5846 NE Sandy Blvd., 971-407-3429, btupdx.com. 2-10 pm Tuesday-Sunday.

A neighborhood brewpub should fit its surroundings, right? The Parkrose neighborhood's BTU does just that by being the nation's first traditional Chinese restaurant-slash-brewery on a stretch of Northeast Sandy Boulevard that's home to some of the city's best Asian food. BTU isn't quite as revolutionary as I'd hoped back when it opened in 2014, but the beers have gotten steadily better. The restaurant now seems at least open to the idea of making "traditional" Szechuan dishes with the appropriate dose of tongue-numbing peppercorns—it even went a little overboard on a recent visit. The beer list has been rather short of late, but that means more tank space for the house lagers—my favorites, especially as pairings with the crispy mock eel or Szechuan chicken. 

Drink this: Ghostman White Lager, which uses oats for creaminess and offers a dash of coriander and orange peel to set off the flavors in the food.

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