Here are the Things WW Declared “The Best” in the Last 12 Months

From the best bagels to the best ski season Mount Hood has had since Obama was a Senator—we love hot takes.

(Thomas Teal)

Best Place to Sled in Portland

Mount Tabor, specifically the spot "above the second reservoir where you can find the perfect mix of families and teenagers not so slyly drinking beers and using anything from kiddie pools to cardboard to bomb down the hill."

January 11, 2017

Best Bagels

(Sam Gehrke)

Bundy's Bagels, made by obsessive workaholic Joel Bundy, who "thinks about quitting every day."

February 21, 2017

Best Fish Cakes and Beef Patties We've Had in This City

The ones at new pop-up Jamaican Taste, cooked by former Bostonian Robert Bryant.

May 2, 2017

Best Way to Give Ourselves a Fighting Chance Against the Big Quake

Build a disaster preparedness kit. "You'll want to spread supplies across multiple locations—and in your car, which will be in multiple locations."

Jan. 3, 2017

Best Little Strip Club in Portland

(Thomas Teal)

Sassy's, where the "casual vibe" and $2.50 craft pints till 7 pm add up to a situation where you're "likely to find at least one woman for every two men."

May 23, 2017

Best Tonkotsu Ramen

Marukin (Thomas Teal)

The version at Marukin, whose flavor "is like an elephant riding a unicycle, terrifying and amazing in the bigness of its balance."

December 13, 2016

Best-Looking Movie About How Women Think by a Male Filmmaker

The Neon Demon, whose director, Nicholas Winding Refn, "seems to think women will fuck, kill and eat one another to appease Hollywood's gatekeepers."

December 27, 2016

Best "Old Reliable" Band at Treefort

Thee Oh Sees on the Woods Stage. IMAGE: Bridget Baker.

Thee Oh Sees, whose singer-guitarist John Dwyer likes to "whip his hair around," "hold his guitar like a rifle," and "talk shit about PBR."

March 29, 2017

Best Drinking Roof for People Watching

(Henry Crommet)

The one at 10 Barrel in the Pearl, which lets you look down on "upscale W+K employees, suburban boutique shoppers and terribly fit Pearl clubgoers."

May 10, 2017

Best Movie Theater Food

(Henry Cromett)

The Academy Theater's hot-plate Flying Pie pizza, which is "the best hype- and theme-free pizza shop in Portland."

May 30, 2017

Best Money Portland Ever Spent

Powell Butte Nature Park, which also represents the "best moonrise, best lover's lane, [and] best spot to smoke weed outdoors."

June 14, 2017

Best Acai Bowl

(Julian Alexander)

The "orange-pink, silky-smooth acai blend" of the Summer Breeze Bowl at Nob Hill's KIVA, which "literally and figuratively towers over the competition.

January 3, 2017

Best Mac 'n' Cheese to Eat When You're Stoned

Velveeta Shells & Cheese, which we prized for its premixed cheese product. "Converting to that Velveeta life means you'll never forget to leave the store with needed milk and butter."

February 7, 2017

Best Beer Hang in Vancouver

(Loowit)

Downtown Vancouver brewery Loowit, whose excellent taste in arcade games "either reflects the quality of Loowit's beer or shows you just how much time employees spend back there amid the tanks."

February 28, 2017

Best Eggnog

The nog at New Seasons: "Serve this with confidence and a stack of cheese from the discount remnant bin and you've got yourself one hell of a holiday party."

December 20, 2016

Best Pizza

(Shaun Daley)

Apizza Scholls, to whom "no legitimate challenger has ever emerged. Whenever someone says otherwise, feel free to politely ignore the rest of their opinions."

October 28, 2016

Best Burrito Filling Known to Man

(WW staff)

Machaca, as prepared at a place called Carolina's in South Phoenix.

May 1, 2017

Best Bougie Taco Spot in the Southeast

xico

(Cait Pearson)

Xico, which we said "served margaritas in a sea of margs."

August 16, 2016

Best Way To Watch a Meteor Shower

In case facing "where the least possible number of trees or hills will block your view" isn't an obvious enough tip for looking at celestial missiles, we had a team from the Meteor Society confirm it. Science rules!

August 8, 2016

Best Butcher-Shop Rib-Eye in Portland

(Thomas Teal)

Painted Hills, as it turns out. Quoth one of our tasters: "This steak is the ugliest, it is the fattiest and it is the best."

May 30, 2017

Best Beer Buyer in Portland on One Very Beery Day in March

(Thomas Teal)

Connecticut native Jim Bonomo at Tin Bucket, whose list was "like Christmas morning."

March 7, 2017

Best Doner Kebabs in Portland

(Emily Joan Greene)

The spit-roasted lamb sammies at California-based Spitz: "Thank you, Turks, thank you, Germans, thank you, Angelenos."

Apr 6, 2017

Best Sporting Event in the World

The Olympics. Duh.

August 3, 2016

Oregon's Best Brewpub Burger With Beef From a Local Ranch

(Terminal Gravity, Jeff Addico)

Terminal Gravity, in Enterprise, Ore., whose burgers are made from beef "descended from the cattle the Spanish turned loose on the open range upward of 500 years ago."

