This restaurant’s name means “late-night snack” in Mandarin. Inspired by the cuisines of their childhood Southern California suburb, Taiwanese American couple Louis Lin and Jolyn Chen cooked up a menu ranging from rigatoni alla gricia to beef tartare with Asian pear to fish with Salvadoran curtido.

Beyond noodles, “Italian food and most Asian food have a lot in common,” says Lin. “Both are very simple. Their pantry isn’t massively large, but they are able to produce so many different things.” One dish, called Jolyn’s Favorite Noodle V.1, takes regular spaghetti and boils it in alkaline water, much like ramen noodles. It’s swirled with Asian grocery store staples like sesame, black vinegar, and Lao Gan Ma chile crisp. The couple has a simple way to decide what goes on the menu: “What does Jolyn want to eat at the end of the night after we’ve gone home from a shift? What can I whip up really quickly that’s really comforting and satisfying?” says Lin. “That’s really it.” 3832 NE Sandy Blvd

Growing up in Lake Oswego, co-owner Aaron Truong often felt left out. “I didn’t have a lot of Asian role models or classmates to look to, and so I felt really out of place,” he says. Fast-forward two decades, and after a successful farmers market pop-up and 2022 restaurant launch Truong reports that “our Asianness is what attracts a lot of people to our restaurant and makes us stand out.” 

Hapa means “half” in Hawaiian, and the menu incorporates his Vietnamese Chinese background, his wife’s Chinese and Okinawan roots by way of Hawaii, and the Thai influences of chef and family friend Mama J, plus straight-up pepperoni pizzas.

Pho pizza? It’s not the soupy mess you might expect; it’s actually delicious. On top of a Neapolitan-style pizza base, Hapa Pizza adds cheese, tender beef brisket slow-cooked in pho broth, scattered bean sprouts and cilantro, and a concentrated pho broth glaze. 

Customer reactions are rewarding. Says Truong: “I’ve had Asian grandmothers tell me, ‘Your pizza changed my mind about what pizza can be.’” 12755 SW Broadway St, Beaverton

Chef Sassy Babashoff watches customers rubberneck as they read the menu posted on her food cart. Chorizo pierogies? Hibiscus-beet aguas frescas? The combinations tell the story of Babashoff’s parents: her father’s Russian family immigrated to Mexico and then to the States, and her mother’s family straight from Russia. At family celebrations, tamales sat alongside borscht. 

Babashoff’s own story is also on the menu. She eats mostly plant-based, so there’s a vegan counterpart for every dish. Vegan tacos substitute chickpeas for beef, and she makes her own cashew sour cream. For borscht tacos, Babashoff combines guajillo-braised beef with Russian components like beets, potatoes, cabbage, and dill. Cotija cheese, sour cream, and cilantro tie everything together. “Food like this comes from the heart,” she says. 1027 NE Alberta St