The January Hit List: Hey Love, Cafe Olli, Dame, and More

Some things are classics for a reason. Gallo Nero, the Pearl District’s Tuscan spot, has been steadily serving updated versions of Italian classics since 2012. The menu here is reliable and starts with light antipasti, a robust assortment of salads, and a quintet of bruschette before diving into the larger, traditionally coursed mains. There’s more than a half-dozen pastas, regional secondi, like a traditional Livornese seafood stew and herby stewed cannellini beans, and of course, a long list of every dessert you might want, from tiramisu and gelato to caffe corretto and torta della nonna to cap off the night.

After Submarine Hospitality (Ava Gene’s, Tusk) came under fire last year for an alleged disturbing pattern of poor behavior across the restaurant group, many of its people moved onto new projects and kitchens. Enter Cafe Olli, from a group of Submarine alums who want to create a “less hierarchical” kitchen, planning to distribute half of the restaurant’s net profits to full restaurant staff, and with all employees as partial owners. During the day, the intentional menu veers toward savory toasts and sandwiches. A community meal — a rotating, nourishing dish for people experiencing food insecurity — is available on a sliding scale (from $0-$14). At night, the menu keeps its simple mantra, trading out toast and eggs for pizza, pasta, veggies, snacks, and protein-rich mains. Tipping here has been replaced with a 20% service fee that supports the staff’s living wage, health care, and paid time off.

Northeast Killingsworth wine bar Dame transitioned into an online natural and biodynamic wine store early in the pandemic. Nearly two years (!!) later, the bottle shop continues to go strong, with an ever-changing, too-easy-to-splurge selection of affordable and downright fun rosé and orange wines, plus mid-priced whites, reds, and rosatos alongside truly splurge-worthy Champagnes and high-end reds. Last year, a more dedicated food menu also joined the line-up, filled out with snacks like olives, soups, and housemade focaccia to pair with seasonal, handmade pastas (including some that can be veganized!), a beautifully simple trout, and sweet things to finish.

A tropical cocktail lounge-meets-community gathering space, Hey Love is a must-visit bar with something for everyone. Cocktails (both alcoholic and non) are brightly-hued and festive, with clever names and inventive ingredients. There’s the Spanish-style house G&T “with all the fun things inside”; a salty mango oolong mai tai (say that five times fast); a passion fruit mezcal margarita with strawberry slushee float served inside a cactus with a hibiscus sea salt rim (say that five times fast, too); and the Sharon is Karen, naturally, a cucumber vodka soda on draft. The non-alcoholic drinks give the traditional cocktail menu a run for its money, with creative juices and drinks that, well you’ll just need to see them for yourself. And if you can believe it, there’s still more, like beer, wine of all colors, CBD sodas, coffee, slushees, and summery, kinda-tropical food. We love it here.

Nigiri-focused sushi spot Nimblefish is among Portland’s most straightforward sushi restaurants, and that’s a great thing. Simple, fish-laden seaweed salads kick off the menu here and continue through nearly a dozen nigiri and sashimi, maki, donburi, and a stunning chirashi bowl. You won’t find any of the jumbo, Americanized rolls that are often drizzled in eel sauce and spicy mayo (but don’t get us wrong, we love those, too). Instead, expect beautifully presented and sourced fish. For purists, it doesn’t get better than this.

This longstanding Portland restaurant is maybe best-known for its sprawling dessert menu. “Part of the fabric of Portland since 1978,” Papa Haydn serves their extensive cake, cookie, and confection menu from locations on both sides of the river. Find treats like cheesecakes, panna cottas, and patisserie, alongside slices of their decadent cakes. There’s celebration-worthy cakes for all occasions here, from a four-layer carrot cake infused with pineapple and coconut and a flourless chocolate cremeaux for two with toasted Italian meringue, to a towering lemon chiffon cake and a mint tuxedo cake layered with peppermint ganache and crunchy white chocolate pearls.

Scotch Lodge, the warm, subterranean cocktail bar, whose menu was built for “whisky lovers,” might be one of the coziest bars in Portland this winter. Cocktails remain some of the best in town, highlighting Japanese whiskies, Islay Scotches and ingenious infused and fat-washed spirits in creative drinks like the Islay Daiquiri, shaken with pineapple rum and coconut-oolong demerara, and the Blade Runner, stirred with Cognac and cocoa butter-washed Campari. The food menu, for the most part, stays small with salty snacks and bites to balance your whiskey drink (the pickle spice fries are a must), but also offers larger plates if this is your only stop of the night.

If there’s any place in Portland that you could call iconic, it’s Sweedeedee. Long known for their simple and cozy breakfast and lunch plates, a pastry case home to some of the best baked goods in town (the salted honey pie is perfection), a handmade ceramic mug collection to make you envious, and lots of veggie-friendly options, it’s unusual not to see a line out their door. Last year, former Tusk chef Sam Smith joined the brunch-only kitchen crew and the menu (finally!) expanded to include dinner. Now, find tinned fish, cheese, and salami; hearty grain and veggie soups and creative salads; pastas and a half-roasted chicken; and breads for sides. Though the menu might look simple, don’t be fooled. This is some of the best food in town.

It seems like everyone is doing a grain bowl these days. Among the newest is Wild Thing, a vegan grain bowl concept from Arden wine bar owner Kelsey Glasser and former Tusk and current Sweedeedee (see above) chef Sam Smith. Bowls here predominantly feature cooked veggies (rather than raw) and no alternative meats, instead relying on individually prepared toppings, from ginger beets and sumac cabbage to lemony brussels sprouts and smoky paprika cauliflower, to bulk them out. Alongside the bowls, find a couple of smoothies, of course, packed with all the good things, and a short menu of small treats, like a heart-beet bar and golden milk porridge. With Glasser’s background in wine, the restaurant also is serving its own canned wine label, currently in dry white and “pinot-lite,” as well as other cans and bottles of beer, wine, kombucha, and pop.

Like a phoenix rising from cold ashes, The Woodsman Tavern is back. Once home to an all-star line-up of Portland chefs, and moody, dark wood decor accented with Stumptown owner Duane Sorenson’s personal collection of framed pictures of Mount Hood, Woodsman Tavern was a seminal restaurant when it opened in 2011. Later winning accolades and mentions across national food media, the restaurant’s menu was a simple and refined spin on Southern-ish food. Meals here always started with raw oysters and do again, with cooked seafood like shrimp cocktail and Lowcountry smoked mussels to pair. The menu continues through nostalgic appetizers like fried oysters and crudités, a wedge salad and shrimp Louie, and a fisherman’s stew before landing on charcoal grilled meats and veggies. If you aren’t feeling nostalgic enough, try on the Baked Alaska for size.