Southeast Portland’s newest Italian crush is Renata, a vast, barrel-ceilinged space. You’ll find San Francisco swagger, with cool cocktails, confident wines, big flowers, blingy custom ovens, and front-of-house creds from the French Laundry. That grilled pork chop with blackberry mostarda? Yes. Four homemade breads in one basket? We’re impressed. There are kinks, but the staff seems committed to the long game, with an everything-from-scratch approach, and wood-fired, rustic-modern Italian cooking that manages to be accessible yet surprising. Pasta is the standout: The scarpinocc seals the deal with an ooey cheese tang and a sweet honey-almond high. And the tomato leaf cavatelli, with its jade-green luster, perfect texture, and firecracking house sausage, is the best pasta of the year, emphatically.