Fodor's Expert Review Bijou Cafe

This spacious, sunny restaurant with high ceilings has excellent breakfasts, and they're served until 2: eggs with breakfast sausage (from Portland charcuterie-makers Olympic Provisions) and oyster omelets with bacon and onions are both popular, as are the buckwheat pancakes with marionberry syrup and Pearl Bakery French toast made with cinnamon bread. At lunchtime, salads, soups, and sandwiches, including a tasty New York–style pastrami sandwich, join the breakfast dishes on the menu. A few evenings a week (Thursday to Saturday), the Bijou directs its attention and sensibility to that other meal, dinner. You'll find creative Northwest fare like Alaskan king salmon with watermelon, cucumbers, and roasted-poblano-pepper dressing and seared culotte steak with pickled shiitakes and horseradish butter—all served with a backdrop of live jazz.