Power couple Peter Cho and Sun Young Park—you know them from Han Oak and Toki—are back with Jeju, focusing on whole animal Korean barbecue roasted over a wood fire. Our critic Karen Brooks was won over by its playful vibe, nightly steak cuts and housemade hot dogs served ssam-style with lettuce, herbs, and sauces for wrapping and dipping, the evening often ending with karaoke and a fog machine.
Scene stealer because: Most Korean BBQ and ssam spots in the area are out on 82nd Ave or in Beaverton.

Kaede, which was our favorite new sushi restaurant, serves nigiri straight from Tokyo’s fish market. Rather than the expected rolls, three-line grunt, golden-eye snapper, and Japanese sea urchin might arrive during the chef’s choice omakase. Don’t miss the unusual saba battera, a rectangular roll of pickled mackerel with kombu, and delicate cooked dishes like agedashi tofu and seasonal mushroom chawanmushi.
Scene stealer because: It bridges the gap between high-end sushi and neighborhood restaurant.

While drinks and savory small plates are nothing new in Portland, Libre leans a little sweeter; here pastry chef Gabriella Martinez pairs her fantastical desserts with cocktails from “Nan” Chaison, who is also responsible for the beverage programs of Norah and Mestizo. Come for mezcal-based mole milk punch and desserts with components ranging from corn husk meringue to bone marrow caramel. The moodily lit, flower-adorned space with purple velvet banquettes is conveniently located across from the Clinton Street Theater and near restaurants including Magna Kusina and Jacqueline.

Scene stealer because: It’s an excellent cap to a date night, filling the void we didn’t know we had between restaurants and bars.

Portland’s first food cart pod with all-BIPOC and LGBTQ+ vendors opened in April, with the backing of ChefStable. It’s home to veteran and newcomer carts alike, including Guyanese cart Bake on the Run, Korean fried chicken cart Frybaby, and Filipino fast food–inspired cart Makulit.

Scene stealer because: Few other pods can match the density of great carts per square foot.

Acclaimed chef Carlo Lamagna of Magna Kusina continues to spread the good word of Filipino cuisine with Magna Kubo, a lechoneria (roast meat) specialty house, located in downtown Beaverton. Crackly pork belly, delicately fried whole fish, and excellent coconut creamed greens are all on the menu, plus killer halo halo with housemade ube ice cream from Allie G’s Pastries.
Scene stealer because: This lechonera keeps flavors traditional in a format reminiscent of the American barbecue–style meat-and-three plate.

We were obsessed with Sunrice’s residency at Deadshot in 2021. Sunrice’s new brick-and-mortar in the Moxy Hotel downtown offers a streamlined menu of Spam-and-hashbrown breakfast sandwiches, plus silog bowls—garlic fried rice with a sunny-side up egg, the meat of your choice, and a zippy tomato-onion slaw—best ordered with a branzino filet, crispy pork belly, or tangy chicken adobo.
Scene stealer because: It’s a great new lunch spot in downtown Portland, and we’re happy to have another Filipino spot in town.

Heirloom veggies mingle with all things fermented, from shio koji to kombucha vinegar. We even spotted celeriac ice cream with sunchoke caramel on a recent menu. We’d expect nothing less from Aaron Adams, who continues to run vegan hot spot Fermenter next door. Here, he’s back in the tasting menu game after closing Farm Spirit during the pandemic.

Scene stealer because: It fills Portland’s void in vegan, high-end dining, along with a zero-proof cocktail list that rivals its boozy one.

Inspired by the cuisines of their childhood’s 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. This is the kind of food they’d snack on late at night after restaurant work was done; the term xiao ye means late night snack in Mandarin.
Scene stealer because: It’s the rare restaurant that can seamlessly combine so many influences.

A whole other side of Thai cooking—think Chinese sashimi and crispy chive cakes—arrived in Portland this fall with Yaowarat, which focuses on the Thai Chinese delights you’d find in Bangkok’s Chinatown. The Montavilla restaurant comes from the star-studded team of Kyle Linden Webster (Expatriate), Sam Smith (formerly of Tusk and Sweedeedee), Eric Steven Nelson (Eem, Langbaan, Phuket Cafe), and restaurateur extraordinaire Akkapong “Earl” Ninsom (Eem, Paadee, Langbaan, Hat Yai, Phuket café). Scene stealer because: The scene-y, bright-red interior makes dining feel like a party, with dishes rarely found in US restaurants.

One of Portland’s pioneers in fine dining for over two decades shut down for dine-in service in March 2020, and in May 2023, owners Monique Siu and Justin Woodward announced that it would not reopen. Several star chefs led the kitchen here, including Kevin Gibson (Davenport), Matthew Lightner (Okta), Elias Cairo (Olympia Provisions), and most recently, Woodward himself, who now helms the kitchen at neighboring wine-focused restaurant OK Omens. Leaves a hole because: “With this, one of the last of Portland’s defining, farm-driven, fine-dining dreams is gone,” wrote our critic Karen Brooks.

Lokanta specialized in meyhane (Turkish tavern cuisine). Many dishes were traditionally vegan, including fava bean pate and bulgur wheat with tomato—and it was one of the few places in town to drink rakı, the anise-flavored spirit.
Leaves a hole because: It was one of Portland’s only true Turkish restaurants.

Hair stylist turned chef Thuy Pham opened Mama Dút in November 2020, serving an all-vegan Vietnamese menu of bao and banh mi stuffed with vegan pork belly and vegan ribs, plus colorful desserts including pandan whoopie pies. She even starred in Netflix’s Street Food USA’s episode on Portland. Pham did not cite a reason for the closure, but she just announced she’s got a cookbook in the works, set to release in 2025.
Leaves a hole because: Pham quickly rose to fame in the Portland food scene, and was an inspiration to pandemic career-changers.

Richard and Sophia Le started Matta as a food cart back in 2018, serving the food Richard ate growing up in San Jose, from thit ko (stewed pork belly) to catfish sandwiches, burgers, and breakfast sandwiches on Sophia’s pandan buns inspired by childhood runs to McDonald’s. Earlier this year, the Les closed the cart and took up residency at Lil’ Dame, where Richard focused on plated dishes like turmeric fish and mushroom curry. But in November, Richard announced that he would be taking a hiatus from Matta in order to work on his mental health. “Being a business owner does not always allow for that,” he wrote in an Instagram post. But Le promises this closure is temporary. “I’ll be back Portland. I’m not going anywhere,” he wrote.
Leaves a hole because: Le, a critically acclaimed Vietnamese American chef, served playful yet personal takes on Vietnamese dishes unlike any other.

After 13 years in business, this busy breakfast and lunch spot Pepper Box Cafe abruptly closed in November. No reason for the closure was given, though the cafe had been sporadically closed due to short staffing in the previous weeks.

Leaves a hole because: It’s hard to find New Mexican food outside New Mexico, and Pepper Box was the go-to breakfast and lunch option in town.

This downtown fine dining restaurant was run by a crew of just three—chef John Conlin, sous-chef Wyatt VandenBerghe, and sommelier Michael Branton—all alums of the fine dining seafood restaurant Roe that was housed there previously and closed during the pandemic. The dinners they pulled off were magical. “Here, modernist techniques coddle petrale sole to an impossibly flaky texture, turn farm-fresh eggs to the texture of fudge, and zip house-made buttermilk into a creamy and refined sherbet,” wrote our associate editor Matthew Trueherz. But the restaurant closed abruptly in November, with no reason cited for the closure.
Leaves a hole because: Not many restaurateurs are taking the risk fine dining in today’s increasingly casual dining scene, and definitely not downtown.