pizza, tagliata flatiron steak.
CARIN MOONIN. 1401 SE Morrison St. 234-2427. www.nostrana.com MapNuestra Cocina
This welcoming restaurant, one of the first on Southeast Division Street’s restaurant row, just gets better as the years go by. Owner Ben Gonzales and sous-chef Raymond Anderson seem to have intensified the Mexican flavors, dishing out menu staples like sopes de chorizo (crisp cornmeal bowls filled with chile-spiced sausage); chile relleno stuffed with pork, almonds and raisins; or a profoundly satisfying tortilla soup. Don’t miss the fork-tender barbecued lamb shoulder with tomatillo salsa. Even the salads are worth eating, especially the combo of greens, mango, jicama, pumpkin seeds and avocado. Service is warm and efficient if not always polished—I wish our waitress hadn’t plopped the dirty silverware back on the table—and the handmade tortillas are simply terrific.
IDEAL MEAL: An always perfect Cocina Traditional margarita, the day’s ceviche (often rockfish, balanced between tart and spicy), house special cochinito pibil (braised pork with pickled onion and black beans), chocolate pound cake with chocolate sauce and cinnamon ice cream.
HEIDI YORKSHIRE. 2135 SE Division St. 232-2135. www.nuestra-cocina.com MapNutshell—THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED.
Regardless of the fact that Nutshell owner Adam Berger—who also owns meaterrific Ten 01 and Tabla—doesn’t have a bone to pick with foie gras, the just-over-a-year-old Nutshell is bona fide vegetarian with nothing but love for the meat-free. Although a September revamp added dairy and more small plates to the Sasquatch-adorned, hip North Portland joint’s repertoire, the kitchen is happy to continue to prepare almost everything to suit the tastes of animal-protein-averse. A standout starter is the panko-breaded rice balls served with avocado sauce and sweet chile coulis. The zucchini carpaccio topped with micro-greens and drizzled with chile oil and champagne is also delicious, as are the always popular barbecue-platter entree plates of sweet-corn-stuffed chile with baked beans, potato salad and cornbread. The sushi-style, mark-what-you-want menu of specialty sea salts from the Meadow, hard-to-find olive oils and house-baked breads are worth a visit all on their own.
IDEAL MEAL: Barriques chardonnay cask-smoked sea salt with olive and whole-grain naan; watermelon-lemongrass soup; flatbread topped with spicy tomato sauce, cashew purée and basil; dark-chocolate hazelnut tart.
LIZ CRAIN. 808 N Williams Ave. 292 2627. MapPaley's Place
Chef Vitaly Paley’s 13-year-old bistro continues to rack up accolades: a James Beard award and high marks in Zagat’s, Gourmet and The New York Times, to name a few. Why? Because this is a damn good restaurant. With a seasonally evolving stock of local, top-quality ingredients and what may be the most attentive and least overbearing staff in town, dining at Paley’s is like being treated to a birthday dinner in the beautiful Victorian home of a good friend—who happens to be a world-class chef. Half- and full-portion options in late summer included a Muscovy duck breast atop a sweet-tart cherry compote and braised, crispy sweetbreads with roasted carrots, mushrooms and bacon. Save room for dessert (oozing chocolate soufflé cake and housemade ice creams) by pastry chef Lauren Fortgang. They will bring you to your knees.
IDEAL MEAL: Grilled peaches and string beans with aged goat cheese and house prosciutto, half order of tomato-crusted halibut over a basil nage, American Kobe beef flatiron with duck fat-fried potatoes, sampler plate of housemade confections.
JOANNA MILLER. 1204 NW 21st Ave. 243-2403. www.paleysplace.net MapPambiche
Pambiche brings a spot of cheery brightness to often-gray Portland. Heated outdoor seating, upbeat Cuban music, brilliant tropical flavors and bright colors add up to an instant party yet somehow manage to not seem annoying or cheesy. Traditional, rustic dishes are full-flavored without being too heavy or fussy. Tangy sauces, savory beans and rice, and crispy empanadas abound. The contents of the outrageous dessert case are studded with decorative parrots, bananas and cigars. These folks know how to use meat to its best advantage, whether it’s a tender slab of snapper or beans flavored with bacon sofrito. While there are few “plato” options for vegetarians, one can easily make a meal of apps, salads, drinks and desserts—which is more fun anyway. And everyone can salivate over the excellently starchy-crispy appetizer menu, full of various kinds of tubers and plantains. Pair them with the luscious sangria—like fruit salad in a glass—during la hora del amigo, and you’ll never have a happier hour.
IDEAL MEAL: Sangria, Yuca con Mojo, Pescado con Coco, tres leches cake.
