Signature Dishes of Portland

Must-try dishes

Bacon Maple Bar

Portland's most photographed pastry: a yeast-raised maple-glazed doughnut bar topped with two strips of bacon. Sweet, salty, fatty, fried.

History: Voodoo Doughnut opened in 2003 in a Portland storefront between two Old Town nightclubs. Co-founders Kenneth Pogson and Tres Shannon experimented with absurdity from the start, and the bacon maple bar (yeast bar, maple glaze, two crisp bacon strips) became the photograph that travelled. It crossed national TV in 2006 on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, and it has been the bestselling Voodoo doughnut every year since. Portland claims it the way Chicago claims the slice. The pairing is older than the doughnut, with maple-and-bacon a southern brunch staple, but Voodoo gave it a wax-paper handle and a $5 price.

Where to try it: Voodoo Doughnut Old Town, Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai

Watch out for: Gluten, Pork

Khao Soi

Northern Thai curry-noodle soup: egg noodles in a coconut-curry broth with braised chicken, crisp fried noodles on top, pickled mustard greens and lime.

History: Khao soi is the signature dish of Chiang Mai in Thailand's north, an inherited recipe from the Yunnanese Hui Muslim traders who carried curry powder, noodles and beef braising west into Lanna. Portland's khao soi history runs through the Pok Pok empire, which Andy Ricker opened on SE Division in 2005 and which became the Thai room of record in the United States. Most Pok Pok concepts closed in 2020 to 2022. In January 2026, Earl Ninsom (Hat Yai, Eem, Yaowarat) reopened the original Pok Pok building as OK Chicken & Khao Soi with chef Sam Smith. The curry oil swims on top; spoon under to mix.

Where to try it: OK Chicken & Khao Soi, Hat Yai Belmont

Watch out for: Gluten, Egg, Tree nuts (coconut)

Thai BBQ Brisket Curry

Texas-style smoked brisket braised in a Thai white curry: coconut milk, lemongrass, kaffir lime, with the burnt brisket ends as the marquee.

History: Eem opened on N Williams in March 2019, a three-way collaboration between Thai chef Earl Ninsom, pitmaster Matt Vicedomini (Matt's BBQ next door at Prost Marketplace) and bartender Eric Nelson. The white curry with burnt brisket ends was the kitchen's marquee dish from the first menu and the one that travelled. Texas Monthly and Bon Appetit both put it on national lists. Ninsom calls it pad pet, Thai for spicy stir-fry, applied to slow-smoked beef. Eem's success spawned Yaowarat (2023) and OK Chicken & Khao Soi (2026). The brisket comes off Vicedomini's offset smoker, then is finished in the curry to order.

Where to try it: Eem, Matt's BBQ

Watch out for: Shellfish (fish sauce), Tree nuts (coconut)

Willamette Valley Pinot Noir flight

A three-glass tasting of Oregon Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley, the cool-climate wine country 30 miles south of Portland that the world watches.

History: The Willamette Valley's modern wine industry traces to 1965 when David Lett (Eyrie Vineyards) planted Pinot Noir in Dundee Hills. By 1979, Lett's South Block won fourth place at the Gault-Millau French Olympics in Paris, tying with Joseph Drouhin's Chambolle-Musigny; Drouhin bought land in Oregon two years later. The Willamette Valley AVA was granted in 1983 and now contains seven sub-AVAs. Portland wine bars (OK Omens, Ava Gene's, Olympia Provisions) all run heavy Willamette Pinot programmes by the glass. Bring a designated driver if you head south on 99W; the cellars are 30 to 45 minutes from downtown.

Where to try it: OK Omens, Ava Gene's Wine Bar, Olympia Provisions Bar

Watch out for: Sulphites

Cardamom-Chai Doughnut Flight

Pip's mini cake doughnuts with five-spice chai: doughnuts come hot, six to a basket, served with a flight of cardamom, dirty, vanilla and lavender chai.

History: Pip's Original Doughnuts and Chai opened at NE Fremont and 47th in Portland in 2012, with Nate and Jamie Snell pairing cake doughnuts to house-made chai. The pairing is the point: tiny cake doughnuts (raw honey and sea salt, dirty doughnut with cinnamon and Nutella) come basketed and hot, served alongside a four-glass chai flight. Cardamom and lavender are the marquee pours. Pip's pulled off the rare Portland trick of inventing a category. Other shops now run chai flights but Pip's still defines the form.

Where to try it: Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai

Watch out for: Gluten, Egg, Dairy

Khao Man Gai

Thai poached chicken and rice: rice cooked in chicken stock, poached breast on top, with the house ginger-soybean-garlic sauce that finishes the plate.

History: Khao man gai is the Thai version of Hainanese chicken rice: poached chicken over rice cooked in chicken stock, with a fermented soybean-ginger sauce. Nong Poonsukwattana arrived in Portland from Bangkok in 2003 with two suitcases. She opened a $5,000 food cart at SW 10th and Alder in 2009 selling khao man gai for $6. The cart was an immediate sellout. She has since expanded to two brick-and-mortar locations (SE Ankeny, SW 13th), retail bottles of her sauce in Whole Foods and become the canonical Portland Thai-immigration story. The sauce is the dish.

Where to try it: Nong's Khao Man Gai

Watch out for: Soybean, Gluten

The Portland Slice (1990s heirloom)

Apizza Scholls's 18-inch Neapolitan-ish sourdough pizza, with a thin charred crust, San Marzano tomato and aged mozzarella since 2004.

History: Brian and Kim Spangler opened the original Scholls Public House as a wood-fired sourdough bakery in Scholls, Oregon, in 2001. By 2004 they had moved to SE Hawthorne in Portland and rebranded as Apizza Scholls, with a deck oven, naturally leavened dough fermented 24 hours and an 18-inch round as the only size. The Spanglers were the pioneers of Portland's serious-pizza era. The crust is the point: charred, blistered, with the sour from the wild starter cutting the tomato. Order at the counter for the dining room or call ahead from 16:00 for pickup. Dough sells out.

Where to try it: Apizza Scholls, Ken's Artisan Pizza, Lovely's Fifty Fifty

Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy

Wild Pacific Northwest Mushroom Plate

Foraged Oregon mushrooms (chanterelle, morel, porcini, matsutake) cooked simply on toast or alongside game, the late-summer to autumn signature plate.

History: The Cascade and Coast Ranges that flank Portland are some of the most productive mushroom-foraging grounds in North America. Chanterelles peak from September to November; morels in April to May; porcini in October. The wholesale forage trade runs through buyers in Estacada and Tillamook and lands on Portland menus at Le Pigeon, Ava Gene's, Lovely's Fifty Fifty and Ken's Artisan Pizza. The PSU Farmers Market hosts forager stands every Saturday in season. The dish has no single inventor; it's a regional answer to terroir, an Oregon plate that wouldn't read the same anywhere else.

Where to try it: Le Pigeon, Ava Gene's, Lovely's Fifty Fifty

Watch out for: Dairy (typically)