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1. People's Pig
3004 E Burnside St., 503-233-8941, peoplespig.com. $-$$.
The new Burnside Street location of People's Pig has a new exclusive item—a seriously good porchetta that somehow tastes exactly like our mom's spice rub, except secretly sorta better.
2. Bar Casa Vale
215 SE 9th Ave., 503-477-9081, barcasavale.com. $$.
Our 2017 Bar of the Year has expanded to brunch on weekends, with some seriously good house-fermented yogurt with apricots, chocolate toast loaded with pistachio, and seriously excellent cazuela dishes—particularly the lamb.
3. Sammich
2137 E Burnside St., 503-477-4393, sammichrestaurants.com. $.
Maybe you've had the Chicago-style sandwiches by now. But have you had the pastrami-topped zombie fries? Alongside La Panza's, they're the best dirty fries in town.
4. Clay's Smokehouse
2865 SE Division St., 503-327-8534, clayssmokehouse.com. $-$$.
Clay's makes some of the best saucy barbecue in town alongside killer wings, pulled-pork nachos and homestyle desserts like pineapple upside-down cake, baked each day by Grandma Jean Slyman.
5. Pot N Spicy
8230 SE Harrison St., No. 345, 503-788-7267, potnspicy.com. $.
Pot N Spicy is making deep-fried skewers, jja jiang mian noodles, spicy Szechuan classics and hot pots both dry and brothy in Portland's best Asian food strip mall.