From cult fish sauce wings to deliciously oddball ice cream creations, Southeast Division Street (and its scrappy adjunct SE Clinton Street) is one of the most culinarily clogged thoroughfares in town—and it boasts plenty of charming shops and Old Portland oddities to explore along the way.
Read More15 Essential Vegan & Vegetarian Restaurants in Portland
Portland has a longstanding reputation as a vegan haven, with an abundance of satisfying animal-product-free dining beyond veggie mainstays like smoothies and salads. Nowadays, even the meatiest of restaurants offer a handful of vegan options, but Portland vegans and vegetarians are lucky to live in a city with many exclusively meatless restaurants spanning across multiple cuisines. Whether you’re looking for pizza, burgers, noodles, tacos, or ice cream, Portland restaurants and food carts have you covered.
Eater’s vegan and vegetarian essentials map highlights 15 of the major players leading the way in Portland’s meatless dining scene, thanks to creative chefs in the kitchens, the city’s proximity to several farms, and the many meatless alternatives available. By no means a comprehensive guide, this list focuses on restaurants and cafes — it does not include vegan businesses that operate as pop-ups and at special events. https://pdx.eater.com/maps/best-portland-vegan-and-vegetarian-restaurants-cafes-map
Welcome to Coffee Country
Redefining Coffee in the Pacific Northwest
In Ollantaytambo, Peru, Cafe Mayu keeps bags of Stumptown’s Hair Bender in its roasting facility. In Tokyo, home to multiple Portland-themed coffee shops, Paddlers Coffee in Shibuya even serves Portland-roasted beans. In South Africa, one of the country’s most successful java chains is called Seattle Coffee Company, even though it was founded in Great Britain back in the ’90s by two PNW expats and has no other connection to the city.
The Pacific Northwest is a global polestar for specialty coffee. It’s also a region in pursuit of a more ethical coffee industry, as roasters, cafes, and nonprofits here have popularized the focus on specific growing regions, transparency in trade, and shade-grown beans. But as the region’s flavor trends — and corporate coffee chains — have become determinants of success and acclaim, the conversation around coffee in the Pacific Northwest has often erased and obscured some roasters who have long been pushing the genre forward. The result is a malleable, often manipulated definition of what it means to produce and source ethically; megabrands like Starbucks use that small-batch metaphor to lure tourists into equating its Seattle roots with the ethos and efforts of independent roasters whose relationships with farmers are more deeply invested.
Of course, coffee in the Pacific Northwest is more than just award-winning baristas and corporate giants. As the region wrestles with a depressed economy, a pandemic, and a reckoning at the heart of Cascadia’s identity, its coffee industry is shifting. Talented roasters are specializing in the beans from their home countries, BIPOC baristas are carving out equitable spaces for themselves and garnering long-deserved recognition, and cafe owners are honoring their family and cultural traditions. Now, people are raising funds for immigration advocacy groups and promoting fair wages for coffee growers. There are roasters actively challenging the inaccessibility of coffee culture, either in their marketing or in the design of their drinks. Likewise, some shop owners are pushing back against the gentrification of their neighborhoods by creating spaces that emphasize community over obscure tasting notes.
These efforts aren’t limited to the hyper-local, though: Many of these mobilizers are mindful of the industry’s impact globally. With climate change and labor issues weighing heavily on coffee-growing regions, the lofty goal of sustaining a humanitarian coffee culture seems harder to achieve than ever. But communities in Seattle and Portland are still fighting to mold the local scene into something that reflects its ideal. The Pacific Northwest is still a coffee destination, and when it comes to why, the answer lies in the roasters, baristas, and cafe owners who are constantly challenging and redefining the culture for themselves. The stories that follow are not only a glimpse into the area’s past and present popularity but also a look at the people setting its future. Welcome to Coffee Country. — Brooke Jackson-Glidden and Gabe Guarente
https://pdx.eater.com/2019/6/25/18692089/visitors-guide-to-portland-food-drink-restaurants-bars?fbclid=IwAR3S9a9MeDaBt9VUKrJb5fWPNKZCmmNWS8XfifOrozlHe-NykIvaAZRZmdE
Hawthorne Asylum Food Carts
Hawthorne Asylum, the sprawling new food cart pod near Cartopia, is a street food enthusiast’s Disneyland, with everything from vegan Egyptian to a Southern-meets-South-African. The pod officially opened this February amongst sleet and snow, but the pod is now in full gear, with several carts, plenty of covered seating, a fire pit, and steam punk metal work. Here’s what to know going in.
