Places for Parents, Dates and Splurges
At first glance, it may seem crowded in the firmament of contenders for SE Portland's pre-eminent fine dining restaurant. Unfortunately most don't really stand up to scrutiny. Genoa is widely considered to have fallen from the heights of its former culinary glories, Caprial's Bistro and Castagna are overpriced and overrated, and there is a reason why Papa Haydn is known mainly for its desserts. A relatively less ostentatious establishment like Three Doors Down is no more than a perfectly good neighbourhood spot, while the popularity of the undistinguished food at the Bread and Ink Cafe has always been something of a mystery to me. Without further ado then, the top three restaurants in the vicinity of Reed are almost certainly Clarklewis, Nostrana and Lauro.
Nationally acclaimed Clarklewis offers what I deem to be the city's most consistently remarkable cuisine. The restaurant's many detractors may deride it for the conceitedness of its obstinately low-lit industrial décor, self-aggrandizing public relations, aloof wait staff, and hipster clientèle – but the food itself is never anything other than wholly honest. Rustic hearth-roasted meats and handmade pastas are unfailingly fantastic. The salads are inspired – one particular favourite is the peasant salad which pairs bitter chicories and radicchio leaves with small hunks of house-cured pancetta and parmesan slivers. (N.B. At the time of writing, Clarklewis was sadly on the verge of closure, the last outpost of what was once the much-vaunted Ripe empire. Call ahead to make sure it's still open.)
The most auspicious recent restaurant opening in the wake of the hype over Clarklewis was that of Nostrana. In a city mobbed by countless aspiring upscale Italian eateries, Nostrana's admirable striving for authenticity makes it genuinely notable. Indeed, only the excellent but over-formal (and over-priced) Giorgio's and Alba Osteria way out in Hillsdale provide any sort of competition. The pride of Nostrana's kitchen is a specially imported wood-fired oven. It lends a beautiful smoky fragrance to everything from pizzas to Chinook salmon to apple crisps. With a warm, well-spaced interior and a lovely vaulted ceiling, Nostrana is one of the most pleasant dining spaces anywhere in Portland. It's open for weekday lunch too.
Understated by contrast with Clarklewis and Nostrana, Lauro is nonetheless hugely popular with the local crowd. With no reservations taken, there's a long wait for a table during prime dining hours. Grab seats at the bar if you can. A dependably enjoyable seasonal menu flits across the Mediterranean, generally settling in the vicinity of Portugal and North Africa. Fish and seafood are terrific; one of the house specialities is a piquant appetiser of mussels and chorizo cooked in a copper dome (a cataplana). Tagines, a sensational dish but seldom seen beyond actual Moroccan restaurants, are also well prepared.
Beyond the Southeast, the best high-end eating is in the Pearl and, to a lesser extent, NW 23rd Ave. In the Pearl you'll find one of Portland's most inventive and exciting restaurants. Although Park Kitchen's quietly cerebral cooking does not always meet with success, even its misses are composed with more thoughtfulness than any other restaurant in town. When done right, the masterly fluency of the food simply rises above the competition. Take a recent dish of halibut simmered in dashi broth on a bed of kimchi, lightly lacquered with bechamel sauce: even more flummoxing than such a singular combination on the plate was its absolute harmony on the palate, making this choucroute by way of Tokyo taste perfectly plausible. Chef Scott Dolich evidently has the deft intuition for ripe experimentation; but vitally he also has sufficient humility and intelligence to let the flavor of, say, in-season asparagus speak for itself. The food never feels contrived – and neither does the gracious service and comfortable space. Small cold plates (usually featuring at least one phenomenal salad) and desserts are particularly good.
Elsewhere in the Pearl, slick and elegant Carlyle is one of a very small handful of Portland restaurants with enough hauteur for haute cuisine. With a comparable sophistication, Olea is worth a visit for their lavish “braised bacon” alone, an astonishingly unctuous slab of pork belly slowly cooked with apples and Brussels sprouts. Just about trumping both of these restaurants for bombast and lavish style is Bluehour. You can find better food elsewhere, but with its gracefully opulent dining room, it's an ideal setting for a conspicuous dinner (or drink).
Towards the west, two of the top choices in NW 23rd Ave (though both are technically on NW 21st Ave) are Wildwood and Paley's Place. My experiences with the latter have been severely disappointing: a stale and dreary seafood stew unenlivened by a bitter overdose of saffron; watery roasted bone marrow; a dry and overcooked saddle of rabbit. However, deferring to English prof/Oregonian food critic Roger Porter's esteem for the place and the unstinting praise it receives from Portland food bloggers, I'm prepared to encourage you to give it the benefit of the doubt.
By contrast, Wildwood requires no such qualification. Along with Higgins (see below), it is perhaps the archetypal Portland restaurant, making a true philosophy of the emphasis on locally sourced seasonal ingredients. Shellfish (particularly the overrated mussels) can actually be surprisingly poor but light and vegetarian dishes are typically well-prepared.
Finally, downtown is rather barren in terms of dining options. Three exceptions are Higgins, the Heathman and Carafe. The first is a Portland classic serving exemplary Pacific Northwest cuisine. If anything, their kitchen evinces greater finesse than Wildwood's (and the mussels are always fabulous). For lunch and pre-show dinners, it is handy to know about the attached bistro next door. The pared-down bistro menu is good value, giving you a chance to taste selections from the full menu at a reduced price.
A few blocks along Broadway, the Heathman provides a grander ambience and the cuisine belies any expectation of bland hotel food. While some dishes (e.g. pastas) are shaky, stick with the more classically French-influenced choices and you should enjoy a very good meal. If you're looking for unaffected and sincere French cooking, try Carafe. The neon-lit exterior always makes me cringe, but the foie gras is blissful, and the bistro is conveniently situated opposite the Keller Auditorium.
Alba Osteria & Enoteca: 6440 SW Capitol Highway $$-$$$
Bluehour: 250 NW 13th Ave $$$$
Bread and Ink Cafe: 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd $$-$$$
Caprial's Bistro: 7019 SE Milwaukie Ave $$$-$$$$
Carafe: 200 SW Market St $$-$$$
Carlyle: 1632 NW Thurman St $$$$
Castagna: 1758 SE Hawthorne Blvd $$$$ V
Clarklewis: 1001 SE Water Ave)$$$ R V
Genoa: 2832 SE Belmont St $$$$
Giorgio's: 1131 NW Hoyt St $$$-$$$$
Heathman: 1001 SW Broadway $$$-$$$$
Higgins: 1239 SW Broadway $$-$$$$ V
Lauro: 3377 SE Division St $$$ R
Nostrana: 1401 SE Morrison St $$-$$$ R
Olea: 1338 NW Hoyt St $$$-$$$$
Paley's Place: 1204 NW 21st Ave $$$-$$$$
Park Kitchen: 422 NW 8th Ave $$$-$$$$ R V
Three Doors Down: 1429 SE 37th Ave $$$
Wildwood: 1221 NW 21st Ave $$$$ V
See also: Murata and Papa Haydn.