SHOSHANNA COHEN. 2811 NE Glisan St. 233-0511. www.pambiche.com MapPark Kitchen
Seasonal, farm-inspired menus are featured all across town, but at chef Scott Dolich’s small restaurant they take center stage with polished ease. Sit outside overlooking the sleepy North Park Blocks or inside the narrow dining room near the kitchen, and you’ll enjoy gracious service and food that marries fresh local flavors in unexpected combinations. Tender-crisp Johnny cakes might be matched with sweet, juicy corn and aromatic basil, seared pork belly could be paired with sticky-tangy cherries and smoky baba ghanouj, or olive oil-poached tuna could come with a clean, fresh helping of summer’s best tender green and shell beans. Crisp-skinned rabbit is delicious, soaked in a nutty cheddar sauce with tomatillos and roasted green chiles. If you are especially hungry and can’t resist a bargain, ask for the chef’s taste—four courses of the chef’s choosing for $45 per person (not printed on the menu). House cocktails are creative classics, and desserts are updated old-fashioned favorites.
IDEAL MEAL: Gnocchi with Padrón peppers and walnuts, gin-soused tomatoes and cucumbers, sliced duck with squash gratin and currant glaze, cherry pie with mascarpone cream.
DEEDE SCHROEDER. 422 NW 8th Ave. 223-7275. www.parkkitchen.com MapPatanegra
Chef-owner Ricardo Segura’s first Portland tapas restaurant, the gone-but-not-forgotten Tapeo, was Willamette Week’s Restaurant of the Year in 1997. Now, more than a decade later, his sprawling restaurant Patanegra, opened in 2005, features six nightly paellas (to be shared by two or more people), more than 40 small plates and an enormous Spanish wine list. The fish-stuffed piquillo peppers, morcilla sausage, grilled eggplant, rolled goat cheese, and other hot and cold tapas arrive on beautiful terra-cotta dishes from the Extremadura region of Spain—which Segura’s family calls home. The paella—a medley of saffron-flavored rice often cooked with meats, vegetables and seafood—is the specialty at Patanegra, with options such as seafood paella in squid ink and the house paella with seafood, serrano ham, chorizo and chicken. Whether you partake or not, admire the enormous paelleras, the large two-handled shallow pans used to cook paella, that hang from the vertiginous ceiling above the partially exposed kitchen.
IDEAL MEAL: Bottle of Rioja, house paella, gazpacho blanco, salt cod beignets, stuffed baby squid, ham and cheese croquettes.
LIZ CRAIN. 1818 NW 23rd Place. 227-7282. www.patanegra-restaurant.com MapPazzo Ristorante
Formal and elegant, Pazzo, tucked into downtown’s Hotel Vintage Plaza, feels like nothing so much as fine dining circa 1950. Amid dark wood and deep booths, the restaurant serves high-caliber Italian food, progressing through the piatti from starters and salads to pastas to premium meat and fish as you move down the menu. The Macedonia salad is superb: peppery greens studded with ripe Oregon berries and goat cheese lightly dressed in vinaigrette. Heavier but equally tasty is the deep-fried asparagus in tempura-light batter with lilac-colored pinot noir aioli for dipping. Despite Pazzo’s old-fashioned ambience, some new ideas have found their way onto the menu: The Rat Pack never dined on tender squid and fresh jalapeños sautéed with olives, capers and tomatoes and served over pasta. If you’re feeling old-school, put on a dark Italian two-piece and order the steak, which Pazzo executes timelessly.
IDEAL MEAL: Macedonia salad, deep-fried asparagus, tagliatelle with squid and fresh jalapeños.
ETHAN SMITH. 627 SW Washington St. 228-1515. www.pazzo.com MapPiazza Italia
Piazza Italia is almost defiant in its lack of conformity to the Pearl aesthetic. In terms of ambience, the place falls somewhere between upscale Italian trattoria and rowdy neighborhood pizza parlor, with a little urban deli thrown in for the lunch crowd. Soccer jerseys hang from the ceiling, flat-screen TVs broadcast fútbol from every corner, and those looking for a quiet date spot, be warned—the boisterous Italian staffers have a tendency to break out into song, and it always seems to be someone’s birthday. Luckily this exuberant soulfulness also extends to the food, which consists of classics done right—pasta al pesto, lasagna, spaghetti al pomodoro, bresaola, insalata Caprese. The rigatoni alla Bolognese, in particular, is the consummate dish for a Portland fall—steaming hot, the pasta perfectly al dente, the sauce packed with meltingly tender beef. Just don’t forget to make a reservation, because Piazza’s no secret—it’s packed nearly seven days a week.
