The Top Five Places to Get Food in Portland This Week

1. Kachka Alfresca

960 SE 11th Ave., 503-235 0059, kachkapdx.com/alfresca. 3-10 pm daily.

A pop-up in the truest sense of the term, created in a time of great pressure and adaptation, Kachka's outdoor spinoff may have been largely improvised, but it is so utterly of its time and place in this shared moment that it feels like a vital addition to the food landscape. Twenty-some cabana-styled tables sprawled across a parking lot rooftop above Southeast Portland, and food is ordered by phone. If you know and love Kachka, there are many old favorites on offer, but the pop-up has allowed owner Bonnie Morales to dive into another vein of nostalgia, one informed by her childhood watching her Soviet émigré parents run a 1990s bistro in the Chicago suburbs. It doesn't all necessarily make sense—the Sex on Beaches and Cobb salads and pulsing Russo-disco soundtrack combine to form a sort of trans-Siberian TGI Friday's—but it is damn fun.

2. Pix-O-Matic

2225 E Burnside St., 971-271-7166, pixpatisserie.com/pixomatic.

Open 24 hours. Yes, it's a vending machine. But don't think of it as just a retro-chic update on the machines you used to grab an apple from in college, although that's partly the inspiration. Owner Cheryl Wakerhauser fills her machine daily with the items that have made Pix an after-dinner destination for two decades: decadent pies, rich mousses, truffle cakes, crème brûlées and those famous macarons. But it's not just sweets bringing out the crowds. The rotating "pop-up" slot is where the real treats reside. A few weeks ago, she revived classic Portland Sichuan palace Lucky Strike. And this week, beginning July 16, it'll host vegan meals from Meals for Heels, the nationally lauded food delivery service typically dedicated to feeding Portland's sex workers.

View this post on Instagram

⁠BATTER UP! And by batter we mean that perfectly crispy, salty buttermilk skin that coats our juicy fried chicken which you can now get... starting today!⁠ ⁠ It's OPENING DAY at Holler Take-Out and we are THRILLED to be new to Sellwood. Many thanks to those of you who have already welcomed us to the neighborhood and for all who we haven't met yet, come on down, we open at 10AM! 💛💙⁠ ⁠ #hollerpdx #holleratus #hollerbuger, #hollerbird #hollermascot #eaterpdx #dishedpdx #openingday

A post shared by Holler (@hollerpdx) on Jul 9, 2020 at 9:35am PDT

3. Holler

7119 SE Milwaukie Ave., 971-200-1391, hollerpdx.com. 11 am-6 pm Tuesday-Saturday, online ordering available 3-5 pm.

On the one hand, over the last year and a half, Portland has overloaded with options for fried chicken. On the other hand, can you ever really have too much fried chicken? And then, on the third hand, the city's latest chicken shack is courtesy of Doug Adams, the Top Chef alum behind Texas barbecue haven Bullard, one of the best new restaurants of 2019. Adams recently opened the casual, family-friendly Holler for takeout, and while we haven't had a chance to sample the birds yet, we're confident offering a blind recommendation. And anyway, Adams and co-owner Jen Quist aren't exactly launching from scratch here. They spent the last four months testing the takeout model at Bullard, with meal boxes that have included the exact fried chicken churned out here.

4. Kee’s Loaded Kitchen

3625 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-516-2078, instagram.com/keesloadedkitchen. Lunch Thursday-Sunday until sold out.

In 2018, Kee's #Loaded Kitchen won WW's Food Cart of the Year honors. It's easy to see why: Chef Kiauna Nelson's heaping plates of mouthwatering, dripping-with-flavor soul food are big enough to share with friends. Every Thursday through Sunday, Nelson serves whopping 4-pound homestyle plates to the neighborhood she grew up in—most recently, she's used donations to provide free or discounted meals to Black Portlanders. People stand in line for an hour to get her food, and she sells out every single day she's open, almost always within a couple of hours. Watch Instagram for the day's offerings, and be ready to move.

5. Tonari

2838 SE Belmont St., tonaripdx.com. 4-6:30 pm Wednesday-Sunday. Takeout only.

At Ryan and Elena Roadhouse's new restaurant, Tonari, the intricate details stack up to form a singular tableau. The drastically remodeled former Accanto space—next door to the couple's seven-time James Beard Award-nominated omakase experience Nodoguro—is a visual delight from top to bottom. Pity it's not open for dine-in yet, but they are doing takeout, offering a broad range of options, from a subtly perfect smoked mackerel Caesar salad to beautifully arranged teishoku sets—a composed bento with sides, rice and choice of simple main protein.