Karen Brooks eats, drinks and thinks about food for Portland Monthly, as the magazine's trend-spotting food critic at large. Karen's reviews and think pieces ferret out the restaurants, food carts, and maverick thinkers defining Portland's food voice. In 2017, Karen won one of the food world's most prestigious titles: the James Beard Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviewer Award. She's penned nine books on food and drink, and in 2020 guest-starred on Hulu's food series, Eater's Guide to the World.

BEST BRUNCHES 2015

The 10 Best New Brunches in Portland

A bumper crop of delicious new brunches takes root in PDX, with global flavors and, just as important, no hours-long wait for tables—plus five more plates we can't resist.

04/27/2015 By Zach Dundas, Rachel Ritchie, Karen Brooks, Benjamin Tepler, and Kelly Clarke

BREAKING FOOD NEWS

Alma Chocolate Opening Second Shop

Portland’s premiere house of bonbons will expand to the Weatherly Creamery Building in June.

04/21/2015 By Karen Brooks

FOOD EVENT SPOTLIGHT

Coquine Eyes June Opening; Last Pop-Up April 17

Six courses of personal food and experimental craft ales offer a taste of things to come this summer on SE Belmont.

04/14/2015 By Karen Brooks

WORD OF MOUTH

Of Course There's a Vietnamese Pop Up in a Pizza Shop in Portland

...plus one cocktail you cannot miss this month.

04/02/2015 By Karen Brooks

RESTAURANT REVIEW

The Barbecue at People's Pig Will Leave You in Hog Heaven

Holy smokes! After perfecting sandwiches, the former food cart is writing its own rules for bombastic barbecue.

04/02/2015 By Karen Brooks

EAT THIS NOW

China's Famed Street Crepes Come to Portland

New downtown food cart Bing Mi! delivers jian bing for a crazy-good breakfast on the go.

04/01/2015 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

Old Americana Desserts Will Rise At New Dessert Pop-Up Sage Hen

Trifecta Tavern’s pastry chef Eve Kuttemann cracks open her antique cookbook collection for a monthly experience in pioneering sweets.

03/25/2015 By Karen Brooks

OPENING WATCH

The Inside Scoop on Chizu, PDX's New Sushi-Style Cheese Bar

Everything you need to know (and order) at Steve Jones’s Japanese-inspired cheese bar, now open.

03/11/2015 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

Coquine to Open Restaurant on SE Belmont

A Michelin-trained chef and wine geek supreme will transform their buzzed-about pop-up into a neighborhood haunt for savvy vegetable cooking and personalized dining.

03/10/2015 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

Navarre Outpost Opens in Japan

Indie chef John Taboada plants his Portland food philosophy in Tokyo’s youth culture-obsessed Harajuku district

03/03/2015 By Karen Brooks

WORD OF MOUTH

3 Things You Must Eat in Portland This March

Portland Monthly food critic Karen Brooks dishes on the restaurants, obsessions, and under-the-radar finds of the month.

03/02/2015 By Karen Brooks

EAT THIS NOW

Expatriate’s Jalapeño Popper Steamed Bao Sandwich

An American bar icon gets a ferocious makeover at Northeast Portland’s house of Asian snacks and serious drinks.

02/18/2015 By Karen Brooks

SUGAR HIGH

The 45 Most Glorious Desserts in Portland

Your decadent guide to the city's sweetest, gooiest, giddiest, mind-bendingly hands-down bestest desserts. It's about time you indulge.

02/11/2015 By Karen Brooks and Kelly Clarke

SUGAR RUSH

Portland Bakeries Give You 6 Reasons to Eat Dessert for Breakfast

With texture and finesse, local bakers make a definitive case for devouring dessert before 10 a.m.

02/11/2015 By Karen Brooks

SUGAR HIGH

The Ultimate Portland Chocolate Box

We chomped through chocolate collections and candy aisles to curate the city’s defining expressions of cacao, from bars to bonbons.

02/11/2015 By Karen Brooks

SUGAR HIGH

The Next Generation of Portland Dessert Classics

Portland's pastry chefs push the boundaries of sweetness—with help from surprising savory ingredients.

02/11/2015 By Karen Brooks

EAT THIS NOW

Chefs’ Week PDX: Secrets Finds and Collaborations

Get ready for Langbaan’s red curry fried chicken sandwiches at Lardo, some crazy ice cream and yes, yacht-rock beer. As the second annual dinner party series readies to launch on Thursday, we sniffed some intriguing collaborations available this week.

02/04/2015 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

Holdfast to Reopen February 12 with Ambitious Monthly Chef Collaborations

For its second act, Portland’s two-man modernist kitchen is ready to unveil a new Southeast location and joint chef dinners in what could be the Rose City’s ultimate R&D lab.

01/26/2015 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

A New Food Lover's Market to Open Next to The Ocean's Microeateries

This fall, Pastaworks will team with local meat and fish purveyors to create the new Providore Fine Foods boutique grocer on NE Sandy Boulevard.

01/26/2015 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

Davenport Goes Pop-Up: Five Nights, Five Chefs, Five Menus

Chefs from Le Pigeon to Biwa join a cast of guest cooks ready to transform East Burnside’s humble house of fine food and wine into an incubator of culinary fun for one week only.

01/21/2015 By Karen Brooks