You don't need a data analyst to find the heart of Portland's restaurant scene. Once again, it lies in Southeast Portland, home to 18 of Portland's top 40 restaurants in The Oregonian/OregonLive's recent restaurant guide, including each of the top five. Southeast Portland is the place to come for farmer's market-driven Italian, an innovative Thai tasting menu and, yes, the city's best overall restaurant. Below, we've expanded on our annual guide -- the definitive accounting of the city's top restaurants -- with our favorite 40 restaurants exclusively in Southeast Portland. Here now, the best places to eat in the best restaurant neighborhood in Portland.
When you think of East African food, do you think of beef? This husband-and-wife, Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurant might change your mind. There are vegetables and grains, of course, including mellow stewed chickpeas, red lentils spiked with berbere spice and a perfectly cooked cabbage, carrot and potato stew, plain but tasty. But Abyssinian Kitchen works wonders with beef, particularly the rosemary-scented strips of grilled steak, peppers and onion called zilzil tibs and the bone-in short rib over stewed collard greens called siga and gomen. The restaurant has several cozy nooks and crannies and walls painted in warm yellows and browns, but try for a seat on the pleasant front patio, glass of honey wine in hand, and watch the bike commuters sailing by.
2625 S.E. 21st Ave. 503-894-8349 abyssiniankitchen.com
Almost a decade after opening as a casual sister restaurant to the venerable fixed price Italian restaurant Genoa, Accanto continues to roll along, not only outlasting its progenitor (now home to Nodoguro), but surviving a handful of shakeups in the kitchen. Most recently, Chris Frazier jumped to Renata, replaced at Accanto by Erik Van Kley and Gabriela Ramos, the duo behind the short-lived Taylor Railworks. The menu remains generally Italian, though Van Kley has introduced ingredients both richer and more global in origin. Who's up for some foie gras soppressata?
2838 S.E. Belmont St. 503-235-4900 accantopdx.com
They came for the water. When this respected ramen chain announced plans to open its first American location in Portland, the restaurant claimed it was for the Bull Run Watershed water that any local can tell you is just the best. In Japan, Afuri has about a dozen ramen shops serving delicate chicken broth noodle soups often cut with yuzu, the aromatic East Asian citrus. But this isn't some slender, 10-seat ramen shop. Instead, Afuri opened something far more grand, a tall-ceiling restaurant with blond wood and a gorgeous open kitchen built around a vertical coal stack called an irori. You might have tried the yuzu-shio, a salt broth ramen so subtle (and, with bowls running to $20, relatively expensive) that some Portlanders seem to have turned against it. Come back for the tsukemen, a ramen style where noodles come separate, meant for dipping into a more intense broth. Dig deeper and you'll find housemade tofu, "winged" gyoza with crispy webbing between each dumpling and fish and meat cooked over coals or around that irori, including a lovely miso black cod. We only hoped for ramen. Instead, Afuri built Portland's most ambitious izakaya.
923 S.E. Seventh Ave. 503-468-5001 afuripdx.com
Mark Graves | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Portland's best pizzeria stretches across two Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard storefronts, a dining room on the left, a waiting area, bar and small arcade on the right. Brian Spangler's menu is simple and uncompromising: A spot-on Caesar salad. The right mix of olives and rosemary in olive oil. A balanced summer caprese salad drizzled in balsamic. And that's before you even get to the pizza. These are East Coast-style pies, thin, wide and crispy, with both red and white sauce options and an array of toppings. Solo, I'll get a green olive and salami personal pizza at the bar and watch a game amid the gallery of San Francisco Giants memorabilia. With friends, we'll order as many of the classics as we can -- split pies of New York White and Tartufo Bianco, Apizza Amore (with capicola) and Amatriciana (with bacon), perhaps -- and see if we can eat a slice of each before we quit.
4741 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. 503-233-1286 apizzascholls.com
Forget for a second the firefly swarm of lamps, the glamorous red-leather banquettes and the constant stream of national press, and Ava Gene's would still have its pasta. Here, whole-grain noodles made by dough phenom JoMarie Pitino are used toward seasonal takes on traditional Roman pastas including a gently spicy, best-in-class Amatriciana. We've never fallen quite as hard for the signature salads and veggie bowls, dishes celebrated enough to warrant a vegetable-focused cookbook from chef Joshua McFadden. The ingredients are unimpeachable, but we often find ourselves wondering what these same carrots or snap peas would look like in the hands of Coquine's Katy Millard. Still, between the pasta, the things on toast and the dialed-in desserts from pastry chef Nora Antene -- including a pristine black-and-white tiramisu earlier this year -- Ava Gene's is a restaurant worth celebrating.
