In the Where to Eat: 25 Best series, we’re highlighting our favorite restaurants in cities across the United States. These lists will be updated as restaurants close and open, and as we find new gems to recommend. As always, we pay for all of our meals and don’t accept free dishes.
Akadi
Hosford-Abernathy | West African
The chef Fatou Ouattara’s suya-spiced wings alone are a great reason to visit this lively, airy spot on Division Street. The nutty, vibrant treatment, combined with a perfect fry, produces some of the best chicken in town. The tangy lamb dibi and the hearty, earthy okra goat stew are worthy follow-ups; for vegan diners, there are several stews that bring the same depth of flavor. What unites much of the menu are Ms. Ouattara’s piquant housemade sauces. They are so compulsively enjoyable — particularly one made with tomato, ginger, roasted carrot and African spices — that you’ll be searching the plate for anything else to dip. The sauces are so good, she now bottles and sells them at local grocery stores. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Cafe Olli
King | Pizza, Brunch, Bakery
At Cafe Olli, the all-day cafe concept is anything but stale. Maybe it’s the bread program, churning out fresh boules every day. Or the pastry menu, with its generously salted chocolate chip cookies alongside delicate laminated items. Or maybe it’s the eclectic array of breakfast and lunch dishes seemingly designed for your personal cravings — why yes, I could go for charred cabbage with harissa tahini and fried shallots — or the Neapolitan-style pies with seasonal toppings. But the most likely source of Cafe Olli’s freshness is that it’s employee-owned, and there’s a clear buy-in from everyone involved that you can taste on your plate. NIKITA RICHARDSON
Coquine
Mount Tabor | Continental, Pacific Northwest
Opened in 2015 by the wife-and-husband team of Katy Millard and Ksandek Podbielski — she is the chef, he handles beverage and the dining room — the restaurant won early accolades and has only gotten more dialed-in since. Ms. Millard, who has cooked at the Michelin-starred Chèvre d’Or in Provence and Coi in San Francisco, makes food that feels perfectly of itself: vigilantly seasonal and informed by French techniques, with an eclectic array of culinary accents. A pleasantly gamy lamb neck ragù, for instance, took on a new dimension from a dusting of black lime powder, while the sweetness of roasted carrots was balanced with a puckering kiss of sorrel vinaigrette and shavings of fermented Belper Knolle cheese. The tasting menu, priced at an approachable $127, is the way to go here. And let Mr. Podiebski and his thoughtful staff match the wines: Some gems will find their way to your glass. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Gado Gado
Hollywood | Indonesian, Malaysian
The name of this freewheeling spot run by Thomas and Mariah Pisha-Duffly references the Indonesian dish of the same name, roughly meaning “mix mix.” And that’s what the couple is doing here. Take the dry-aged steak tartare, fortified with hot mustard aioli and Indonesian bitter bean. It is spicier and more intriguing than the classic French version, while still hewing to the spirit of the bistro favorite. The best way to experience the mix, though, is to order the Rice Table option, which the couple call “our interpretation of the Dutch-Indonesian ‘Rijsttafel’ feast.” A panoply of curry, rendang, satay and pani puri will indeed fill the table and really give a sense of what the restaurant does best. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Han Oak
Kerns | Korean
The chef Peter Cho and his wife and partner, Sun Young Park, have made an art form of reinventing their restaurant. The current menu, a $65 prix fixe, is billed as a “gimbap party!” and the exuberance in that description comes through in the meal. Starting with an inventive slate of seasonal banchan, the table will be crowded with only-good choices. Expect dishes like Mom’s Kimchi, a fried pancake of new potatoes, or, at the height of summer, grilled peaches and tomatoes with silken tofu dressing. Then comes the gimbap portion of the program. Traditionally served as a roll, the dish here comes as its constituent elements, and the whole group can get to assembling. Mix and match koji-cured coppa, pickled mushrooms, and sesame ginger carrots, or poached shrimp, egg ribbons and charred marinated leeks. It’s a party, after all — get creative. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Kachka
