A steaming-hot wok at North Portland's Eem (Beth Nakamura/staff)
Each year, I criss-cross Portland, hunting for the city's best new restaurants. In my wandering this year, I've already found Texas-style barbecue married with both fresh Oregon produce and Thai flavors. Affordable, good quality sushi. Fried chicken inspired by both Indonesia and Nashville. And two distinct taquerias drawing improbably long lines. Below, find the 40 most notable restaurant openings of the past year (and change), aka the long list of restaurants I'm working from to pick our upcoming guide to Portland's 10 best new restaurants, which comes out next month.
-- Michael Russell
ABIGAIL HALL
Named for Oregon suffragist Abigail Duniway, this luxe cocktail bar gets its buttermilk chicken fingers and In-N-Out-style burgers from the kitchen at chef Doug Adams’ Texas-inspired Bullard, just across the Woodlark Hotel’s lobby. But Abigail Hall’s vision is all co-owner Jen Quist’s. Find a comfy banquette, gaze at the hand-painted floral wallpaper and sip our pick for Portland’s best happy hour margarita.
813 S.W. Alder St.,
AKADI
Though it’s already been open for a year and a half, we didn’t learn of Ivory Coast-born chef Fatou Ouattara’s excellent Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard African restaurant until 2018, when the dijon-scented whole grilled fish with fermented cassava made our list of
. As one of Portland’s first real tastes of West African food, we’re making room for Akadi on our 2019 list.
3601 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-477-7138,
BERLU
Bay shrimp, leeks (Noble Guyon/staff)
Vince Nguyen’s tiny, white-tiled restaurant treats everyday ingredients (zucchini, chicken) the same way some luxury-focused dining destinations treat truffles or caviar: with respect. In a town that struggles with fine dining, the chef, formerly of the Jolie Laide pop-up, may have cracked the code. Note: Dinner tickets, available through Berlu’s website, cost $80 before drinks and gratuity.
605 S.E. Belmont St.,
BERNSTEIN’S BAGELS
No, this isn’t a full restaurant, unless you count bagel sandwiches, which … well, that’s a whole other kettle of whitefish. But with this second, larger location (the original remains open at 8408 N. Lombard St.), co-owners Noah Bernstein and Peter Hurteau have given Portland the signature New York-style boiled-and-baked bagel the city;s been craving since Kettleman Bagels’ untimely demise.
816 N. Russell St.,
BHUNA
Chef Deepak Kaul translates his high-end cooking experience at San Francisco restaurants into Portland’s first kashmiri-focused restaurant at Northwest Portland’s fast-casual Bhuna. Another former pop-up star, Kaul first gained recognition locally for his rice bowl pop-ups at Culmination Brewing, which in their time were among the most enticing reasons to go out to eat on a Monday.
704 N.W. 21st Ave., 971-865-2176,
BIBA CHAMORU KITCHEN
Former food cart favorite Ed Sablan of PDX 671 continues to celebrate the food of Guam at this new restaurant inside the former Old Salt Marketplace, a space shared with a northern taproom for Eugene’s Oakshire Brewing. In the early going, the menu included lumpia, coconut milk shrimp fritters, corn soup, taro chips and coconut milk flatbread, though more dishes are expected to arrive soon.
5013 N.E. 42nd Ave., 971-570-0945,
BOCA GRANDE
. In a surprise shakeup, The Zipper micro restaurant complex’s ChickPeaDX quietly transformed into this pint-sized Argentinian restaurant. Now, instead of some of Portland’s best falafel, you’ll find empanadas, grilled meat and a chimichurri-drenched choripan sandwich. Interestingly, it’s not the only reasonably priced Latin steakhouse in the neighborhood -- Carne (2512 N.E. Broadway) opened in the former Sullivan’s Gulch Bar & Grill just last week.
2707 N.E. Sandy Blvd., 503-890-2295
BULLARD
San Antonio-style chicken at Bullard (Beth Nakamura/staff)
Arguably the most highly anticipated restaurant of the past year, Top Chef finalist Doug Adams’ mix of Oregon produce and Texas smoke has lived up to expectations. Expect bold flavors, smoky meats, fun desserts and great cocktails, that last one courtesy of Daniel Osborne, who also writes the menu at sister bar Abigail Hall. Don’t miss the scallop tostada, the Texas red tamale, the shrimp and grits or any of the big meat courses, often sliced up front by Adams himself.
