Get FREE email communications from Fodor's Travel, covering must-see travel destinations, expert trip planning advice, and travel inspiration to fuel your passion.
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.
Douglas-fir beams, old wine barrels, and hungry crowds surround the glowing, beehive-shaped wood oven in the open kitchen of this thin-crust pizza joint. Ken Forkish, also of Ken's Artisan Bakery, uses fresh, organic ingredients for the dough, sauces, and toppings of his pies, which include a Margherita with arugula, a hand-pressed fennel sausage with onion, and a soppressata with basil.
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.
The pies here—which have been lauded by Anthony Bourdain, Rachael Ray, and thousands of everyday pizza lovers—deserve the first-class reputation they enjoy. The greatness of the pies rests not in innovation or complexity, but in the simple quality of the ingredients, such as dough made by hand in small batches and baked to crispy-outside, tender-inside perfection and toppings—including basil, pecorino romano, and house-cured bacon—that are fresh and delicious. Although the decor is rather plain and you'll likely have to wait for a table, you'll forget all once you take your first bite and start basking in the glory of some of the best pizza in the city.
A joint venture between James Beard Award–nominated chef Cathy Whims and renowned cocktail mixologist Ryan Magarian, this aptly named late-night spot specializes in creatively topped wood-fired pizzas and deftly crafted cocktails that rely heavily on local spirits and fresh juices. The salads and appetizers are also terrific, especially the radicchio version of a classic Caesar salad.
The red-checked tablecloths, Tiffany-style lamps, and simple decor of this pizza joint might not inspire high expectations, but just wait until you taste the blistered-crust East Coast–style pies and slices. You can build your own pizza selecting from a long list of ingredients, or choose one of the signature favorites, like the Clam Jam with clams, white wine, cream, garlic, pecorino, and chili flakes. There's a second location in Southeast.
