Funabashi is the lesser known last name of a woman whose first name is legend to Portland sushi lovers: Yoko. For 30 years, Funabashi has been the person you’ll see most nights behind the counter at her eponymous restaurant, her dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail as she crafts orders of iconic seared […]
Andrea Damewood
Andrea Damewood is a food writer and restaurant critic. Her interests include noodle soups, fried chicken, and sparkles.
Posted inFood and Drink
2019’s Best Bites from Portland’s Best New Restaurants
By last count, I ate approximately ELEVENTY MILLION meals and snacks on the streets of Portland this year, and frankly, even a lot of very excellent food can become a blur. But here are five things I ate in 2019 that I can’t stop thinking about—and that you should try as well. Everything at Eem […]
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Bites, Sips, and Tips! (The Holiday Edition)
Holiday ice cream! Baby, it’s cold outside, but that doesn’t mean Portland ice cream spots aren’t bringing the holiday fire. My personal fave this year is the peppermint chocolate ganache available at Ruby Jewel—with a marshmallow fluff topping that’s a dead ringer for my grandma’s Mint Dazzler. Salt & Straw has a delightful array of […]
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Portland’s Best New Ceviche Is Being Served from a Grey Food Truck on Southeast Belmont
Mercury Staff In a gravel lot, across from The Vern, Rafael Luis Garcia is quietly turning out some of the most exciting Peruvian food in Portland. A native of Trujillo, Peru, a coastal city in the country’s northwest, Garcia spent 19 years managing McDonald’s restaurants in Utah and Portland before making the leap to owning […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Portland’s Best New Ceviche Is Being Served from a Grey Food Truck on Southeast Belmont
In a gravel lot, across from The Vern, Rafael Luis Garcia is quietly turning out some of the most exciting Peruvian food in Portland. A native of Trujillo, Peru, a coastal city in the country’s northwest, Garcia spent 19 years managing McDonald’s restaurants in Utah and Portland before making the leap to owning his own […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Shanghai: Your New Favorite Downtown Chinese Joint
Aaron Lee If I could write one sentence over and over again, à la Bart Simpson at the blackboard, it would be: Stop bitching about Portland’s Chinese food. Seriously, stop. Sure, our NYC-beloved Chinese-American joints are not the best, but that in no way covers the breadth of incredible regional spots across town. The fish […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Shanghai: Your New Favorite Downtown Chinese Joint
If I could write one sentence over and over again, a la Bart Simpson at the blackboard, it would be: Stop bitching about Portland’s Chinese food. Seriously, stop. Sure, our NYC-beloved Chinese-American joints are not the best, but that in no way covers the breadth of incredible regional spots across town. The fish balls in […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Bites and Sips You Shouldn’t Miss!
Big’s Chicken is open! Y’all: I cannot understate my level of excitement that Big’s Chicken has reopened, mere blocks from its original NE Glisan location which burned down. They’d opened a Beaverton location in the meantime, but those perfectly crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside jojos were no longer available in Portland proper. They’re back, along with that smoked […]
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Stuff Yourself with Cruffins and Cruff Puffs at Twisted Croissant
I could listen to the hosts of the Great British Bake Off say the word “layers” on loop every night to go to sleep. The way their British accents kind of coo the word as they bite into a buttery pastry is Xanax in audio-visual format. I’d like to think Paul Hollywood would give his […]
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Eat It Up: Portland’s Five Most Essential Barbecue Carts
Big things are happening in the meat on wheels department. In the last several years, Portland has accumulated a quintet of amazing barbecue carts with mind-blowingly beautiful briskets and smoky ribs that peel off the bone. Just this fall, the tiny Matt’s BBQ Tacos truck on Southeast Hawthorne was named one of Bon Appetit magazine’s […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Eat It Up: Portland’s Five Most Essential Barbecue Carts
Holy Trinity MOLLY MACALPINE Big things are happening in the meat on wheels department. In the last several years, Portland has accumulated a quintet of amazing barbecue carts with mind-blowingly beautiful briskets and smoky ribs that peel off the bone. Just this fall, the tiny Matt’s BBQ Tacos truck on Southeast Hawthorne was named one […]
Posted inFood and Drink
After A Long Journey, Carlo Lamagna Brings Filipino Food Home to Southeast Clinton
It’s never easy to open a restaurant, but the opening of Magna Kusina—the new intensely personal restaurant from Carlo Lamagna celebrating his Filipino heritage—is a particular triumph. Straight out of culinary school, Lamanga didn’t intend to cook the adobo h’ss father made, or the crab fat noodles his mother perfected. He worked in more traditional […]