813 S.W. Alder St., 503-222-1670,
CHURCHGATE STATION
Portland’s latest back-room supper club is named for the southernmost train station in Mumbai, not far from where Bollywood Theater owner Troy MacLarty stays when he’s in India. Found in the D Street Village building, also home to the Southeast Portland Bollywood Theater, MacLarty uses the venue for occasional family-style Indian feasts that might including an heirloom tomato chaat or a halibut curry with lemon basmati rice. Pre-paid reservations usually cost around $45.
3150 S.E. Division St.,
CULTURE
David Jackson, the in-house Trail Blazers DJ Better known as OG One, teamed up with Andre Karam of Northwest Portland’s upscale Lebanese spot Za’atar on this Mediterranean-inspired restaurant and music venue in the former Township & Range space. Come for the DJ sets, stay for the mezze and tableside shawarma carved from a vertical rotisserie (best ordered in advance).
2422 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 503-477-8365,
DELORES
At the end of 2018, chef BJ Smith transformed his Smokehouse Tavern into Delores, trading barbecue for a Polish-ish menu meant to honor his late mother. The restaurant, found in the same complex as Nostrana, traded barbecue for pierogies, upscaling the latter with duck confit and a foie gras ganache. Don’t miss the flamingo wallpaper near the front.
1401 S.E. Morrison St., 503-231-3609,
DIN TAI FUNG
Soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung (Jamie Hale/staff)
After waiting nearly a decade for this Taiwanese soup dumpling chain to finally grow tired of opening new Seattle locations, it’s probably no surprise that the result would be a little disappointing. Still,
, it’s nice to finally have a Din Tai Fung outpost in Portland’s backyard. Next up, we’d like to see DoughZone follow its dumpling competition down south -- just don’t wait 10 years, Ok guys?
9724 S.W. Washington Square Road, Tigard; 503-768-9888;
EEM
This Thai barbecue restaurant and cocktail bar opened in North Portland's former Lincoln space in early February with an All Star group in the back: Langbaan and Hat Yai owner Earl Ninsom, Shipwreck ringmaster Eric Nelson, Matt’s BBQ smoke king Matt Vicedomini and former Poke Mon chef Colin Yoshimoto, with an assist from Langbaan curry whiz Rassamee Ruaysuntia. The lines started a couple of months after Eem opened and don’t look to be getting any shorter.
3808 N. Williams Ave. #127, 971-295-1645,
ERIZO
This sustainable seafood counter opened in January and has quickly earned some serious accolades, including a pair of nods from Eater’s National website for the restaurant and its chef, Jacob Harth. The restaurant features line-caught fish, bycatch, invasive seafood species and other oddballs such as purple sea urchin, geoduck and horse clams, some served raw, others cooked over an open wood fire in the former offices of subterranean izakaya Biwa.
215 S.E. Ninth Ave. #101, 503-206-8619,
ESTES
Chef Patrick McKee bounced around a bit after leaving Northwest Portland’s celebrated Paley’s Place, first opening the short-lived Common Law at downtown’s Pine Street Market, then heading up the since-shuttered Perlot in Northeast. But he seems to have settled in at at Estes, his semi-permanent Italian pop-up at the great natural wine bar Dame. Visit Wednesday to Sunday for McKee’s take on cacio e pepe, spaghetti and meatballs and other Italian pastas.
2930 N.E. Killingsworth St. (inside Dame), 503-227-2669,
FERMENTER
When the plant-based tasting menu restaurant Farm Spirit packed up its micro greens and moved around the corner, this more casual luncheonette took its place. Visit now for healthful bowls of beans, greens, quinoa and house-made sauces to-go, or hope for a seat at the four(!)-seat chef’s counter, where Farm Spirit founder Aaron Adams holds court, pouring house-made kombucha and serving quick three-course meals for $20 featuring -- no joke -- the best slab of black bean tempeh you’ll find just about anywhere.