Buckman | Modern Russian
At Kachka, it’s all about the zakusi, the Slavic version of tapas or mezze. Here, the ample selection includes housemade sausages, cured and smoked fishes, various filled dumplings and the famous “herring in a fur coat,” which the menu describes as “7-layer dip — but Russian.” It can be hard to choose, so let the restaurant drive with the “zakusi experience,” which offers a more-than-generous spread. Because of the variety, the bigger your group, the better. From the mains, the braised rabbit with porcinis and sour cherries is particularly delicious, if you have room. Kachka is also the rare restaurant that comes by its caviar offerings honestly (all half-dozen of them). The limpid, icy horseradish vodka that’s infused in-house, paired with even the modestly priced American hackleback is a combination not soon forgotten. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Kaede
Sellwood | Sushi
Some may argue that there is better edomae sushi in Portland — and there is certainly more expensive, harder-to-book sushi — but the experience at this unassuming 16-seat spot is hard to beat. Kaede is more of a choose-your-own-adventure than most omakase restaurants. In fact, you don’t have to order the omakase at all. But if you do, the base line is an eight-piece option for just $60, a modest of price of admission that you can then build on with your own selections from the nigiri menu. The prices may be reasonable, but the fish, and the skill with which it is prepared, are far from cut-rate — bluefin tuna marinated in jalapeño soy, Hokkaido uni and striped Jack from Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market were among the standouts. In the more terrestrial realm, the maitake mushroom chawanmushi is the perfect umami counterpoint to the oceanic offerings. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Kann
Buckman | Modern Haitian
At Kann, Gregory Gourdet realizes his long-gestating vision for a restaurant that treats the food of his Haitian forebears with the seriousness he learned to apply to Asian and European cuisine as a young chef working for Jean-Georges Vongerichten. With a staff led by the chef de cuisine Varanya J. Geyoonsawat, Kann leans into the lapel-grabbing power of dynamically spiced, live-fire cooking. If you didn’t know, walking in, that akra, griyo and legim were staples of Haitian cuisine, you’ll learn it soon enough, along with the history of Haiti and its food, both shaped by slavery and colonialism. It’s hard not to admire a restaurant serving food this special, that dares to take so much more on its shoulders. BRETT ANDERSON
Ki’ikibáa
Roseway | Yucatecan
The burritos here have their fans, and like everything on the menu they are certainly a worthy order. But the chef Manny Lopez’s Yucatecan specialties are the way to go. The unassuming dining room belies the care and craft that go into these dishes. The panuchos and salbutes — both regional specialties of fried corn tortillas, the latter stuffed with refried beans — are great topped with any of the options, but the cochinita pibil, citrusy slow-roasted pork, should be the first move. The relleno negro and menudo soups aren’t always available, but if they are, make sure to get both. Small plates shared among the table are past being a cliché at a certain kind of restaurant, but here it’s truly the best way to try as much of the menu as possible. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Langbaan
Nob Hill | Thai
When it comes to Thai food, Portland has been punching above its weight for a long time. Akkapong Ninsom has provided a lot of the muscle. The Bangkok-born chef — known around town as Earl — is behind six Thai-themed restaurants, none more ambitious than Langbaan. The tasting menu changes regularly, to reflect the seasons and fresh inspirations from different micro-regions of Thailand. It’s a testament to the breadth of the country’s cuisine that 10 years since opening, Langbaan’s staff hasn’t run out of material. The cooking radiates both mischief and reverence, qualities also found in the cocktails by the co-owner Eric Nelson and the mold-breaking concept itself: Langbaan shares an address with Phuket Café, the partners’ restaurant inspired by the cooking of Bangkok and the Phuket province. BRETT ANDERSON
Lilia Comedor
South Waterfront | Mexican, Pacific Northwest
