21 Best Restaurants in Portland, OR
Portland’s dining scene has come a long way since the first farm-to-table restaurants opened back in the mid-1990s. Two of those pioneers—Higgins and Paley’s Place—are still paragons of local, seasonal cuisine. But today, there’s an infusion of new energy and a wider range of culinary influences. From a Russian dacha (Kachka) to a modern Argentinian steakhouse (Ox) to playful new wine bars that feature natural wine and innovative neo bistro cuisine (Canard, Enoteca Nostrana, OK Omens), the city is on fire. One thing you can expect at all the city’s best restaurants? A reliance on locally sourced, sustainably-farmed ingredients. Some things never change. But to grasp the scope of this dynamic dining scene, read on for our editors' picks of Portland's best restaurants.
- Stuart Mullenberg/Courtesy Ned Luddrestaurant
Ned Ludd
$$At Ned Ludd, chef Jason French doesn't do anything fancy, complicated, or even innovative; he does, however, do right by local ingredients, preparing them in straightforward, yet delicious, ways. One day, you might see wood-charred vegetables with salt and olive oil; another, roasted chicken with a black-garlic cream sauce; and yet another, seared halibut with roasted porcinis, basil pesto, and mushroom compound butter. Whatever you try, you'll always leave wanting more. Cocktails, much like the food, focus on simple, seasonal ingredients (and alcohol from local distillers). One of the best on the current menu is the Road Less Traveled By, with Ransom Old Tom gin, Clear Creek Pear Brandy, Lustau vermut rojo, fall pear cordial, and Boker's bitters. The wine list is superb, too, with small up-and-coming Oregon and Italian producers.
- John Valls/Courtesy Enoteca Nostranarestaurant
Enoteca Nostrana
$$Enoteca Nostrana is a splashy wine bar in Buckman with a modern Italian design in the form of soaring ceilings, a quartz bar, geometric floor tiles, cork-topped bar stools, and a two-story glass-encased wine cellar that holds 3,000 bottles. The menu here is short but fabulous. Its strengths are the shareable antipasti plates: the charcuterie plate, a smoked oyster dip, and the burrata served with focaccia and peperonata. And if you arrive early enough to catch happy hour (from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.), you can order $9 pizzas from the fuller Nostrana menu next door. Because of its stylish ambience, this restaurant feels like a quick jaunt to Europe. Come with a date or with friends, sit at the bar, and catch up while sipping on an unusual Canary Island white.
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Higgins
$$$Higgins is a Portland institution since 1994, and the food here is as good as it has ever been. Lunch is one of the best—and best values—in town; the oyster po'boy, a pure delight, comes with a soup or salad ($11). At dinner, entrees range from herb-crusted sole with a tomato-caper relish, olive oil–crushed potatoes, and grilled squash to duck with brandied grapes, braised greens, and aged cheddar polenta cake. It's the perfect spot for a power lunch. It's also a lovely place for dinner with your partner either before or after an Arts & Letters lecture or concert at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, which is just a block away.
- Carly Diaz/Courtesy Kachkarestaurant
Kachka
$$Whether you're coming in for a happy hour of zakuski (Russian hors d'oeuvres) or a full-on dinner, there's so much to love about Kachka's creative Slavic menu. And, no, it's not all meat and potatoes; take, for instance, the Herring Under a Fur Coat, a beautifully molded salad of beets, potatoes, onions, carrots, egg, herring, and mayo. More filling dishes comprise the heart of the menu; think, Siberian pelmeni (little dumplings stuffed with either meat or farmers cheese), meat or eggplant skewers, and shareable entrees like rabbit in a clay pot or pork loin schnitzel. It's a convivial, family-style atmosphere. Look up, and you'll see a mock cottage exterior with turquoise shutters and diagonal wood paneling (apparently based on owner Bonnie Morales' great-grandparents' cottage).