1414 SE Morrison St.,
FISH & RICE
Former Langbaan front-of-house pro Peter Hermann and fellow ex-Michigander chef Jesse Sweet opened this more-affordable sushi restaurant in the pleasant little shopping district near the Urban Outfitters above Northwest 23rd Avenue and Burnside Street around this time last year. If you’re a fan of quality sushi at a reasonable price, make a point of visiting for a roll or two, especially at lunch, when the “choose two” option offers two simple rolls, a cup of miso soup and side salad for $13.
2332 N.W. Westover, 503-954-1270,
FRIED EGG I’M IN LOVE
One of Portland’s best-loved breakfast carts made the jump to a brick-and-mortar cafe at the start of the year, taking over the former Blue Star Donuts storefront on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard. It might already be Portland’s signature breakfast sandwich. Come for the pun-happy names (the Yolk-o Ono is a signature), stay for the tasty egg sandwiches, fast food-style hashbrowns and Aardvark-spiced aioli.
3549 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 503-610-3447,
GADO GADO
Wok-fried noodle rolls at Gado Gado (Michael Russell/staff)
Another pop-up turned brick-and-mortar, Gado Gado comes from Maine transplants Thomas and Mariah Pisha-Duffly and focuses on Peranakan, or Straits cuisine, the food of Chinese immigrants to Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. Early highlights include the wok-fried cumin lamb noodle rolls and the peel-and-eat crawfish with Sichuan chile paste, Old Bay butter and a loaf of grilled Hawaiian bread.
1801 N.E. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., 503-206-8778,
GIRAFFE
Katsu and egg salad sandwiches, pastries from Beaverton’s excellent Oyatsupan bakery, bento boxes and Japanese pantry staples are the orders of the day at this market and deli inside Southeast Portland’s eclectic Cargo store. Does it fill the hole left when Portland’s beloved, century-old Japanese market Anzen closed in 2014? Not quite, but it’s a start.
81 S.E. Yamhill St., 503-449-8346,
HAK
Chef-owner Hak Chae opened this Lloyd District restaurant earlier this year with plans to build out a selection of jeon, the savory Korean pancakes that can come stuffed with everything from squash to oysters, and maekgeolli, the milky cousin to soju. The menu also highlights most of what you’d expect to find at an American Korean restaurant, including bibimbap and kimchi stew.
914 N.E. Broadway St., 503-208-2172,
HAPPY DRAGON
Are you the kind of person that thinks Portland isn’t known for its Chinese food? Maybe you should have been looking to Polk County. Last year, this Independence import shook up Northeast 82nd Avenue, bringing big pork and seafood preparations (try the chile crab) and a family-sized Peking duck feast, a two-course affair involving slips of crisp-skinned duck flesh wrapped in steamed buns followed by lettuce wraps of stir-fried meat. Word to the wise: Happy Dragon’s menu doesn’t reward too much adventuring. Bring a friend and stick to the larger format dishes if you can.
707 N.E. 82nd Ave., 503-256-3828,
HOT POT KING
Happy Valley’s gleaming new hot pot restaurant opened earlier this year in a former Applebee’s with a few novel options, including individual broths wrapped in pretty porcelain holders and a membership option that offers deep discounts on some dishes. An early visit to Hot Pot King revealed a restaurant with some work to do, with at least a third of the menu items unavailable. Instead of paring back, Hot Pot King has doubled down, now offering daily dim sum to go with the hot pot.
15640 S.E. Happy Valley Town Center Dr., 503-878-5923,
HUNNYMILK
Portland’s favorite set-price brunch pop-up went ahead and added a brick-and-mortar location on the west side. The format remains the same: Choose one sweet dish (think: a fortune cookie waffle with vanilla mascarpone mousse), one savory (chorizo gravy over two crunchy biscuits) and a fresh-squeezed tangerine juice. If you’re lucky, your server might offer a complimentary churro starter with chocolate custard for dipping.
1981 W. Burnside St., 503-719-7349, hunnymilk.com (the weekend-only pop-up continues at La Buca restaurant, 40 N.E. 28th Ave.)
