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Our Restaurant Guide picks the best restaurants in Portland every October. We hem and haw and fuss to recommend 100 restaurants we think best represent the city.
This is not that list.
Rather, these are five spots we're excited about right now. Maybe that's a taqueria we've loved forever, maybe that's a seafood spot with a special menu this week or a new burger joint we stumbled on Friday night. It's designed to answer that age-old question: Where should we go out to dinner tonight?
Where to eat this week.
1. Coquine
6839 SE Belmont St., 384-2483, coquinepdx.com.
Chicken has long been the poor relation on fine-dining menus, but hilltop French-ish bistro Coquine joins Trifecta and Imperial in reminding the world that the neglect has been criminal. $$$.
2. Chicken and Guns
1207 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 234-7336, chickenandguns.com.
The best damn roadside chicken in city limits, roasted over oak and mesquite, rubbed with spice, and doused in Peruvian-style aji sauce. $.
3. Farm Spirit
1414 SE Morrison St., farmspiritpdx.com.
Aaron Adams' prix-fixe modernist vegan spot aspires to be the best vegan restaurant in the world—El Bulli but with plants. $$$$.
4. Matt's BBQ
4709 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
New York-bred and Australia-trained, Matt Vicedomini nonetheless turns out solid Texas-style 'cue, with beautiful bark on the brisket and a perfect pop on the hot link. $-$$.
5. Taiwan Eats
4708 NW Bethany Blvd., Suite E6, 888-2378, taiwaneatspdx.com.
The closest Beaverton has yet gotten to a âfood cart,â Taiwan Eats is a micro restaurant with a tiny but hyper-authentic menu of cold-smoked five-spice beef, noodle soups and pork belly over rice. $
Previous Hot Plates:
Sept. 16: 1. Farm Spirit 2. Chicken and Guns 3. Matt's BBQ 4. Burrasca 5. Rose VL
Sept. 9: 1. Burrasca 2. Chicken and Guns 3. Coquine 4. The Hot Box BBQ 5. Rose VL
Sept. 2: 1. The Hot Box 2. Rose VL BBQ 3. Vtopia Cheese Shop & Deli 4. Beast 5. Kotori
Aug. 26: 1. Enat Kitchen 2. Dub's St. Johns 3. Po'Shines Cafe de la Soul 4. Stoopid Burger 5. Safari Restaurant
Aug. 19: 1. Rose VL 2. Doi Dua 3. Clyde Common 4. Kotori 5. New Seasons Slabtown Deli
Aug. 12: 1. Doi Dua 2. Kotori 3. Mediterranean Exploration Company 4. Eb & Bean 5. Pure Spice
July 29: 1. Burrasca 2. Kotori 3. Renata 4. Acadia 5. The Gantry food-cart pod
July 22: 1. The Gantry Food-Cart Pod 2. Lil' Wares 3. Renata 4. Kung Pow 5. Conquistador Lounge
July 15: 1. Kung Pow 2. Conquistador Lounge 3. Simply Vietnamese 4. Renata 5. Marmo Deli & Bar
June 24: 1. Kung Pow 2. Renata 3. Olympia Provisions 4. Marmo Deli & Bar 5. P.R.E.A.M.