Its barbecue is on point
As promised, Bark City BBQ, Eater PDX’s 2018 Cart of the Year, made the move from North Portland to Southeast’s Hawthorne Asylum. The cart is still hawking the dishes that made it a star — pickled avocado, smoky-fatty brisket, no-joke ribs — but it’s getting into meatier territory at the new locale: the Bark City BBQ’s Barky Burger, a brisket burger loaded with beef and smoked cheddar, is coming soon to the cart, as well as lamb ribs and shoulder.
The brunch options are far from your usual eggs-and-bacon
In Latin cultures, Mestizaje loosely means “mixture.” At Mestizaje food cart, this this mix is gives a gracious nod to the owner’s Spanish-Portuguese grandmother in the form of Atuna Alcantra, a sandwich-style dish that is made with tuna, olive, potato, and parsley. Cart owner Seanja Pastrana-Mondragon says this dish is a great brunch option, as well as her Monte Cristo torta. Dishing out a range of plates, Mestizaje serves Pastrana-Mondragon’s diverse families’ favorite dishes.
You can find Southern-South-African food at the Asylum
All directions point to fried chicken and grits at the new food cart South, which combines the American South with South Africa. Owners Jeremy Lucas of Alabama and Siobhan Passmore of South Africa are serving up heirloom grains and grits with Mary’s Chicken and Carlton Farms Pork. Not to skip: the po’ boy on a Pearl Bakery baguette.
It’s vegan friendly, thanks to a hard-to-find Egyptian favorite
Peri Koshari’s owner Faisal Faisal is bringing a classic Egyptian dish to Southeast Portland with his popular Koshari Bowl. Well-known on the East coast, Koshari is a mix of rice, pasta, and lentils with a tomato-based sauce, chickpeas, and onion; the dish can be hard to find on Portland menus excluding a few carts like Elmasry downtown, but at Peri Koshari, it’s the cart’s namesake. The 100 percent vegan cart also serves various forms of falafel — as a “taco,” a plate, and as a sandwich. The tiny cart was originally based near Portland State University, but it made the to expand its hours and customer base.
Health-conscious eaters have some options
Meatless diners are in luck, even if Egyptian food doesn’t appeal: Daily Fuel vegan and vegetarian cart brings high-energy food to its eaters. With a background in chiropractic medicine, owner Dax McMillan assures diners that his eats are packed with high-density nutrients. McMillan says that his “Frankenstein-style” cart, created by hand with the help of McMillan’s Grimm colleague, Mark Haleston, is the first to have a reverse osmosis alkaline water system — basically super obsessively purified water.
There’s plenty of booze
With 16 ounce “power pints” of mimosas and cart-made sangria, Black Dagger is the first cart guests hit after passing through the wrought iron gates of Hawthorne Asylum. Black Dagger’s owner Scott Kinard has loaded his taps with craft beers and ciders, including Oregon brews like Migration’s Straight Outta Portland. He’s not the only entertainment coming to the pod: Kinard says that Hawthorne Asylum’s co-owner Brock Johnson is working to create a live music stage and more unique features to set this food pod apart from the rest.
There are fun things to drink for the alcohol-free, too
For an interesting craft drink that is zero-proof, the Pelmeni Pelmeni cart is now making its own kvas, the fermented non-alcoholic beverage popular throughout Eastern Europe. This gingery drink is cart-made and on-tap at Pelmeni Pelmeni, and for those unsure if they’re willing to commit to a full glass Pelmeni Pelmini gives free samples of its bread-based brew. For sustenance, this cart serves up Slavic dishes; think stuffed dumplings with fillings like chicken and cabbage and sweet vareniki filled with berries and cream.
10 Perfectly Portland Shops in the Division/Clinton Neighborhood
Prepare for a trove of chic threads, comic-book finds, stylish stationery, and lady-approved sex toys.
Xtabay’s vintage trove of wonders
Take a break from stuffing your face to explore this Southeast neighborhood’s bonanza of boutiques and shops. Seeking some chic fashions, old-school vinyl, or lady-approved X-rated toys? They’ve got you covered. (Not enough for you? Find more wonderfully weird shops here.)
Chic and carefree, this locally owned mini-chain boasts three locations packed with sharp brands like Prairie Underground, Mother Denim, and Velvet to local Grayling jewelry and Pons shoes.
A quirky analog realm of rare records, cassette tapes, and vintage audio gear—this is the spot to stock up on hard-to-find house and techno to boogie, Italo disco, darkwave, and indie rock (and get your hands on a quality old-school turntable while you’re at it).