KARGI GOGO
Into the petite Northeast Alberta Street space once home to The Big Egg went another former food cart, Kargi Gogo, which gently expanded its menu of traditional Georgian basics with an expanded menu and a matching lineup of Georgian wine. Bring the kids and try one of the restaurant’s tasty khachapuri, or gooey cheesy breads, or the khinkali, soupy dumplings filled with beef and pork, mushroom, or potato that you hold by its knobby end while you slurp out the hot broth within.
3039 N.E. Alberta St., 503-764-9552,
MIXTECA
Oaxacan-born chef Paula Asunción, who first started selling her tamales and moles at the St. Johns farmers market, recently added this brick-and-mortar restaurant to her growing restaurant collection. As with the Portland Mercado food cart, which remains a going concern, first-timers would do well to start with a tlayuda, the giant tortilla coated in melted cheese, beans, ground meat and avocado, or one of Asunción’s mole, especially when poured over a plantain-leaf tamales.
2320 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-788-7694,
MIKKELLER POP-UP
A salmon and rice bowl from Mikkeller's Portland pop-up (Michael Russell/staff)
As we wait for renowned Danish brewery Mikkeller to begin brewing beer in Portland, we have this pop-up at the former Burnside Brewing building, featuring Mikkeller beer (brewed elsewhere) copious indoor and outdoor seating and a menu from former Momofuku Las Vegas chef Shaun King. The menu is ever-evolving, but you can count on King to deliver tasty rice bowls and Portland’s most consistent Momofuku-style pork belly buns.
701 E. Burnside St.,
MONTESACRO/THE STAR
In the past year, two pizzerias with San Francisco roots opened up shop within shouting distance of each other in Portland’s Pearl District. The first, Montesacro specializes in a Roman-style of flatbread pizza called pinsa. The Star does Chicago-style deep dish well, at least by Portland standards. Both add interesting wrinkles to Portland’s west-side pizza scene.
Montesacro: 1230 N.W. Hoyt St.; The Star: 1309 N.W. Hoyt St.
NORMANDIE
Taking over the Southeast Portland space first home to Rue, this French-ish restaurant offers a globally minded menu, including Portland’s new gold standard for onion-ring-topped burgers. If your bike commute takes you up busy Ankeny, consider stopping by for some duck fat madeleines and a Calvados spritz.
1005 S.E. Ankeny St., 503-233-4129,
ROSA ROSA
Vitaly Paley’s latest downtown Portland hotel restaurant highlights a mix of Italian and central European dishes in the bar up front, with a more straightforwardly Italian menu in the back. If you only order one dish, make it the chicken chkmeruli, a Georgian-style chicken in butter and sour cream sauce that Paley learned at the Hotel Zuzumbo in Telavi. Yes, it sounds like something from a Wes Anderson movie. It’s also delicious.
750 S.W. Alder St., 503-294-9700,
SCOTCH LODGE
This first solo venture from noted bartender and spirits expert Tommy Klus took over the the former Biwa space earlier this year, pairing his spirit-friendly approach to cocktails with an impeccably stocked shelf of rare whiskys (including some from Klus’ personal connection) and a modern French menu from St. Jack alum Tim Altale, created in consultation with Aaron Barnett. An early dish of white asparagus with black garlic, rice paper and ramps was one of our favorite bites of the spring.
215 S.E. Ninth Ave. #102, 503-208-2039,
SMOKIN FIRE FISH
Kalua pig and meat jun from Smokin Fire Fish (Michael Russell/staff)
Korean American chef Chris Cha’s restaurant near the Grant Park New Seasons has emerged as Portland’s upper tier spot for Hawaiian plate lunch, with higher quality ingredients and good technique combining in oft-neglected island dishes such as loco moco, shoyu chicken, katsu pork or meat jun, that last a sweet, egg-battered and fried beef that’s rarely seen in Portland. At night, the kitchen flexes its muscles with big platters of garlic butter shrimp or banana leaf-wrapped kalua pig, much of it served family style.
3258 N.E. Broadway St. 503-265-8200,
SUPER DELUXE
The latest burger venture from former Little Big Burger kingpin Micah Camden took over an old Southeast Powell Boulevard Taco Time last summer, adding a simple menu of higher-quality burgers, crisp crinkle-cut fries, chicken nuggets and breakfast sandwiches. The Single Deluxe is as simple as the menu, with a plain, super-thin patty griddled nicely at the visible edges, onions, pickles, sweet ketchup and fry sauce and melted American cheese on a scrunchable potato roll.