Lilia Comedor describes itself as serving Pacific Northwest cuisine through the lens of a Mexican American chef, an apt if somewhat wan description of the chef Juan Gomez’s colorful and precise cooking. Best to let dishes like silky halibut with morels, mole and flakes of rice chicharron, and pork collar confit with heirloom carrot escabeche, speak eloquently for themselves. The menu changes weekly and includes fleeting ingredients, like the black trumpet mushrooms decorating blue corn chochoyotes (masa dumplings), and marigold petals plucked from the chef’s garden. A former chef de cuisine at Portland’s beloved República restaurant, Mr. Gomez combines technical savvy with flavors from his mother’s kitchen, all served in a relaxed and welcoming setting. MELISSA CLARK
L’Orange
Hosford-Abernethy | Seasonal, Modern French
L’Orange is a real charmer. Occupying the second floor of a Victorian house that has variously been a telegram office and a butcher shop over the last 100-odd years, the dining room has a homey sophistication. The menu, which the chef Joel Stocks changes with the seasons, speaks French with a Pacific Northwest accent. Nestle into a chair at the six-seat chef’s counter (read: bar) for a couple of plates and a glass from the wine list curated by Jeff Vejr, a co-owner, as the afternoon light fades to early evening. An ornate ruffle of shaved tête de moine cheese, or the chicken liver mousse presented in tartlet form with a strawberry and red-wine gelée, will do very nicely. But so will a buckwheat crepe, amply filled with bay shrimp and Gruyère, and zinged with candied jalapeño. And with nothing on the menu more than $30, becoming a regular is a tempting prospect. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Le Pigeon
Buckman | Modern French
After 18 years, “the dirty bird” is still top-flight. Just 25 when he opened his haute bistro on East Burnside, the chef Gabriel Rucker is now an elder statesman of the Portland dining scene. The 2024 version of the restaurant serves a $140 prix fixe that changes regularly. Though along with the hallmark foie gras profiteroles for dessert, there is always a riff on that luxurious liver on the savory menu — a seared lobe over pigeon-and-corn pelmeni dumplings, say, or a glazed version with a coconut rice fritter and green papaya. Recently, a sturgeon pastrami with ground cherries and caviar was a seasonal take on Jewish appetizing classics, while a stuffed quail was brightened by summer sungolds. The equally considered vegetarian menu, recently featuring a Taleggio finger sandwich with black truffle and carrot bisque, shows once again that there is more to Mr. Rucker’s cooking than forcemeats and game birds. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Lovely’s Fifty Fifty
Mississippi | Craft Pizza
Portland may have the most excellent craft pizzerias per capita in the United States. The evidence comes in a variety of styles, be it the wood-fire trailblazers like Apizza Scholls and Ken’s Artisan Pizza or newer businesses like the bakery-pizzeria Cafe Olli (see above) and the Asian-Neapolitan fusioneer Hapa Pizza. When it comes to great Portland pizza, Lovely’s is the standard-setter. The chef and owner, Sarah Minnick, employs local ingredients as avidly and creatively as any chef in town. Her flavorful, sourdough crusts hold chanterelles, fermented tomatoes and sweet summer corn; very often they’re finished with foraged, edible flowers, a signature touch that is indeed lovely. Ice cream, served on housemade spelt cones, is another signature. BRETT ANDERSON
Luce
Buckman | Italian
Luce is a jewel box of a restaurant, a generously windowed corner spot that feel as much like an Italian sundries shop as a dining room. It’s a space so welcoming that on a recent early evening, a woman enjoying an after-work glass of Etna Rosso and a bowl of rabbit pappardelle as she read Italo Calvino looked positively enviable. The antipasti section of the menu is full of delights, like fried stuffed olives and a slice of an unexpected Parmesan and farro pie. The mains, like a hearty pork chop enrobed in hazelnut cream, are likewise spot-on. And the focaccia, of the thinner Ligurian variety, is one of Portland’s great bread incarnations. But the pastas, whether fusilli with pistachio and lemon balm pesto, or lamb radiatorre with saffron and fennel seed, are the star. Maybe the best part? They can all be ordered in half portions. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Magna Kusina
