Cheap Eats 2011: Jade Teahouse

Lucy and April Eklund’s airy Sellwood cafe offers dozens of teas from around the world and enormous platters of Thai and Vietnamese standards. The restaurant is unusual for the neighborhood in that it’s cheap, reliably enjoyable and actually a pleasant place to be, and so is usually packed. Always good are the minced chicken with mint and cilantro ($10), ridiculously large steamed hum bao ($3) with barbecued pork or curried vegetables, sweet and spicy chile noodles ($9) and sour, crispy salt-and-pepper squid ($8). Don’t be shy about ordering from the lengthy list of daily specials, either—a sweet pumpkin curry was the ideal antidote to mid-January chills. The Eklunds are no slouches when it comes to pastry, either. Try the carrot cake.