IDEAL MEAL: Rigatoni alla Bolognese, tiramisu.
KAT HYATT. 1129 NW Johnson St. 478-0619. piazzaportland.com MapPodnah's Pit
This, friends, is the real goddamn deal: Texas-style barbecue, tender as a soldier’s kiss, smoked over the eternal fire of freedom, seasoned with true grit and served with sauce made from cowboy sweat and eagle tears, plus two sides. Or something like that. This narrow diner serves the best barbecue in town, no contest, and we love it. On your first visit, go for the brisket plate, with cornbread and collard greens. It is smoky perfection. Come back a day later for the pulled pork or spicy spareribs, then wait two days and come again for the incredible whole ruby trout.
IDEAL MEAL: Texas red chili, quarter-rack of spareribs, pecan pie.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 1469 NE Prescott. 281-3700. www.podnahspit.com MapPok Pok
There are very few questions necessary at the food-cart-spawned Whiskey Soda Lounge beyond, “Are you out of the…?” If you want to snap up the large-enough-to-be-scary grilled giant freshwater prawns, be an early bird (the wait usually pushes an hour shortly after dinner service begins), wear your walking shoes and remember that you won’t be seated unless your whole party is present. The food is somewhere between tapas and full plate in terms of portion, so order at least two dishes per person. The spice-rubbed, thinly sliced boar collar, doused in a sour-spicy sauce and served with chilled mustard greens, should top the list. The addictive fish sauce wings should, too. Beyond that, choose from loads of outstanding and unusual curries, noodle bowls and skewers, or go for the always special specials. The full bar slings interesting house cocktails, including a bloody Mary with enough freshly ground spice to make you breathe fire.
IDEAL MEAL: Grilled freshwater prawns (minimum order of three), green papaya salad, fish sauce wings, boar collar, cold beer.
LIZ CRAIN. 3226 SE Division St. 232-1387. www.pokpokpdx.com/ MapPuerto Marquez
In a strip mall in the broke-down wilds of Southeast 122nd Avenue, farther out than even most prostitutes like to roam, sits this rattletrap gem of Mexican seafood. Stuccoed and tiled to within an inch of its life and festooned with inflatable soccer balls and Modelo beer bottles, Puerto Marquez looks like a Spring Break hangover. But, hearkening back to its Mexican oceanside namesake, the seafood choices—from whole fish and oysters to lobster, clams and multiple ceviche preparations—are ample, the flavors bold and the portions generous. Don’t miss the simple, lip-puckering shrimp ceviche—a fan of raw lime-marinated camarones, cucumber, and shards of red onion served on a Frisbee-sized platter. Schools of white fish, chewy octopus, head-on shrimp, crab legs and veggies swim in Marquez’s light, cilantro-scented bowls of broth. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten your way through a vat of sea creatures and mushrooms slathered in earthy red sauce and gooey cheese, served in a pitted stone mortar the temperature of the sun (molcajete de marisco). A recent visit even found a herd of mariachis—real, live, silver-spangle-suited mariachis—strolling the threadbare carpet, belting out love ballads. “They’re not part of the restaurant,” a server mentioned. “But they like to hang out here after work.”
IDEAL MEAL: The bean dip, dear Lord in heaven, the meaty, soupy, smoky, addictive refried bean dip that comes free with dinner. And some just-fried tortilla chips. And some salsa. And a beer. And maybe another order of that ceviche….
Restaurant Murata
A glance at Murata’s tiny, plain-vanilla space in an office plaza wouldn’t give you a clue that it is considered by many the best Japanese restaurant in Portland. Yet the restaurant’s claim to the title is solid, rivaled in the city center only by the more elegant Hiroshi. You’ll be pleased with startlingly fresh fish in perfect sushi and sashimi presentations. An autograph among many hanging over the sushi bar from Alton “Good Eats” Brown crows, “To Murata: The best raw fish I’ve ever had!” Cooked appetizer specials change with the season, but dishes like king-crab tempura or broiled cod in sake paste (prices vary, about $13) shouldn’t be missed. Typical of great seafood restaurants, the bill can add up quickly here.
IDEAL MEAL: For a splurge you’ll remember, get a group of friends together, reserve one of Murata’s private Japanese-style tatami rooms (with space for Occidental legs hidden under the low tables), and let the chef create a multicourse kaiseki banquet (from $75 per person).