Hosford-Abernethy | Filipino
From a modest corner space in a quiet neighborhood, the chef Carlo Lamagna has made his cooking part of a national conversation about Filipino food. A bootstrapped operation opened in 2019, the dining room was built out largely by Mr. Lamagna and his crew. Today, it still has a homespun vibe, but feels like a fully realized restaurant, complete with a bar program and chef’s counter. Skewers are the opening gambit and deftly grilled, whether the always-advisable pork belly or a vegetable choice like mushrooms. Classics like lumpia and sisig are best in class. A recently added dish of eggplant dumplings waded in a mushroom ginger consommé so good it could be imbibed by the pint. And the squid ink noodles sauced with a crab fat sarsa are sweet, savory and saline in just the right balance — one of Portland’s great dishes. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Matt’s BBQ Tacos
Mount Tabor | Barbecue, Mexican
Shouted out for his barbecue prowess by no less than Texas Monthly, Matt Vicedomini started in 2015 with a food truck serving barbecue in the traditional slices-and-piles-on-a-tray manner, with sides of baked beans and mac and cheese. That location is still going strong (as is Eem, where you can find his meats in delicious curries by the celebrated Thai chef Earl Nissom). But these tacos, made with pillowy housemade flour tortillas, may be the highest, best use of Mr. Vicedomini ’s smoked-meat mastery. Adorned with just guacamole and pickled onions, the sliced pork belly tacos let the glazed, pleasantly fatty meat be the star. The smoked mushroom fajita tacos with poblanos and crema let vegetarians in on the fun, as do the vegan corn tortillas. And ordering breakfast tacos, especially the migas or chopped brisket, only at breakfast is just a failure of imagination. They’re sold all day for good reason. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Maurice
Downtown | French, Lunch
In a part of downtown that is fairly starved for decent sit-down lunch options, this bright, convivial spot from the chef Kristen Murray is a salve. The pandemic ups and downs, not to mention the 2020 summer of protests, were tough on the neighborhood. Maurice, though, is still as lovely a place as ever to pass a leisurely midday meal with a cold bottle of white. From a small menu that “finds its essence in the intersection of her French and Norwegian heritage,” Ms. Murray offers simple and delicious dishes like an open-faced shrimp salad smørbrød or a soup of French Charentais melon topped with crab meat. And the quiche! The ethereal, du jour version here will make you wonder what that stodgy, eggy stuff you’ve had in the past even is. The black pepper cheesecake, a longtime local favorite, is still available and still worth saving space for. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Pasar
Concordia | Indonesian
Inspired by the bustling markets of her youth in Jakarta, Pasar’s chef, Feny (who, like many Indonesians, goes by only her first name), has created a snacking wonderland. The deceptively simple lemper ayam is just shredded chicken sandwiched between rice, but the gathered flavors of sweet coconut, fragrant lemongrass, ginger and starch come together as a snack for the ages. And an entrancing flavor emanates in waves from the lontong Cap Go Meh, a coconut-shrimp vegetable soup topped with a kaleidoscopic grouping chile potato chips, fried tofu chayote and stir-fried tempeh. Sweets are a house specialty, and in particular the piscok, a shatteringly crisp crepe fried around dark chocolate and banana, is not to be missed. BRIAN GALLAGHER
República
Pearl District | Mexican, Tasting Menu
República calls itself “Mexico-forward” because while it foregrounds the cuisine of that country, it has a decidedly global vision. Opened in November 2020 to early renown, the kitchen was first run by the chef Lauro Romero (who died at 42 in February). At just 23, the current chef, Jose Camarena, oversees a menu (available in seven or 10 courses) that guides diners through not only the heritage of the regional cuisines and ingredients of Mexico (poblano, huitlacoche) but also incorporates the influences of the cultures visited on the country (risotto, uni). The Verano version, executed by the sous-chef Sabrina Quintana on a recent summer evening, showcased a progression of ideas and flavors, from the maíz ancestral that featured three bite-size takes on that foundational grain, to oysters topped with cucumber and peach granita, to a veal rib cap with pickled chanterelles and a hazelnut mole. BRIAN GALLAGHER
