Portland’s 40 best inexpensive restaurants

Last month’s semifinalist announcement for the 2020 James Beard Awards arrived with a pleasant surprise: Ha VL, Southeast 82nd Avenue’s nearly 16-year-old Vietnamese soup specialists, had made the long list, not just for a regional award, but for national Outstanding Restaurant honors, where it is pitted against prominent restaurants from San Francisco to Chicago to New York.

Until now, Portland’s reputation as a food city has revolved around the city’s most talked-about — and, often, most expensive — restaurants. But locals know it’s the cheaper places that keep the city fueled up day-to-day: the downtown taqueria with the exceptional happy hour, the suburban sandwich shop where prices haven’t budged much in a decade, the pizzeria that doesn’t take a slice of your paycheck with every slice of pie.

In the roundup below, you’ll find us celebrating the less expensive restaurants that mean the most to us, from burger barns to dumpling destinations to hot dog huts and everything in between. For this exercise, we set a hard cap: Only real-deal restaurants where mains average $13 or less were considered. No food carts. No ghost kitchens. No steakhouses or sushi restaurants where the prices were exceptionally low for the category, but bills still creep to $60 and up for two.

So if you’re looking to eat out this year without breaking your budget, look no further than these top 40 inexpensive restaurants in Portland.

Apna Chat Bhavan

Found at the side of one of Portland’s larger Indian markets, Apna Chat Bhavan feels a bit like a college cafeteria in Mumbai, with its hungry crowds — many drawn from Intel and Washington County’s other large employers — gathered for a seriously inexpensive lunch. As they would be at the nearby India Sweets & Spices, a less crowded market/restaurant hybrid, most people are here for the curries ($8-$13), the biryani ($8-$13) and the filling daily thali, a big plate loaded with crackling chapati and softer paratha meant for scooping or dipping into a half-dozen sauces, soups and curries (your choice of either strictly vegetarian, $9, or a veg-meat mix, $10). Leaving without at least a glance at the cardamom-scented sweets in the impressive dessert case would be a mistake.

1815 N.W. 169th Place, #6020, Beaverton; 503-718-7841; apnachatbhavan.com

Spicy fried chicken at Old Town/Chinatown’s BaesMichael Russell/Staff

Baes

Old Town’s surprisingly glam fried-chicken spot is something of a comeback story, coming as it does from Micah Camden, the local fast-food co-founder behind Boxer Ramen and SuperDeluxe whose Son of a Biscuit lasted less than two years on Southeast Division Street. Where that fried chicken restaurant struggled, Baes excels, with bone-in birds served “traditional” or “hot” (two-piece dark, $8; half chicken, $17). The spicy version, though relatively tame on a first visit, now comes wrapped in a cloak of blood-red cayenne sewn with salt crystals, a magic shell of spice that shatters on the first bite. After years of “Nashville hot” pretenders, Baes’ spicy version is the first in Portland to attain a legitimate, lunch-slowing heat. Crunchy waffle fries ($4) and a piña colada slushie ($4; add $3 for a shot of rum) help with the sting. Could a second location be far behind?

225 S.W. Ash St., baeschicken.com

Beaverton Sub Station

As it puffs along toward its fourth decade, this train-themed little sandwich shop that could satisfies the biggest of hungers on the smallest of budgets in Old Town Beaverton. As Portlanders get used to spending $14 for bread-wrapped meat at chef-driven sandwich shops, Beaverton Sub Station is one of the few places left in town where you can pay $6 for a generous six-inch sub on a fluffy brown roll filled with turkey, salami or ham, cheese, mayo, mustard, shredded lettuce and tomato. (This is the place to pay the proper respect to the famed teriyaki chicken subs at the Lloyd District’s venerable Taste Tickler). If you visit Beaverton Sub Station, consider forking over $2 for a copy of The Oregonian from the box out front, $3.75 for a milkshake, and who knows? You might leave happier than you were when you walked in.