HEIDI YORKSHIRE. 200 SW Market St. 227-0080. MapSavoy
The decor is Cascade landscapes and mounted antlers, but the food is pure Wisconsin fat and salt with a garnish of coastal sophistication. This is a restaurant for members of the cultural elite who are secretly thinking, “This vegetable is delicious, but it would be better with butter and/or cheese.” Peter Bro’s marquee starter is a cylinder of fried cheese curds, gooey dollops of cheddar oozing out of a pale-ale batter. Sauce? They don’t use sauce in the heartland—fried curds are almost too flavorful on their own. Dinners are also no-nonsense, but with subtle edges: Beer-braised chicken is a fowl’s hindquarter simmered in Double Mountain Kolsch; the bird, accompanied by baby carrots and sweet potato, is so tender it can be eaten without a knife. The menu’s only drawback is that it may be too rich for one sitting: Mac ’n’ cheese is a pot of white cheddar sauce with the extra tang of mustard and cayenne pepper, so savory that three bites later, you’re ready for another old fashioned.
IDEAL MEAL: Fried cheese curds, beer-braised chicken, sides of sautéed greens and mac ’n’ cheese.
AARON MESH. 2500 SE Clinton St. 808-9999. MapScreen Door
The dining room is concrete-floor/open-kitchen/cinderblock-walls loud and often brimming with families filling up on immense portions of Southern food while zigzagging servers do their best to keep up. In other words, Screen Door isn’t exactly a romantic spot—unless your heart goes pitter-patter for buttermilk-battered fried chicken or fried green tomatoes. Screen Door is all about fresh, local sides and salads and fried, often smoky and salty entrees. The local/organic menu might include a sweet corn pudding or peach fennel salad in late summer, while the main menu starts with pimiento cheese and housemade benne seed crackers, hush puppies with Creole honey-mustard sauce, and fried oysters. Entrees that’ll knock your boots off: the cornmeal-dusted trout, beef brisket and Creole jambalaya. House-specialty cocktails are stiff and well priced. The Scarlett O’Hara mixes Southern Comfort, lime and cranberry juice served up.
IDEAL MEAL: Mint julep, crawfish cakes, shrimp and grits, banana caramel pie with pecan shortbread crust.
LIZ CRAIN. 2337 E Burnside St. 542-0880. www.screendoorrestaurant.com MapSiam Society
Siam Society stands as the site of a former power substation, although it appears from the outside to be more of a Masonic temple. Even with all the industrial style and high-ceilinged capaciousness, the restaurant interior feels cozy as a curtained dinner at the palace. Though the menu is Thai in outlook, chef-owner Adrienne Innskeep brings traditional ingredients into congress with ideas from the continent and ingredients from the Northwest: quail in Thai spices, lightly piquant lychee/green bean salad, lamb curries served with cucumber-jalapeño chutney. The resulting mixture feels less like a dignitaries’ dinner than slow-burning sex, the kind where you know you’re eventually going to knock over those heirloom candlesticks. Helping this feeling along are the Society’s unique potables, in particular the hibiscus mojito.
IDEAL MEAL: Start with the lychee salad and move on to the signature five-day banana-roasted pork, paired with the scallops pan-seared in Brazilian dende oil. Drink liberally, and take your partner directly home to scented sheets.
MATT KORFHAGE. 2703 NE Alberta St. 922-3675. siamsociety.com MapSilk/Pho Van
In 1992, Pho Van transformed the humble Vietnamese noodle soup pho into the steamy sweetheart of Portland foodies. In 2002, the mini-chain started plating up a more refined side of Vietnamese cuisine at its sleek Pearl District bistro, now called Silk. The swanky cocktail list reminds you just how far from Southeast 82nd Avenue you are. The Traffic Jam (kaffir-ginger vodka, Thai basil, lime and ginger brew) tastes like well-heeled Southeast Asia in a highball. It’s the liquid equivalent to Silk’s petit bahn mi, a reinvention of the classic Vietnamese sandwich as dainty bruschetta layered with smoky charcoaled pork, basil, peanuts and the gentle bite of pickled daikon radish and spring onions. Particularly in the entrees, high-quality ingredients set Silk apart from hole-in-the-wall pho joints: Lift the lid off the claypot catfish to release a puff of steam and the mingling scents of garlic, chile and ginger. The fish, bathed in spicy sweet-syrup, is tender and caramelized. One note: Ask for chiles. Maybe Silk is pandering to the Pearl’s bland (white) majority—the menu suffers from a distinct lack of heat.
IDEAL MEAL: Petit bahn mi, banana flower salad, claypot catfish.
