The 10 best meals I ate in Portland this year
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Chelo's duck-confit tamale. Photo: Meira Gebel/Axios
Portland's restaurant scene remains at the top of the pack, and when part of your job is giving people suggestions about where to eat, it's safe to say you dine out quite a bit.
The big picture: We've covered restaurants opening and closing in the city all year, which can make it hard to return to the places I love as often as I'd like.
- But there are some meals I can't stop thinking about.
How it works: There are many factors that can make a meal memorable — from the food itself to the people you share it with and how the experience made you feel.
In no particular order, these are my 10 favorite things I ate in Portland this year.
Best bite: Pasteis de nata. The classic Portuguese egg tart — a layered puff pastry with a creamy, delicately sweet egg custard and caramelized top — showcases chef Siobhan Speirits' craft. No wonder why the pastry case is so quick to sell out.
What else I ordered: The pomodoro pizza with stracciatella and cured anchovy remains one of the best pies in the city. Order any of the rotating seasonal salads on the menu and be impressed.
🦆 Chelo
Best bite: For a vegetable-forward restaurant, the duck-leek confit tamale smothered in a rich, chocolate mole sauce was the standout, complemented by the warm, hospitable service on my 30th birthday.
What else I ordered: The squash tlayuda and esquites y almejas — an elevated version of Mexican street corn with clams and cherry tomatoes.
🌶️ Xiao Ye
Best bite: Is there anything better than the mini madeleines? A mix of masa and mochiko flour on a bed of salted, whipped butter and topped with dusted jalapeno — six bite-sized cakes are simply not enough.
What else I ordered: Salted egg shrimp (eat the head whole!) and the casarecce pasta with a mushroom short-rib ragu.
Best bite: Crudo seems to be on every menu right now, but chef Matt Sigler's spin on the dish — thin tuna slices with grapefruit, avocado and chile crisp — is worth a membership to the exclusive social club.
What else I ordered: The fried olives make for a perfect bar-side snack, while the crab linguini is not shy on crab.
🌱 Yaowarat
Best bite: What makes the chive cakes so excellent is their simplicity. Being deep-fried and accompanied by a black soy dipping sauce plays up the power of the vegetable's subtle herbal flavor.
What else I ordered: The Chinese-influenced, wide-noodle Thai dish kuay teow kua gai (with chicken fried in pork fat) and the toasted sweet buns with Thai tea and pandan custard.
Best bite: The brunch-time crab toast is not only beautiful and light, but has a kick thanks to the Calabrian chiles.
What else I ordered: The $1 happy-hour oysters, duh.
Best bites: This spot is fairly new but has its menu — and execution — locked in. The shrimp omelet from chef Richard Văn Lê is a nod to his late mother. It's a nostalgic dish made with coconut milk, basil, cherry tomatoes and fried scallions and served with white rice.
What else I ordered: The black sesame cinnamon roll.
Best bite: The tempura udon soup in a soy-mushroom broth with fried tofu, scallions and kakiage is simple but oh so comforting. Add a housemade chile crisp for a bite.
What else I ordered: Okonomiyaki, a Japanese-style teppanyaki cabbage pancake topped with ginger-pickled beets, kimchi, tonkatsu sauce, vegenaise and house furikake.
🍝 Coquine
Best bites: I have to admit, I haven't dined here yet, but I ate a sample of the vesuvio pasta dish at the James Beard Taste America event this fall. It was so good I went back for seconds and thirds.
🍳 Lardo
Best bites: As someone who treks back two dozen egg bagels every time she visits New Jersey, the pork, egg and cheese with pepper jelly on a Kaiser roll spoke to me deeply. It was a limited-run "chefwich," but I hope they bring it back permanently.
What else I ordered: The pork meatball banh mi with cacio e pepe tater tots are my go-to.