Wine Country Weekends 2020

Amazing day trips, overnight getaways, crowd-free tastings, and small towns to explore. Also: The rise & fall of Kah-Nee-Ta Resort, a fall cocktail spectacular, and our Design Annual

In this issue:

Arts & Culture

Book Review

Karen Russell’s Sleep Donation Is a Potent, Prescient Pandemic Tale

The mythological nature of plague unspools from the author's novella, released in a new edition September 29.

10/12/2020 By Fiona McCann

Feature

How Portland Became a World Leader in Stop-Motion Animation

With historic ties to the medium and an uncommonly dedicated talent pool, the Rose City is a claymation juggernaut.

10/08/2020 By Conner Reed

Q&A

Church of Film’s Muriel Lucas Is Praying for the Future of Cinema

“Hollywood was preparing its, like, 65th installment of James Bond when somebody captured something on a cell phone and it ignited a revolution around the world.”

09/30/2020 By Sam Pape

Q&A

Author John Birdsall on James Beard's Gay Identity and Oregon Roots

The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard offers a compassionate, honest, and meticulously researched take on how Beard became one of the most influential figures in American food.

09/30/2020 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Fashion

Sávila Pairs Bold Visuals with Soothing Sounds

The three-piece Portland band looks forward by looking back.

09/23/2020 By Conner Reed

Books

This New Graphic Novel Looks at Guantanamo Bay with Clear Eyes and a Sunset Palette

Sarah Mirk's Guantanamo Voices hits shelves September 8.

09/03/2020 By Suzette Smith

Music

Aminé Speaks

The Portland rapper on his new album, growing up Black in the Pacific Northwest, and leaning into uncertainty.

08/07/2020 By Conner Reed

Eat & Drink

Food Listings

Put These New Portland Food Spots on Your Radar

Where to find fab fish 'n chips, wild New Haven pizza, creative conchas, and other pandemic-era comforts.

10/10/2020 By Karen Brooks, Katherine Chew Hamilton, and Marty Patail

Food Fighters

Best Restaurants 2020

Amid the coronavirus, cooks and places are digging into self and spirit, backed by cheerfully good eats.

10/06/2020 By Karen Brooks, Katherine Chew Hamilton, and Jenni Moore

Best Restaurants 2020

Sunshine Noodles Stirs Modern Influences into Cambodian Food

The pop-up serves up a contemporary yet homestyle take on Cambodian cuisine—equal parts family history and who chef Diane Lam is today.

10/06/2020 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Best Restaurants 2020

The Pandemic Crushed Restaurants. But Bar King Had Two Aces up Their Sleeve.

With two talented pros, Bar King and the Bakery at Bar King is a hot hand.

10/06/2020 By Karen Brooks

Best Restaurants 2020

Magna’s Filipino Treats and Berlu’s Vietnamese Bakery Soar

Pandan, the floral-grassy-neon green “vanilla” and food coloring of Southeast Asia, is the ingredient of the year.

10/06/2020 By Karen Brooks

Best Restaurants 2020

Oma's Takeaway Mixes Wild Curries, Disco Balls, and Crazy Parfaits

Gado Gado’s offspring has its own home and purpose in the former Whiskey Soda Lounge, blessed with spacious backyard outdoor seating.

10/06/2020 By Karen Brooks

Best Restaurants 2020

By Any Measure, Tonari Is Next-Level Take-Out

The spirit of Okinawa is healthy, happy, and living on in Portland

10/06/2020 By Karen Brooks

Q&A

Joel Palmer House’s Pandemic Pivots

For the famed wine country restaurant, the state shutdown came during the slowest season.

10/03/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Candy

Celebrate Halloween at Home with These Locally Made Treats

Sea glass jelly? Boba pearls? Chocolate baby heads? Weird flex, but OK.

10/02/2020 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Best Restaurants 2020

Malka Shows There Can Be Beauty in Chaos

Call it global hippie food from a mad scientist or a tornado twisting of Thai food and Shabbat. We call it delicious.

09/29/2020 By Karen Brooks

Best Restaurants 2020

Matta’s Richard Le Remixes Vietnam with His San Jose Roots

What began in late 2018 as straightforward family recipes now embraces edgy remixes of Vietnam and America.

09/25/2020 By Karen Brooks

Fall Cocktails

5 Portland Bartenders Capture the Autumnal Spirit in a Glass

Bye, pumpkin spice. Hello, turmeric, Oregon pears & fig jam.

09/23/2020 By Katherine Chew Hamilton Photography by Celeste Noche

Editor's Note

Giving Thanks for the Things We Can Still Appreciate

2020 isn’t built for gratitude. But maybe it’s possible to take a dose of the good with the bad.

10/02/2020 By Marty Patail

Health & Wellness

Animal House

So You Adopted a Pet During the Pandemic?

The Pixie Project has some advice for you.

09/20/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

Vax On, Vax Off

What If a Vaccine Comes to Oregon and No One Gets It?

In a state where vaccine skeptics abound, there’s no guarantee enough people will take a coronavirus vaccine, even if one is available.

09/09/2020 By Julia Silverman

Home & Real Estate

Interview

How the Pandemic Has Shifted Interior Design

“The way that we interact with our home has now changed," says Tiffany Thompson of Duett Interiors. "Because it’s also becoming a place where we work, sleep, and live."

09/23/2020 By Gabriel Granillo

Electric Avenue

This Map of Local Neon Signs Is a Walk Through of Old Portland History

Kate Widdows is helping show off our city's "exceptional collection of neon."

09/23/2020 By Sam Pape

Wine Shrine

Transforming a Dour Portland Basement Into a Luxe Personal Wine Cellar

From beige carpets to baller status, this wine cellar upgrade is the perfect place for pandemic pinot noirs.

09/23/2020 By Marty Patail

Hot Tub Time Machine

This Major Portland Renovation Project Brings Back the Ceramic Tub

“Whereas cast-iron tubs will get cold pretty fast, these earthenware tubs hold heat for hours.”

09/23/2020 By Marty Patail

The Great Escape

As COVID Wears On, Some City Residents Are Heading for the Hills

"People want to grow their own garden and have chickens—live a little more of the farm-style life and be more self-sustainable, in case something happens with the grocery store.”

09/16/2020 By Julia Silverman

Gardening

Don't Throw Out That Pile of Fall Leaves Just Yet

Turns out they have redemptive qualities. Here are a few.

09/09/2020 By Jordyn Mayer

Retro Remix

How This Bethany Mansion Got a Vital Injection of Vintage Cool

A downstairs game room, a reverse conversation pit, mustard-colored sofas. We're here for all of it.

09/05/2020 By Marty Patail Photography by Dina Avila

News & City Life

Feature

The Rise and Fall of Kah-Nee-Ta

The once-darling vacation spot is practically a ghost town. What happened?

10/10/2020 By Juhea Kim

Oregon, Whose Oregon?

Oregon’s 1920s-Era State Song Is Nakedly Racist

After nearly a century, is this the year “Oregon, My Oregon” will finally get a rewrite?

10/05/2020 By Gabriel Granillo and Julia Silverman

Wine

Meet Moe Momtazi, Keeper of Some of the Willamette Valley’s Most Primal Grapes

"My grandfather was a farmer in the old country, and back then we didn’t call it biodynamics or anything like that, we just called it ‘natural farming.’"

10/04/2020 By Jordan Michelman