ETHAN SMITH. 1012 NW Glisan St. 248-2172. www.phovanrestaurant.com MapSimpatica
The restaurant arm of Simpatica Catering is sub rosa dining at its best. Access to its Friday and Saturday sit-down, fixed-menu dinners can only be granted via reservation, and only if you respond in a timely fashion to the weekly emails. They take a more egalitarian approach with the Sunday brunch: Mainstream breakfast standbys such as biscuits and gravy and corned beef hash are on the menu—and they are excellent across the board—but the real draws are the dishes that exemplify Simpatica’s desire to push diners out of their comfort zones. Firm chunks of oil-poached tuna sit embedded in their frittata, balanced by a tangy, salty eggplant caponata and roasted potatoes. A strata (a savory bread pudding) bursting with pork shoulder is offset by a small dish of field greens, remarkable in their minimalist vinaigrette dressing. During busy mornings, the spoils go to the gregarious, as much of the seating is communal. With food this good, even strangers make excellent company.
IDEAL MEAL: Anything with the house bacon, fried chicken, waffles.
BRIAN PANGANIBAN. 828 SE Ash St. 235-1600. www.simpaticacatering.com MapSouthpark Seafood Grill and Wine Bar
Downtown workers and Stumptown visitors alike enjoy what Southpark brings: straight-up seafood and nonintimidating preparations. Right across from the (you guessed it) South Park Blocks, Southpark has something for everyone, whether you’re suffering through a Match.com dinner date or treating Grandma to her birthday lunch. But Southpark most shines when it’s most simple: a seared, substantial cut of sturgeon, cod or trout atop something seasonal—vegetables or bacon-corn fritters in late summer, for example. Lunch offers tasty sandwich specials like albacore tuna salad, while avowed carnivores can opt for a behemoth Southpark burger. Service is efficient and thoughtful—a salad ordered between two people arrives already partitioned on separate plates. And those who are disappointed that Cheesy Poofs didn’t make Southpark’s menu can perhaps take comfort in the restaurant’s commitment to sustainability and its extensive recycling program, including composting all its food wastes.
IDEAL MEAL: Selection of Pacific oysters, Singing Pig greens salad, daily fish special.
CARIN MOONIN. 901 SW Salmon St. 326-1300. www.southparkseafood.com MapSyun Izakaya
This is likely to be the some of the best sushi, the best sashimi, that you experience anywhere near Portland—though unless you live past the West Hills, you’re in for a hell of a trek. It’s worth it. In a half-sunken, hardwood sushi-and-sake bar elegant in its understatedness, beyond rock fountains at the stairs, the fish is as fresh and as tender as it comes (even the octopus and squid yield gently), cut with superb knife skills into slender nigiri. But don’t stop there; the octopus-cucumber kimuchi is an explosion of spice, and the beef dishes are served rare and sliced so thinly it’s like inhaling beef-flavored air—which, in case you were wondering, is a good thing. The deep menu of imported sake (including fruit sakes) will ensure you can take in all the rare spirits you’d like. Treat each fish also as a new wine, and tax the chef and server’s vocabulary until you develop your own.
IDEAL MEAL: The Super Deluxe Sushi Plate, which should provide a solid baseline for two people, plus some pumpkin tempura. Then get as deep into the sake menu as you can, remembering you still have to somehow get home.
MATT KORFHAGE. 209 NE Lincoln St. 640-3131. MapTabla Mediterranean Bistro
As high-end eateries continue to get knocked about by the rocky seas of an uncertain economy, The more modestly inclined Tabla is a harbor of unwavering consistency. Prices are respectable; the layout of the dining room and open kitchen is warm and inviting. And as for the food? Well, that’s good, too. For the money you’d be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable meal off East Burnside—or anywhere else in town, for that matter—than Tabla’s $24, three-course prix fixe dinner. The trick is picking the right combination: a light salad of Hermiston watermelon, heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese plays well with a just-brothy-enough rabbit ragout pappardelle. Complete it with the crisp bite of a delectable duck confit. Of course you can order all of these individually, but why would you when you can get them all for less than the price of an entree at pricier (and, frankly, not as good) joints? Wine pairings are suggested by the sommelier/GM, Michael Garofola, for every entree, and the private dining room doubles as a wine cellar.
IDEAL MEAL: Salt-roasted beet salad, poached-egg-topped tabla ravioli, oregano-seared pork chop smothered in basil pesto.
BYRON BECK. 200 NE 28th Ave. 238-3777. www.tabla-restaurant.com MapTanuki
Tanuki stays true to the izakaya pub-grub tradition with a fine selection of sake and sake-based cocktails in a laid-back, casual atmosphere—but don’t think for a second they’ve forgotten about the food. Izakya staples such as kushiyaki—literally stuff on sticks—are a far cry from your typical mundane chicken on a bamboo skewer. The unagi, for instance, is eel grilled to the point of such tenderness that each piece—we kid you not—dissolves in your mouth. The savory seafood pancake, okonomiyaki, is partially deconstructed for you on the plate, quartered and layered over tangy tomato- and creamy mayonnaise-based sauces, with heaps of shaved bonito flakes piled on top. The truly adventurous can let the kitchen decide what they get served and order the chef’s choice omakase. The menu changes constantly because Tanuki tries to source its menu locally and seasonally when possible—a preoccupation with ingredients that’s evident in each bite of their dishes.