Books with Pictures
IMAGE: KELLY CLARKE
The comics scene gets an all-inclusive makeover at this super-friendly shop with a mission to welcome everybody who “loves good stories”— that means newbies, women and people of color, and kids as much as seasoned collectors. And it translates to a tidy space bursting with indie and LGBTQ titles, comics featuring kickass female and POC heroes, kids’ picture books, Marvel and DC standards, and small-run handmade comics. Super indeed.
This clothing and fabric boutique specializes in tailored but sassy and colorful everyday wear that can easily be dressed up for a wedding or a night on the town. Offerings range from dresses, skirts, and shirts to socks, hats, purses, and jewelry, with an emphasis on fairly traded materials that feel good and are meant to last. Though they offer labels that hail from places as different as San Francisco and France, the focus is on showcasing local designers at affordable prices, including clothing lines by the owners and employees. Bonus: a full schedule of sewing classes, too.
A sun-drenched space brimming with skincare elixirs, recycled brass jewelry, and cobalt-hued scarves, tea towels, and table runners from local and national makers, Field Trip also doubles as a workshop center. You need to pick up a “The Future Is Female” sweatshirt and brush up on your macrame or indigo dyeing skills? Done.
San Francisco–born indie publisher Little Otsu’s high-style stationery shop is a study in Luddite perfection—from blank notebooks and planners adorned with pineapples and winsome pine trees to beautifully illustrated kids books and wrapping paper pretty enough to give as a gift itself.
A fetchingly austere clutch of “useful and beautiful things,” Orn Hansen is an equally good spot to acquire indie Euro, Japanese, and American men’s and women’s clothing (Edwardian-inspired camisoles to vintage 1930s-era varsity sweaters), as well as the odd bit of sand-toned pottery or brass and steel shears. Let the window-shopping/Instagramming begin.
Buy, sell, trade, or consign at this upscale clothing resale store for kids and maternity. The staff is serious about accepting only the highest-quality gently worn items—think current fashions from Hanna Andersson, Gymboree, Pumpkin Patch, and Patagonia; they’ll also give the thumbs up to handmade and vintage pieces, as long as they are in pristine condition. Moms-to-be can meet the needs of their expanding bellies in affordable fashion thanks to labels like Mimi Maternity, Japanese Weekend, and Olian. Piccolina also buys and sells gently used cloth diapers and wraps, books, toys, strollers, high chairs, carriers, slings, cribs, and bedding.
There are adult stores, and then there’s Portland’s own female- and queer-friendly sex toy boutique—a chic trove of eye-popping tomes, paraben-free lubes, and a rainbow of high-end vibrators and dildos overseen by a crew of frank, enthusiastic staffers who are down to help you discover, well, whatever works for you—BDSM gear to exercisers that are like vaginal Fitbits. Bonus: the shop’s private group store tours are the best educational titillation in town.
Forget musty and cluttered: This clean, organized women’s vintage clothing boutique looks more like the chic ladies’ dress shops of yore—which may be why it has regular customers who stop by every week to hang out and dish about fashion. Owner/style maven Liz Gross firmly believes that whatever is currently in vogue is based on pieces that have been done before. So despite the older labels, everything feels up-to-date. Imagine a 1950s fitted silk floral-print bombshell dress, or the perfect little black 1960s cocktail dress—something Audrey Hepburn herself might have worn—each handpicked by Gross. Très haute. The space is also home to appointment-only designer and vintage bridal boutique the English Dept., which sells some of the city’s most unique wedding frocks.
Epic Vegan and Vegetarian Restaurant Map
/Check out the map: https://pdx.eater.com/maps/best-portland-vegan-and-vegetarian-restaurants-cafes-map
Can't a vegan go out for a nice meal? You certainly can in Portland, because the city's best vegan and vegetarian restaurants spotlight vegetables and grains with style — so much so that this map gives preference to spots serving one hundred percent vegetarian menus.
The latest map update was vital, as a wave of new vegetarian restaurants hit Portland in 2017, and it adds newcomers Aviv, Virtuous Pie, Off the Griddle, Back to Eden Bakery Cafe, Doe Donuts, and No Bones Beach Club. Kati Thai earned a feature, for chef Renoo Jansala's dedication to traditional Thai dishes, as well as vegetarian Chinese spot Yuan Su Vegetarian, and the Homegrown Smoker listing has been updated to reflect its new location. Exiting with the latest update are Associated, A.N.D. Cafe, Native Bowl, Papa G's, Conquistador, The Bye and Bye, Vita Cafe, Petunia's Pies & Pastries, and Wolf & Bear's.
