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I don’t ever really move away from Portland.
Since 2003, my wife (fellow WW contributor Susan Elizabeth Shepard) and I have come and gone six or seven times, usually for work-related reasons. Now we’re heading to Philadelphia to be closer to family, which means we’re already looking forward to the next time we’re back in town as visitors. Inevitably, we’ll return to stalwart faves like Apizza Scholls, Bunk Sandwiches, Nong’s Khao Man Gai and Ken’s Artisan Bakery, while also lamenting the fact that we can’t go to Cacao, Clyde Common, Tails & Trotters or Tasty n Sons.
But in the meantime, as our mid-October move approached, we tried to hit as many newer Portland restaurants as we could, whether they’d been open for a few weeks or a few months, or at least got started during the pandemic. After all, we’re gonna need more places to go back to. Here are some of the standout dishes from those places that I will miss the most.
Savory Danish at St. Beatrix
3907 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 971-206-4643, stbeatrix.com. 8 am-2 pm Thursday-Sunday.
If you’re the sort of person who can’t decide between breakfast or lunch food, St. Beatrix is the answer. Consider, for instance, a recent savory Danish made with “wee beef franks,” bright orange cheddar crème pâtissière, sauerkraut and everything spice. Yes, in this case, a hot dog is not only a sandwich, but a pastry, with the rich, buttery laminated dough—made with Eugene’s Camas Country Mill flour—taking on an almost biscuitlike quality, and the pastry crème adding so much more than if it had just been shreds of cheddar. Owner-baker Jessie Smith, who took over the former Bushel & Peck in 2020 and officially reopened it as St. Beatrix earlier this year, has also combined that cheddar crème pâtissière with black pepper and buttered popcorn in a Danish, and gone all in with umami in a nori croissant (nori and soy butter with fish sauce caramel and furikake glaze). And if you still prefer your morning (or early afternoon) pastry on the fully sweet side, not to worry. There are always sugary options, too.
Huevos Divorciados at La Fondita
422 NW 8th Ave., republicapdx.com. 11 am-3 pm Monday-Thursday, 9 am-3 pm Friday-Sunday.
Before Republica was a prix fixe dinner spot and Bon Appetit “Best New Restaurant,” it was as much a daytime desayuno and almuerzo place as anything, with huevos, chilaquiles, quesadillas and guisados, all built around—or, rather, inside or on top of—the beautiful, Gemini-like yellow-and-blue masa handiwork of tortilla maker Doña Chapis. La Fondita, which opened this past spring as part of an ever-expanding Republica empire (or, should I say, “restoration”) is now that concept, and will also soon do its own dinners. Huevos divorciados are practically a standing order for me over huevos rancheros because why would you get the latter when the former gives you both roja and verde? The split salsas blanket perfectly fried eggs—lacy-edged and yolky—and a luxurious black bean purée, with crispy corn tortillas at the bottom. Once the yolks and whites were gone, I had to order an additional side of tender tortillas (i.e., not fried) to keep sopping; when those were also gone, I drank the rest like soup.
Chicken Soup at Rotigo
1514 NW 23rd Ave., 503-477-9533, rotigopdx.com. 11:30 am- 9 pm Tuesday-Saturday, 11:30 am-7 pm Sunday.
Rotigo’s name accurately tells you that it’s one of Portland’s many bougie-casual roasted chicken restaurants, with a menu top-lined by its quarter, half and whole Cooks Venture birds. But the bistro is actually a chicken utilization restaurant. We first tried Rotigo via DoorDash delivery because my wife had COVID, and it had chicken soup. But oh, what richly satisfying chicken soup! Almost as dark as French onion, with so much gelatin in the stock it was almost creamy. Laced with carrots and herbs and packed with both white and dark meat, the just-on-the-right-side-of-salty broth is strong and savory enough that you could easily extend your takeout bowl into two full servings at home—just add water. When we placed a second order—this time just for pleasure—we also experienced the chicken in a sandwich (the Seville, with manchego, orange marmalade mayo, serrano ham, spinach, and sherry vinegar) and a spectacularly presented chicken liver mousse—possibly the best thing that we ever had delivered during the entire pandemic. Just days before this went to press, Rotigo announced it would temporarily close and reopen later this month with a new concept. So, we hope that chicken soup sticks around.
Smash Burger at Pleasure Burger
Pine Street Market, 126 SW 2nd Ave., pleasure-burger.business.site. 11 am-8 pm Wednesday-Sunday.