IDEAL MEAL: Gohan no oshinko (rice with a variety of housemade pickles), shottsuru buta boro (braised pork shoulder wrapped in a crispy crêpe).
BRIAN PANGANIBAN. 413 NW 21st Ave. 241-7667. www.tanukipdx.com MapTastebud Dining Room
A friend of mine nailed this Canby-farm-turned-Portland Farmers-Market-cart-turned-tiny-Southeast-Portland-dining-room’s style: “home-plus.” Sure, you can make your own garden salad, but Tastebud’s—brimming with a rainbow of leafy greens, tart yellow tomatoes and crisp orange peppers in a puckery-peppery vinaigrette—is just gonna taste way better. Same goes with that simple roasted mackerel drizzled with olive oil or that mess of garlicky-wine-drunk clams that just hit this cozy spot’s mismatched china plates. Like home, but better. (Even Tastebud’s soundtrack is laid-back, from Built to Spill to the full length of Madonna’s Immaculate Collection). Farmer-turned-chef Mark Doxtader has had a serious love connection going with his wood-fired brick oven for years, so it’s no surprise Tastebud’s menu centers on crusty, chewy, beautifully blister-topped pizzas— for my money, this place is one of the top three pie-producers in the city along with Apizza and Ken’s. Doxtader’s got a knack for exceptional salty-sweet combos, like a recent pizza epiphany that married oozy roasted peaches with house-cured pancetta, mozzarella and arugula. Then again, his chewy-spicy combos (red pepper-marinated baby squid and cherry tomatoes) or smoky-tart (roasted poblano chiles with cilantro and goat cheese) ain’t too shabby either. Honey, I’m home.
IDEAL MEAL: Seasonal pizza, an oven-baked fruit crisp or a housemade berry cheesecake and a glass of Hair of the Dog Blue Dot. Plus, you can always get a gigantic Tastebud lamb pita at the farmers market....
KELLY CLARKE. 3220 SE Milwaukie Blvd. 234-0330. www.tastebudfarm.com MapTEMPORARILY CLOSED Sel Gris
Next time you’re dining at Sel Gris, listen. Over the muffled bass of background music, you’ll hear bursts of laughter, the clink of crystal, and the animated conversations of people who are happy to be exactly where they are. And, if you’re attentive, you’ll hear executive chef and co-owner Daniel Mondok’s voice, low and sharp, calling his staff to pick up a plate that’s ready to serve.
The servers hustle, because those plates can’t wait in the kitchen. “I don’t use heat lamps,” Mondok explains. He’s a man of definite opinions. “My plates are hot. The food is hot. That’s how I want it served.”
You can’t miss Mondok at Sel Gris, WW’s 2008 Restaurant of the Year. He’s the leading man, front and center beneath the gun-metal-gray proscenium that frames the kitchen in this shoebox of a restaurant. A rack of copper pots hangs from the ceiling, sparkling in silvery pinpoint spots. The bright kitchen light draws all eyes from the subdued dining room to Mondok, in chef’s whites, his shaved head giving him a touch of Iron Chef.
If you’re at one of the four seats at the bar—for my money, the prime spot in this restaurant—you’ll be an arm’s length away from Mondok. It’s the perfect vantage point from which to appreciate the intense attention to detail that makes Sel Gris stand out. No dish leaves the kitchen without landing on his station first. He might do most of the cooking, or he might just add a squiggle of sauce or a tangle of greens. In any case, it doesn’t go to the customer before he’s made sure it meets his standards.
Not that Mondok presents himself as some kind of star. He’s the first to say that Sel Gris is the sum of many parts, including business partners, servers, fellow chefs, purveyors. But in a world where too many restaurants resemble too many others, what brings customers back to Sel Gris is the sense that this restaurant is one man’s vision, and that he’s offering it up to the public with all the energy and focus he can muster.
Sel Gris isn’t perfect. The room’s so small it’s hard to believe it seats almost 40; there’s no place to wait for a table; the sound level can get out of hand. But, somehow, it works. Neutral colors and minimalist art accommodate both a dressed-up night out and a spur-of-the-moment snack in denim and fleece. Service is warm, efficient and smart. The chairs and banquettes were not designed by a chiropractor eager for business.