3377 S.E. Division St. 971-229-0571 avagenes.com
The prototypical over-achieving Portland neighborhood restaurant, Bar Avignon has been pouring wine, shaking cocktails and serving quietly ambitious food in Southeast Portland for a decade. This restaurant can roast a chicken or sear a juicy pork loin as well as anyone. When you go, sit in a sleek booth and slurp oysters or sip rosé at sidewalk tables. Recently we ordered first-of-the-season asparagus with toasted almond slices and a perfect medium egg, along with fresh-shucked oysters. Later there were cardoon fritters and ricotta cavatelli in a strawberry puttanesca. Mussels with fennel in a white wine and tarragon cream sauce will please anyone pining for Wildwood, the restaurant where Bar Avignon owners Randy Goodman and Nancy Hunt cut their teeth.
2138 S.E. Division St. 503-517-0808 baravignon.com
Back when chef Troy MacLarty lived in Berkeley, he spent his nights working at farm-to-table destination Chez Panisse and his days eating at the equally famous (in some circles) Vik's Chaat Corner. Today, his renditions of southern Indian street snacks draw long lines at the original Northeast Portland storefront and a larger Bollywood Theater and adjacent market in the heart of Southeast Division Street's restaurant row. Start with crisp okra chips and raita dip, then add the plump, brilliant Goan shrimp and a round of my latest crush, the gobi Manchurian, fried cauliflower in a sweet and sour sauce.
3010 S.E. Division St. 503-477-6699 bollywoodtheaterpdx.com
Gabriel Rucker rolls with the punches. Before Canard opened, the signature dishes at the Le Pigeon chef's new East Burnside restaurant were supposed to be the slider-sized, White Castle-style "steam burgers" and the ducketta, a ducky take on the rolled up Italian pork roast porchetta. The burgers are still there, and only $3 during the early afternoon and late-night happy hours, but Rucker and chef de cuisine Taylor Daugherty couldn't make the prep-intensive duck dish work. So they pivoted, ditching the ducketta for a short stack of pancakes topped with duck gravy, tabasco-griddled onions, a duck egg and an optional seared foie gras add-on. It's become the restaurant's most popular item, ordered morning, noon and late-night alongside uni-topped "Texas toast," fried chicken wings with truffled ranch or hard-boiled ouefs en mayonnaise with bacon and trout roe. That flexible approach -- and the all-day oysters -- might explain why Canard has emerged as the most successful of Portland's new crop of Paris-inspired neo-bistros. It gets the casual part right, and the kitchen has the skills to back it up. No dish is priced higher than $20. Some glass pours of wine are reasonably priced. Minors are allowed deep into the night. And that soft-serve machine behind the bar isn't just for show.
734 E. Burnside St. 971-279-2356 canardpdx.com
Almost a decade ago, Monique Siu transformed her longtime fine-dining restaurant into something more forward-thinking, a low-key Northwest answer to the modernist fireworks coming out of San Sebastian and Copenhagen. For the past seven years, that kitchen has been run by Justin Woodward, a chef who embraces unusual ingredients and polished technique to deliver challenging dishes, all paired with adept service and thoughtful drink pairings from sommelier Brent Braun. If Michelin stars were awarded in Portland, Castagna would be a shoo-in for one, maybe two. Meals begin with a series of snacks: an upside-down beet chip clutching beef tartare. An earthy nori cracker crumbling like wet sand around chicken liver mousse and black malt. Halibut mousseline and violet mustard under a little Bibb lettuce cup -- Woodward's riff, we're told, on a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Finely shredded Dungeness crab with compressed Diva cucumbers, caviar and basil oil combines oceanic flavors with herbal warmth beautifully. Smooth foie gras is presented playfully under a disc of black cap raspberry gelee meant for spreading on a miniature blueberry muffin. Desserts, some from pastry chef Geovanna Salas, some from Woodward, are architectural in their construction. On our visit, they included rhubarb and sorrel capped with a buckwheat tuile the same color as the slate it was served on. The signature browned meringue and ice cream "potato skin" dessert drizzled with sherry vinaigrette looks like a Frank Gehry building and still manages to astonish after all these years.