12448 S.W. Broadway, Beaverton; 503-641-7827; beavertonsubstation.com

Bernstein’s Bagels at 816 N. Russell St.Mark Graves/Staff

Bernstein’s Bagels

If you happen to be the mayor of New York City, claiming you prefer your bagels toasted (especially from a shop that doesn’t own a toaster) is enough to get you skewered in the press. In Portland, where rounds of doughy bread often pass for bagels, toasting is more than forgivable — it’s a necessity. Bernstein’s Bagels is the exception. This upstart bagel shop boils and bakes bagels fresh each day from one half of Albina’s former Mint/820 space. Those bagels ($2 each) are exactly what you’re looking for — crackly crust, chewy innards, still warm in the bag if you time your visit right. The bagel lineup sticks to the classics, with plain, salt, garlic, everything and a pumpernickel (the latter now served seven days a week). The fun comes with the cream cheese ($5 plain; $6 flavored), which might include a schmear blended with Mama Lil’s peppers or a super-charged garlic special.

816 N. Russell St., bernsteinsbagels.com

Big’s Chicken

Big’s Chicken, the smoked chicken shack that lived fast and died young in its original Northeast Portland location before making it big in Beaverton, returned to the Rose City last year with a second location less than 10 blocks from the Northeast Glisan Street original. The roadhouse restaurant, closed by fire in 2017 near the height of its popularity, seems to have grown in confidence since heading for the ‘burbs, adding a cheeseburger and a simple fried chicken alongside the superior smoked and grilled version. Each style is improved by Big’s tangy Alabama-style white sauce. Whole grilled birds are $19.95. Add $13 to make it family style, with a big salad and your choice of two sides, including crispy JoJos, dirty rice, griddled corn cakes or fried mac and cheese bites ($3.25-$5.45 a la carte).

4606 N.E. Glisan St., 971-255-0358; 4570 S.W. Watson Ave., Beaverton; 503-747-3190; bigschicken.com

Binh Minh Sandwiches

Technically, it was Binh Minh’s old “Store #2,” found in an out-of-the-way stretch of Northeast Broadway near a hair salon, pot shop and Vietnamese supermarket, that won our blind banh mi taste test in 2018. But that shop, which only narrowly beat out the mothership, has new owners and a new name (TM Banh Mi). And so we head to Powell Boulevard, where the original restaurant and bakery still sells its airy baguettes to many of the better Vietnamese restaurants in town (yes, including TM). There are savory pastries on the front counter, and the menu holds noodle soups, a chicken curry ($8) and a good beef stew ($8) served with Binh Minh’s bread. But most people are here for the sandwiches. Now $4, aka still wildly inexpensive, Binh Minh’s sandwiches shine with the right ratio of meat to herbs to crusty bread. It’s the banh mi you want a newbie to try, and the one you’ll crave when you return from a trip to Vietnam.

7821 S.E. Powell Blvd., 503-777-2245

Bun Bo Hue Restaurant

Are there better bowls of bun bo Hue in Portland? Maybe. Ha VL has a good one. And if you’re unfamiliar with the soup, you might prefer the clean flavors at Portland’s other bun bo Hue-focused restaurant, Teo. But there’s something about the signature soup of Hue in Central Vietnam that just feels right here at this unassuming Southeast 82nd Avenue shop. So head to this edge-of-Lents restaurant for its cheery, mismatched decor and Portland’s most famous “BBH” ($10 small/$12 large), a bowl of spicy beef broth filled with pork loaf slices, congealed blood cubes and a bouquet-sized garnish of rau ram, banana blossom, bean sprouts and lime.

