The April Hit List: Gado Gado, Takibi, Phuket Cafe, and More

Northeast Portland’s popular Gado Gado has finally debuted their “Rice Table,” an interpretation of the Dutch-Indonesian feast known as the rijsttafel. For $75 per person, the restaurant will fill the table with dumplings, bread, curries, grilled meats and fishes, sambals, rice, and more. Shareable dishes look like squash panipuri and pork satay with tamarind pickled cabbage; Chinese sausage and shrimp siumai; and the restaurant’s famed roti canai. Look also to larger plates like a Sumatran-style beef rendang and sweet-and-sour tamarind clams. Those not ready to throw down can still order old favorites à la carte, including golden turmeric curry, onion fritters with fermented coconut, spice-rubbed grilled albacore, and orange cardamom apple cider doughnuts with kaya jam.

Less than a year into the pandemic, MLK Boulevard’s renowned West African joint Akadi shuttered with the promise of return. More than a year later, chef and owner Fatou Ouattara is making good on that promise with not one, but two projects guaranteed to make the wait worthwhile. The first of the duo is House of Flavor, an African grocery store in North Portland selling African fruits and veggies, house-blended spices, sauces, pantry goods, and wine and beers from across the African continent. The store, set to open this month, will help introduce diners to not only the food, but ways to bring it home beyond the restaurant. And later this year, a brand new Akadi is also set to reopen, this time along Southeast Division, with a bigger menu and space.

Grab some friends and follow a few pints of cold Breakside Brewery beers with vegan, gluten-free sushi rolls from Mitate, the once-roving pop-up turned Portland sunset-pink food cart at Southeast Portland’s CORE pod. The menu, though short, is a master class in what owners Nino and Summer Ortiz describe as “seeing with a different perspective.” In place of any sort of fish, crustacean, or tempura-fried anything, the duo combine vegan staples into unrecognizable and uncanny versions of rolls and nigiri. Here, black truffle salt-dusted avocado meets whiskey barrel-aged black pepper and a touch of lemon zest to create a one-bite treat. Eggplant, too, lightly fried and dressed in a sweet soy sauce reduction reminiscent of unagi sauce, is a pair best eaten in one bite. Elsewhere, avocado, zippy shishito peppers, and zucchini are wrapped in rice and topped with spicy squash, spicy mayo, urfa, and fried shallots, while artichoke hearts and cauliflower form the base of the cleverly named “Caulifornia roll.”

On paper, the concept behind Pasture PDX is simple: source high-quality proteins and produce from regenerative farmers to refocus the conversation back to farm-to-table. In reality, the sandwich counter by day, choose-your-cut and pay-by-the-ounce restaurant at night, is so much more than that. Chefs and owners Kei Ohdera and John Schaible hope to reclaim and reconnect with Oregon farmers to not only source local ingredients but be part of a more sustainable and ethical agricultural cycle. At lunch, sandwiches and simple sides make up much of the short menu, like a mortadella and salami with cherry peppers, a rich beef shank with “beef sauce” and Swiss, and a burger smushed with pimento cheese. Evenings at the whole animal butchery spot provide a longer runway, with a hefty butcher case filled with sausages, offal, charcuterie, terrines, and more. The menu, which bounces between snacks and small plates, starts with cured meats and sausages from local pork producer Tails & Trotters and beef marrow butter with fixings and toast before delving into creative veggie bites, like roasted winter cabbage with celeriac milk, and “the butchers case,” where diners can choose their cut of steak from the case and have it cooked just the way they like it.

After years of closed doors to focus on meal kits and frozen pizzas sold through local grocery delivery companies, this Southeast Portland Italian mainstay has returned. For those who dined at Renata before the pandemic, the menu will feel familiar — a host of salty and crunchy antipasti to get the ball rolling, bubbly pizzas baked with finesse in the wood-fired oven, handmade pastas stuffed with seasonal ingredients, and hearth-fired meat and veg. The only new addition to the familiar menu: a short menu of frozen pizzas, simply topped, to bring the Renata experience home.

When we heard Thai tasting menu counter Langbaan was shuttering its (hidden) door and moving across town, we knew we were in for a treat. Finally, last month, the more-than-meets-the-eye restaurant let us in on the secret. For now, Phuket Cafe will serve dinner within the 37-seat restaurant from a menu melding the innovative flavors of Bangkok and the Chinese, Malaysian, and Muslim-influenced Phuket. Dishes, so far, from the brand-new restaurant include Tom Yum mussels, clams, and octopus over crispy pork fried rice showered in herbs, versions of Thai steakhouse offerings, roti, curries, and other wondrous plates inspired by a three-week trip searching for unknown dishes through both cities. Eventually, weekend brunch and weekday lunch will claim space, as well as the eventual return of Langbaan. What else will owners Earl Ninsom and cocktail whiz Eric Nelson bring? We can only wait and enjoy.

When Takibi opened last summer, we weren’t sure whether to be more excited about the restaurant or the brand-new Snow Peak store. The restaurant, a “celebration of Japan, the changing seasons, and the bonds built while gathering by the fire,” also cut ties with Joshua McFadden and Submarine Hospitality, the team behind Ava Gene’s and Tusk, and is now run by former Nimblefish executive chef Cody Auger. While the chef line-up has changed, famed mixologist Jim Meehan will still helm the bar and the spacious, wood-lined restaurant has remained focused on seasonal, wood-fired dishes. In addition to fried oysters; cozy, simmered dishes like pork belly with soft-boiled egg; and charcoal-grilled black cod, Auger has brought dishes like McFarland Springs trout sashimi, albacore seared over burning straw, and lamb chops infused with barley miso.

In 2020, the Toro Bravo restaurant group — known for its buzzy restaurants like Tasty n’ Daughters, Tasty n’ Alder, and Toro Bravo — dissolved after former owner John Gorham lobbed transphobic comments and threats at a commenter on Facebook, to put it reductively. Quickly, the entire kingdom fell apart, with all the restaurants and projects bought out by other employees. Last year, two former employees, Faye Crosswhite and Mike Kessler, joined forces with restaurant group ChefStable to purchase the rights to the brand and reopened as Tasty in a new Lake Oswego mixed-use center. Fans of the original Toro Bravo restaurant group will find old favorites here — small bites like patatas bravas and hush puppies, the iconic radicchio salad studded with Castelvetrano olives and manchego, the Spanish octopus (a la Toro Bravo), the Tasty burger, and more. The retail center also holds a host of other ChefStable projects, perfect for a joyfully long, all-day visit.

A new, Nagahama-style tonkotsu ramen joint has taken over Water Avenue’s Noraneko space. The menu at Wu-Rons, named for the manga “Tokyo Tribes,” is about as simple as it gets: a Nagahama ramen, a Nagahama miso ramen, and a vegetarian tantan ramen infused with mushrooms. The broth for the tonkotsu is simmered for hours with a whole hog’s worth of bones and gelatinous-rich meats before it’s finished with thin noodles, sesame seeds, and chashu pork.

At Division’s Mexican standby Xico, indoor/outdoor dining is back if you’re hungry for a touch of normalcy (and a margarita on the patio). The restaurant’s “on the fly” and frozen meal options are still available for takeout or safe-keeping for a rainy day (as well as those same margaritas, simply in adult Capri Sun form). But whatever you go with, the classics are still available. Start with fried cauliflower in jalapeno pipian or the queso fundido before diving into larger dishes like the pollo in mole de xico of Yucatan pork and black beans. “On the fly” dishes offer a more casual take, with things like taco plates, burritos, and bowls to larger entrees like rotisserie chicken and Yucatan smoked pork.