1752 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. 503-231-7373 castagnarestaurant.com
Portland's best restaurant sits on the shoulder of Mount Tabor, a dormant volcano turned public park. No other place in town combines a vibe this casual -- down to the neighborhood-friendly, seven-day-a-week cafe -- with food this elevated. That's thanks to Katy Millard, a chef who once talked her way into a job at a Guy Savoy restaurant in Paris, then cooked her way through France for six years, and her husband, Ksandek Podbielski, a former manager at Roe. From the perfectly smooth chicken liver mousse to the perfectly roasted carrots to the perfectly poached rings of Monterey squid, Coquine just doesn't serve bad food. Full stop. Like Le Pigeon, you can drop in early, grab a seat at the bar and order a la carte, perhaps tucking into some Roman-style fried artichokes in a pure white almond aioli or a simple bowl of farro spaghetti. Or you can plan ahead, purchasing a ticket through Coquine's website for a four- or seven-course menu ($65 or $98, respectively). If you go a la carte, start with a vegetable dish or five, those carrots, say, paired smartly with pistachios, peppery Belper Knolle cheese and a green garlic-sorrel vinaigrette, or some finely sliced porcini carpaccio paired with young Tuscan cheese. Coquine's mains manage to hold your attention through flawless execution, whether that's a near-translucent hunk of halibut with plump potxa beans drizzled with burnt fig leaf oil or a rack of lamb with a ruby center and crusty edges spread with black garlic. Podbielski's service matches the cooking with nerdy-great wine picks and unexpected fine-dining touches -- soup poured tableside, trays of rare spirits or candies including olive oil marshmallows or warm chocolate chip cookies brought dim sum-style to finish. Desserts, overseen by Millard herself, might include a black pepper financier with candied cherries or an upside down toasted sugar pavlova with a stunning dome of white meringue that cracks open to reveal lovage ice cream, Oregon strawberries and a crème fraîche mousse. Coquine does nothing by half measures.
6839 S.E. Belmont St. 503-384-2483 coquinepdx.com
Adam and Jackie Sappington's Montavilla restaurant is known as a carnivore-friendly joint, with chicken sizzling in beef tallow, a fully loaded whole hog plate, and a back-of-house whole-animal butchery. But the kitchen is just as deft with salads, vegetables and fish. Start with some deviled eggs and potted Judy, the restaurant's signature cheese spread, then add a basket of buttermilk biscuits or a plate of frizzy onion rings. Save room for the chicken: brined, buttermilk-soaked, skillet-fried and often served with super-rich mashed potatoes.
7937 S.E. Stark St. 503-408-1414 thecountrycat.net
Two years ago, stripped-down fine-dining restaurant Holdfast Dining partnered with globe-trotting bartender Adam Robinson to launch Deadshot, a once-a-week cocktail pop-up. Earlier this year, Holdfast took over the former P.R.E.A.M. pizzeria, splitting the space with their new chef's counter on one side, their formerly Monday-only pop-up on the other. Now seven days a week, Deadshot is first and foremost a cocktail lounge, with drinks inspired by Robinson's travels, including more than a year spent at the Taipei speakeasy Ounce. But a big part of the fun has been watching Holdfast chefs Will Preisch and Joel Stocks put their spin on an elevated bar menu, with pig ear nachos, blood sausage mac-and-cheese and Buffalo chicken dogs pairing perfectly with the tarragon- and bitter melon-scented Casper's Ghost and other intriguing drinks. Deadshot is also the perfect calling card for Holdfast, with a pair of dishes -- steamed brown bread and cornbread madeleine topped with Parmesan, honey and half-melted lardo -- appearing at both. If only all high-end restaurants could let their hair down this easily.
With Natural Selection's closure in 2016, Farm Spirit became the signature "plant-based" restaurant in what is probably the most vegan-friendly city in America. Earlier this year, powerlifting former Portobello chef Aaron Adams stepped back to a business owner role, promoting Kei Ohdera to the day-to-day chef position in his place. Ohdera, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who worked at Nihonryori RyuGin in Tokyo and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, continues to highlight all things vegetable at this homey, verdant chef's counter, with roasted sunchoke and smoked kohlrabi, fermented radish and and charred onion crisp.
1414 S.E. Morrison St. farmspiritpdx.com
2133 S.E. 11th Ave. 503-504-9448 deadshotpdx.com
What does fine-dining look like in a fast-casual world? Will Preisch and Joel Stocks answered that with their pioneering pop-up turned four-day-a-week chef's counter, breaking down the experience as they would a new dish. The focus here is on unusual flavors and exacting technique over showy service, with the co-chefs assembling, delivering and even washing their own dishes. Diners sit at tall wooden stools inside the romantically lit Fausse Piste, a working winery. Save for some ambient pop, the room is hushed. On a recent warm night, natural wine expert Dana Frank pulled out an all-rosé pairing, with wines ranging from strawberry colored to peach. They matched well with three seafood starters: a Thai-influenced halibut ceviche with coconut water and beads of finger lime, a spot prawn cooked hard on one side with puffed rice and pimento aioli and a roasted spear of brined Norwegian mackerel and peeled sun gold tomatoes in a kimchee-spiked tomato water.