- Aubrie LeGault/Courtesy Quaintrellerestaurant
Quaintrelle
$$Quaintrelle is a stylish, high-ceilinged, candlelit neighborhood bistro where the music isn't too loud, and where the hum of conversation is pleasant and comfortable. It's the sort of rarefied restaurant you wish existed in your neighborhood. Starters are straightforward yet memorable, especially the fritto misto and the seasonal vegetables drizzled with chili honey and fiore sardo. Salads here feature a mix of cooked and raw vegetables, a sprinkling of nuts, some sort of cheese, and a balanced dressing; for example, the carrot and cauliflower salad is dressed with miso and tahini, then topped with dates, spigarello, pistachios, nori, and sesame seeds. Entrees include duck confit fried rice with bok choy and fried rabbit with pickled carrots.
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Nimblefish
$$Nimblefish does ultra-fresh sushi (most of it flown in from Japan), perfectly seasoned rice, and very little else. Mackerel is wild-caught and then cured and aged in-house; uni, wrapped in nori, is creamy and briny at the same time. Smoked salmon is also cured and smoked (for five minutes at 175 degrees) in-house. The sushi arrives already seasoned—you shouldn't need to add wasabi, soy sauce, or ginger. If you fear being hungry after a few pieces, order an omakase, and dip into the non-sushi menu items like seaweed salad and chirashi.
- AJ Meeker/Courtesy Tuskrestaurant
Tusk
$$At Tusk, a white-hot restaurant where the vibe's as sexy as the crowd, Sam Smith has a way with vegetables, turning out flavors and textures that feel just right. Even combinations that sound strange (asparagus, cauliflower, rhubarb, fish sauce, hot peppers, and cashews) are mind-blowingly tasty here. On the Meat & Fish section, standouts include the skewers (beef heart with maitake, chicken with yogurt and mustard seed oil) and other shareable entrees. Nora Antene's desserts are also amazing. Tusk has a great wine list, but the cocktails here are hard to resist; take the Hazy Jane, with Reyka vodka, almond, hibiscus, ginger, lemon, rose, and yogurt, or the refreshing Chupafresca, with Novo Fogo cachaça, strawberry, and lime. The by-the-glass wine menu is short but well edited, with Oregon, California, Spain, Italy, and France all represented.
- Christine Dong/Courtesy Langbaanrestaurant
Langbaan
$$$You wouldn't make a reservation for this 11-course feast, inspired by a particular Thai kingdom, if you weren't serious about food. The crowd here is energetic, and there's only room for 20 diners at once. At Langbaan, each course is thoughtful and inventive, from miang som-o (a bitter, sour, and spicy shrimp dish with grapefruit, ginger, and betel leaf in a roasted coconut sauce) and salads (green mango with mint, cashews, and duck confit) to entrees like seared scallop with black bean paste, chestnut, Thai chili, and ginger with coconut rice. The entire meal is also a lesson in food history; each week's menu is typically inspired by a particular Thai kingdom or ruler; say, the Rattanakosin Kingdom (founded in 1782), Bangkok’s Burmese influence, and the Ayutthaya Era.
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Davenport
$$The food at Davenport is sublime. Chef Kevin Gibson's technique is flawless and never fussy, and he's focused on showcasing the ingredients in their unadulterated states. Examples from the current menu: potato leek soup with sorrel and croutons; arugula salad with pear and pecorino; fideos with squid, saffron aioli, and panissa; cod with zolfino beans, clams, and cardoon. And the wine list, compiled by Kurt Heilemann, has some fantastic values. Elegant Oregon Pinots and little-known Loire Valley and Sicilian producers share space with wines from Spain, Northern Italy, Germany, and Slovenia. It's sophisticated but not stuffy, and the whole operation feels very effortless.
- Dina Avila/Courtesy Oxrestaurant
Ox Restaurant
$$$At Ox, the food—which owners Greg and Gabi Denton cheekily call "Argentinian-inspired Portland food"—is among the best in a town that's not exactly starved for great options. Meat takes center stage, but the seafood and vegetarian dishes are just as good; take, for instance, the heirloom tomato salad with miso-lemon dressing, tempura crispies, cucumber, shiso leaf, sweet onion, and smoked scallop bottarga, or the maple-glazed roasted heirloom carrots with chevre, tarragon, and truffle-salted pistachios. Ox is warm and cozy, with a wood-fired oven visible right as you walk in. But this is a Portland stalwart, one that's boisterous every night of the week.
