The February Hit List: Canard, Bing Mi, Normandie, and More

Canard, the next-door sister restaurant to James Beard Award-winning chef Gabriel Rucker’s Le Pigeon, has been one of the best casual-ish, fancy-ish spots in town, and now, comes with heated outdoor seating. The icons of the all-day diner-meets-French bistro menu haven’t changed much since it first opened, and that’s a good thing.

Alongside seasonally shifting salads and snacks — the fried kalettes with chipotle cashew and the beets and habanadas with nasturtium yogurt look particularly amazing — you can still find the always-order oeufs en mayonnaise, kissed with smoke; White Castle’s greatest fear: the chef-ified steam burger, available individually or as a set of six; and the Duck Stack, its layers of pancakes, duck gravy, Tabasco onions, and a duck egg only made more luxurious with the optional foie gras. Desserts aren’t to be missed here either, ranging from the more composed Paris-Brest, this season layered with brie brulee, apple and sticky pecans, to the forever cool vanilla soft serve, best in a peanut butter fun cone.

A brand new dumpling and noodle bar from the owner of the beloved jianbing cart of the same name, Bing Mi opened quietly this month only a few blocks away from the marquee cart. The short menu, unsurprisingly, heavily features its eponymous dishes from Shandong native Jacky Ren.

Find two versions of zhajiangmian: one, the original fermented black bean and pork belly-infused dish, with noodles painstakingly made by hand and tossed with julienned zucchini and carrot. The other, a vegan version, features shiitake mushrooms and tofu. Dumpling options are similarly terse, though no less delicious, with a classic pork and cabbage, beef and celery, and an Impossible meat and mushroom version to round out the trio. And though not listed in the name, there are also three fried rice dishes, tossed with Chinese sausage, roast duck, or mushrooms and tofu.

In a city with hundreds of food carts, a new cart pod often doesn’t make front page news. But a few times a year, that special place comes around. The newest of the bunch is Hinterland Bar & Carts, home to an epic line-up of carts and restaurant alums bringing together some of the city’s best burgers, Tex-Mex breakfast tacos and barbecue, vegan tacos, “third culture” food by way of Peru and Okinawa, and fancy-ish, seasonal food.

The Bar here is helmed by Taylor Gehrts (Nostrana, Smallwares) whose cocktail list is inspired by all the carts at Hinterland, along with classic brunch staples, beer, wine, and NA cocktails shaken with tangy shrubs. Meanwhile, Burger Stevens, among the best of the city’s classic burger joints, is among the Carts. Then there’s La Taquiza Vegana, a vegan taqueria serving everything from jackfruit birria (and ramen!) to “chicken” milanesa tortas, and Third Culture Kitchen, from two Tasty N’ Sons alums tapping their international upbringings for influence. Poppyseed, from a Le Pigeon alum, brings a slight fancy, seasonal option, and Matt’s BBQ Tacos needs no introduction, unless you’ve been living under a best-brisket-in-town, breakfast taco-less rock for the past two and a half years.

When the craft cocktail scene took off in Portland in the aughts, Teardrop Lounge was at the forefront. With a tried-and-true list of awards and bests to their name, Teardrop is still worth a visit, 15 years later. The menu here is vast, and deep, ranging from “bright & crisp” to “deep & dark,” and maybe ironically, kicks off with a drink called, “Respect Your Elders.” You’ll find house blends of almost all the standard liquors, and an almost dizzying amount of options to satisfy every type of cocktail drinker out there. With thirty cocktails to choose from, it’s either best to visit in a group, or start a personal cocktail passport to keep track of all the drinks you’ve tried.

Montelupo Italian Market is Northeast Glisan’s answer to the red sauce concept, with a concise but exciting menu of fresh pastas, soups, salads, and desserts available for takeout and delivery. If dining out or dining outside in the wonderfully private, covered tables on the now-cordoned-off street shared with vegan Peruvian restaurant Epif is still off the option list, head inside to peruse the mini store, chock full of cook-at-home meals, cocktails to-go, a mini, Italian-centric wine shop, pantry items like cheese, tomatoes, and rices, and luxury basics to glitz up your home cooking.