537 S.E. Ash St., #102 (enter on S.E. Sixth Ave.) 503-504-9448 holdfastdining.com
What if the seafood restaurant we've all been waiting for already existed? Jacqueline took over the original St. Jack space in 2016, borrowing its name and irreverent vibe from Wes Anderson's most underrated movie ("The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou"). Most visitors will zero in on the $1 happy hour oysters and nightly cioppino, and rightly so. Jacqueline's version of San Francisco's famed Italian-inspired seafood stew has an elegant tomato broth stocked with a cornucopia of seasonal seafood, recently including mussels, clams and salmon. On some visits, I've wondered if Jacqueline takes itself a little too seriously, with some elaborate plating or a salad strewn with a meadow's worth of edible flowers. That's not the case with the crab toast, a slice of golden griddled bread topped with a mountain of Dungeness and Calabrian chiles under a cascade of saffron hollandaise -- glorious and borderline indecent.
2039 S.E. Clinton St. 503-327-8637 jacquelinepdx.com
When Bonnie and Israel Morales opened this close-in Southeast Portland restaurant and vodka bar in 2014, they were looking to fill a gap in Portland's restaurant scene. Kachka turned into something more. Named The Oregonian's Rising Star in 2015, the restaurant quickly emerged as America's first truly modern Russian restaurant. This summer, Kachka split itself in two, with the shotgun original rebranding as Kachinka, a casual restaurant with dumplings, vodka infusions and new bar bites including a Slavic meatball sub. Kachka itself headed eight blocks away to the goat blocks development, where it opened around the time this guide first published. This new, larger restaurant will expand on some of the restaurant's best elements: the dumplings, the gorgeous herring under a fur coat, the Georgian-style skewers and cheesy breads. Come fall, a Russian deli and vodka-tasting room will open on the mezzanine, with a vegetable garden planned for the roof.
960 S.E. 11th Ave. 503-235-0059 kachkapdx.com
KEN'S ARTISAN PIZZA
Ken's is more than great wood-fired pizza. It's the place you go to find big windows kept open for the summer breeze; tables made from reclaimed wood from a Jantzen Beach roller coaster; buzzing conversation; salads and roasted vegetables; fantastic service and wine.
304 S.E. 28th Ave. 503-517-9951 kensartisan.com
For chef Aaron Barnett, La Moule was a homecoming; a chance to return to the neighborhood he once called home, just up the hill from the original location of his popular French restaurant St. Jack. La Moule's calling cards -- mussels and Belgian beer -- might not even be the most interesting things on the menu. What is? How about the hand-cut steak tartare draped over a roasted marrow bone, Barnett's poutine, or a pub burger with crisp bacon and brie.
2500 S.E. Clinton St. 971-339-2822 lamoulepdx.com
Stephanie Yao Long, The Oregonian
Early Langbaan was easy to love. The hidden Thai restaurant at the back of East Burnside's PaaDee -- the centerpiece of The Oregonian's 2014 Restaurant of the Year -- served clever snacks, mind-melting curries, grilled meat and more under a cavalcade of coconut milk, fresh greens and tropical fruit. Yes, many of the dishes came from Nahm, the once Michelin-starred Bangkok Thai restaurant where then-chef de cuisine Rassamee Ruaysuntia worked. But at the original $40 per person for one of the city's most exciting tasting menus, that hardly mattered. Now $85 and backed by a months-long waiting list, the restaurant has evolved, with chef-owner Earl Ninsom joined by a roster of mostly non-Thai cooks putting their own spins on traditional Thai dishes. The progression remains about the same, starting with a few snacks such as prawns and grapefruit wrapped in bitter betel leaf or diver scallops and coconut cream in a little rice cup that collapses on the tongue. Menus still drift between Thailand's four main culinary regions. On our visit, the southern Thai-inspired menu featured a cuttlefish-ink blackened soup with bamboo, green mango and young coconut; a turmeric-stained slab of garlic halibut; a purposefully mild goat leg curry; and some savory yellow rice. Pastry chef Maya Erickson seems to have grown more comfortable with Langbaan's palate. A mochi-textured rhubarb upside down cake with smoked Thai incense coconut ice cream was a fascinator of a dessert.