March 2, 2017

Hottest and Best Chinese Food in Portland

(Joe Riedl)

Well—in Beaverton, anyway. It's at Taste of Sichuan, whose Swimming Fire Fish is "only, like, the fourth-craziest thing on the menu."

October 27, 2016

Best Ice Cream-Themed Ice-Cream Parlor

Cool Moon, whose Spicy Thai Peanut scoop is "weird done right."

August 18, 2016

Best Dolmas, Ever

(Kayla Sprint)

They're at Hawthorne Lebanese spot TarBoush, "tart and spicy and sweet all at once."

October 28, 2016

Best Spazz-Out at PDX Pop Now

Consumer, who sings "like Jim Carrey doing karaoke in The Cable Guy."

July 28, 2016

Best Little Garage Brewery in Gresham

Hop Haus, whose wastewater-engineer brewer makes "a real clean beer, every time."

February 28, 2017

Best German Brewery in Portland

"Whatever you said, you're wrong. There isn't one."

September 28, 2016

Best Ski Season Mount Hood Has Had Since Obama Was a Senator

The sunny slopes at Mount Hood Meadows. (Brenda Emil/MountHoodMeadows)

The one that just ended. Mazel!

February 7, 2017

Best New Cider Made in Oregon This Year

(courtesy of 1859 Ciders)

1859's Hunter's Moon, aged for eight months in eight different tanks, using eight different yeast strains.

June 20, 2017

Best Scumbag Breakfast

(Christine Dong)

The perfectly portioned, expertly seasoned breakfast special at Yur's—$6 for eggs, country potatoes, toast and a choice of side meat, served up in the morning with a $1.75 PBR.

May 23, 2017

Best Detroit-Style Pizza

(Thomas Teal)

It can be found Tuesdays at East Glisan Pizza Lounge, a "traditional red-top with a hearty, deep red sauce made special for this pie that's applied in careful rows atop a thick blend of mozzarella and brick cheese."

February 7, 2017

Best Dad at MusicfestNW

(Daniel Cole)

Ice Cube. "Yes, at age 47, Ice Cube is as embarrassing as your own father. And if you ask him, he'd surely tell you he doesn't give a fuck."

August 31, 2016

The Best Natural Wine List for 500 Miles

(Thomas Teal)

It was at Killingsworth Street wine bar Dame, whose sommelier just left to go work at Holdfast.

September 6, 2017

The Best Hazy Hoppy Beers Anywhere in the World Right Now

The ones at Alberta Street brewery Great Notion—including Juice Jr., our 2017 Beer of the Year.

February 28, 2017

Best New Hazy IPA not Brewed on Alberta

Breakside's Something Wicked, which is "as soft as beer gets, with a body that has the yellow fuzziness of an old beach photo."

March 14, 2017

Best Band for This Particular Moment

(Thomas Teal)

Lithics, our Best New Band 2017, which sounds like "mutant disco made for actual mutants, played by the last humans left in the sewers after the coming Trumpocalypse."

March 15, 2017

Best Bar Pizza Portland Has Ever Seen

(Julian Alexander)

Associated, in the former space of hip-hop pizzeria P.R.E.A.M. This makes the experience bittersweet for "anyone who wants to see this city become aesthetically diverse, instead of continuing as one big cracker factory churning out whimsy and woolen caps."

May 23, 2017

Best Grape Beer We've Ever Had

Upright's Oregon Native, which "tastes somehow like both beer and natural wine at once, a merger of Oregon's two great fermenting traditions in a way that does justice to both."

February 28, 2017

Finest Peruvian Food Portland Has Ever Known

(Christine Dong)

It was at Southwest Portland's Paiche, our 2016 Restaurant of the Year—now open only from 7 am to noon, with a slimmed-down menu.

October 27, 2016

Best Burger

(Thomas Teal)

The plainest rendition of the burger at Grain and Gristle, whose beef "comes from a line of Herefords cultivated since 1856 at Oregon's Hawley Ranch."

March 22, 2017

Best Star Wars Movie

(courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd.)

Rogue One, which is about "everyday people trying to justify, morally and practically, their roles in the struggles against an overwhelming, evil adversary." Sound familiar?

December 13, 2016

Best of Portland 2017

This Year, More Than Ever, It's Important to Stop and Take Note of Everything That Makes Portland What It Is

Here are the Winners of the Best of Portland Readers' Poll 2017

Here are the Things WW Declared "The Best" in the Last 12 Months

Inside Mall 205, You'll Find Oregon's Last Remaining Magic Shop

Portland's Raging Grannies Have Been Protesting Since the 1960s, And You Do Not Want to Mess With Them

A Vancouver Man Bought Naked Falls Swimming Hole, So He Could Re-Open It to the Public

Rodney Scott Puts On Portland's Greatest Indie Firework Show

Cabel Sasser Found a McDonalds Mural That Led Him to Uncover a Secret Collection of Art

Two College Students Started An Organization to Provide Bras and Underwear to Homeless Women

Jim Hipsher Is Portland's Greatest Live Book of Poetry

These Two Women Make Showing Up for Jury Duty A Lot Less Terrible

On Northeast Broadway, You Can Learn Boxing From Two-Time World Champ Molly "Fearless" McConnell

Portland Urban Golf Makes the Entire Changing City Its Ever-Evolving Personal Golf Course

Did You Know You Can Play a 9-Hole Portland-Themed Mini-Golf Course?

