Food History

The 25 Restaurants That Made Portland

Portland was not a food city in the year 2000. Over the past quarter century, these restaurants changed that.

11/14/2025 Edited by Matthew Trueherz By Portland Monthly Staff Illustrations by Max-O-Matic

In Memoriam

Portlanders We Lost This Year: Naomi Pomeroy

The legendary Beast chef and restaurant industry advocate died earlier this year. With months to reflect, this is how her collaborators remember her.

12/16/2024 By Brooke Jackson-Glidden

Now Open

Naomi Pomeroy's Final Project, L’Échelle, Opens as a Pop-Up

The late chef was working with Luke Dirks to open a bistro in the former Woodsman Tavern space. This casual backyard version will run through the year.

08/15/2024 By Allecia Vermillion

In Memoriam

Naomi Pomeroy Insisted on Excellence. That's What Made Her a Legend.

The late founder of iconic Portland restaurant Beast, Pomeroy was committed to growth, both in the kitchen and outside it.

07/17/2024 By Brooke Jackson-Glidden

Breaking News

Acclaimed Portland Chef Naomi Pomeroy Has Died

The James Beard winner and icon of Portland's DIY food scene died in a tragic river accident over the weekend.

07/15/2024 By Karen Brooks

Don’t Call It Ice Cream

Naomi Pomeroy and Mika Paredes’s Cornet Custard Opens on Division

The scoop shop is the first of several projects involving the award-winning chef in the former Woodsman Tavern building.

05/21/2024 By Matthew Trueherz

Food News

Ripe Cooperative, the Year-Old Euro-Centric Sidewalk Café in the Former Beast Space, Is Closing

Naomi Pomeroy’s exciting pandemic pivot aimed to show the true cost of running a restaurant. What does its closure mean?

10/12/2022 By Matthew Trueherz

Top Chef

‘Top Chef’ Season 18 Semifinal Recap: Crabby Is a Good Thing

Our three remaining cheftestants pay homage to foodie and Portlander James Beard on the Oregon coast.

06/26/2021 By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Hidden Portland: Insider Tips

4 Portlanders Reveal Their Favorite Haunts

From a members-only flower market to an Oregon City burrito joint, here's where these locals like to hang.

12/21/2018 By Margaret Seiler and Eden Dawn

Mama Sans Drama

7 Oh-So-Portland Ways to Celebrate Mom

Mother’s Day is fast approaching. Don’t just take her to brunch again.

05/02/2018 By Sarah Hutchins and Kelly Clarke

Holiday Gift Guide 2017

8 Portland Cookbooks for Every Kind of Food Lover

From Pok Pok to Pix to pickles, local chefs and writers share DIY secrets.

11/20/2017 By Benjamin Tepler

The Class of '07

So Many Great Portland Restaurants Opened in 2007. Are They Still Good?

These five spots would define the revolutionary decade that followed. But how do they hold up in 2017?

10/12/2017 By Benjamin Tepler, Ramona DeNies, Kelly Clarke, Zach Dundas, and Karen Brooks

Dining Guide

30 Women-Run Portland Restaurants We Love

Who run the (food) world? These ladies.

03/20/2017 By Eat Beat Team

Foodie Finds

The 2016 Food Lover’s Gift Guide

From bonbon stocking stuffers to modern French cooking bibles, here are 10 great gifts from Portland’s wide world of food and drink.

12/12/2016 By Benjamin Tepler

Best Restaurants 2016: Bucket List

30 Portland Restaurants for the Ultimate Local Dining Bucket List

Hope you’re hungry. Here are 30 top picks from Portland Monthly editors.

10/10/2016 By Kelly Clarke, Karen Brooks, and Benjamin Tepler

Recipe

How to Make Naomi Pomeroy’s Ballsy French Onion Soup

The Beast chef’s cookbook—featuring this impossibly rich umami bomb—blends self-taught Francophile sensibilities with bold tweaks.

09/13/2016 By Benjamin Tepler

WHAT WE ATE

Portland’s Restaurant History: The People, Places, and Plates That Set Our City’s Epic Table

How did we conquer the food world? We chronicle more than a century of Portland dining.

08/15/2016 Edited by Kelly Clarke

CHANGE AGENTS

In 2002, Two Crazy Kids Basically Invented the Modern Portland Restaurant

Michael Hebb and Naomi Pomeroy redefined the city’s old-world restaurant order.

08/15/2016 By Karen Brooks

REVIEW

Beyond Biscuits and Gravy

Farm-fresh Korean, Indian feasts, and highbrow stoner waffles reboot brunch.

05/19/2016 By Karen Brooks

BREAKING NEWS

Expatriate to Launch Twisted Asian Brunch March 19

Beast’s Naomi Pomeroy and barman supreme Kyle Linden Webster rethink waffles, burritos, and Bloody Marys for a spice-loving generation. Eat Beat has the first details.

03/07/2016 By Karen Brooks