The Resy Hit List: Where In Portland You’ll Want to Eat Right Now

Tucked behind European-inspired brewery and taproom Away Days Brewing Co., you’ll find Champs Burgers, the once-pop-up now turned full-time food cart. Like many of Portland’s great burger joints, the menu is simple: A cheeseburger (made with dry-aged beef, quality American cheese, onions, pickles, and burger sauce on a housemade Cairspring Mills flour-based bun), in a single, double, and thick version. Plus, a rotating special (previous favorites have included a lengua pastrami burger and pickled jalapeño-topped Oklahoma burger); beef tallow fries; and a cookie (from classics like chopped chocolate chip to pumpkin toffee spiced corn). The cart continues to draw long lines, and it’s worth joining the queue.

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Portland’s arguably most sought-after restaurant proudly focuses on chef Gregory Gourdet’s Haitian heritage. And it’s still worth trying to snag a reservation. The James Beard Award-winning menu is truly best suited for joyous reunion, with groups of four to six (or more in the private dining space!) getting a chance to try a little bit of everything if you’re sharing across the table. Don’t miss the signature dishes — the plaintain brioche and the griyo twice-cooked pork — as well as any number of plates emerging from the wood-fired hearth. We’re partial to the red cabbage with smoked herring and African pepper sauce and a glazed duck breast and leg, lacquered with cane syrup. Add in sides to share, and desserts, and you’ll see why Gourdet is so lauded.

This final project of restaurant titan Naomi Pomeroy was in its toddler-hood when the famed and beloved chef tragically died last summer. After a short run as a pop-up and a few months of build-out, L’Echelle is finally officially open again. On a recent visit, the restaurant hummed brightly, the space’s previously black-rimmed windows now shining an alluring cobalt blue. A short but expansive bistro menu offered all the hallmarks of French classics with a signature PNW flair. Oeufs as large as snowballs arrived buried in an airy, lemony aioli while a generous stack of chilled asparagus nestled into a green allium remoulade. Elsewhere, find a short raw menu and a quartet of well-priced mains like steak au poivre and seared duck breast. It’s the buzziest restaurant in town right now, and we can’t wait to go back. Oh, and did we mention? Reservations are live.

As summer turns to fall, we’re trading sunny patio seating for cozy lounges to while away our nights. Enter Scotch Lodge, the warm, subterranean cocktail bar, whose menu was built for “whisky lovers,” a perfect respite for the rainy season ahead. Cocktails remain some of the best in town, highlighting Japanese whiskies, Islay Scotches and ingenious infused spirits in creative drinks like the Moon Age Daydream, shaken with Japanese gin, lotus orgeat, sansho peppercorn, and yuzu, and the Loch Stock, stirred with Scotch, mezcal, and lapsang souchong-infused sweet vermouth. Small and shareable salty snacks and bites balance out the drinks; the pickle spice fries are a must.

The newest restaurant in the Montelupo family, opening right around the corner from its Sellwood focacceria, is Monty’s Red Sauce, chef and owner Adam Berger’s version of an East Coast Italian American restaurant. Here, among low-slung, red vinyl booths, find dishes like generous portions of spaghetti and meatballs; thick, golden cutlets of chicken Parm; chicken marsala; and fried starters like mozzarella sticks and calamari alongside Monty’s creative spin on the antipasti plate: the mozzarella bar, with a you-pick selection of cheese, dips, and veggies.

This former vegan dim sum pop-up from chef Cyrus Ichiza, whose restaurant Ichiza Kitchen was a destination, just moved into its own digs on Southeast Belmont. Here, find deceivingly good vegan variations of many popular Chinese and dim sum dishes like grilled bean curd dumplings, turnip cake, spicy wontons, siu mai and char siu bao. Elsewhere on the menu, larger dishes like Jade’s take on dan dan noodles, mapo tofu, and a ramen-esque “mami noodle soup” fill out the rest of the table.

Sharing a home with Vtopian Artisan Cheese Shop’s new Northeast Grand Avenue location, Adelleda will be taking over the longtime vegan cheesemaker’s space from Thursdays to Monday nights. A self-described “refined lounge and pasta residency,” Adelleda’s menu focuses on fresh pastas using seasonal and wild-foraged ingredients like agnolotti with fennel, kohlrabi, and toasted pistachio, bucatini with lobster mushroom, cauliflower puree and pickled jimmy nardellos, and Parisian gnocchi with brussels three ways, chicken of the woods, and chile flake. Elsewhere, find small antipasti bites and small, often fried, plates. 

Nestled in the quiet intersection of Northeast Glisan and I-84, Metlapil is one of Portland’s newest and maybe most singular mariscos spots. Helmed by former República chef Jose “Lalo” Camarena and his partner and pastry chef Kautia Camarena, Metlapil hand-grinds masa for two tasting menu services a week — on Saturdays and Sundays — alongside a tempting late-night mariscos menu Sunday nights from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. It’s hard to know what to expect inside the bright and almost beachy space, as the menu shifts constantly save for that masa, which is served pressed into pillowy tortillas, fried into tostadas, and wrapped around tender fillings. But recent ephemeral menu sightings have highlighted whole fried bay shrimp with chile morita mayo, pickled oysters with lime granita and chipotle salsa, and Oregon albacore aguachile with cucumber and pickled sungolds.

