A ROTATING GUIDE TO RESTAURANTS WE LIKE Navigator: Northwest | Southeast | Northeast | Downtown/Southwest | Suburbs | Late Night $: up to $15 per person, beverage and tip included $$: $25 and under $$$: $35 and under $$$$: above $35 WW reviewers have visited these establishments recently and can recommend them. The restaurant world is squirrely; please call for reservation information and hours. Northwest BASTA'S TRATATTORIA If you're looking for true decadence at a nice Italian restaurant, order the following meal: Start with insalata mista--sometimes these salads can be bland, but Basta's is a tangy mouthful. Next, have the Braciole di Maiale alla Griglia. All forks at our table gravitated toward this grilled pork chop marinated in milk and fennel seed with an explosive demi-glaze. The accompanying potatoes were perfectly parboiled before roasting, leaving them delicately soft on the inside. For dessert: the chocolate torte. Italian 410 NW 21st Ave., 274-1572. $-$$$ CAFE AZUL Dinner here is always memorable, in part because the tastes linger and play out like a haunting song that won't go away. The dark chile guajillo, a rich, vibrant brick-red sauce, bathes chunks of lamb that have been braising slowly in its earthy and explosive flavors. The chocolate mole smothers a wonderful piece of free-range chicken. What's so good about Cafe Azul is that the sauces have great depth and strength, yet seem to complement the food, not overwhelm it. Cafe Azul's kitchen presides with intelligence and savvy, bringing out the hidden glories of an impressive cuisine about which most of us know far too little. Southwest 112 NW 9th Ave., 525-4422. $$-$$$ CAFFE MINGO There are no secrets at Caffe Mingo. Crusty loaves stacked in a pyramid wait to be sliced. Chunks of parmigiano reggiano lay heaped together with the hand-held grater used to shred the cheese tableside. If you sit at the counter or the marble-topped communal table, you can look into the kitchen and watch every step of the preparation of your meal. You can't go wrong no matter what you pick from the short menu--mushrooms baked in parchment, Roman-style semolina gnocchi, silky panna cotta. With friendly but no-nonsense service, Mingo ranks as one of Portland's most reliable dinner destinations. Italian 807 NW 21st Ave., 226-4646. $-$$$ ¡OBA! Restaurant of the Year for 1998, Oba continues to break ground in the creation of nuevo latino cuisine. Oba successfully adopts the flavors from a sweeping arc of the hemisphere's geographical menu, with influences from Texas, the Gulf Coast, the Caribbean, and Latin America from Mexico to Brazil, using them in dishes more familiar to norteño palates. Latin 555 NW 12th Ave., 228-6161. $$-$$$. Southeast THE COMPASS WORLD BISTRO This popular neighborhood bistro is darling and unpretentious, and it features one of the most comfy outdoor seating areas in town. The idea here is simple: One part of the menu changes every four months to reflect a geographic focus, and the other part is fixed with the cafe's most popular dishes. If you prefer to stay close to home, favorites such as the sweet potato pancakes with brie, sautéed pears, apricots and figs are there for you, and the ever-faithful Compass meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes is always at your service. Desserts here are strong and all made in-house: Don't miss their inspired version of Bananas Foster that comes with soaked cake, homemade vanilla ice cream and a butterscotch sauce. Be sure to make reservations for weekend dining. International 4741 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 231-4840. $-$$ GINO'S A quintessential neighborhood place, but more than that--in fact Gino's is a wonderful spot for a casual but well-executed Italian meal, serving most dishes with gravy ("red sauce" to you, paesano). You can hardly go wrong, whether you order the mussels and/or clams doused with mouth-filling tomato chunks and a sublime broth, or the hearty Grandma Jean's Pasta, a meaty stew ladled over the fettuccine--a dish right out of la cucina de Nonna. Another virtue is the presence of excellent Italian reds in half-bottles. With its richly polished antique bar, period lighting, and full house of serious eaters, you're bound to have a good time. Italian 8051 SE 13th Ave., 233-4613. $-$$ GRAND CENTRAL BAKERY For quick lunches, you can't go wrong here. Even something as simple as a tuna sandwich comes perfectly seasoned with chopped onion, celery and a little red pepper. The sandwich bread is fantastically fresh, obviously full of Grand Central's trademarked chewy and crusty formula. The bakery offers a sack lunch that comes with your choice of sandwich, chips and a cookie. The only thing it lacks is the smiley face Mom used to draw on the outside of the bag. Best of all, Portland-area businesses can now have lunch delivered free ($25 minimum order). Cafe 2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 232-0575; 1444 NE Wiedler Ave., 288-1614; 3425 SW Multnomah Blvd., 977-2024. $ WILD ABANDON Situated between Genoa and Bangkok Kitchen, Wild Abandon borrows from both its Belmont neighbors--and almost every other cuisine--with sometimes spectacular