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1. Gumba
1733 NE Alberta St., 503-975-5951, gumba-pdx.com. 4:30-8 pm Wednesday, 4:30-8:30 pm Thursday-Monday.
As a food cart, Gumba punched above its weight, serving fresh pastas, handmade burrata and ambitious snacks that made you want to linger at an outdoor table. Now it's a brick-and-mortar in a time of takeout only—but you'll still want to break out the candles, placemats and cloth napkins once you get the food home: No meal provides more of a "this feels like we are in a restaurant" frisson than Gumba's beet, cabbage and endive salad, pappardelle with braised beef sugo, pan-roasted steelhead trout, and eggplant olive oil cake.
Read more: Whether Serving Out of a Cart Window or Cardboard Boxes, Gumba Is One of Portland's Finest Pasta Parlors.
2. Toki
580 SW 12th Ave., 503-312-3037, tokipdx.square.site. 4-8 pm Friday-Sunday.
Anything Han Oak chef Peter Cho does is worthy of intense anticipation. In this particular case, he moved across the river, into the former Tasty n Alder space, and is using it to craft the classic, traditional Korean meals—bibimbap, bulgogi, kimbap—he generally avoided at his main spot. It's open now for takeout-only weekend dinners. Order through the website.
Related: Portland's Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of 2021.
3. GrindWitTryz
2017 NE Alberta St., 971-865-5160, grindwittryz.square.site. Noon-8 pm Tuesday-Saturday.
As a food cart, GrindWitTryz was a near-instant sensation, its crowds and wait times harking back to the early days of Salt & Straw or Apizza Scholls, and the lines have only grown longer since owner Tryzen Patricio moved into the former Bunk space on Alberta. The most popular dish by far is the ono chicken: 12 pieces of crispy, sweet-glazed fried chicken thighs—more than a pound of meat— piled onto a double-portion bed of furikake-topped rice.
4. Prey + Tell
Delivery available through Uber Eats and Grubhub. 4 pm-2 am Wednesday-Sunday, preyandtell.com.
Diane Lam's Sunshine Noodles pop-up was one of the breakout successes of the quarantined summer, but the buzziest item wasn't a noodle dish—it was the lime pepper wings. So while Sunshine is on a break, Lam is returning to her roots as the chef at dearly departed Korean cocktail bar Revelry, with a delivery-only project focused entirely on fried chicken, with Cambodian-inspired sauces and leaf-wrapped rice packs.
Related: Sunshine Noodles Brings Unheralded Cambodian Street Food Into the Daylight on Mississippi Avenue.
5. Lottie & Zula’s
120-A NE Russell St., 503-333-6923, lottieandzulas.com. 8 am-4 pm Tuesday-Saturday. Breakfast all day, lunch 10:30 am to close. Takeout and delivery only.
Toro Bravo is gone, replaced by a punky sandwich window with New England roots. The heart of Lottie & Zula's breakfast menu are bolo levedos, or "Portuguese muffins"—something like a cross between an English muffin and a King's Hawaiian roll, which makes their version of a McGriddle extra satisfying.