7002 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-771-1141, bunbohuerestaurant.business.site

Burger Stevens took over the kitchen and walk-up window at Southeast Portland’s Dig a Pony bar in 2018.Dave Killen/Staff

Burger Stevens

Burger Stevens opened its first food cart in the shadow of Wilson High School in 2016. And just about ever since, at least when pressed, we’ve pointed to their golden-griddled bun, melted American cheese and savory chuck-brisket blend when pressed for our favorite burger in town. But wait, you cry, I thought you said this list was food-cart free?! Correct (and thanks for reading so carefully). In the summer of 2018, Burger Stevens took over the kitchen at Dig a Pony, a late-night hipster hangout at the east end of the Morrison Bridge. Here, owner Don Salamone brought in his excellent burger ($7), a good fried chicken sandwich ($8) and plenty of sides, including roasted broccoli ($7) fast-food style fries ($5) and creamy elbow mac and cheese with lots of bread crumbs ($6). Yes, it might be more of a restaurant residency than a proper brick-and-mortar, but there is a full bar.

736 S.E. Grand Ave., 971-279-4409, burgerstevens.com (Burger Stevens also runs a cart at Pioneer Square)

Cedo’s Falafel & Gyros

It’s not that most Portland restaurants are bad at making falafel. It’s more that the market is squeezed, with food carts on one end — remember, this list is for restaurants, not carts — and sit-down (mostly Lebanese) Middle Eastern restaurants on the other. After the 2018 closure of ChickPeaDX, we’ve found ourselves haunting Cedo’s, a charming Palestinian restaurant with frizzy fried falafel balls made pungent by plentiful garlic. They’re good in a combo plate with clean-tasting baba ghanouj and creamy hummus ($14). But the pro move is to ask for that falafel — or the shaved gyro meat — as a sandwich, where it comes with a salad’s worth of good mixed greens and cucumber drenched in tangy tzatziki, with a relishy hot sauce served on the side ($10; plus $2 to add tabbouleh, Jerusalem-style). Cedo’s doesn’t serve shawarma, but among Portland’s inexpensive Middle Eastern restaurants, this is the sandwich to beat.

3901 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-719-7344, cedosfalafelandgyros.com

Checkerboard Pizza

When this Pine Street Market counter opened as Trifecta Annex in 2016, it was a convenient spot to pick up good bread and creative pastries from James Beard Award-winning cookbook author and baker Ken Forkish. Three years and a name change later, Checkerboard now serves Ken’s Artisan Bakery pastries and bread — Trifecta closed at the end of 2019 — alongside Portland’s best pizza by the slice. Forkish, who also owns the wood-fired Ken’s Artisan Pizza, serves a very New York-style pie in a half-dozen daily varieties here, including a cheeseless tomato pie and a seasonal option or two. The plain slice ($3.50) shows off a thin, crunchy crust sturdy enough to hold the lightly applied sauce and cheese. Take a moment to enjoy the crust. It’s all you need to know that this pizza comes from a master baker.

126 S.W. Second Ave., 503-299-2000, checkerboardpdx.com

Chennai Masala

By night, it’s one of the top Indian restaurants in the metro area. By day, it’s one of the best values, period. Some of the restaurant’s famed versions of Southern Indian classics make their way onto the $11 buffet, including a nicely spiced sambar, the crunchy fried chiles called cut mirchi (not as spicy as advertised) and the sand dollar-sized uttapam, the dosa batter pancakes stacked in their tray like so many flapjacks at a free hotel breakfast. If you see it, the vegetarian jalfrezi is very good, as is the paneer and mushroom curry, and the golden raisin-specked rice pudding kheer offered for dessert. You can pair each with plain basmati or a minty pudina rice. Best of all, aside from a trio of Indian buffet standards — excellent tandoori chicken, a merely decent chicken tikka masala and soft naan — several of the options change day-to-day.

2088 N.E. Stucki Ave., 503-531-9500, chennaimasala.net

Bacon, eggs and crispy hashbrowns at Dockside Saloon & Restaurant.Michael Russell/Staff

Dockside Saloon & Restaurant

Dockside, a nautically themed Northwest Portland lounge all but swallowed up by Pearl District creep, might be best known these days for its role in the downfall of Oregon figure skating legend Tonya Harding – garbage found dumped behind the restaurant indicated that Harding, despite earlier denials, knew of and helped plan the attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan. Another claim to fame? The golden hash browns that come with half the meals on the bridge-themed breakfast menu, as crispy as any in town. Dockside’s prices have crept up substantially slower than the multistory buildings loom overhead. One thick buttermilk pancake and a pair of sausage links or bacon strips will set you back $5.95. The Hawthorne Bridge ($12.45) is a full meal of meat, eggs, toast and that thin and crunchy raft of shredded potato. This is the Portland dive bar breakfast, perfected.