Most important, the food at Sel Gris is inventive without being gimmicky, luxurious without being too impressed with itself. The style doesn’t work for everyone: Fans of lighter, more ingredient-driven cooking sometimes find Mondok’s dishes overly elaborate, especially in warmer months. They criticize his intricate presentations as arty or precious, and I can see their point. But dining at Sel Gris is a take-it-or-leave-it experience. You’re entering Mondokworld—it’s not like anyplace else in town. And the food is just delicious.
Mondok loves remaking classic recipes. His calamari fritto misto adds preserved lemon and a walnut-olive oil-garlic dip to the fried squid. For his version of salade Lyonnaise (a French bacon-and-egg salad), he takes the components apart. On a matte black plate, he arranges a nest of curly, pale green frisée to cradle a poached duck egg in, then lays a sweet-salty piece of braised bacon on the side. A small pile of chunky gray salt (sel gris, of course) provides punctuation.
HEIDI YORKSHIRE. 1852 SE Hawthorne Blvd. 503 517-7770. www.selgrisrestaurant.com MapTen 01
Adam Berger’s breathtakingly beautiful restaurant had already more than recovered from its rocky launch by our 2007 Restaurant Guide, but the place just keeps getting better. Chef Jack Yoss continues to refine his signature dishes that emphasize excellent ingredients and interesting flavors over show. Don’t miss the crispy Thai-style pork ribs, a sugar-glazed, two-hands-required appetizer that’s as compulsion-forming as Whiskey Soda Lounge’s infamous Ike’s Fish Sauce Wings. A recent entree of duck breast with braised greens and wee pork meatballs leaned toward East Asia with accents of lemongrass and green onion, while a sweet corn-and-crab bisque stayed right here at home. Match the terrific food with the most elegant dining room in town after Bluehour, and you’re in for a memorable meal.
IDEAL MEAL: The Bentley (Calvados and Dubonnet, served up with a lemon twist), Thai-style pork ribs, lamb chops with goat cheese gnocchi, flourless chocolate cake with sage ice cream.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 1001 NW Couch St. 226-3463. www.ten-01.com/ MapToro Bravo
A journey through some of the Northwest’s finest kitchens led chef John Gorham to land what would become Willamette Week’s 2007 Restaurant of the Year on a low-key side street in Northeast Portland. There, Gorham’s tapas eatery nails the spirit of Spanish gastronomy, taking the basic elements (garlic, paprika and cured ham) and marrying them with ingredients found closer to home. Thus, you’ll find classics like delicious salt cod fritters with a pillow of garlicky aioli and a classically Basque prawn-and-octopus fisherman’s stew alongside a pork-shoulder sandwich with housemade pickles or Gorham’s now legendary radicchio salad, bound by a tangy manchego vinaigrette and served with green-olive toast. The menu changes with the seasons, the wine list is smart and light on the wallet, and after early concerns, the paella has evolved to disprove the oft-repeated Spanish myth that good paella cannot be found outside of Valencia.
IDEAL MEAL: Cod croquettes, radicchio salad, fried anchovies, paella, olive-oil cake.
MIKE THELIN. 120 NE Russell St. 281-4464. www.torobravopdx.com MapTrébol
There are a lot of Mexi spots in town these days that go beyond big plates and tacos, but what sets Trébol apart is an outstanding early/late happy hour, chef-owner Kenny Hill’s penchant for farm-fresh produce, and an enormous, 80-bottle-strong tequila list with more than 10 house margaritas. There are tasty entrees to be had—including a smoked albacore tostada spiked with chipotle aioli and a braised chicken with black-bean flatbread—but small plates such as the lingcod ceviche, Manila clams with housemade chorizo, and house sopes have more flavor and are generally more fun. The early/late happy hour features several shaken margaritas, a steal at $5 a pop, including prickly pear, tamarind and wild berry. If you’re the DD, the blood orange-basil and mango-mint agua frescas are as good as they sound.
IDEAL MEAL: Prickly pear margarita, house salad with pickled veggies and jalapeño-lime vinaigrette, raw oysters with jalapeño and cucumber granité, chorizo-and-bean tacos.
Veritable Quandary
Stationed at the western tip of the Hawthorne Bridge, venerable VQ’s space is as warm and inviting as its menu. The dining room meanders through an autumn palette, past exposed brick and large windows. The menu wanders through France and the Mediterranean, and finally through Oregon farmland. The result is dishes like the roasted wild mushroom and baby spinach salad dressed in buttermilk blue cheese and pancetta vinaigrette, rich and indulgent (and blurring the definition of a salad). Four plump diver scallops arrive in pool of sweet corn and butter, with an aromatic hit of fennel. VQ treats the orthodox New York strip unorthodoxically with tomatillo sauce and vibrantly veined Swiss chard. Desserts are similarly tweaked and improved, like the banana split with caramelized bananas and sweet cream ice cream. Servers are attentive and professional, and deserve bonus points for traversing the restaurant’s multiple stairways. For a taste of Portland Nirvana, sit in the loft and watch the rain caress the windows between courses.
