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These days, rising-star chefs and the foodies who adore them are flocking to Portland. In this playground of sustainability and creativity, many of the city's hottest restaurants change menus weekly—sometimes even daily—depending upon the ingredients they have delivered to their door that morning from local farms. The combination of fertile soils, temperate weather, and nearby waters contributes to a year-round bountiful harvest (be it lettuces or hazelnuts, mushrooms or salmon) that is within any chef's reach.
And these chefs are not shy about putting new twists on old favorites. Restaurants like Le Pigeon, Beast, Ox, Ned Ludd, Natural Selection, and Aviary have all taken culinary risks by presenting imaginatively executed, often globally inspired fare while utilizing sustainable ingredients. There’s a strong willingness in and around Portland for chefs to explore their creative boundaries.
Menus frequently extend across nations and continents. First-time visitors to Portland always seem to be impressed by the culinary scene’s international diversity, especially when it comes to Asian and Mediterranean fare, but you’ll also find outstanding examples of Peruvian, Russian, regional Mexican, and dozens of other ethnic restaurants. Of course, seafood is prevalent, with chefs regularly taking advantage of the availability of fresh salmon, albacore, halibut, crab, oysters, and mussels from the rivers and the Pacific Ocean.
Most of the city's longtime favorites are concentrated in Nob Hill, the Pearl District, and downtown. But many of the city’s most exciting food scenes are on the East Side, along Alberta Street, Mississippi Avenue, Williams Avenue, Fremont Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Burnside Street, 28th Avenue, Belmont Street, Hawthorne Boulevard, and Division Street, and tucked away in many neighborhoods in between. Serious food enthusiasts will definitely want to make some trips to some of these vibrant, if out-of-the-way neighborhoods.
Bar and restaurant culture greatly overlap in Portland, and many eateries around the city stand out as much because of their carefully curated beverage programs as for their food. Expect to find wine, craft beer, and cocktail lists that rely heavily on Northwest products, and also note that many of the top cocktail lounges, brewpubs, and wine bars we included in our Nightlife and Performing Arts chapter also serve excellent tapas and bar snacks.
The light and open, bamboo wood–filled flagship location of Coava Coffee Roasters offers some of the highest-quality single-origin, pour-over coffees in the city. There are additional branches in Hawthorne and Downtown, and a separate coffee bar a few blocks away on S.E Main Street where you can watch the coffee roasting process.
Home to the sunny neighborhood-oriented Market Cafe, which serves brunch daily, Coquine blossoms into a romantic, sophisticated French–Pacific Northwest bistro in the evening. Early in the day, feast on sourdough pancakes with huckleberry compote, or black cod–based fisherman's stew with garlic toast, while in the evening, you might encounter pappardelle noodles with pork ragu or roasted whole chicken with hand-cut fries. The unfussy storefront space is just steps from Mt. Tabor Park, making it a lovely spot for a meal before or after a leafy stroll.
Choosing your flavor of silky, premium frozen yogurt at this hip dessert café is relatively easy, as there are only a few flavors offered at any given time, unique though they often are (honey-grapefruit and mango lassi, for example). It's the formidable list of toppings that may leave you overwhelmed, albeit happily so, highlights of which include coconut-hazelnut cake crumb, organic sour fruity bears, marionberry compote, cold-brew bourbon sauce, and nondairy peanut butter magic shell. You'll find additional locations on Southeast Division and Northwest 23rd.
This pie-focused operation began as a stall at Portland's Saturday Farmers Market at PSU and is now a charming, homey, brick-and-mortar café along Division Street in Southeast. Though it's the delicious pies—with feathery-light crusts and delicious fillings like tart cherry, salted pecan, and chocolate-banana cream—that have made Lauretta Jean's a foodie icon in Portland, this cheerful eatery also serves exceptional brunch fare, including the LJ Classic, a fluffy biscuit topped with an over-easy egg, Jack cheese, bacon, and strawberry jam. In the evening, it's a popular spot for desserts and coffee, or even cocktails.
Set in an airy, high-ceilinged space on the ground floor of the architecturally noteworthy Clinton Condominiums building, this sleek operation serves delectable breakfast and lunch sandwiches and sweets that are nearly impossible to pass up, like the lemon-curd-and-currant scones and sea-salt chocolate brownies.
This unpretentious and airy neighborhood spot with wooden booths and whimsical fire-engine-red chairs is really two delicious dining options in one: the dining room serves inventively topped, crisp, wood-fired pizzas, and a small takeout counter dispenses homemade hard and soft-serve organic ice cream with flavors like hazelnut toffee and candied kumquat. Pizza toppings change seasonally and might include homemade fennel sausage with lacinato kale, or rainbow chard with fermented tomatoes and chilis.
Described by baker-owner Kristen Murray as a "modern pastry luncheonette," this dainty West End café has just a handful of wooden booth and counter seats and a minimalist-inspired white-on-white aesthetic. The menu features exquisite French–Scandinavian pastries, cakes, and sandwiches, as well as a full gamut of drinks, including wine (interesting flights are offered), beer, cocktails, teas, and coffee.
You'll find some of the tastiest sweets—including heavenly pistachio-rose croissants and blueberry-blackberry scones—in town at this cozy patisserie and café a few blocks south of Jamison Square. Be sure to check out the ever-changing selection of fluffy macarons.
