Wood-fired pizza$$hawthorne-belmont
Ken Forkish's wood-fired pizza room on SE 28th in Portland, the pizza arm of his bakery empire with naturally leavened dough and seasonal toppings.
Signature: Wood-fired margherita, Monday-night meatballs
Order: The margherita with house-cured pepperoni
Tip: Reservations on Tock for the dining room. Monday-night meatballs sell out by 19:00.
Sustainable Japanese$$hawthorne-belmont
The world's first certified sustainable sushi room, born in Portland in 2008. The SE 28th flagship runs nigiri, rolls and the wagyu burger.
Signature: Nigiri sustainable platter, Wagyu burger
Order: The chef's choice nigiri platter
Tip: Four Portland locations. The SE 28th room is the original, with the longest sake list.
Sandwiches$hawthorne-belmont
Rick Gencarelli's chef-driven sandwich shop on SE Hawthorne in Portland, founded as a 2010 food cart and four-time Willamette Week Best Sandwich winner.
Signature: Pork meatball banh mi, Dirty fries
Order: The dirty fries: cut fries with pork scraps and marinated peppers
Tip: Counter order. The chefwich rotates monthly and is a collaboration with a guest chef.
Seafood and oysters$$division-clinton
The Clinton Street seafood and oyster room in Portland that moved to a bigger SE 25th and Clinton space in November 2024. Oysters, crab, cocktails.
Signature: Oysters on the half-shell, Dungeness crab roll
Order: A half-dozen Pacific oysters and a martini
Tip: Oyster happy hour from 16:00 to 17:30 weekdays. The bar takes walk-ins; the dining room books on Resy.
Thai chicken and rice$hawthorne-belmont
Nong Poonsukwattana's Thai chicken-and-rice counter in southeast Portland, started as a 2009 food cart and now the canonical khao man gai in town.
Signature: Khao man gai, Pandan chicken
Order: Khao man gai with the house ginger-soy sauce
Tip: Two locations: SE Ankeny is the original cart-turned-shop. SW 13th Ave is the downtown counter.
Southern Thai$alberta-arts
Earl Ninsom and Alan Akwai's Southern Thai chicken shop in NE Portland, with rice-flour-battered free-range chicken and sweet-spicy chili sauce.
Signature: Fried chicken, Roti and curry
Order: The three-piece fried chicken plate with curry roti
Tip: Two outposts (Killingsworth, Belmont) and a stall at Eem Pod. Killingsworth is the original room.