Portland Naked Bike Ride→
/Check out the photos from this year's bike ride
http://www.wweek.com/bikes/2017/06/25/butts-balls-and-boobs-photos-from-the-2017-world-naked-bike-ride/
Traveling To Portland with Kids
/Welcome to Portland! We’re so glad you’ve decided to come to this magical land of coffee, donuts and beer.
Of course, Portland isn’t limited to these more adult-inclined treats. (Yes, including donuts in there. Wait until you try them.) It’s also filled with kid-friendly fun. We’ve got family -friendly museums, playgrounds, music, nature explorations, restaurants, and more.
We’ve gathered together some of our tried-and-true favorites here. Take a look, and above all else – have fun!
There’s a reason there are tried-and-true spots that visitors like to take their kids: they’re great! We’ve got the best-known and best-loved spots to take your family here, whether you want to explore, relax, or chow down.
For the tourist who likes to travel like a local. Here’s where you’ll find the local parents with their kids. From nature walks to our favorite coffee shops, you’ll find them here.
No matter how well-behaved your children are, we all know how stressful it can be to go out to eat with kids–especially when dining out in a different place. No need to worry at these kid-friendly restaurants. You’ll find friendly staff, understanding customers, and–of course–delicious food!
What’s a trip to a new city without visiting a local museum or two? Portland’s got lots of them, and they are world-class. You’ll find more than just the standards here–we’ve got the slightly weird too. (Vacuum museum, anyone?)
Portland has more than 10,000 acres of parks–so there’s plenty of places to blow off some kid energy. But which one to choose? From crazy spider-web like structures to natural play areas, these are some of the best playgrounds around.
There’s something to do every day of the year here in Portland! From festivals to farms to arts & crafts and yoga, you’re sure to find something that will fit your family’s needs.
21 Vital Restaurants on SE Division/Clinton
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Where to eat in Portland’s #1 food neighborhood
The Southeast Division Street and Clinton Street neighborhood is one of Portland’s most formative food neighborhoods — a culinary enclave fronted by iconic restaurants like Pok Pok, Ava Gene’s, and Bollywood Theater. It’s where adventurous chefs and eaters joined forces in the 2000s to make little-known street foods a citywide sensation, and often, it’s where true flavors are born before being repackaged and sent to Portland’s West Side.
You could easily spend days perusing the array of restaurants and bars — not to mention the food carts. This map, featuring everything from breakfast and brunch to dive bars, will get you started. Just remember to save some room for ice cream.
Check out the link in Portland Monthly Magazine: https://pdx.eater.com/maps/se-division-best-restaurants-portland
The Portland Japanese Garden Gets a Gorgeous Upgrade
/Superstar architect Kengo Kuma is behind the $33.5 million expansion, which elevates our city’s garden to rival those of Japan.
The Portland Japanese Garden—a go-to destination since 1967—now greets visitors with intensely aromatic Port Orford cedar and a broad, sloping roof. A few steps into the new welcome center, a zigzagging maze of granite boulders funnels water from high up in the shrouded hill above, topped with a castle wall and traditional teahouse.
This is the Cultural Village, the centerpiece of the garden’s $33.5 million recent expansion designed by superstar architect Kengo Kuma. Kuma—whose projects include the Shanghai Tower in China and an in-progress national stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—upgraded Portland’s garden to rival those of Japan.
“The gardens in Japan are just gardens, with no additional features,” he says. “They are not beautiful, and they are very small. This is the new model for future gardens in Japan.”
Six decades ago Portland became a sister city of Sapporo, Japan, stoking widespread interest in Japanese culture and an eventual mayoral decision to build a traditional Japanese garden in the city. The project opened on the site of the former Washington Park Zoo, comprising five separate garden spaces on five and a half acres. Until recently, despite annual visitor counts skyrocketing to more than 300,000, the garden had seen few additions. Landing Kuma to oversee the makeover launched in 2015 was an architectural (and PR) coup for a treasured but arguably sleepy local institution.
The new Japanese tea café, Umami, teeters daringly on stilted foundations near the edge of the hill. (It has sister locations in Tokyo and Paris, also designed by Kuma.) The teahouse will serve an array of green tea varietals—from genmaicha to matcha and organic sencha—and locally baked goods. The new Jordan Schnitzer Japanese Arts Learning Center is accessible by a ring of sliding screen doors slatted with thin strips of cedar, each spaced at differing intervals that Kuma himself measured to the millimeter, to give the appearance of a floating, living roof. Inside, thick, solid slabs of white oak also seem suspended in air as they ascend the new learning center—framed by yet more lineated pieces of cedar, hinged to walls like fossilized rain.