6 S.E. 28th Ave. 971-344-2564 langbaanpdx.com
Before the first sandwich shop, before the production bakery built mostly to make him bread, Rick Gencarelli ran a little cart on Southeast Belmont Street. But Gencarelli had a plan. From the start, the former New England chef hoped to team up with Kurt Huffman's ChefStable group and open a brick-and-mortar home or two for his creative, pork-filled sandwiches. The two best and best-selling sandwiches, the Korean pork shoulder and the meatball banh mi, ply the same creative, globally inspired waters as Bunk -- only with an OCD level of consistency across both shops. The griddled mortadella is practically a work of art, with thin, crisp slices of meat, stringy melted provolone and Mama Lil's Peppers on ciabatta designed by Philippe's bakery to resemble the rolls at Fleur de Lis.
1212 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. 503-234-7786 lardosandwiches.com
Portland's most talented chef holds court most Thursdays at this pint-sized East Burnside bistro. That's when two-time James Beard Award-winning chef Gabriel Rucker is most likely to be on the line, handing creative dishes across the chef's counter he helped turn into a national destination. Yes, there are five- and seven-course set menus ($85 or $105, respectively; more with co-owner Andy Fortgang's wine pairings). But this is still one of the best restaurants in America where you can walk in without a reservation and order a burger and a frosty Coors. If you're not here for the Banquet beer, home in on the left side of the menu, where Rucker and his team present high-low riffs in smaller portions. Dishes change too frequently for individual recommendations -- right now, those starters include lemon pepper sweetbreads and beet-cured trout with a "gribiche" cream cheese, though those will likely be gone by the time you read this. Standards typically include some perfectly seared foie gras paired, perhaps, with charred octopus, barbecued eel and a dashi-glazed apricot; a beef cheek Bourguignon; a burger with blue cheese dressing; and a trio of profiteroles of which every element, from the dough to the cream to the caramel sauce, is made with foie gras. In April, Rucker and business partner Andy Fortgang took over the steampunk boutique next door to open Canard, a Paris-inspired wine bar and neo bistro with a menu that channels some of the anarchic qualities of the earliest days of Le Pigeon.
738 E. Burnside St. 503-546-8796 lepigeon.com
Only one restaurant in Portland combines fairly priced pasta and good wine by the glass inside a dining room that looks like a working Italian dry goods store. With canned tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, dried pasta and tinned sardines sitting on the white shelves -- and, should you desire, available to take home -- this East Burnside restaurant shows you the goods, literally. If there's a must-order, it's probably the suppli, oblong, Roman-style arancini fried to a golden crunch with good rice, bits of radicchio and a pungent gorgonzola. Pastas are rustic, relatively light and available as half portions in the $10-$12 range. A meal of spaghetti, either aglio e olio or with buttery clams, each in a piquant Calabrian chile oil, and a plain plate of medium-rare salted rosemary hanger steak soaking in its own juices would form the base of a memorable meal.
2140 E. Burnside St. 503-236-7195 luceportland.com
Master Kong, which opened earlier this year in a converted Southeast Division Street house next to a lingerie shop, specializes in a different kind of Chinese breakfast. The menu, printed on laminated-photo flip cards at the table, mostly hails from two regions: Tianjin, the port city near Beijing where chef-owner Kang Zhu worked for more than a decade, and Taishan, the much smaller city west of Hong Kong where he and his family were born. Both sides of Master Kong's menu have their merits. From Taishan comes a silky congee floating with ghostly grains of rice and a rich wonton soup with fresh noodles, an almost buttery broth and pork-shrimp-mushroom dumplings with thin skin wrapped tighter than Spanx. Around here, the Tianjin menu might be more novel, particularly the goubuli, steamed buns that resemble rustic xiaolongbao.
8435 S.E. Division St. 971-373-8248
Restaurants don't always get second chances. Let alone third. Nimblefish is the brick-and-mortar version of the Fukami pop-up, itself a reimagining of the hip Southeast Belmont sushi spot Hokusei. Nimblefish is also our pick for the best regularly occurring sushi in Portland, second only to the "by appointment only" hardcore omakase at Nodoguro. The key here, as is usually the case with good sushi, is top-quality raw seafood, treated well. Chefs Cody Auger and Dwight Rosendahl aim for Edomae sushi, a style developed in the pre-refrigerator 19th century that features smoking, fermentation, vinegared rice and other techniques designed to avoid spoilage. For a sushi restaurant at this level, Nimblefish has something for almost everyone. Yes, the specials list includes seafood flown fresh from the seafood markets in Tokyo and Honolulu. And, yes, they can tell you which bay your firefly squid nigiri was plucked from. But they also serve hand rolls in the $6-$7 range and a meal-sized chirashi bowl filled with good sashimi and rice for $18.