results. In a town and time when menus and dining rooms are numbingly predictable, the culinary flair and sense of humor that characterize Wild Abandon make it worth a regular visit. Be sure to check out their new breakfast menu, too. International 2411 SE Belmont, 232-4458. $$-$$$ North/Northeast COLOSSO Colosso wins the completely unofficial All That is Good and Spirited in Portland award. How does one win the ATGSP? Well, if you're Julie Colosso, the plucky owner of the eponymous tapas joint, you take some prime Northeast real estate and paint it gold inside. You get really good artists to hang their stuff in your shop. You serve inspired cocktails, like a Ginger and Jack that has freshly grated ginger root in it. You serve reasonably priced Spanish tapas that are finger lickin' good. You and your staff dress up as superheroes on a Friday night if the whim hits. You offer a DIY joint you can take a date to that bristles with energy, doesn't hoist upon you the usual burger-n-burrito jazz and gives you bubble gum with your bill. You've got cute 'n' sassy waitpeople. You stay open late. You serve several dishes, including the sautéed mushrooms in Madiera and goat cheese crusted with pistachios, walnuts and almonds, that summons the food gods to smile. You've got it. Tapas 1932 NE Broadway, 288-3333. $-$$ LEMONGRASS Unlike many of the quick-fix Thai joints around town, Lemongrass' menu features a small, focused group of traditional dishes that are prepared individually to order. The curries sing. A dish as simple as green curry chicken hits the tastebuds from all sides--the smooth coconut milk, the bitter kaffir lime leaves and the earthy purple basil come together for an altogether outstanding zing. A don't-miss dish is the green papaya salad--shredded green papaya mingled with cherry tomatoes, peanuts, dried shrimp and Thai chilies that comes with sticky rice that you can flatten on your fingers and use to scoop up the wonderful dripping mess. You may be sitting in a comfy converted house in Northeast Portland, but you're as close to Bangkok as one meal can take you. Thai 1705 NE Couch St., 231-5780. $-$$ Downtown/Southwest HIGGINS The restaurant's ever-changing menu reads like a road map of the region--Oregon bay shrimp snuggle up to Walla-Walla sweet onions, who live a few doors down from home-grown hazelnuts. You can often see one of the cooks from the restaurant heading over to the downtown Farmer's Market on Saturdays with a huge basket under his arm to get locally grown goodies. This provincialism works at the downtown restaurant where even the garnish is gobble-worthy. But just because Higgins has a Northwest-centric approach, the cuisine isn't small-town. And the wait-staff here is top notch. Want to order a few starters and share an entree? No problem. In fact, they'll most likely bring it separated on two different plates--they even divvied-up duck for us once, no easy feat. Northwest 1239 SW Broadway, 222-9070. $$-$$$ Suburbs HENRY FORD'S RESTAURANT Henry Ford's is a Portland institution that has been around since the '50s and, thankfully, hasn't changed a bit. Architecturally beautiful, the restaurant isn't "retro"--it's historic and mysterious. Friendly, efficient, old-school waiters run the dining room serving classic fare such as prawn cocktail, crab, escargot and porterhouse or New York strip. Dinner comes with biscuits, green salad and baked potato. And where else can you get a side dish of cooked carrots glazed in brown sugar? Old School 9589 SW Barbur Blvd., 245-2434. $$$-$$$$   Late Night DOTS CAFE The epicenter of collegiate cool, Dots is the place to scratch your itch for decorative kitsch and observe trendus hipstera in its natural environment. Like the thrift-score decor, the menu at Dots hasn't changed over time; simple burgers, sandwiches and Mexican food keep the kids coming around, so why change it? Nurse your hangover in this shadowy den with a $1.25 Rainier pounder, and when your stomach is ready for food, stick to the classic bacon cheeseburger or, for the more organic-loving types, the Vegan Vavoom, which features a pita and falafel with spicy tofu sauce for $4. A black-bean burrito is another popular option, but stay away from the heavy-handed pollo platter--the excessive spicing fails to disguise its overall blandness. American 2521 SE Clinton St., 235-0203. 11 am-1:30 am daily. $ EMPIRE ROOM Feeling like a glass of wine, a light snack and maybe a little romance? The Empire Room has it all. With its mood lighting, candle-lit tables and slow jazz, this place has enough sexiness to make Barry White scream. From the raised platform at the front of the restaurant, guests can gaze upon the streets of the trendy Hawthorne district as they tip back $4 glasses of Borsoa. The menu is limited, tending toward classic wine partners such as a cheese and fruit plate or a pork truffle and cognac pâté, both healthy in size and under $10. Try not to miss the amazing dessert works that are brought down the street daily from JaCiva's. A slice of 7th Heaven Torte and glass of Smith Woodhouse Port will cap your night off right. Wine 4260 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 231-9225. $-$$