Producer
Karen Brooks
Food Critic Email

Karen Brooks eats, drinks and thinks about food for Portland Monthly, as the magazine's trend-spotting food critic. 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.

Review
Ramen Rave

Eat Here Now
The Big Egg

Eat This Now
Vegetarian Swank, At Last

Eat This Now
Ramen Freaks and Geeks

Review
Winged Victory

Eat Here Now
The Big Egg Cracks Open Again

Eat This Now
Grüner Climbs New Mountains

Eat This Now
At Meat Cheese Bread, a Frontier Grows

Review
Artfully Uncool

First Impressions
St. Jack Puts the Portland in Paris

Breaking Food News
FIN TO CLOSE AFTER VALENTINE’S DAY

Eat This Now
The Best Cubano, Ever. Really.

Eat Here Now
Building a Better Biwa

Stocking Stuffers
The Year’s Sweetest Spot: Alma Chocolate

Review
Ocean's Heaven

The Year in Food
Dining 2010: Picks and Pans

First Impressions
Little Bird’s Landing

Food News