June 17: 1. Olympia 2. P.R.E.A.M. Provisions 3. Double Dragon 4. El Gato Tuerto 5. The 9
June 10: 1. El Gato Tuerto 2. P.R.E.A.M. 3. Kung Pow 4. The Original Pancake House 5. The 9
June 3: 1. P.R.E.A.M. 2. Double Dragon 3. The Original Pancake House 4. The 9 5. Batter Griddle & Drinkery
May 27: 1. Holdfast Dining 2. The Portland Mercado 3. Wicked Wiches 4. Noraneko 5. Ya Hala
May 13: 1. Smokehouse Tavern 2. Noraneko 3. Bing Mi 4. Higgins Bar 5. Bang Bang PDX
April 29: 1. Smokehouse Tavern 2. Bing Mi 3. Batter 4. Bang Bang PDX 5. The People's Pig
April 21: 1. Noraneko 2. Apizza Scholls 3. Bamboo Sushi 4. Smokehouse Tavern 5. Dog Town
April 7: 1. Apizza Scholls 2. Fire and Stone 3. Holy Mole 4. Smokehouse Tavern 5. The People's Pig
Mar. 25: 1. Holy Mole 2. Gastro Mania 3. Buki 4. Stoopid Burger 5. Kim Jong Grillin'
Mar. 4: 1. Farina Bakery 2. Fire and Stone 3. Boke Bowl West 4. Tammy's Pho 5. Daddy D's BBQ
Feb. 11: 1. Canteen 2. Taste of Poland 3. Tapalaya 4. Muscadine 5. Verdigris
Feb. 4: 1. Stoopid Burger 2. Tapalaya 3. Muscadine 4. The Conquistador 5. Pollo Norte
Jan. 28: 1. Muscadine 2. Tapalaya 3. Tacos Chavez 4. Devil's Dill 5. Pollo Norte
Jan 14: 1. HK Cafe 2. Muscadine 3. Trifecta 4. Umai 5. Eb & Bean
Jan. 7: 1. Stella Taco 2. Pollo Norte 3. Smallwares 4. Eb & Bean 5. Umai
Dec. 31: 1. Stella Taco 2. Smallwares 3. Umai 4. Haan Ghin 5. HK Cafe
Dec. 24: 1. Smallwares 2. Stella Taco 3. Umai 4. Boxer Ramen 5. HK Cafe
Dec. 10: 1. Smallwares 2. Acadia 3. Haan Ghin 4. Zaatar 5. Chongqinq Huo Guo
Dec. 3 1. Haan Ghin 2. Zaatar 3. Chongqinq Huo Guo 4. Buki 5. Beaverton Sub Station
Nov. 26: 1. Smallwares 2. Chongqinq Huo Guo 3. Buki 4. Beaverton Sub Station 5. Bamboo Izakaya
Nov. 19 1. Beaverton Sub Station 2. Broder Nord 3. Chongqing Huo Guo 4. Zaatar 5. Bamboo Izakaya
Nov. 12: 1. Broder Nord 2. Zaatar 3. Bamboo Izakaya 4. Kachka 5. Old Salt
Nov. 5: 1. Broder Nord 2. Bamboo Izakaya 3. Kachka .4. Old Salt 5. BTU Brasserie
Oct. 29: 1. Broder Nord 2. Kachka 3. Old Salt 4. St. Jack 5. BTU Brasserie
Oct. 15 1. Kachka 2. Old Salt 3. Ataula 4. The American Local 5. Expatriate
Oct. 8: 1. The American Local 2. Expatriate 3. Kachka 4. Old Salt 5. St. Jack
Oct. 1: 1. Fireside 2. St. Jack 3. BTU Brasserie 4. Kachka 5. Buki
Sept 24: 1. Pyro Pizza 2. St. Jack 3. BTU Brasserie 4. Kachka 5. The Blue Goose
Sept. 17: 1. St. Jack 2. BTU Brasserie 3. Kachka 4. Kim Jong Grillin' 5. Pizza Maria
August 27: 1. Ración 2. Pizza Maria 3. Old Salt 4. The Blue Goose 5. Love Belizean
August 20: 1. Pizza Maria 2. Kachka 3. Taqueria Portland 4. The Blue Goose 5. Grant's Philly Cheesesteaks
August 13: 1. Grant's Philly Cheesesteaks 2. Pizza Maria 3. Taqueria Portland 4. Local Ocean 5. C'est Si Bon! Crepes kknd Vins
August 6: 1.Grant's Philly Cheesesteaks 2. Local Ocean 3. Luce 4. Son of a Biscuit 5. C'est Si Bon! Crepes
July 30: 1. Kachka 2. Stammtisch 3. Luce 4. Firehouse 5. C'est Si Bon! Crepes kknd Vins
July 23: 1. Kachka 2. Stammtisch 3. Albatross & Co. 4. Bun Bo Hue 5. C'est Si Bon! Crepes kknd Vins
July 16: 1. Stammtisch 2. Kachka 3. Albatross & Co. 4. Smokehouse 21 5. Taqueria Nueve
WWeek 2015