The February Hit List: Nimblefish, Apizza Scholls, Firehouse, and More

Portland isn’t known as a pizza town, but we’ve got some mighty fine pies to back up any claims. Brian Spangler’s beloved pizzeria, which drew lines out the door in the Before Times, transitioned the entire restaurant over to takeout and delivery when COVID-19 hit. Pre-ordering by phone may seem somewhat quaint compared to the fully mobile-enabled outfits many other restaurants run, but it feels right for a place like Apizza Scholls. Starting at 3 p.m., you can pre-order 18” house and build-your-own pies, salads and desserts, alongside pop, beer (available in cans, bottles and growlers), and wine for evening pickup daily by calling 503-233-1286, or order by walk-in beginning at 4 p.m. Pro tip: For treasure hunters: a duo of calzones are available Monday through Thursday for just 10 lucky diners each night.

Dining Status: Available for pre-order takeout, and delivery. 

Fans of Southeast Clinton’s seafood-centric Jacqueline will find a buzzy, new brunch spot in its place. Now called Fair Weather, Jacqueline’s owners rebranded their corner oyster bar as a cozy Dungeness crab toast-fueled breakfast joint early this year. On a recent weekend, outdoor tables were packed with diners snacking on breakfast sandwiches, lacto-fermented oats, rice bowls, Jacqueline-inspired crab toast, and cedar-planked trout. Coffee drinks, and wines by-the-bottle, almost make it feel like 2019.

Dining status: Outdoor dining and takeout available. Order here.

Like many Portland restaurants, Firehouse has settled into the rhythm of the pandemic, moving beyond a focus on family-style dinners to à la carte dishes for delivery and pickup three days a week. Now, the wood-fired menu brings those locally sourced seasonal vegetables; chewy, bubbly wood-fired pizzas; and cozy entrees, like the caramelized onion-topped tavern burger, and the beloved rotisserie Mary’s chicken, to takeout or delivery via Postmates. The classic olive oil cake also returns, as do wines by the bottle and beer by can or growler fill.

Dining status: Takeout and delivery available. Order here.

Lokanta, Clinton Street’s rustic Turkish restaurant, was one of many new spots that opened during the pandemic. Formerly a pop-up from Umut Matkap (LeChon, Kachinka), Lokanta’s menu centers on Matkap’s favorite dishes, many of which happen to be vegan or vegetarian. When the restaurant opened last summer, options included labneh with pickled beets, garbanzo bean dumplings filled with caramelized onions, and orange juice and garlic-infused artichoke hearts.

In these chillier months, starters skew heartier, like feta-stuffed Turkish flatbread and pastirma beef grilled lavash wraps. Mains center around skewers and grilled meats, with none of the Americanized Mediterranean classics (think gyros, falafel or hummus) in sight. Now that cocktails are available to go, diners can also enjoy a shot of the anise-infused Turkish liquor raki alongside their meze.

Dining status: Takeout and delivery available. Order here.

When Matta first opened in 2018, the menu revolved around “Vietnamese soul food,” the homey dishes co-owner Richard Le grew up eating. In the two years they’ve been open, Matta has transformed from those nostalgic meals to what the beloved cart now calls a viet kieu, or foreign-born Vietnamese, experience.

Everyday dishes now include rice flour- and coconut milk-dredged fried chicken, beef stir-fry, fried catfish, and pork belly braised in coconut. But it’s the rotating daily specials that often draw the biggest crowds. On weekends, that might include breakfast sandwiches on pandan buns, ca phe and pandan doughnuts, a pandan-pancake-centered riff on McDonald’s Big Breakfast, breakfast bowls built with curry-spiced hashbrowns, pork patties and nuoc cham gravy, and more. You’ll want to show up early to snag an order. 

Dining status: Takeout available. More info here.

Maurice, Kristen Murray’s long running downtown pastry counter and luncheonette has continued to be a place of sweet solace throughout the pandemic. Known for her gifted pastry touch, the James Beard semifinalist has been baking truly exceptional cakes, tartes, scones and more since 2013.

After more than seven years, the breakfast nook has nimbly rolled with the pandemic punches to land somewhere between takeout window and preordered meals. You’ll still find those impossibly tender rosemary currant scones, salt-flecked chocolate cookies, and Murray’s famous black-pepper cheesecake at the window during walk-out hours, as well as larger, savory options including soup, pate, and salads for pre-order pick-up.

Dining status: Takeout available. More info here.

Nigiri-focused sushi spot Nimblefish has been a must-visit throughout the pandemic. And with months of experience, the award-winning restaurant’s menu has managed to grow back to near-pre-pandemic length. Simple, fish-laden seaweed salads kick off the options and continue through nearly a dozen nigiri or sashimi bites, 17 different types of maki, plus donburi, chirashi, beer, wine, and sake. And with curbside pickup or delivery, contactless ordering has never been smoother.

Dining status: Takeout and delivery available. Order here.

After popular late night spot Revelry closed in 2020, chef de cuisine Diane Lam and business partner David Sigal took on a residency at the temporarily closed Psychic bar on Mississippi Avenue. Their outdoor restaurant then became Sunshine Noodles, an ultra popular Cambodian noodle soup and fried chicken spot that was perfect for summer dining.

As winter approached, Lam added a delivery- and takeout-focused operation called Prey + Tell. Now diners can snag the restaurant’s beloved peppery lime-flecked fried chicken with banana leaf-wrapped rice packs, and an assortment of sauces — ranging from a butter-mounted fish sauce-sherry caramel to a lime leaf-infused buffalo — to enjoy at home, safely out of the winter rain.

Dining status: Delivery and takeout available. Order here.

This warm, subterranean cocktail bar, whose menu was built for “whisky lovers,” has gone through a number of changes since the pandemic started. Over the summer, the modern French menu of beef tartare with buttermilk, blue cheese, and berbere spice, or bone marrow with green curry, took a turn as a chippy, with its outdoor fish and chips pop-up Oui Chippy.

But since Oregon has legalized cocktails to-go, the bar can get a little closer to its original concept. Now, find a short menu of “substantial” food items ranging from fries and crudites to a pairing of pasta, and a crab sandwich, to help pad out the assortment of cocktails and whisky “dramtails” available for pickup. A short pantry section, filled with snacks, sauces, and stock might help polish up dinner to pair with a cocktail or two at home.

Dining status: Takeout available. Order here.

After a few months’ run of brunch and dinner takeout from beloved Korean American restaurant Han Oak, husband-wife duo Peter Cho and Sun Young Park pumped the brakes to focus on Toki, a new, casual restaurant in the former Tasty N Alder space in downtown Portland.

There, the menu is built from a mixture of greatest hits and new, aspirational dishes that the small Han Oak space just never permitted. Favorites like the signature Han Oak fried chicken with “ramen essence” and the pudgy pork mandu find a home alongside a new section of bibimbap and more traditional KBBQ options. In the mornings, find cheesy breakfast sandos, doughnuts, smoothies, and dalgona coffees.

Dining status: Takeout available. Order here.