Seven Years Ago, New Trail Blazer Caleb Swanigan Was 360 Pounds and Living in Homeless Shelters

Each Week, a Group Goes to Laurelhurst Park to Throw Axes Through the Air—And They're Really Good

Portland Now Has a Nonprofit That Gives Kids Access to Free Pinball

Marathon Taverna Hosts Portland's Best Late-Night Raffle, Giving Away T-Shirts and 100-Level Blazers Tickets

The City of Portland Made a Sign Reading "Heartbreak Dead Ahead"

There's a Secret, Profit-Free Bookstore "Forest" on Division Street

You Can Get a Pre-Addressed Letter to Trump from Paymaster Lounge's Vending Machine

A Local Business Totally Trolled Willamette Week—And It Was Awesome

The ACLU of Oregon Has Emerged as Portland's Most Consistent Free-Speech Fundamentalists

Division Street's Oregon Theater Is Portland's Greatest NSFW Twitter Account

There's a Library in Vancouver Full of Hundreds of Books That Have Never Been Published, And Never Will Be

Alberta Street's American Legion Post 134 Went Rogue—Inviting Homeless In and Hosting LGBTQ Nights

Beaverton's Spectra Gymnastics Provides Play Spaces for Kids on the Autism Spectrum

There's a Hidden, Underground Sculpture Inside the Standard Insurance Center in Downtown Portland

One of the Oldest Retail Businesses in the City is a 127-Year-Old Woman-Owned Costume Shop—Now, It's in Danger of Closing

In the Portland Area's Wealthiest Neighborhood Lies a Hidden, Public Scottish Garden As Large as the Japanese Garden

The Zymoglyphic Museum is a Self-Contained World of Rogue Taxidermy and Steampunk

Every Sunday, Portland Hosts a Real-Life "Fast and the Furious"

Portland's Best Daycaction is a Cheap Flight to Pendleton, Where the Cowboys Still Walk The Streets

Oregon City's Tim Kovar Is one of the Nation's Foremost Tree-Climbing Experts

Hero Punk Stole the Satyricon Sign and Sold it to VooDoo Doughnut Owner in Exchange for Lifetime Doughnuts

High School Junior Won a Major Science Competition in the World By Investigating Where Portland's Fish Went

Who Do You Call When Your Goat Is Throwing Up? Portland's Go-To Goat Doctor, Of Course

Meet the Portland Poodle Who Dresses Better Than You

Every Saturday, A Train Runs Through Oaks Bottom, Making Birdwatching Actually Fun

Right Now, Three Dogs Living at a Southeast Portland Dispensary Are High on CBD Dog Treats

Feeling Sad Lately? Snuggle Up to One of Portland's Therapy Bunnies

Pet Barn Will Watch Your Boa Constrictor While You're Out of Town, But Not Your Dog

In the '90s, Two Portland Teenagers Aired Old WWF Matches. Now, They Have a Treasure Trove of Wrestling Archives

Portland Science Rapper Coma Niddy Has the Best Rhymes About Black Holes You've Ever Heard

There is a Secret Willamette River Bridge Most Portlanders Have Forgotten Exists

Hero Portland Man Built an 8-Foot Tall Multnomah Falls Out of LEGOs

There's An Alley in North Portland Where Robots Will Call Out To You

Daddy Mojo's Has the Finest Gallery of Signed Celebrity Memorabilia of Any Bar in Portland

Portland's Black Book Guitars Owner Has Tracked Down Guitars from Elliot Smith and Kurt Cobain

Thank God for the Los Cactus Food Cart, Which, For 14 Years Has Fed Junkyard Customers for Cheap

Two Portlanders Created a Willy Wonka-Style Edible Forest Near Milwaukie

Portland's Best Bagelmaker Was Saved By Someone in Line at WinCo—Now, He's Repaying Strangers' Kindness

You and Your Friends Can Drink for Free for an Hour on Your Birthday at This Portland Bar

The Portland-Area Finally Has Hong Kong-Style Ice Cream Bubble Waffles

Yes, There Is a Place in Portland Where You Can Try Witches' Brews and Heal Yourself with a Fire Pit

Portland's Best Fritters Come From Donut Queen on 58th and East Burnside

When a Pro-Trump Rally Came to Portland, a Good Samaritan Helped Calm the Tension By Handing Out Free Weed

If You Haven't Noticed Yet, the Trail Blazers Twitter Account is on Fire

The New Market of Choice On Belmont Has The Very Best Grocery Store Beer Selections We've Ever Seen

Yes, There a Secret Underground Bowling Alley in the Center of Portland

When Portland Saw Snowstorms, the National Weather Service Twitter Became Our 24/7 Therapist

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