1524 S.E. 20th Ave. 503-719-4064 nimblefishpdx.com
Nodoguro is full of contradictions. The "by appointment only" Belmont Street restaurant is home to Portland's best sushi, though you get the sense that chef Ryan Roadhouse would probably be happy if he never pressed raw fish into rice again. He and partner Elena Roadhouse are known for dinners built around subtle references to artists, fast food restaurants or TV shows, including a "Twin Peaks" meal they once cooked at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles for the director David Lynch. But their passion probably lies closer to the themeless "SupaHardcore" nights, when the duo present more than a dozen creative, seasonal, Japanese-inspired dishes followed by a flight of excellent nigiri. This year, they launched Peter Cat, a "casual" pop-up jazz cafe at the back of the restaurant that started at a set time and required tickets. No matter. The through line here is outstanding food. If you can afford the $195 per person price -- Portland's most expensive recurring meal -- the SupaHardcore nights are among the most singular dining experiences in Portland, a modern take on kaiseki more likely to exist in a much larger city. Highlights of a recent meal behind Nodoguro's sliding paper door included somen noodles and a single raw oyster floating in a ginger broth; gently crisped Japanese eggplant poached in young miso with a sliver of duck; a small dish of risotto flavored with sea urchin instead of cheese; and a superlative slab of top-quality A5 wagyu steak that threaded its way throughout the menu.
2832 S.E. Belmont St. nodoguropdx.com
NONG'S KHAO MAN GAI
Nong's empire is built on a signature dish -- Hainanese-style poached chicken with tender rice and a gorgeous ginger sauce -- a perfect meal now served at three locations. Though we still find ourselves lunching more often at the downtown carts, the brick-and-mortar has at least one big thing going for it: lemongrass-flavored coconut milk soft serve.
609 S.E. Ankeny St. 503-740-2907 khaomangai.com
With a Restaurant of the Year award in 2005 and six James Beard nominations on the wall, chef Cathy Whims' longtime Italian restaurant turns out fine-tuned salads, beautifully blistered Neapolitan pizzas, wood-charred steaks and traditional pastas. Order the Insalata Nostrana, which keeps the best attributes of a Caesar (the dressing, Parmesan and croutons) but ditches romaine in favor of bracing purple radicchio. Fat folds of goat-cheese-stuffed pappardelle are tossed in sage butter. Angel hair might come in a tomato-butter sauce made famous by the late Italian cookbook author Marcella Hazan. Catch Nostrana on a good night, and it can feel like the neighborhood Italian restaurant of your dreams, a place to splurge on a prosciutto add-on to your Neapolitan pizza, some good wine and a dry-aged, salt-crusted steak for two.
1401 S.E. Morrison St. 503-234-2427 nostrana.com
The small, sandstone-colored bar at this decade-old Mexican restaurant, where you will most often have to wait for a table, doubles as a highly efficient margarita-making machine. Once you land a table, you're going to want to order ceviche, perhaps rockfish in an orange and chile-warmed citrus bath, and a big pork shank posole with puffy hominy and a bundle of cabbage swimming in a rich red broth, large enough to make breakfast tacos the next morning.
2135 S.E. Division St. 503-232-2135 nuestracocina.com
The towering, tarragon-dressed butter lettuce salad at Cafe Castagna was the model against which all other Portland butter lettuce salads were invariably measured. In other words, OK Omens had some big green shoes to fill. The wine-focused restaurant, which replaced the longtime Ladd's Addition restaurant this spring, proves itself up to the task with "the torito," a cheeky Caesar with chopped romaine, corn nuts and a sprinkling of Cotija cheese in a creamy cilantro dressing. Justin Woodward, the chef at the hushed tasting menu joint Castagna next door, just might be a closet junk food fan. Like that torito, an homage to a salad from a Southern California Mexican chain, the menu is filled with high-low riffs. Try the chicken liver mousse with pickles the menu describes as "like a banh mi," buttermilk fried chicken with numbing green peppercorn powder ala fiery Chongqing chicken, or a strawberry-balsamic Blizzard for dessert. OK Omens' other secret weapon, sommelier Brent Braun, has constructed Portland's most exciting wine list, a natural-leaning collection of bottles, some with age, many at reasonable prices. Let him sell you something old and interesting.
1758 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. 503-231-9939 okomens.com
Portland's signature salumists launched a fleet of restaurants, with a neighborhood rotisserie in Northwest Portland, a handful of sausage-slinging public houses and the original, found in a loft-like space in close-in Southeast. With sausages this good, you can find a memorable meal at almost all of them, especially here, where meals are built around Mediterranean flavors and the company's namesake charcuterie.