2047 N.W. Front Ave., 503-241-6433, docksidesaloon.com

Du Kuh Bee

With its skinny dining room, late hours and kitchen overflowing with more cabbage heads than a guillotine test during the French revolution, Du Kuh Bee is the wellspring for much of what Portland knows about hand-pulled noodles. Originally owned and operated by Frank Fong and Ying Jun Gao of Frank’s Noodle House fame, the true hole-in-the-wall (if ever there was one) still draws lines deep into the night on Fridays and Saturdays for its Chinese-style hand-pulled noodles tossed in Korean-style gochujang spice ($9-$15). When we ranked Portland’s top hand-pulled noodle restaurants last year, Du Kuh Bee came in second, behind Happy Valley’s Noodle Man. But this is the only place on that list that serves “Seoul soul” cheese back ribs, a half-dozen bone-in pork ribs drenched in sweet gochujang sauce resting in a skillet of molten mozzarella meant for spinning around the meat.

12590 S.W. First St., Beaverton; 503-643-5388

Du’s Grill

The signature Korean-American teriyaki joint of the Pacific Northwest, name-checked by Portland rapper Aminé, Du’s is beloved by all walks of life, from students to cops to construction workers to the pizza place that called in a swap — one pizza for seven orders of chicken teriyaki — just as we got to the front of the line last month (we forgive you). All those people, plus a small fleet of delivery drivers, squeeze themselves into a squat building with suspect parking on Northeast Sandy Boulevard each weekday (a Hillsboro location opened in 2018). Tune in to the kitchen to hear as many as three languages ringing out while you wait for your tofu yakisoba ($9, fine), chip-thin teriyaki beef ($11.50, surprisingly addictive) or juicy chicken teriyaki ($9.75), with chopped chicken thighs, white rice and crisp iceberg lettuce dressed in a pitch-perfect lemon-miso-poppyseed dressing. Each oversized plate or clamshell container holds enough, dear reader, for two.

5365 N.E. Sandy Blvd., Portland, 503-284-1773 and 1249 N.W. 185th Ave, Hillsboro; 503-746-7373; dusgrill.com

A combo meal with injera, the tangy Ethiopian flatbread, at Enat Kitchen.Beth Nakamura/Staff

Enat Kitchen

One of Portland’s best Ethiopian restaurants, Enat Kitchen sits inside a shallow storefront decorated with travel posters from Harar and Addis Ababa just a few blocks from Portland Community College’s Cascade campus. The wildly well priced buffet is gone, as is lunch service entirely, but you can still sit at the red-and-silver booths and scoop up individual wats or tibs using torn-off pieces of injera, the tangy, teff-based flatbread served both underneath the stews and in individual rolls. Bring friends or family to split a combo platter, with your choice of dishes including split peas, spiced beef or crispy pieces of fish. A family of four eats well here for $30 or less.

300 N. Killingsworth St., 503-285-4867, enat-kitchen.mxstorefront.com

Fermenter

This plant-based luncheonette debuted last year with a $23 three-course meal served to a four-seat chef’s counter just three days a week. It was intriguing enough to land Fermenter on our guide to Portland’s best new restaurants. But longtime Portland chef Aaron Adams, who founded Fermenter’s upscale sister restaurant Farm Spirit in this same space (it’s now around the corner), soon learned he wasn’t a fan of turning people away. So the restaurant turned into a full-time deli, with probiotic beverages on tap ($4.50) and meat- and dairy-free sandwiches and bowls ($8-$12), the best of which are built around Fermenter’s earthy house-made black bean tempeh. Packed with protein, yet made with skill, this is perfect food for the food-loving vegan powerlifter in your life.

