Not gonna lie, I wasn’t blown away by Portland's overall restaurant scene this year—there were a few promising openings, but the usual frenetic creative pace just wasn’t there. However, there were still some AMAZING bites from newcomers and fun inventions from longer-standing spots. So let's hurry up and get to the eats; these are 10 of my favorite bites from 2024!
Phở chiên phồng at the Paper Bridge
When I review restaurants, I try hard to order differently every time, in order to get a more complete picture of the menu. And yet, every time I go to the Paper Bridge, I order the phở chiên phồng.
The Paper Bridge specializes in hard-to-find-stateside Northern Vietnamese specials, and turns the humble rice noodle into a form of art by handmaking them on site. Their phở chiên phồng takes those handmade noodles, cuts them into squares, and fries them till puffy. Then they add stir-fried beef with a light, salty gravy. This dish achieves taste and texture perfection: crunchy on the outside while chewy within, savory and abounding in herbs. (The Paper Bridge, 828 SE Ash, thepaperbridgepdx.com)
Squash Blossom Pizza at Dimo’s ApizzaÂ
Initially, I slept on Dimo’s Apizza, but this year, I finally got it. And while I've written about their daily sandwiches specials, made with housemade bread and—we suggest—paired with big old sea salt chocolate chip cookie, the pizza is still always the star. In July, a special with squash blossoms, burrata, zucchini slices, and sungold tomatoes distilled the summer sun into an 18-inch pie. The charred, New Haven-style thin crust provided the perfect base for the slices, and the burrata were decadent creamy pops with the salty veg. I can’t wait for next summer. (Dimo’s Apizza, 701 E Burnside, dimosapizza.com)
The CCC at Cookie McCakeface
It’s a cookie. It’s a cake. It’s Cookie McCakeface! I’ve been Insta-stalking this downtown cart for a while, drawn by owner Sarah Ahlvers’ ASMR-style videos of her mountainous cookies being pulled apart, slowly and melty-ly. There are mass produced versions of this kind of cookie, which has become the rage these days. But TRUST when I say they’re oversweet yet bland comparators to Cookie McCakeface.
Order the Cookie Meister for its blueness and googly eyes, and certainly throw in the Midnight Society, a dark chocolate and graham cookie with marshmallow oozing at its core. But the flagship cookie is certainly just the good old chocolate chip, or CCC. Ahlvers describes it as a cookie who thinks she is the top of a muffin—and we all know that’s the best part. Hot and ready from the cart in five minutes, this is a giant cookie that will make your day both metaphorically and quite possibly calorie-quota-wise too. (Cookie McCakeface, 770 W Burnside, cookiemccakeface.com)
The Bada Bing at Dos Hermanos Bakery
Italian sandwiches are sadly a “sometimes food” for me now—the rich salami, capicola and other cured delights now just being a one-way ticket to heartburn town, not Jersey City. But, Dos Hermanos’ style of sandwich, where they take their Italian meats and chop them up with lettuce, tomato and vinaigrette, provides more balance. It’s like a rich salad on a superb house-baked sesame roll, giving me consequence-free zing. (Dos Hermanos, 1015 SE Stark, doshermanosbakery.com)
Herby Serrano Hot Sauce from Chelo Hot Sauce
Luna Contreras is known for her amazing work as the chef-owner of Chelo in Northeast Portland, but she’s also got a zippy line of hot sauces. I grabbed a bottle of the Herby Serrano at 45th Parallel Wines in St. John’s (she’s got bottles around town including at Providore Fine Foods, Wellspent Market and other fine establishments), and I can’t stop putting it on everything. The Herby Serrano has a nice medium-spice kick, and goes great on anything—from a little turkey cheese wrap snack to breakfast scrambles. It’s so much more complex and interesting than any mass produced bottle of hot sauce you’ll find. (chelopdx.com)
Almond Fried Chicken at Warsugai
Warsugai is Chef Kyo Koo’s love story to all the Americanized Chinese and Asian foods he ate growing up in Portland. There are a lot of dishes to love on the menu, including a decadent Dungeness crab rangoon egg roll, and black truffle and chicken dumplings. The signature, though, is the almond fried chicken. It’s a Mary’s chicken breast, fried up nice and crispy and topped with roasted almonds and iceberg lettuce. The secret sauce is the almond gravy, which adds a slight sweetness to the savory affair that makes it so you don’t want to stop eating. (Warsugai, 727 SE Washington, warsugai.com)Â
Salted Chocolate Orange Honeecomb at Kate’s Ice Cream
I'm not lactose intolerant or gluten free, but I've been a stan of Kate’s Ice Cream stan for years. Her vegan ice cream flavors outpace most other shops in town (and if you’re reading this in early January, go get the chocolate peppermint ice cream RIGHT MEOW). Earlier this year, one of the featured flavors was a salted chocolate orange honeecomb. It brought the richness of those holiday chocolate oranges, balanced it with a little salt, and the vegan honeecomb was a sweet little textural crunch. And we've got a NYE miracle underway because Salted Chocolate Orange Honeecomb is back at Kate’s Ice Cream shops RIGHT NOW, until the end of January. I have a chest freezer, and I WILL be stocking it. (Kate’s Ice Cream, 3713 N Mississippi Ave and 1430 NW 23rd, katesicecream.com)
Beef Brisket Stone Noodle Roll at Steam Rice Roll KingÂ
Steam Rice Roll King is making Cantonese rolls better than anyone else in town. As I put it in a review from this month: “Consider the five spice beef brisket: the meat is braised to a soft tenderness, rolled between the just-cooked noodles and doused in a light, sweet soy sauce blend. It is the equivalent of a weighted blanket for your weary taste buds.” Go get one; if you want to dodge the crowds try going on a weekday. (Steam Rice Roll King, 11003 SE Division, steamricerollking.com)
Ike’s Fish Sauce Wings at Pok Pok’s Jeju pop-up
It feels like a humble brag to say I got into the two-day revival of Pok Pok, hosted at Jeju restaurant in September. But fine: NBD, I got in. I got to say hi to Andy Ricker, who has been based in Thailand since closing Pok Pok in 2020. Plus, I got to revive sense memories of the intensely spicy boar collar and even the pandan water they always served. But those sticky, spicy, funky wings that put Pok Pok on the map are always the GOAT. I missed it so much I was sad to wipe my fingers with the provided wet nap when I was done. (Jeju, 626 SE Main, jejupdx.com)
Road trip: Chocolate shake at the Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe
Closing it out by breaking form and making a new discovery. Despite the fact that I've been to Cannon Beach a fair amount, it wasn’t until the year of our lord 2024 that I finally discovered the most perfect chocolate shake in existence is at the Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe. This shake is thicc, rich, and served with a hearty spray of whipped cream. No straw could penetrate this decadent blend of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Grab one instead of taffy next time you’re at the coast. (Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe, 232 N Spruce Street, Cannon Beach; cannonbeachchocolatecafe.com)