RingSide Steakhouse
Nob Hill | Steakhouse
This 80-year-old steakhouse isn’t so old-fashioned that you won’t get the “Have you dined with us before?” treatment. But it is stalwart enough that when you say you have, your server will exclaim, “Great, nothing’s changed!” That means the room (dim lighting, white tablecloths, red leather booths), the martinis (cold, honest) and the steaks (U.S.D.A. Prime, dry aging optional) are blessedly canonical. Almost as important, the onion rings, which drew high praise from James Beard himself, are still a must-order starter for the table. And blessedly, there is nary a caviar upsell on the menu. Stick with a Pacific Northwest classic and get the Dungeness crab cocktail. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Rose VL and Hà VL
South Tabor | Vietnamese
Oh, these soups. It’s no wonder they’re so beloved. The owners of the adored VL restaurants shun any trappings of self-promotion, or even public visibility. No website, no Instagram. But the devotion to their dishes is such that a longstanding fan page is your best bet to keep track of the offerings, which rotate daily. Fridays are an especially gratifying day at Rose, with pleasantly unctuous fermented fish noodle soup and soothingly spiced chicken pho. The only disappointing days are Sundays and Wednesdays, when Rose VL is closed. But just head a few minutes down the road to its older sibling restaurant, Hà VL, for a similar menu. Some of the greatest Vietnamese food in the country is served in strip malls — from Bolsa Avenue in Westminister, Calif., to Bellaire Boulevard in Houston — and the VL restaurants are esteemed members of that club. BRIAN GALLAGHER
St. Jack
Nob Hill | Pacific Northwest Bistro
Say what you will about neo-bistros — there is a reason they are so popular. And St. Jack is prime specimen of the animal. The lively, open room, complete with a zinc bar top, is as inviting after work as it is for a late-night bite. It’s a steak-frites-and-martini-at-the-bar kind of place. And you’ll find pâté en croûte, oysters on the half shell and caviar with brioche. But it’s also the kind of place where the poached prawns come with a vadouvan aioli, and the scallop crudo hums with frozen honeydew vinegar and lemon oil. And where the roast chicken, goosed with Espelette pepper, can appear with seasonal chanterelles. And where they’ll happily sell you a grad cru Burgundy in the mid-three figures. Mostly, though, St. Jack is a place that purveys the kind of good vibes we loved before “vibes” was a thing. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Tulip Shop Tavern
Humboldt | Bar Food, Burgers
Tulip Shop may be the perfect modern dive bar: no pretense, good tunes, Rainier tall boys ($4) on the beer list but also a pint of oak-aged saison ($7). Along with that, expertly crafted cocktails and great food. The superlative smash burger has been called the best cheeseburger in the city, and you’ll get no argument here, but the other bread-and-protein combos may be just as good. The fried chicken sandwich is pickle-brined, doused in Alabama white sauce and perfect with a Slow Drive, the rhubarbed house take on a Negroni. The pork tenderloin — pounded thin and panko-breaded, topped with shaved white onions and yellow mustard — would get a hat tip from any Midwesterner. And the hand-dipped corn dog has a crunchy-to-spongy ratio that would make any state fair concessionaire jealous. Somebody at Tulip Shop knows their way around a fryer. BRIAN GALLAGHER
Yaowarat
Montavilla | Chinese Thai
Inspired by Bangkok’s Chinatown, the latest project from Akkapong Earl Ninsom (whose Langbaan is widely regarded as one of the best Thai restaurants in the country) is a freewheeling affair. Both the room and the food have a night-market feel. Paper lanterns and candles cast a moody light, while dishes like double-fried chive cakes, with a perfectly crisp exterior encasing a fluffy middle, and Yaowarat Road Squid, sloshed with fish sauce and Thai chiles, bring the bewitching depth of flavor found in the best street food. The kuay teow kua gai, chewy wide rice noodles with pork-fat chicken and a steamed egg, is a must. And a delightfully silky mapo tofu may render any other version of the dish disappointing. BRIAN GALLAGHER
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