Portland.
loading the map…
74 places
Rooms you can walk into, ranked the way I would send you.
Key: what the badges mean
★ Michelin star · Bib Bib Gourmand · Green ★ Michelin Green Star · Michelin in the Michelin guide, no distinction · J Jeff's own note · Jeff ★★★★☆ 2019 his own rating out of five, and the year he gave it · new the venue itself opened recently · just added recently added to Jeff's list, whatever its age · 2◆ independent chef/industry recommendations · ! hygiene caution in force · ? no current public hygiene record, not a caution · keep walking Jeff has been and would walk past it · the line under a name says when to go: Destination (plan around it) / Solid (the dependable send) / Listed (on the radar). Under it, where the entry states one: how the room takes bookings, and the date I last checked the entry.
Go here first.
Where I'd actually send you first: the rooms I'd put a visitor in on night one, in town rather than an hour down the highway, spread so six cards are six different answers. Producers, markets and the rest of the city are below.
Coquinejust added
Solid · French, Pacific Northwest · Mount Tabor · $$$
book ahead
Katy Millard spent seven years and $4,000 of chocolate tastings on one chocolate chip cookie, and it sits on the counter. She cooked in France before she cooked here.
Lovely's Fifty Fiftyjust added
Solid · Pizza, Ice Cream · Boise-Eliot · $$
walk-in
Jake is the sourdough starter, and the waiter will name him when you ask what that flavor is.
Kannjust added
Solid · Haitian · Central Eastside · $$$$
booking essential
Gregory Gourdet cooks Haitian food over live fire. Kann is Creole for cane, after the vendors he listened for as a boy in Haiti.
Hey Lovejust added
Solid · Cocktails, Mexican · Buckman · $$
walk-in
Machetes cooks Mexico City street food in the kitchen here now. Tales of the Cocktail named it the best hotel bar in the United States in 2023. The happy hour runs all day Monday.
Nong's Khao Man Gai (SE Ankeny)just added
Solid · Thai · Buckman · $
walk-in
Nong Poonsukwattana landed in Oregon from Bangkok in 2003 with $70 and a suitcase, and opened a chicken-and-rice cart in 2009.
Great Notion Brewing (Alberta)just added
Listed · Beer · Alberta Arts District · $$
walk-inthe room’s own account
The brewers still run the original seven-barrel kit here, and they pour the experimental beer it makes at this taproom and nowhere else in the group.
Somewhere tonight.
One tap hides everything shut today and everything that needs a booking, then sorts the rest by how close it is to you. I don’t publish opening hours, because they go stale faster than anyone can check them. Check the door before you go.
On my list
These are on my list; I haven't been yet. 68 here.
Pizza Jerk (NE 42nd)just added
Pizza · Cully · $$
walk-in
Tommy Habetz put a Dan Dan pizza on an East Coast board: chile oil, char siu pork, charred mustard greens.
Screen Door Eastsidejust added
Southern, Cajun · Kerns · $$
walk-in
The kitchen stacks a boneless fried chicken breast on a sweet potato waffle, and the queue runs 45 minutes at peak. The restaurant's own advice is to come Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
Bull Run Distilleryjust added
Whiskey · Northwest District · $$
book aheadthe room’s own account
The tasting room pours a 16-year-old American whiskey finished eighteen months in a Domaine Drouhin Pinot barrel, bottled at 100 proof.
Jojo (SE Division cart)just added
American, Fried Chicken · Richmond · $
walk-inthe room’s own account
The cart on SE Division sells fried chicken sandwiches and jojos from eleven in the morning to a quarter to ten at night. It does that seven days a week.
Loyal Legionjust added
Beer · Central Eastside · $$
walk-in
The tap list is numbered to 99, and a late-August board had 85 of those numbers filled. You order at the bar and the minimum is four tasters. It runs to 2am on Friday and Saturday.
Nong's Khao Man Gai (Downtown)
Thai · West End · $
walk-in
Nong Poonsukwattana sells her chicken and rice at this downtown counter on SW 13th. It is the same one-dish kitchen and the same sauce by the bottle.