At this trendy restaurant inside the hip KEX hotel, the menu showcases not only delectable foods of the entire Pacific Coast, including the Northwest but also California (try the steamed and then chilled Castroville artichoke with umami mayo and garlic butter) and even Baja (the Tijuana-style whole-leaf Caesar salad is spot on). The warmly lighted, atmospheric seating in the dining room–cum–lobby is at tables or the long, elliptical bar, a space that encourages lingering and socializing over an Oregon berry cast-iron crumble and rosé negroni.
Launched in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, this third-wave coffeehouse that sources its beans sustainably from around the world opened a U.S. location on Alberta Street in 2017. In this light-filled postindustrial space, you can savor perfectly prepared espresso drinks alongside tasty breakfast and lunch fare, such as Korean fried chicken sandwiches and grilled croissant brioches with cured ham, blackened corn, and poached egg.
This now nationally known artisanal ice-cream shop began here with this still always-packed café in the Alberta Arts District and continues to wow the public with its wildly inventive classics as well as seasonal flavors (freckled-chocolate zucchini bread and green fennel and maple are a couple of recent examples). Locally produced Woodblock chocolate bars and homemade salted-caramel sauce are among the toppings. Expect a long line, but take heart in knowing that the patient staff works fast and cheerfully encourages patrons to sample the different flavors.
The long lines outside this late-night Old Town doughnut shop, marked by its distinctive pink-neon sign, attest to the fact that this irreverent bakery is almost as famous a Portland landmark as Powell's Books. The aforementioned sign depicts one of the shop's biggest sellers, a raspberry jelly–topped chocolate voodoo-doll doughnut, but all the creations here, some of them witty, some ribald, bring smiles to the faces of customers—even those who have waited 30 minutes in the rain. The Loop (covered in Fruit Loops cereal), Grape Ape (vanilla frosting, grape dust, and lavender sprinkles), and Dirty Snowballs (marshmallow topping, dipped in coconut, with peanut butter center) are other faves. The location in a slightly seedy section of Old Town makes this a not-quite-appropriate venue for very young kids—plus some of the more amusing doughnuts are adult themed. A second location in Northeast tends to be a bit less crowded.
If you have time for just one Portland doughnut shop, choose this wildly popular local chainlet with several locations, including this convivial spot on North Mississippi. From the moment Blue Star opens at 7:30 am, loyal fans flock here to stock up on popular flavors like blueberry-bourbon-basil, passionfruit, and chocolate-almond ganache. There are additiona locations in Southeast, Downtown, South Waterfront, and Portland International Airport.
If you're seeking a comfy spot serving great local coffee brands and exceptional baked goods—both savory and sweet—consider this light-filled bakery-café in the bustling Burnside and 28th section of Buckman. Drawing young families, laptop-toting freelancers, and hoodied hipsters, the kitchen turns out delicious breakfast sandwiches with candied bacon in the morning, and a wide range of sandwiches at lunchtime. There's a newer branch in Inner Northeast's Burnside Bridgehead development.
An enticing go-to for a sweet treat, this inviting parlor doles out fun flavors of satisfyingly rich ice cream. Thai rice pudding with pandan, ancho chili-mango, and challah French toast with cinnamon and maple are among the standouts. There are additional locations on Burnside and 28th and in Slabtown.
Inside this sleek Woodstock café, with additional locations Downtown and on East Burnside, patrons sip fine coffees sourced from Central America, South America, and Africa, and indulge in breakfast and lunch fare, such as savory and sweet porridges, granola, toasts, and salads. Finnish owner Wille Yli-Luoma brings a modern, minimalist aesthetic to this striking space with plenty of tables for working and socializing.
Dessert isn't the only offering at this modish East-meets-West patisserie, but these opulent treats—matcha-yuzu mousse tarts, fig–and–red wine chocolates, passionfruit macarons—are unquestionably JinJu's raison d'etre. For a more substantial breakfast or lunch experience, tuck into a five-grain Korean bulgogi bowl or a curried-chicken panini.
Golden crusts are the trademark of Ken's rustic breads, croissants, tarts, and puff pastries, perfect for breakfast and lunch. Sandwiches, barbecue pulled pork, and croque monsieur are served on thick slabs of freshly baked bread, and local berries fill the flaky pastries. If the dozen tables inside the vibrant blue bakery are crammed (they usually are), you can sit outside at one of the sidewalk tables.
This tiny creperie just outside the hubbub of the Pearl District can serve as a romantic dinner-date spot or just a cozy place to enjoy a cocktail and a late-night snack. You can get sweet crepes with fruit, cheese, chocolate, and cream or savory ones with meats and cheeses; in addition, the dinner menu is rounded out with salads and steaks.
Painted in bright purples, pinks, and greens, this festive spot offers traditional Cuban fare: slow-roasted meats, tropical root vegetables, hearty stews, rice, and beans. The meat plates—featuring slow-roasted pork, oxtail, shredded beef, rubbed chicken, or giant prawns—with various rich and saucy accompaniments, are all tasty and best enjoyed with a side of fried plantains.
There's one reason people frequent this buzzy 23rd Avenue bistro: its luscious desserts, like the banana coconut cream pie, the berry cobblers, and the boccone dolce (Swiss meringues layered with whipped cream and seasonal fruit and drizzled with semi-sweet chocolate).
On the 30th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower, the Portland City Grill has bragging rights for best dinner view in town, which makes up for the rather unremarkable steakhouse fare. Gaze over the city skyline and the distant Cascade and Coast mountains from a window table. The adjoining bar and lounge has comfortable armchairs along its windowed walls, which are nearly always occupied.
