Skip to main content
1. At the Garages
4810 SW Western Ave., Beaverton, 503-941-9139, atthegarages.net. 11 am-1 am daily.
A rock venue with a killer food cart pod, At the Garages has all the diverse food court-style offerings you want from a solid pod. It’s Love Pasta cart serves up fettuccine Bolognese that’s like an Americanized version of soffritto. Thai Lao Teriyaki’s pad thai arrives rich and sticky and just about perfect. But most famously, Ochoa’s Lupitas Tacos, prepares a torta that’s the size of a basketball, triggering heart palpitations at first glance. Five layers of beef, chicken and sausage puff this sandwich up so much, your cook will apologize that the size of the dish makes it impossible to close the box’s lid.
2. Brasa Haya
412 NE Beech St., 503-288-3499, brasahayapdx.com. 5:30-10 pm, Wednesday-Sunday. Indoor seating not ADA accessible, vaccination required to dine indoors.
A new Spanish restaurant in a converted home that was formerly Beech Street Parlor, Brasa Haya is a fine(r) dining restaurant with textbook salt cod croquettes. The portion was too small to split effectively but this is a problem inherent to tapas, not Brasa Haya.
3. Baon Kainan
4311 NE Prescott St., baonkainan.com. 5-8 pm Thursday-Monday, 11 am-3 pm Saturday-Sunday.
The biggest standout dish at this hot new Filipino food cart in the Metalwood Salvage lot is its kare kare fries. The classic braised beef peanut stew is thickened and poured over fries, aided by a dollop of shrimp paste and bright red pickled Fresno chiles. The result puts poutine to shame, but be sure to eat them as soon as they come out of the cart’s window—the fries hold up, but they’re best when eaten hyperfresh.
4. The Soop
1902 W Burnside St., 971-710-1483, thesoopportland.com. 10 am-8 pm Monday-Friday, 11 am-8 pm Saturday.
The Soop has certainly been mistaken for a kitschy soup spot more than once. However, “soop” is a Korean word for forest, and when you visit, you’ll see why the name fits so well. Especially in the evening, the cozy restaurant glows with shades of warm magenta emanating from lamps that hang over microgreen planters in the kitchen. It’s strange to imagine fresh lettuce could make such a difference, but everything on Ann Lee’s somewhat eccentric menu—dishes as dissimilar as bibimbap, chicken and microgreen nachos, and even a BLT—benefits from the microgreens treatment.
5. Fills
726 SE 6th Ave., fillspdx.com. 10 am-1 pm Sunday.
A joint venture between pastry chef Katherine Benvenuti and Kurt Huffman’s omnipresent restaurant group, ChefStable, Fills introduced Portland’s culinary scene to a new style of doughnut—the Berliner—last year. Fills’ version of the traditional German pastry begins with a naturally leavened sourdough starter that’s not too sweet. It’s then fried in small batches, cooled, hand-filled with fruit, chocolate or custard, and glazed. Fills hasn’t reopened its downtown shop since the pandemic, but it’s running a pop-up on Sundays.