- John Valls/Courtesy Bistro Agnesrestaurant
Bistro Agnes
$$$At Bistro Agnes, a stylish restaurant with a blue Turkish-tiled floor, the lunch menu is stocked with French-bistro classics like Nicoise salad, a burger (with aged cheddar, grilled onion, and truffle bordelaise) and fries, a velvety quiche (leeks, spinach, gruyere), a croque monsieur, steak frites, and mussels mariniere. At dinner, sole meuniere and beef bourguignon round things out. If you're able to save room for dessert, you'll be rewarded in profiteroles and Meyer lemon tarts.
- Courtesy Nodogurorestaurant
Nodoguro
$$$At Nodoguro, a Japanese restaurant that offers several levels of blowout omakase options, each dish, nigiri included, is like a miniature work of art made from top-notch ingredients—especially the fish, which is typically wild-caught and flown in from the Fukuoka and Tsukiji fish markets in Japan. You'll feast on Wagyu that's been shipped in from Kagoshima that very day, albacore from Astoria, sea urchin from Santa Barbara, sea bream from Fukuoka, saba from Oita, barracuda from Kanagawa, and scallops from Hokkaido. The atmosphere is hushed and subdued; there are only 16 seats in a horseshoe-shaped design, an effort to keep the focus on chef Ryan Roadhouse, who composes many of his dishes as if he were on a stage. Still, with a soundtrack of '80s pop, the vibe here still manages to be fun and not super formal.
- Courtesy Headwatersrestaurant
Headwaters
$$$Another hot spot from Vitaly and Kimberly Paley (of Paley's Place and Imperial), Headwaters is a modern, open space with oak floors, lime-green banquettes, pressed tin ceilings, and an open kitchen that runs the length of the dining room. Seafood is the name of the game here and the menu beautifully highlights the bounty of local waters. The smoked fish platter is a great place to start, as are the seafood towers. Salads and sides (braised swiss chard, warm new potato salad) are lovely precursors to entrees like seafood paella or day boat diver scallops with salsa verde, grilled sweet corn, summer peppers, heirloom tomatoes, and hazelnuts. During their decades-long tenure in Portland, the owners have built strong relationships with local winemakers, and the wine list is stocked with bottles from their friends, lots of small Oregon producers like Goodfellow, Eyrie, Lingua Franca, and Raptor Ridge. The cocktail list is also strong, and the beers on tap highlight the state's best, including Heater Allen, Ecliptic, and Gigantic.
- AJ Meeker/Courtesy Ava Gene'srestaurant
Ava Gene’s
$$Glamorous, refined, sexy, and one of the city's best Italian restaurants, Ava Gene's is packed every night of the week. This is rave-worthy food, through and through. In the Giardini section, Joshua McFadden sets the bar for Portland salads; what sounds odd on paper (pluots, barley, hyssop, formaggio blanco, and pecans, for example) is revelatory in practice. The pasta, kneaded by hand by JoMarie Pitino, is made from Oregon wheat and rye and extruded into all sorts of fun shapes. If you're lucky you can walk in and find a spot (or two) at the bar. Otherwise, you'll need to make a reservation weeks in advance.
- Courtesy Canardrestaurant
Canard
$$Canard is a raucous, crowded French brasserie right next door to Le Pigeon, its more sedate sibling. People literally bump elbows, and the energy is palpable. The food is exuberant and delicious, with playful riffs on high and low. The Steam Burgers—a twist on White Castle's steamed sliders—are one of the most popular dishes, and the garlic fries are—in a stroke of genius—sprinkled generously with gouda. Shrimp Toast is not what you expect; in fact, there's no toast at all—just two fried shrimp cakes atop chili mayo and chunks of avocado and topped with furikake, cucumber, and cilantro. The soft-serve ice cream with peanut butter magic shell is also genius.
- Marielle Deurick/Courtesy Ok Omensrestaurant
OK Omens
$$OK Omens' menu was completely revamped when the restaurant changed its name and style in June 2018, and it's a winner. Chef Justin Woodward—from Castagna next door—shook things up. The menu, which encourages sharing, still has a seasonal focus, but now there are dishes like tuna butsu (served over avocado and lime leaf, with homemade potato chips on top) and buttermilk fried chicken over spicy greens. You'll also see plenty of high-brow riffs on snacky comfort foods, like beignets filled with Tillamook cheddar and chicken liver mousse on grilled bread. Sommelier Brent Braun has created a dynamic and affordable wine list that's focused on natural wines (20 are available by the glass). There's a section devoted to Rieslings, and cocktails tend to center around vermouths and aperitifs. It's great for a weekend night out, and it's also great for solo diners looking to post up at the bar.