1414 S.E. Morrison St. fermenterpdx.com

Fried Egg I’m in Love

Until another contender emerges, this pun-happy Southeast Hawthorne restaurant remains Portland’s signature breakfast sandwich shop. Bright and smartly designed, from the graphics on the menu to the layout of the high tables to the tempting T-shirts on the wall, Fried Egg I’m In Love serves over-medium egg sandwiches on well-toasted sourdough from Portland French Bakery. The Yolko Ono ($7.50) has a schmear of fresh pesto, grated Parmesan and a juicy sausage patty. The flat-packed ’Rito Suave breakfast burrito ($9.50) has scrambled eggs, a choice of meat (vegan available), flecks of avocado and fresh pico de gallo. It’s fine on its own, but the black-belt move is to throw one of the McDonalds-style hash brown patties ($2) into the mix.

3549 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 503-610-3447, friedegglove.com (Fried Egg I’m in Love also runs carts at Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown and Prost Marketplace in North Portland)

Fuller’s Coffee Shop

Praise Fuller’s, the best of Portland’s classic diners, with its meandering M-shaped counter that encourages conversation, its plain silverware laid out on paper napkins and its neon clock. From its corner perch at the Pearl District’s southeastern border, Fuller’s serves an all-day breakfast with French toast made with house-made bread ($8), cheesy omelets with hashbrowns and toast ($9.75) and hearty plates of corned beef hash ($10.75), each large enough, if you pace yourself, to leave leftovers. At lunch, regulars perch on low, swiveling stools, hands clasped around double decker cheeseburgers (a hard-to-beat $5.45) that drip melted American cheese from their sesame seed buns.

136 N.W. Ninth Ave., 503-222-5608, fullerscoffeeshop.com

Giraffe

Portland’s Japanese convenience store-style sandwich scene has gotten surprisingly crowded since a pair of Biwa vets opened this small market inside inner Southeast Portland’s eclectic Cargo store (the latest, Tokyo Sando, a food cart near Portland State University, serves nothing but). But this is still the best place to come for those pre-wrapped pork katsu ($6.50) and orange-yolked egg salad ($5.50) sandwiches, especially earlier in the day, when the fluffy milk bread from Beaverton’s great Oyatsupan bakery remains fresh and that fried pork retains its optimal crunch. Scan the deli case for filling bento boxes with fried chicken karaage ($10) or yakiniku beef ($12), Oyatsupan’s famed Panko-flecked and curry-stuffed kare pan footballs and a pantry that includes everything from real-deal Kewpie mayo to hard-to-find bottles of Niigata sake.

81 S.E. Yamhill St., 503-449-8346, giraffegoods.com

Pasta maker Pilar Chavez can be seen through the window at Southeast Portland’s new Grassa.Brooke Herbert/Staff

Grassa

The latest trend at America’s high-end pasta restaurants? Try temperature-controlled pasta rolling stations encased in glass at the center of their gorgeous dining rooms. Southeast Hawthorne’s new Grassa, which opened last year in a new space just up the road from sister restaurant Lardo, doesn’t have a beautifully tiled pasta lab ala Santa Monica’s Felix. But like its scratch-made menu, the new Grassa does offer its own, less expensive take of one, with pasta sheeters and other equipment visible from the sidewalk. In the recent past, we’ve used this space to highlight the elegant build-your-own pastas at Northwest Portland’s Justa Pasta. But let’s send you to that Southeast Portland Grassa this year, where you might just find chef Rick Gencarelli helping his team turn out tasty $11 bowls of rigatoni with meaty Sunday pork ragu and bucatini carbonara with squeaky cubes of pancetta and a fried egg.