107 S.E. Washington St. 503-954-3663 olympiaprovisions.com
No other restaurant serves this specific collection of mostly Northern Thai street food all in one place, let alone this well. Now stretching to six restaurants across two cities -- seven and three if you count the new employees-only pub at Beaverton's Nike headquarters -- the Pok Pok empire was mainly built on the back of a single dish: Ike's Vietnamese fish sauce wings. Visit the original location today and you'll find those wings still hot, sticky and sweet, a flavor combination profound enough to draw tourists from all over the world. We've been visiting Pok Pok long enough to have our happy little ruts: the fiery boar collar, the lemongrass-stuffed roast game hen and the fragrant cha ca La Vong, a supremely addictive Vietnamese catfish, noodle and herb dish stained with turmeric. Last year, the Pok Pok family added a charming Northwest Portland location (1639 N.W. Marshall St.), notable mainly for the fact that it's the first in the group to accept reservations, though there's talk of adding some new dishes grilled over live coals.
3226 S.E. Division St. 503-232-1387 pokpokpdx.com
Unlike most notable Portland dim sum houses, HK Cafe (4410 S.E. 82nd Ave.), Wong's King (8733 S.E. Division St. #101) and Ocean City (3016 S.E. 82nd Ave.) among them, this Southeast Division Street restaurant doesn't use roving carts, taking away a bit of the fun but adding serious freshness to the food. Skip the siu mai, but do dive into the crisp Chinese doughnuts, vinegar-spiked chicken feet, juicy har gow and tender turnip cakes. All can be ordered off a pictographic menu and delivered hot. Sleep through your Sunday alarm? The salted fish and duck fried rice is worth a special visit at night.
2446 S.E. 87th Ave. 503-772-1808 purespicerestaurant.com
Renata actually already went through a chef change, losing co-chefs Karl Holl and James Serlin on the road from pop-up to full restaurant. The restaurant survived, and thrived, under chef Matt Sigler, earning Restaurant of the Year honors in 2015. Sigler, who left late last year, made way for Chris Frazier, a former Accanto chef who has a simpler, more rustic touch. The pasta focus is still there, with wingnut-shaped, cow's milk cheese-filled dumplings are lined casually over a green sea of pea purée, peas, mint and celery leaf. Char-spackled pizzas look nice coming out of the wood-fired oven. And while the pastas might not be quite as destination-worthy as they were this time last year, the mains might be a bit more improved. A simple pork chop seared on the grill with a luscious fat cap arrived buried under juicy cherries and fresh basil. It reminded us of a chop we had three years ago, only pared down in a way that let the meat shine through.
626 S.E. Main St. 503-954-2708 renatapdx.com
Perched on a rise at Southeast 14th Avenue and Belmont Street, Roost's large windows beckon with simple, comforting dishes that are nearly as elemental as the decor. Almost from day one, the restaurant has been best known for its brunch, featuring decadent Kentucky Brown sandwiches and bodacious Bloody Marys. The Americana-flecked dinner is a better-guarded secret. At night, Roost's confident kitchen shows off with flavor and texture, turning out crisp zucchini fries with a dill-flecked yogurt dipper one night, deep-fried salami or panko fried pork the next. There's typically a nice pan-roasted chicken or fish with seasonal sides, and a burger with black olive-anchovy butter and onion rings good enough to make you wish this neighborhood restaurant were in yours.
1403 S.E. Belmont St. 971-544-7136 roostpdx.com
When Anthony Bourdain died in June, a slightly self-serving thought popped into our heads: The late writer and television host would never return to Portland. Bourdain, who visited town occasionally on book tours, only filmed here once, a forgettable tour of the Pacific Northwest heavy on tourist traps. We always dreamed of taking him on a deeper dive of the city. Our first stop would have been Rose VL, the destination Vietnamese soup parlor run by Ha (Christina) Luu and William Vuong, who serve two soups a day, six days a week. We're sure the man who took President Barack Obama to eat cheap noodles in Hanoi would have approved. By Luu and Vuong's standards, the past year has been one of great change, with the already devastating Saturday duo of mi quang noodles and chicken curry now joined by the subtly sweet noodle and pork dish cao lau. Not to be outdone, the couple's first restaurant, Ha VL (2738 S.E. 82nd Ave., #102), now run by the son Peter, countered with an excellent beef stew noodle soup on Wednesdays. Bourdain would have approved.