“The buildings are important,” Kuma says, “but the spaces between are sometimes more important than the buildings themselves.”
Do not miss a visit to the Columbia River Gorge
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The Gorge
PDX Urban Barn Guesthouse in the Build Small, Live Large ADU Tour
/A tour for people interested in learning more about ADUs and meeting
the homeowners, builders, and designers who built them.
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**The next city-wide ADU tour is scheduled for September 9th and 10th, 2017**
More information will be posted about the tour by May, 2017. https://accessorydwellings.org/adu_tour/
38 Essential Portland Restaurants
/http://pdx.eater.com/maps/best-portland-restaurants-38
It's time to update the Eater 38, the list of highly elite restaurants that define what it means to eat in Portland. The Eater 38 encompasses the entire city, spans myriad cuisines, and collectively satisfies all of your restaurant needs, whether you're looking to drop serious cash or to magically transform a few bucks into a meal.
As happens every three months, a few places must depart and a few restaurants must be added to the 38; here they are with a brief explanation of why:
- Kayo's Ramen Bar makes the list for leading the current ramen-splosion, and Biwa steps down after its recent change in venue and narrowed focus on omakase (the new Biwa is really new, which puts it on the current heatmap)
- Likewise, Chef Naoko leaves the list for the moment, after its beautiful expansion, as it dials in its new seasonal bento offerings
- The Appalachian supper club Mae joins the 38 for many obvious reasons centering on that fried chicken
- And Davenport makes its return to the list for veteran chef Kevin Gibson's upscale small plates, while Clyde Common steps down. Gibson is a pioneer in farmer-driven cuisine in Portland and the Pacific Northwest
A recent update brought a big shake-up, and the list now only includes one restaurant by any one owner, chef, or restaurant group, for the most part. Additionally, it highlights outstanding restaurants in a variety of dining genres, whether Mexican restaurants, Pacific Northwest cooking, or sandwiches. Finally, because many Portland restaurants are opening further away from city center, the Eater 38 includes restaurants across the city's many neighborhoods.
Renewable Power Savings from the Guesthouses
/Our eco buildings' electric utility participate in PGE's Renewable program including Green Source, Green Future Solar, Clean Wind and Habitat Support. Our 2016 renewable power purchase of 6,926 kWh helped prevent 10,498 of CO2 entering the air. That translates to 11,714 miles not driven. We're pretty proud of that.
PDX Eco Cottage featured in People Mag's online Home & Travel
/"Design lovers will appreciate that this adorable and colorful home on offer from TripAdvisorRentals, took home the award for best small house in the 2014 Sunset magazine Small Space, Big Dreams contest. Foodies, will appreciate it's location, nestled near Portland’s restaurant row, Division Street. You’ll have to resist making yourself a little too at home and moving in for good."
The Days are Getting Longer
/The sun is lasting longer as we move toward spring and the Urban Barn has a sweet private patio that we hope will get a lot of use when the warming continues. We've had a number of families with small children and women's retreat getaways enjoy their stay at the Barn. We're hoping to hear if there's anything we can do to make a stay even more comfortable. Please comment here if you have any thoughts.
Comfort Food
/Portland Monthly has come out with a piece on comfort food from Mac and Cheese to modern xurros to some of the best ramen in the world! With damp and cold weather upon us, these hit the mark.
https://www.pdxmonthly.com/videos/2017/2/7/video-8-portland-comfort-food-classics-to-devour-right-now
We're up and running
/PDX Urban Barn was a vision in owner Susan's mind after creating PDX Eco Cottage in 2013. The idea of a self sufficient and fully stocked private vacation rental in, what is considered, Portland's most interesting and culinary-rich neighborhoods, inner SE Portland, right in the middle of Hawthorne St., Division St. and Clinton St was finalized with the completion of the Barn in fall of 2016. Architect Jack Barnes - http://www.jackbarnesarchitect.com/ - designed two compact and unique environmentally sustainable ADUs (auxiliary dwelling units) using up to date industry standards for energy efficiency, durable design, minimized toxicity and economic sustainability.
The Urban Barn was inspired by the 121 year old actual barn that was replaced. The scale and decaying beauty of that barn, longtime a neighborhood wonder since it was barely standing after much neglect was used in the design of the new structure. Susan is mindful of the 'McMansions' that have replaced the older homes in Portland and wanted a building that was in homage to the original and scaled to fit in with the area.
Each ADU can be used individually or together by a group or families to explore the neighborhood offerings including restaurants, food carts, bars and pubs, parks and museums and music venues like the Aladdin Theater.