Portland is a city of contradictions. A place where viridescent forests collide with busy streets beneath an iconic towering pink skyscraper. Adidas and Nike’s gleaming campuses sit alongside some of the West Coast’s oldest continually operated bars and restaurants. This place is bigger, weirder, and more vibrant than you’ve heard, endlessly idiosyncratic and of itself. You might think you know what goes on here, but there’s always more to the story.
Above all, this is a palace where every conversation inevitably leads back to food. With its chic bistros, buzzy new contemporary spots, and charming little cafés, Portland—home to some 600,000 residents—continues to be one of this country’s finest food cities. The restaurants here take advantage of local produce and stunning surroundings.
A hazy view of Northwest Portland.Photograph by Cole Wilson
During the pandemic the dream-like atmosphere of Portland ran headlong into new challenges as restaurateurs grappled with rising costs of goods, labor shortages, and increased rent prices once associated with bigger cities. With growth and change came turnover and strife; iconic local restaurants like Pok Pok, Beast, Paley’s Place, and Clyde Common have all closed in recent years.
Despite it all, the city’s revered food and beverage scene continues to innovate in new ways, from a roaring beer and wine culture to hundreds of independent food carts spread across town, each offering a distinct cuisine and point of view. Without ever stepping foot in a brick-and-mortar restaurant, a tour of the city’s carts takes you from pork chops and wood-fired Mormon cookbook rolls at Ruthie’s to spicy Lao steak salad and fried soft shell crab at Golden Triangle, char siu and garlic noodles at Mama Chow’s Kitchen, fragrant moles and quesabirria tacos at Mole Mole, epic soul food plates and desserts at Kees #Loaded Kitchen, or Tuscan sandwiches and salads at Sorbu Paninoteca, and the list goes on and on. You could feed yourself from the city’s carts for months.
Chefs continue to put down roots here, cooking for a restaurant-obsessed public. At the head of this new class are restaurateurs like Gregory Gourdet, whose tribute to Haitian cooking, Kann, was named one of Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants of 2023, and Akkapong Earl Ninsom, whose growing constellation of Thai concepts has become beloved staples for locals and must-visits for out of towners.
Gone are the “Portlandia days of “put a bird on it.” Today the catchphrase sounds more like, “Where are we eating next?”
The Essentials
- Don’t leave town without: Some seasoning. A box of salt from Jacobsen Salt Co. is a lovely and practical reminder of your trip. They harvest the most wonderful Oregon sea salt out of Netarts Bay on the north Pacific Ocean. Their half-ounce slide tins make for an affordable, thoughtful gift.
- A sight to see: The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is the city’s cultural center, home to innovative exhibitions and the Northwest’s largest planetarium, perfect for all ages.
- The best place to stay: Jupiter Hotel and Jupiter NEXT, two properties located next to each other on Southeast Burnside Street. The cocktail bar Hey Love inside of Next is one of the best hotel bars in America.