6424 S.E. Powell Blvd. 503-206-4344 rosevl.com
At this sister restaurant to North Portland beer bar Prost, executive chef Graham Chaney and his team execute classic German food as well as just about any beer hall in America. Begin with warm pretzels or currywurst before pondering the maultaschen, fat German ravioli dressed in butter and white wine. Depending on when you visit, there might be refreshing asparagus soup, Riesling-braised trout draped across summer squash and cherry tomatoes, or the hulking roast ham hock wrapped in its own crunchy skin known as schweinshaxe. All the more impressive, the menu holds up well against one of the most exciting, eclectic German beer lists in the country, with a column of outstanding mainstays giving way to a short specials list of wild sours, mellow Bavarian IPAs and bready dunkels rarely seen on American shores.
401 N.E. 28th Ave. 503-206-7983 stammtischpdx.com
Can a happy hour be too good? For nearly half a decade, this close-in Southeast Portland restaurant has dominated late afternoons, serving $1 oysters, $5 cocktails and a double cheeseburger that drips pimento cheese onto the office shirt you didn't have time to change. It's not just a great deal, it's the distillation of baker Ken Forkish's vision for Trifecta, a big-city tavern with killer food, fine drinks and bread baked fresh on-site. This was the year we decided to stop holding Trifecta's best aspect against it, embracing that killer happy hour by starting our meal with deviled eggs, fried oyster sliders and cool Negronis augmented with some oysters baked with pork sausage and lemongrass and a "big-ass" 28-day dry-aged ribeye steak from the dinner menu. Last month, the restaurant announced original chef Rich Meyer would be replaced by former Clyde Common ace Chris DiMinno. That change happened too late for this guide, though we've been assured that Portland's best happy hour will remain.
726 S.E. Sixth Ave. 503-841-6675 trifectapdx.com
Despite the Middle Eastern moniker, this second restaurant from Submarine Hospitality (Ava Gene's) is far more Portland than Jerusalem. Helmed by chef Sam Smith, Tusk takes a new-age approach to farm-to-table cooking, highlighting Oregon's finest farms through a series of salads and veggie bowls dusted with Levantine spices. Tusk's creamy hummus, set under a shower of lightly pickled celery, saffron, crunchy peanuts and earthy dill, is a worthy centerpiece for the menu. A torn-off piece of whole-grain flatbread, dragged through the hummus garden and drizzled with a few drops of intensely floral Aleppo chili oil might be Tusk's best bite. Elsewhere, bowls made from ancient grains, fresh fruit and cheese balance texture and bright flavors. Meat is meant to be downplayed and can feel like an afterthought.
2448 E. Burnside St. 503-894-8082 tuskpdx.com
Last year, former "Top Chef" finalist Doug Adams, restless while waiting for his downtown restaurant Bullard to open, took over the kitchen at Stumptown Coffee founder Duane Sorenson's gorgeous Southeast Portland tavern, reviving the menu with fried bologna sandwiches, some of the city's best fried chicken and a honky tonk soundtrack to set the mood. That sandwich was practically a mission statement, an impressively thick cut of pink meat seared gently, surrounded by melted American cheese and topped with sweet pickles on a sesame-seeded brioche bun. Now with former Little Bird Bistro sous chef Andrew Gordon in command, the sandwich remains, as do the raw seafood towers, ham plates and other signs of a life lived high on the hog. You can eat while drinking Pappy Van Winkle bourbon and watching TV at the bar. For serious food fans, this might be Portland's best sports bar.
4537 S.E. Division St. 971-373-8264 woodsmantavern.com
No local Mexican restaurant holds more promise than Xico, still the best place in Portland to get tortillas made with house-ground masa, the ancient toasted pumpkin seed dip sikil pak, stretchy queso fundido drizzled with oily chorizo and flights of unusual mezcals, all under the same roof. Comfortable, gorgeous, with a pleasant back patio and some seriously well-balanced margaritas, this is a place designed to linger over a fussed over portion of rich carnitas. Earlier this year, Xico chef Kelly Myers suffered a severe stroke while on a research trip to Oaxaca, prompting Portland restaurants and bars to hold a series of fundraisers. Her creative spark is essential to the restaurant. Here's wishing her a speedy recovery.
3715 S.E. Division St. 503-548-6343 xicopdx.com
Reminder: This list of Southeast Portland's best restaurants was pulled in part from annual restaurant guide. From a Thai tasting menu hidden behind a false bookshelf to a rustic French restaurant playing fancy dress up, Portland's best restaurants aren't afraid to evolve -- or just shake things up for the night. Don't miss our picks for Portland's top 40 restaurants, including Portland's very best restaurant overall.
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