Over the past three years, I’ve written about burgers for Willamette Week nearly a dozen times, but hey, there’s always room for one more. Especially since Pleasure Burger is in the same Pine Street Market location as the original Bless Your Heart Burgers, which was ahead of everyone not named Peter Bro (owner of downtown’s short-lived All-Way) when it came to slinging high-end, high-fat, fast food-style burgers, smashed or otherwise. There’s nothing sui generis about the Pleasure Burger: It’s just a messy, perfect greasy exemplar of the form—two crispy-thin griddled patties, double American cheese, caramelized onion, shredded lettuce and smash sauce—that would easily slide into my top three or five if I went back over all those other burgers. With a side of waffle fries and drinks from Pine Street Taproom, it made for a perfect quick bite before the Spoon concert at Pioneer Courthouse Square, as well as a “Hello again/goodbye/see you next time” to a favorite pre-pandemic dining spot.
Brisket Burger at Holy Trinity Barbecue
Check Instagram for hours and pop-up locations, instagram.com/holytrinitybarbecue.
Make that two more burgers (yup, I am a burger person). I had previously enjoyed Holy Trinity Barbecue’s, well…holy trinity of Texas barbecue (brisket, sausage and ribs) when it was still a full-time cart, which owner Kyle Rensmeyer closed in October 2021. But he soon returned in pop-up form, including a fancy sit-down collaboration dinner at Renata (where he also regularly fires up the smoker with a classic menu) and frequent stints at Ruse Brewing as well as bar and bottle shop Mayfly. A longtime special at the cart that I had previously missed, the burgers are a half-pound of coarse-ground brisket, seasoned with salt and pepper and smoked to a pink medium-rare for about 45 minutes, before getting seared on the flat top to order. This is a big, beefy, drippy pub burger—the very opposite of smashed. It’s served on a house-baked bun with American cheese, mayo, mustard, pickle and onion, though you can sometimes also get it as a Frito pie burger, with chili, Fritos, cheddar cheese, onions and mustard.
Vampires Hate Her at Jojo
902 NW 13th Ave., 971-331-4284, jojopdx.com. 11 am-10 pm daily.
Jojo’s exemplary eponymous potatoes and fried chicken? Been there, done that, followed @jojo_pdx on Twitter. So we were pretty darn excited that Southeast food truck owner Justin Hintze finally opened his first brick-and-mortar restaurant while we still called Portland home. Our fortuitous going-away present included a manageable Wednesday night crowd (there have been hour waits on weekends), available outdoor tables and, for me, A Milli Tru Fashions cocktail (“an old fashioned for those born in the late 1900s,” says the menu, made with Jojo’s own overproofed whiskey blend, Burlesque bitters and housemade cola syrup). Then, this current special: garlic oil dipped-and-dusted fried chicken on an An Xuyên butter bun with garlic confit mayo, Tillamook cheddar, barbecue sauce, white onion, shredded lettuce and a side of spearmint gum—though do you really want to eat at Jojo with somebody who’s that afraid of garlic breath? (A wet nap, on the other hand, is both required and available.) The oversized sandwich is pungent and perfect and surprisingly good as a right-out-of-the-fridge leftover.
Lan Roc Pork Chop at Phuket Cafe
1818 NW 23rd Place, 503-781-2997, phuketcafepdx.com. 5-10 pm Monday-Friday, 10 am-2 pm and 5-10 pm Saturday-Sunday.
Add a new one to the list for next time a friend texts, “What should I eat in Portland?”—a list that Earl Ninsom and Eric Nelson’s other restaurant, Eem, was already on. And on the night we went, Nelson himself was there to break down the restaurant’s already-famous pork chop, 18 ounces of sliced meat—plus a bone to gnaw on—accompanied by both tomato relish and a do-it-yourself mix of lime juice with other seasonings and alliums. It’s as fun to eat as it is delicious, and also went great with two side orders: carrots (coconut crème fraîche, lotus, spiced peanuts, Thai chile, shiso, mint and pluot) and potato (with a yellow curry glaze, Thai basil and fried garlic). On top of that, the Sunday night dinner soundtrack included the likes of Pulp, Belle and Sebastian, and Orange Juice, all personal faves. I was thinking that might be the work of bartender and well-traveled DJ Chazz Madrigal (who has since departed), but Nelson confessed it was merely “Belle and Sebastian Radio.”