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LLOYD MALL FOOD COURT 2201 Lloyd Center, 282-2511 “A teen with an empty stomach finds god in a food court.” Gandhi said that, and it is one of his best-known quotes for a reason. The food court, a natural habitat of the American teenager, is not only an educational wonder in geography, but also a […]

4138 SE Woodstock Blvd, 771-6714 How many restaurants offer both internationally refined food and extreme unpretentiousness? Too often these rare flowers sprout from their proper ethnic origins and bloom momentarily, only to quickly devolve into glossy boredom. Luckily, Otto’s Sausage Kitchen has been thriving in its Sellwood neighborhood for more than 75 years, a position […]

228-4565, 930 NW 23rd The one good thing about Northwest Trendy Third is that it’s home to so many small businesses–People churning their dreams into profitable retail stores or restaurants, while satisfying the ever-increasing yuppie-demand. Chez Celeste is seemingly the perfect fit, with its French/ Mediterranean cuisine; it should satisfy a niche that 23rd has […]

  Urban Onion 4026 SE Hawthorne Blvd, 233-5521 Nothing epitomizes the confused identity of Hawthorne as well as the Urban Onion. Located in the waning center of hippie life, the Onion serves tasty, vegan eats to a dedicated few, while Starbucks and big brother pizza joints pack in the wandering hordes. Inside, one can conscientiously […]

Bao BAB 422 NW 8th Ave, 241-0390 Ginger is aggressively tart; enough taken in one bite sends my eyelids fluttering into convulsions. Fortunately, since I love ginger, that’s a good thing; two sips from a glass of ginger juice at Baobab and the underside of my brain began to tickle. I could feel the nerve […]

Once upon a time, there was an indigestible, starchy tuber that no one wanted in their mouth. So the potato sat and thought about all the wonderful foods in the world, and if he was not a potato, what food would he most like to be? Mmmmm, fried chicken. Behold, the birth of the jojo! […]

BONNIE’S BURGERS & TERIYAKI 111 NW 21st, 224-8438 My Aunt Wanda once had a nervous breakdown, and for months, could only eat fried chicken from a Texaco station. She was also fearful of being overcome by poisonous fumes, but the thing that really bugged my family was the chicken. We weren’t concerned about her eating […]

Various locations Because Oregon is so homogenous, Portland restaurateurs are faced with a clientele who probably won’t call them on any cultural discrepancies hidden within their menus. While some restaurant owners occasionally succeed in transplanting the flavor of a particular culture’s food (read: Escape From New York Pizza), most ignorantly appropriate entire menus with only […]

5907 N Lombard, 240-0615 I’ve been noticing a barbeque trend in this town and I’m not sure I like it. It’s the dry, extra-smoky rib thing. Why so smoky? Why so dry? What happened to the juicy, slipping-off-the-bone rib with as much bark* as bite? A friend assured me that Czaba’s Bar-B-Que is the answer […]