RingSide Steakhouse
2165 W Burnside St., 503-223-1513, ringsidesteakhouse.com.
RingSide is a multigenerational family shrine to wine and beef, a place where opulent marbling is a quality of the meat and not the countertop. There are occasional adventurous specials—a steak dish with chicharrón and watermelon comes to mind—but this is Portland's most classic baked-potato-side steakhouse, complete with a meat museum in the form of the pristine dry-curing room that is the envy of every other restaurant in Portland. RingSide's early and late happy hours, in the darkest bar ever invented, are legend—and include $4.75 steak bites.
El Gaucho
319 SW Broadway, 503-227-8794, elgaucho.com.
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Dim, sepia-toned steakhouse El Gaucho remains a stirringly foreign experience below the Benson Hotel—a place where meticulously coiffed and tuxedo-vested servers make tableside Caesar salad ($14) for elegant arts patrons and West Hills scions with Kardashian hair. Flamenco plays nightly (including Beatles medleys), and a brigade of cooks sears aged steaks to perfection in a kitchen lit like a theater. For the big spender, a $74 filet mignon and lobster surf and turf is available topped with a note-perfect béarnaise. But the plebs can get that same beautiful sauce on Angus steak frites during happy hour for $18.
Old Salt Marketplace
5027 NE 42nd Ave., 971-255-0167, oldsaltpdx.com.
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With its open timbers and roaring hearth fire, Cully butcher and sandwich shop Old Salt Marketplace hardly needs to advertise its devotion to old-school sourcing and nose-to-tail cooking. If any doubt remains after ogling the charcuterie in the deli case, enter through the supper-house curtains after 5 pm to enjoy meltingly tender roasted meats alongside an imaginative cocktail menu employing house-infused liquors. If you can't choose a single protein, go for the "let us cook for you" option—a meat-and-seafood omakase starting at $30 per person.
Grain & Gristle
1473 NE Prescott St., 503-288-4740, grainandgristle.com.
Old Salt might be the newish tent pole of Ben Meyer and Alex Ganum's meat empire, but this wood-grained gastropub is the Alberta neighborhood's old reliable, tucked away on Prescott Street. You can rarely go wrong with the daily twofer, which gets you a two-person entree and a pair of 12-ounce beers for $25. Otherwise, the lamb ($14)—slow-cooked, shredded and topped with spiced yogurt and chickpeas—should get the job done.
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Welcome to the 2016 Restaurant Guide
Paiche Is Our 2016 Restaurant of the Year
The 50 Best Restaurants in Portland | How We Ranked Them
Hat Yai Is the 2016 Pop-In of the Year | Mae Is the 2016 Pop-Up of the Year
Poke Mon Is the 2016 Pop-In of the Year Runner-Up | JolieLaide Is the 2016 Pop-Up of the Year Runner-Up
Portland's 10 Best Pop-Ups and Supper Clubs | Our 10 Favorite Counter Service Restaurants
Soup Houses | Seafood Spots | Italian Spots | Best Pizza Pies | Southern Food | Best Steaks, Chops And Charcuterie |Mexican Places | Sushi Spots | Korean Food | Chinese Food | Mediterranean Restaurants | Where to Get Coffee Cocktails After Your Meal
Willamette Week