5000 S.E. Powell Blvd. and 870 N.W. 13th Ave.,
TACOVORE
This Eugene-based taco shop opened a new location in the former Fire & Stone pizzeria on Northeast Fremont Street in January, quickly drawing lines that can stretch from the register to the sidewalk out front. We haven’t been blown away by the tacos yet, but Tacovore does seem to be giving Portlanders something they want. The taqueria is joined by Beaux Berry, a New Zealand-style real fruit ice cream cart stationed in the parking lot.
3707 N.E. Fremont St., 503-719-4898,
TEKKA BAR
The time to visit this Las Vegas hand roll sushi bar is from 3 to 6 p.m., when made-to-order lobster or crab hand rolls are $5, and a sake bomb -- aka a shot of sake that you drop into a partly full beer -- will set you back $6. There are other reasons to visit, like the consistently crispy nori wrapper folded around still-warm rice, but you’ll never enjoy Tekka Bar more than at happy hour.
1237 S.W. Washington St.; 971-346-3280;
TOPE
In contrast to its main floor sister restaurant, La Neta, this rooftop bar at Old Town/Chinatown’s new Hoxton Hotel lets its hair down, serving pre-kegged margaritas and Mexican street food to a near-constant crowd. Try the chips and salsa, the tacos and -- when available -- chef Johnny Leach’s take on the tlayuda, a personal-pizza-sized tortilla topped with refried beans, chewy white cheese, a choice of meat and tart pickled onions.
15 N.W. Fourth Ave. (take the elevator to the roof), 503-770-0500,
WAJAN
Portland didn’t know it needed a neighborhood-friendly Indonesian restaurant until one opened in its midst. At Wajan, which took over the long-shuttered Laurelhurst Cafe space, chef Feny Lim serves a traditional menu of fried or braised meats surrounded by coconut rice, yellow pickles or neon-tinged crackers. Early highlights include the charred pork skewers with peanut sauce, the scrambled egg and green onion in a crispy pocket and the beef rendang with its floppy omelet and green sambal.
4611 E. Burnside St., 503-206-5916,
XICA CANTINA
Dorilocos, Xica Cantina-style (Michael Russell/staff)
Dorilocos, the Mexico City snack craze featuring a split bag of Doritos into which street vendors pour pickled pork rinds and fruit, a few dashes of Valentina hot sauce and -- why not? -- gummy bears, might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Southeast Division Street’s peaceful Xico. Yet Dorilocos are front and center on the menu at Xica Cantina, the new spin-off mezcal bar and restaurant from Xico owner Elizabeth Davis. They’re not as messy as the original, but you’ll find yourself inexplicably finishing them off just the same.
1668 N.W. 23rd Ave., 971-339-9041,
YONDER
Found on the south end of the Cully neighborhood’s old Delphina’s Bakery building, Yonder specializes in fried chicken served three ways -- dusted in a signature dry-spice blend, dipped in North Carolina-style tomato vinegar and blasted with Nashville-inspired heat. The restaurant, which recently shifted to a table service model, shines with sides, particularly the baked pimento mac and cheese and the crisp iceberg salad with buttermilk vinnaigrette.
4636 N.E. 42nd Ave. Suite A, 503-444-7947,
ZAAP
The final addition to the new 40, Zaap features a big, crowd-pleasing menu of American Thai standards. But dig beneath the surface and you’ll find some intriguing Issan-style regional specialties, including a truly spicy papaya salad, some good (also spicy) pork larb and grilled boar collar with a fiery red chile sauce. If you go, keep an eye out on the specials board, where other Northeastern Thai dishes are most likely to show up.
3513 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-208-3018
Know of a new restaurant you think we might have missed? Want to make an argument for one of these 40 to reappear in our guide to Portland's 10 best new restaurants? Drop me an email at mrussell@oregonian.com, or hit me up on Twitter. Let's start a dialogue.
-- Michael Russell @tdmrussell
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