Pastas, for those staying or going, will look familiar to any long-time Portlanders who ate at Adam Berger’s former 28th Avenue Italian restaurant Tabla. Chief among them is the classic tajarin tossed in truffle butter beneath a blizzard of Parm. Elsewhere, find seasonal spins on handmade pastas, like fusilli with hedgehog mushrooms, parsnips, and celery roots; bucatini all’amatriciana simmered with pancetta and garlic; and mafaldine in beef and pork ragu.

This coastal-inspired, Southeast Portland restaurant from a crew of VQ alums is built around small, shareable plates perfect for snacking your way through dinner. Find dishes like oxtail croquettes with ancho coffee crema; crab beignets with fromage Blanc mousse; charred Spanish octopus on a bed of cucumber, crab, and wakame salad; steamed clams in ham dashi and XO sauce. A more substantial option is the house burger on brioche, layered with five-hour onions and onion rings. A roving feast wouldn’t be complete without dessert, arriving brightly as pink peppercorn meringues with quince ice cream and hibiscus, Champagne, and rosewater granita, or more richly, as chocolate mousse with torched marshmallow fluff and yuzu caramel.

A new Northeast Portland restaurant is specializing in one of Yunnan’s best-known dishes: crossing-the-bridge noodles. Served as large format, roiling pots of broth, simmered with mixed mushrooms, tomato or chicken, and Sichuan peppercorns, these bouncy noodles are almost like a pared-down version of hot pot, with small plates of thin-sliced meats, veggies, and more served on the side to make a fully customizable bowl of soup. Alongside these regionally specific noodles (possibly born from a story about a scholar’s wife wanting to transport fresh, not-soggy noodles and hot soup to her husband), Qiao Noodle House also offers more common appetizers and dishes, like popcorn chicken, shredded pork ear in chile sauce, and minced pork and peanuts over rice noodles.

This Israeli-inspired restaurant, arguably the headliner of the Sesame Collective, is a tried-and-true spot for classics like creamy hummus — here arriving with a range of toppings, from pine nuts and Aleppo pepper to spiced beef and lamb — roasted eggplant and falafel, alongside larger plates like lamb carnitas, chicken shawarma, and Aleppo pepper-rubbed hanger steak. Cocktails, too, get a Middle Eastern influence, with Metaxa, arak, and rose water showing up in equal measure as the more classic cocktail ingredients. Whatever you order, an extra pita or three is a must; these downy, soft breads are made fresh and arrive still warm from the oven.

Diane Lam’s outdoor Mississippi Avenue restaurant Sunshine Noodles, the ultra-popular Cambodian noodle soup and fried chicken joint, paired with bright cocktails and beers, is back in brand new, OG Mission Chinese-esque digs. To those who went before, the menu will look somewhat familiar. The Phnom Penh noodles still make a headline appearance, though this time as a drier iteration, with lacquered egg noodles, ground pork, and shrimp. Elsewhere, find beef noodle stew with brisket and rice noodles, catfish spring rolls, lime pepper wings (a nod to the Prey + Tell days), sweet sundaes, and more. Cocktails, too, are rich with Cambodian inspo, shaken with coconut-washed pisco, tropical fruit juices, pomelo rinds, and more.

If you’ve lived in Portland for at least a year, you’ve probably learned the best sunsets always come in winter. And while the weather is often rainy and gray, catching a cotton candy and ruby red sunset at one of the city’s rooftop bars is hard to beat. Enter Tope, Old Town/Chinatown’s airy, Mexico City-inspired bar overlooking the river and Portland’s Eastside. Plates here reflect that relaxed vibe, with ceviches, dips, and salads for appetizers, and trios of omnivorous and vegan-friendly tacos and larger mains filling out the rest. The bright and funky cocktail menu is almost entirely based on agave-based spirits, making this a Tequila and mezcal lover’s paradise.