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Little Italy’s Cucina 2601 SE Clinton 239-4306 Little Italy’s CucinaÉ sounds cute, doesn’t it? Quaint, even. Low-maintenance and neighborhoody. Mellow, fun. And it is all these things. Plus it serves Italian food, and what could be more desirable in winter? Having scanned the Portland Yellow Pages in a carb-thirsty freakout, I realized there really aren’t […]

Nubian Twist 2719 NE 7th 449-8306 There are two poles of good soul-food eating in Portland: The South Pole–the drink-centric Delta Café–and the North Pole–the low on ambiance/high on taste Yam Yam’s. I prefer the former if I’m out with a fancy lad (known in some circles as a “dandy”), the latter if I just […]

Know Thy Enemy WINTER ALCOHOLISM: What are you up against? This winter, as with every Portland winter, the booze is out to get you. Think of it as your sworded archnemesis: it might be valiant and adventurous to engage in a battle, but dally too long, and a brief flirt with folly could end in […]

Suddenly, bars all over Portland are offering breakfast and brunch as part of their weekend (and in many cases, weekday) lineups. Since Portland is the breakfast/ brunch capital of the world, these drinking establishments are up against some stiff competition. Indeed, in most cases, there’s no reason to forgo your trip to fine bruncheries like, […]

Lovely Hula Hands 938 N. Cook (at Mississippi) 445-9910 Am I just getting older and richer, or is the gap between typically broke young Portlanders and fine eating establishments starting to close? Recent openings like the extremely popular Farm Cafe, the Vietnamese Green Papaya, and Surabuya–an innovative Hawthorne-dwelling Indonesian restaurant–reflect a growing trend of new […]

My first year in Portland, not only did I not have a Thanksgiving turkey, I didn’t have any friends, and I had no idea the level of hibernation this town goes into on holidays. I drove from my apartment in Beaverton looking for a place to eat or drink and found myself circling that block […]

Surabaya 4741 SE Hawthorne 236-2845 When you read certain menus, “your” dish unquestionably pops out. When you scan others, you’re forced to settle for something less than perfect. When reading Surabaya’s menu, I felt like the whole thing was catered to me. Each dish is loaded with strong flavors, but the food doesn’t come off […]

Maybe you don’t remember the first takeout you had upon arriving in Portland; but I do. New towns are tough–what with the moving, the disorientation, wondering if you’ve made the most grievous error of your lifeÉ finding a place to have a great meal is the last of your concerns. However, I was lucky enough […]

My friend Asprin is not only a hiphop producer who makes phat beats with lyrics about how my friends and I should quit drinking ourselves to death, he’s also a connoisseur of Ethiopian food. He considers Mudai to be the best in town, and I couldn’t agree more. If you’ve never had Ethiopian, it’s an […]

This place is kind of a hole in the wall, has no public restroom, and is terribly cold except in summer when it’s unbearably hot. The food, however, is a dream. The vegetarian chimichanga, one of many such vegetarian choices, is a $4.25 savior of souls. It comes in one of those checkered paper boats, […]