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After a down-the-street move into Clinton Street’s former mussels house La Moule, Portland’s key oyster bar has reopened with all the same favorites. One of the city’s few seafood-centric spots, Jacqueline’s biggest claim to fame is the $1 oyster happy hour (harvested and delivered the same day!) and seasonal menu of fresh fare. Guests line up six days a week for oysters, fish-focused small plates, seasonal veggie salads and fishy large-format dishes. Summertime brings lobster buns, tossing Maine lobster and bay shrimp in lobster aioli; cedar-planked McFarland trout with grilled lemon; and in a nod to the location’s former owners, Totten Inlet mussels dotted with ‘nduja, garlic scapes, and fennel, appropriately named “La Moule.”

Dame’s former anchor restaurant Estes is now taking up residence in Mississippi’s Broder Nord. Four evenings a week, chef Patrick McKee will be serving his Italian-inspired menu after the popular Scandinavian brunch spot shutters for the day, trading Swedish hash and aebleskivers for fresh pastas stuffed with butternut squash and porchetta paired with polenta and braised kale. The short but sweet menu changes frequently, swapping out seasonal veggies and pasta sets as winter continues to wane. For those that want to bring a bite of Estes home, neighborhood favorite Bella’s Italian Bakery in Southeast Portland stocks fresh pastas and sauces from the Estes team in the grab-and-go fridge.

It’s not a secret that Portland is a pretty good barbecue town, with transplanted Texas heavy-hitters smoking up excellent brisket, snappy sausages, and beyond. This past summer, roving barbecue truck HarBQ set up shop outside North Portland’s new Von Ebert Brewing, and brought its “Oregon oak smoked PNW ‘style’ BBQ” to the German-inspired brewery. From Friday to Sundays, find meats like brisket, beef cheek, fish sauce pork ribs, chimi pork shoulder, and sambal chicken paired with ginger miso carrot slaw, cheesy dashi grits, and miso koji butter corn. Like most good barbecue, they sell out quickly, so make sure to line up early.   

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Next door to its new-ish Mississippi Avenue Rangoon Bistro location comes an even newer drinking tavern from the same team. Named Bone Sine, a callback to the communal drinking taverns found in Myanmar, with a bar program from the Tulip Shop Tavern team, the late-night snack bar offers extra seating by day and a fun, shareable menu by night. Find options like tamarind chicken wings, lahpet htamin — the fluffy, fermented tea-leaf studded rice topped with a fried egg — cold sesame noodles, grilled housemade lemongrass sausage, and more. Drinks take inspiration from Burmese ingredients, with pandan-infused Campari Negronis, spicy Thai chile-spiked mango margaritas, and coconut fat-washed old-fashioneds.

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Nestled into the foot of Mt. Tabor, Coquine has been among Portland’s best restaurants since it opened 10 years ago. Known for deft seasonal dishes — chef Katy Millard’s resume includes years at Coi and Plum in the Bay Area — Coquine is truly a one-size-fits-all restaurant. By day, the next door market offers coffee alongside some of the city’s best baked goods, plus restaurant-made goods, pantry supplies, and wine. By night, the market transforms into the casual, seafood-focused Katy Jane’s: An Oyster Bar, while Coquine proper focuses on beautifully prepared seasonal cuisine available a la carte or as a prix fixe. At the end of the summer, dishes included chilled yellow squash soup, pork and peach ragu over housemade mafalde pasta, and roasted chicken, glazed in molasses and black pepper, to share.

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No Saint’s excellent bread program and creative seasonal vegetable dishes earn this Northeast Portland restaurant a spot in the strong class of pizza and pizza-adjacent restaurants that have become pillars of the area’s culinary scene. Even in the winter months when seasonal options are limited, the menu continues to shine, and especially now with spring on the horizon. Salads are a must, like mache with preserved citrus and green daikon in a tahini vinaigrette. Elsewhere, housemade pastas are worth the table space and of course, the main event: Wonderfully chewy and creative pies that support a cast of toppings like nowhere else in town (cabbage alla gricia? Sign us up). These cycle through frequently and we’re consistently impressed.

Michelin-starred Austin, Texas BBQ joint La Barbecue has come to Portland. Partnering with the team behind The Old Gold, Paydirt and Holy Ghost, La Barbecue’s “far west outpost,” Lil’ Barbecue, will take over the kitchen at Northeast Dekum’s Tough Luck bar, spearheaded by general manager and pitmaster Ben Vaughan. We’ve long been keen on the low and slow brisket, saucy pork ribs, smoked turkey, and snappy sausages that made it among the first four American barbecue joints to earn the distinction. Follow along for more details on their Instagram.

Vince Nguyen’s popular, gluten- and dairy-free Vietnamese bakery is back, with an expanded menu of offerings and longer hours. Now, four days a week in the same former fine-dining location, find the cult-favorite bánh bò nướng, Berlu’s signature “baked cow cake” available in pandan or coffee, custard tarts sporting seasonal fruits, and refreshing chè packed with locally sourced fruit alongside a slate of new savory options. In place of soups — Berlu’s previous savory option — now find a “BEC” bánh xèo lightened with a touch of basil and an avocado toast using a hard-grilled bánh bò nướng as the base with alfalfa sprouts, fried shallots, and salted coconut cream.

Find more info here.