- Courtesy Han Oakrestaurant
Han Oak
$$Located literally next door to chef Peter Cho's house, Han Oak is a restaurant that truly deserves the descriptor "homey." When you find it—hidden off the parking lot between 24th and Meatballs and the Pie Spot—you'll probably have to hop over Cho's sons' tricycles and toys on your way into the courtyard. Part indoor and part outdoor, the restaurant is buzzing, clamorous, and fun. Han Oak nails homestyle Korean food like dumplings, hand-pulled noodles with twice-cooked pork, and charred brussels sprouts with miso-mustard dressing, crumbled tofu, and pine nuts. Cocktails—there are currently seven—are tasty, but the beer goes better with dumplings; there also a Kimchilada: kimchi, daikon brine, tequila, hot sauce, and your choice of beer. The wine list is short but interesting, with by-the-glass options (and bottles) from Italy, France, Spain, Slovenia, and, of course, Oregon.
- Courtesy Beastrestaurant
Beast
$$$At Beast, one of Portland's best restaurants, a six-course tasting menu showcases local meat and produce in creative ways. On a recent visit, we loved the smoked greens and ricotta ravioli, a dish topped with gremolata breadcrumbs and served with small cubes of green tomatoes (compressed with lime juice and beet juice–soaked tropea onions). Our salad course was equally great: roasted heirloom beets with chicories, marinated leeks, two-year-old Comte, and roasted hazelnuts. Note: if you've got a vegetarian in your crew, just give the restaurant a 24-hour heads' up and they'll happily accommodate. The feel here is that of a friend's cozy farmhouse, complete with artfully arranged cookbooks and wine glasses. You can watch the magic happen in an open kitchen.
- Carly Diaz/Courtesy Coquinerestaurant
Coquine
$$Coquine is intimate, feminine, and filled with light, thanks to a corner spot with lots of windows. By day, the space takes on a cafe-like atmosphere, with customers popping in for baked goods and coffee to go. At night, Coquine transforms into one of the city's most talked-about Northwest-French restaurants with dishes like artichoke soup with olive oil–poached coco bianco, flowering oregano, Castelvetrano olives, and brioche croutons; and lamb loin with charred pole beans, roasted eggplant, Anaheim chile, and nectarine sauce vierge.
- Courtesy Lovely's Fifty Fiftyrestaurant
Lovely's Fifty Fifty
$$With wooden banquettes and tables and bright-red metal chairs, Lovely's Fifty Fifty has a cozy, family-friendly vibe. An open kitchen in back allows you to watch as chef Sarah Minnick decorates her perfect pizzas with seasonal toppings and edible flowers. You'll find sublime, creative pizzas from someone who makes frequent pilgrimages to Italy. The naturally leavened crust is made with organic Oregon-grown wheat, some of it whole wheat, and toppings are creative; say, marinated baby artichokes with melted onions, cantal, and chives or slivers of yukon gold potatoes, treviso, aarewasser (a semi-hard unpasteurized cow's milk cheese), la quercia pancetta, and egg. Food-world insiders know that Minnick's seasonal homemade ice-cream, from cantaloupe to mint stracciatella, is the best in town.
- Jordan Fox/Courtesy Aviaryrestaurant
Aviary
$$At Aviary, chef Sarah Pliner's menu is small, seasonal, and excellent. She has consummate French technique (she's worked at both Alain Ducasse at the Essex House and Aquavit), but she's also inventive. The tempura green beans arrive in a mess of green curry; the hamachi comes with shaved rhubarb, fava beans, coconut, and avocado sorbet. Desserts, including a chocolate-miso-coffee ice cream with caramel, Rice Krispies, and sea salt, are so good they're worth the trip alone. In what's perhaps a sign of the diversely influenced meal to come, Aviary feels more Asian than French. On sunny, warm evenings, you can sit outside on the patio, a vibrant and buzzing space that fills quickly.