Screen Door Eastside
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. It has been on East Burnside since 2006.
Why go
The chicken and waffles is what put this room on every Portland brunch list, and Willamette Week's guide argued the menu is better past it: Once you summit Mount Chicken and descend to the rest of the menu, you'll find a wealth of thoughtful pan-Southern cooking that isn't necessarily the grease fest you've been imagining.
1 The Screen Door Plate is the way in: you mix and match sides, and the local and organic list rotates.1 Portions are large enough that the guide called starters unnecessary.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Screen Door Plate, and put the fried catfish on it. Willamette Week called the catfish
airy
and recommended it as an option on that plate. The plate ran $14.75 in 2016.1 - Order: the chicken and waffles once, so you know. It was $14.95 in 2016.1
- Avoid: a weekend at peak. The house points you at Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and that is the real advice.2
What locals & experts say
- Willamette Week (2016 Restaurant Guide, 26 October 2016):
Once you summit Mount Chicken and descend to the rest of the menu, you'll find a wealth of thoughtful pan-Southern cooking that isn't necessarily the grease fest you've been imagining.
1
Good to know
- Happy hour: Monday to Friday, 4:30pm to 5:30pm and 8pm to close. Memphis-style ribs, pimento cheese, Nashville hot fried cauliflower and Cajun poutine are on it at this door.2
- Two doors: this one on East Burnside and a Pearl District room with its own menu.2
- Booking: mostly walk-in, with a small number of reservations held back.2
Verdict
could-visit — The chicken and waffles is the dish the city queues for and it is not the best reason to come. Willamette Week's 2016 guide made that case properly, finding thoughtful pan-Southern cooking past the tower of chicken, and pointed at the fried catfish. The queue is real: that guide put the peak wait at 45 minutes to an hour, and the restaurant itself now tells you to come Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. It sits at could-visit because the strongest read is ten years old and because the room is a brunch institution rather than a kitchen anyone currently argues about.