Noble Rot is located on the top floor of one of the most environmentally friendly buildings in the US, the Leed-Platinum building. Wine flights are offered everyday and there are over 300 bottles of wine to choose from. If none of those choices catches your fancy, then there is a full bar to be explored as well. The entree menu is mostly Mediterranean and changes almost everyday due to the locally grown organic foods they use. Noble Rot also has 3,000 square feet of gardening space they use to supply their excellent chefs with. All water used in the restaurant is supplied by its 8,000 year old aquifer that the building sits atop, so everything used by Noble Rot is local.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Noble Rot has a beautiful patio at the top of an incredible building.
Meagan's expert tip: Go on a nice day to enjoy their roof top patio.
Quaintrelle is a wonderful restaurant with exquisite food perfect for a fall day. The menu changes seasonally and the ingredients are locally sourced as much as possible. Chef Ryley Eckersley is absolutely a wiz at taking global ingredients and pairing them with the best ingredients in the Pacific Northwest. He takes all the best offerings of the fall season and turns them into exquisite plates like the apples, celery, pine nuts, currants, shiso, and breadcrumbs. Even the appetizers highlight falls harvest with choices like sweet potato and broccoli tempura, chili honey, smoked pecorino. The cocktails like the "Path to Fortitude" featuring Dystopia Vodka are inventive and fresh, created by Camille Cavan.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Quaintrelle features a spacious lush garden patio where you can enjoy a five, seven, or nine course tasting menus.
Meagan's expert tip: Kick-off your meal with one of their specialty cocktails. They change seasonally.
Departure restaurant and lounge is found in downtown Portland inside the Nines Hotel. They serve their own signature cocktail creations, like the Three Headed Elephant and Crazy 88. The bar is well stocked so they can make almost any cocktail for you. The atmosphere is lively and bright. Most the decor is white. They serve interesting food too that they refer to as modern Portland Asian cuisine. Food offerings include sushi, dim sum, and kushiyaki. They also offer a vegan menu. They also have an awesome roof top patio area. They offer happy hour from 4-6 PM daily , again from 10 PM - midnight Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 PM to close on Fridays and Saturdays.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Departure has a large outdoor rooftop patio for your to enjoy along with their Asian fusion cuisine.
Meagan's expert tip: Go during happy hour for substantial savings on food and drinks.
10 Barrel Brewing Co. opened a Portland location in the Pearl District in 2015 after getting its start in Bend, Oregon a decade ago and eventually joining the Budweiser family. Their Portland location atmosphere features high ceilings and a comfortable open-air concept that's killer on a nice day. Even better on a beautiful day is their rooftop bar. 10 Barrel Brewing Co. has twenty beers on tap that rotate on a regular basis and is always a nice variety including ciders. The food here is just as good as the atmosphere, including some of the best pizzas in Portland.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: 10 Barrel has a killer rooftop area where you can dine outside.
Meagan's expert tip: Order a pizza to go with your beer.
Organic, free-range, and healthy are just a few of the key words for food served at Tin Shed. Named one of the best places to have brunch (it's even been featured in The New York Times). It's also great for dinner and happy hour. Tin Shed offers earth-friendly, flavorful foods every day of the week like biscuits and mushroom gravy, sweet potato french toast, and potato cakes. Enjoy the outside patio and lovely little garden, and be prepared to drink a lot of free coffee while you wait to be seated, because the place is popular. It's also dog friendly, they even have a dog menu.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Tin Shed has a large patio that is enjoyable thanks to the shade trees.
Meagan's expert tip: Visit the Tin Shed for breakfast and be sure to try the homemade jam.
Tamale Boy restaurant and kitchen is the Tamale Boy's permanent location in addition to their wildly popular food cart. Ingredients are fresh, locally sourced from the Pacific Northwest. Including ingredients like Hood River pears and Rogue Creamy blue cheese. They also offer some crazy items like the peanut butter and jelly tamale which happens to be great for kids. All the items on their menu are highly affordable: $2.50 tacos, $5 tamales, and $6.75 burritos. Tamale Boy has a large outdoor patio. On a summer day you can enjoy live music on the patio or play a round of corn hole.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Tamale Boy has a large patio where you can enjoy your meal.
Meagan's expert tip: Be sure and try one of their chicken tinga tacos.
Open daily for breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner, the comfortable mahogany booths and eclectic light fixtures of Kennedy School's Courtyard Restaurant invite you to hang out, stay awhile. Transformed from the old school's cafeteria, the restaurant replaces the traditional lunch-tray offerings with hearty pub fare, handcrafted ales brewed steps away in the onsite brewery and seasonal weekly specials. On those gorgeous sunny Portland days, guests move outdoors to the flower-filled courtyard where an impressive mosaic-tiled fireplace keeps watch over the festivities. The perfect place to enjoy a Ruby and a side of Cajun tots. Happy hour is Monday - Friday from 3 - 6 PM.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: The Courtyard Restaurant has a large beautiful patio perfect for outdoor dining.
Meagan's expert tip: Be sure and try the Cajun tots they are addictive.
Situated in the historic Mississippi District, Prost! offers Portland an inviting neighborhood pub as a gathering place for friends, great bier, and authentic German food. Each bier, imported from Germany, is poured properly into its appropriate glass, fulfilling German tradition and guaranteeing great taste. Each bite of food is made with the best local ingredients, in the traditional German way. Each table is an open spot for communal seating to share with friends and to make new ones. In case you do not want German food you are in luck because they let you bring in food from the food carts. So you can enjoy your favorite food cart food, have a beer and chill on the Prost patio.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Prost has a large outdoor patio for your to enjoy along with their German beer and food.
Meagan's expert tip: If you are with friends be sure and try the BOOT.
Teote Areperia is a Latin American street food experience celebrating gluten-free arepas (a flatbread made of ground maize dough or cooked flour) in a beautiful restaurant with a killer patio. The patio has a fire pit, benches, a bar and a great vibe. Their menu has an exciting cross-cultural flavors, with a focus on Venezuelan cuisine. They serve an gluten free and allergen free meal in an open environment that champions a sustainable lifestyle. They also serve some truly tasty Latin cocktails. Happy Hour is from 3-6pm and 9-11pm. Great food and the cool atmosphere is quickly making this new restaurant a local favorite.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Teota Areperia has a large patio out back with fire pits.
Meagan's expert tip: Try one of their family style meals for a nice variety of some of the best menu.
Migration Brewing is a local's favorite brewpub and after you visit you will quickly see why. The Glisan location has 10 of their beers on tap and a few guest taps with other local beers or ciders. They have a lot of seating and allow kids. On a sunny day, you can enjoy sitting out on their large patio enjoying a burger and a beer. They also have pretzels, salads, and more. They have happy hour from 3 - 5 P.M., darts, and they always have sports games on the televisions. Migration Brewing has another location in Gresham where you can tour the brewing operations.
Recommended for Outdoor Dining because: Migration Brewing has excellent beers and lots of room to have a meal with the family on their outdoor patio.
Meagan's expert tip: Bring your growler, because you will want to take their beer home with you.