Jordan Michelman

Remove the paper plates, plastic forks, considerable care taken with social distancing, and the mask-clad staff and this would double as a passing fancy—a fun summer pop-up idea from any other normal year.

It took a few years, but Madrigal, now 45, has reconciled with his parents—and not only that, he’s joined the family tradition. In June, he and his business partner, Brian Aster, opened Taquería los Puñales on Southeast Belmont Street, making him a third-generation taquero.

In the middle of it all is Sunshine Noodles, an avowedly irreverent, none too serious take on contemporary Cambodian food by chef and founder Diane Lam.

Early versions of the pizza concept were developed by the chef at the height of the initial coronavirus lockdown, used as a ploy to trade with winemaker friends in exchange for their bottles.

In 2018, Kachka—Bonnie and Israel Morales’ all-world love letter to 20th century Soviet cuisine, widely hailed as one of the best Russian restaurants in America—moved from its original home on Southeast Grand Avenue to the Goat Blocks development on Southeast 11th Avenue between Belmont and Taylor Streets. Their new home directly abutted a sprawling, inaccessible parking lot—a vacant asphalt canvas chef Bonnie Morales describes as “chronically underused.”

At Ryan and Elena Roadhouse’s new restaurant, Tonari, the intricate details stack up to form a singular tableau.

One tastes like liquefied SweeTarts, the other like a vineyard full of Harvey Wallbangers.

Vintage clothes are cool again.

In its retro simplicity and homage to better drinking days gone by, Voysey feels immediately essential. Even my cellphone didn’t work down in the basement. It was perfect.

Champagne is synonymous with celebration, and as the new year approaches, Ambonnay, Portland’s premier by-the-glass Champagne bar, has a lot to celebrate. Namely, that it’s still open.

For a diner to be considered truly great, it needs three things. It should have a palpable sense of history. It should ooze atmosphere. And, ideally, it should be a little weird in places. That is precisely what you get at Vertical Diner. A new, 100 percent vegan take on the classic American diner, housed inside a restored 5,500-square-foot space in Hillsdale originally built in 1969, it still feels like the Mad Men era when you walk in, save for maybe the lack of ashtrays—and, of course, the entirely meatless menu.

The Meatless Six.

Each bottle is adorned with eye-catching art by designer Brian Ng, so if it’s your dream to drink from a bottle with “Rip City, Baby” emblazoned on it, it’s probably worth a buy no matter what the actual product tastes like.

Best of all, every bottle can be had by the glass for 25 percent of the list price—a confident move that belies the bar’s sense of self right out the gate. I could scarcely believe my good fortune as the bartender agreed to pull down a bottle of gorgeous Ar.Pe.Pe. Rosso di Valtellina ($74), a feather-light nebbiolo from Lombardy that tastes like winged violets.

The food at Fermenter is uniformly excellent. Not just “good for vegan food,” but good no matter what you choose to eat for the rest of your day. But it’s that tempeh that deserves extra ink.