IDEAL MEAL: Crispy eggplant and heirloom tomato stack, diver scallops with buttery corn and fennel sauce, banana split.
Vindalho
At this airy glass-and-wood box on Clinton Street, David Machado takes the focus on superb ingredients and bright, fresh flavors of his beloved nearby restaurant, Lauro, and applies them to the spice-heavy cuisine of India and the Middle East. The result: damn good food and one of the most fun restaurants in town. With room for more than 100 diners (and even more in summer, when the enclosed patio is open), Vindalho tends to fill with large, cheerful parties tossing back beers and fruity cocktails and munching on naan (the second-best in town, after East India Company), mussels in coconut curry, corn and potato samosas, roast chicken, lamb and prawns and excellent vegetarian curries and stir-fries.
IDEAL MEAL: Roasted corn and potato samosas, garlic-stuffed naan, lamb boti kebab, chai crème brûlée.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 2038 SE Clinton St. 467-4550. www.vindalho.com MapWong's King Seafood
On Southeast Division Street, beyond the college-extension program and the Taboo porn store, lies Portland’s truest home of Cantonese cuisine. Wong’s King advertises the freshness of its seafood in a mosaic of expensive bubbling green tanks built into the restaurant’s walls, but the real extravagance is to be found not in the Spartan decor, but in the depth and breadth of the menu. Avoid the slightly off takes on spicy Szechuan entrees in favor of the more layered, rich tastes of the seafood or poultry dishes that consistently rank from good to stellar. The salt-and-pepper entrees are uniformly excellent, and the barbecue pops with flavor, not oil. Take your lobster fresh in broth. And don’t neglect to stop by (before noon, if you’re smart) for the clattering carts of dumplings, rolls and salted squids at dim sum. When you do, say no to each item before you say yes, in order to survey the field—as if you were a beautiful woman and the entire world your suitor.
IDEAL MEAL: Order one of the super-fresh vegetable dishes, to taste, alongside Lobster Supreme Broth and barbecue chicken or salt-and-pepper squid.
MATT KORFHAGE. 8733 SE Division St. 788-8883. www.wongsking.com MapYa Hala
At most Lebanese restaurants, one wouldn’t consider baba ghanouj a primary delicacy, but Montavilla’s Ya Hala has turned this spiced mashed-eggplant dish into a decidedly unbyzantine art. Their baba is richly smoky thanks to open-flame cooking, its flavor not outmuscled by any of the usual excesses of garlic or oil. Skip the grape leaves with my compliments and the tomato entrees on the menu, which are unfortunately a little too stewed, like something Mom might have made (sorry, Mom). The falafel, though, when you get a fresh batch served still-soft and piping-hot (ask for it, I’m serious), is Meg Ryan orgasmic, with a crisp-but-not-too-crisp outside and tender, naturally flavorful center. The Lebanese delicacy of moughrabieh—tender beef and chicken, served up with caraway, yogurt and gravy—is similarly so rich it’s an embarrassment.
IDEAL MEAL: Get the falafel, baba ghanouj and specially spiced Nakanik sausage as appetizers with your pita, and don’t miss the moughrabieh. Every time you don’t order it, you’ll miss it, even when you’re in other restaurants.
MATT KORFHAGE. 8005 SE Stark St. 256-4484. www.yahalarestaurant.com MapYakuza
Unlike his other wee cute restaurants, Beast and D.O.C., Micah Camden’s capacious izakaya is all about style. The showy metallic building conceals one of the sexiest dining rooms in town, all red wood, low benches and recessed lighting, capped with a sakura mural on one end and a wall of sake on the other. Out back, a lush, overgrown garden surrounds a patio scattered with bright red Jetsons chairs. The food is a mix of hot and cold small plates and very large servings of sushi rolls. The menu has changed a bit since we visited in early September, with the addition of a $48 chef’s tasting menu, but we loved the spicy tuna rolls, rare grilled duck breast in yakitori sauce and lamb tsukune (a spicy meatball, essentially). Drinks? I recommend Whiskey Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
IDEAL MEAL: Seasonal green salad, fried pork tenderloin, duck yakitori, tuna or crab roll.
BEN WATERHOUSE. 5411 NE 30th Ave. 450-0893. www.yakuzalounge.com MapRestaurant 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.
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