1375 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. (also 1205 S.W. Washington St. and 1506 N.W. 23rd Ave.), 971-407-3090, grassapdx.com

Ha VL

Portland’s best-known Vietnamese soup restaurant, which was named a semifinalist in the James Beard Awards’ Outstanding Restaurant category for the first time this year, has never really stopped evolving. When it opened in 2004, William Vuong and Christina (Ha) Luu, immigrants reunited with their family here after years of separation following the Vietnam War, started with a basic banh mi menu. Eventually, Luu introduced a noodle soup, then two, then a dozen, with a pair of options served each day, six days a week. Even now, under son Peter Vuong — William and Christina can still be found at Foster-Powell sister restaurant Rose VL — Ha VL continues to experiment, adding a seafood-passion fruit soup on Thursdays and a hearty beef stew on Wednesdays (most $11-$12). Saturdays are still the best day to visit, when Ha VL rolls out its peppery pork ball soup and spicy bun bo Hue while Rose VL serves its bright orange mi quang noodles, turmeric-laced chicken curry and a subtly sweet pork-noodle dish called cao lau.

Ha: 2738 S.E. 82nd Ave. #102, 503-772-0103. Rose: 6424 S.E. Powell Blvd., 503-206-4344

Helvetia Tavern

At some point, every Portland burger lover must make the pilgrimage to Helvetia Tavern, a rustic restaurant and bar — with minors allowed in the dining room or on the expansive patio — in a downright pastoral setting a few miles north of U.S. 26. There’s not much to think about. Grab a seat underneath ceilings pinned with several generations’ worth of ball caps and order a cheeseburger ($7.25), with its thin patty, cheddar cheese and special sauce, plus an order of onion rings ($5.50/$8.95), french fries ($4.50/$6.25). (At $11.25, the signature jumbo burger might not be as jumbo as you remember it.) With Stanich’s out of the picture, Helvetia Tavern now reigns as the Portland area’s most important classic burger barn.

10275 N.W. Helvetia Road, Helvetia; 503-647-5286

The hats were first hung to cover up the ceiling, and have since come to be a unique quirk for Helvetia Tavern.
Jamie Hale/Staff

HK Cafe

The main lesson we learned visiting every dim sum parlor in the metro area? Arrive early. If you get there late, you risk running into steamer baskets of gummy shrimp dumplings or clammy chicken feet. Case in point: HK Cafe, one of Portland’s busiest restaurants most Saturdays and Sundays, when the waiting crowd plays musical chairs with the seats lining the windows. Visit at 10 a.m. on a Sunday, and you’re setting yourself up for some formidable forcemeat, with juicy dumplings, fresh beef and shrimp noodle wraps and shiny golden barbecue pork buns served three or four to an order for $4 or so. Part of the appeal here is the show: Go with the kids, and you might find a man stripped down to his shirtsleeves forming balloon animals tableside.

4410 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-771-8866

Kargi Gogo

This former food cart, which took over the pocket-sized former Big Egg space two years ago, specializes in a handful of staples from the country of Georgia, executed with love and lots of orange wine. Among the staples is an egg-topped acharuli khachapuri ($12) that’s sure to draw camera phones out of pockets, plus a basic imeruli version ($8) that does a fine job highlighting the melted farmhouse cheese. Khinkali, the fat, nobby pouches of lamb or minced beef and pork in broth (three for $8-$10) are a distant relative to Shanghai-style soup dumplings, and are meant to be similarly nibbled and slurped before eating. Note for parents: With its cheesy breads and dumplings, even the pickiest of eaters should find something to like.

3039 N.E. Alberta St., 503-764-9552, kargigogo.com

Loncheria Mitzil

Eating at this homestyle Mexican restaurant feels a bit like eating at your own family’s dinner table. Found just up the hill from Oregon City’s downtown, meals here can begin with made-to-order guacamole ($6.95) or the gently fried, potato-stuffed corn turnovers called molotes ($10.95). Keep an eye out for the traditional specials including pork cooked in green salsa or a big carnitas plate rounded out with fluffy white rice, refried beans and a trio of warm and pliable tortillas. Other low-cost options include the quesadillas ($5.75), small burritos (or “burros,” three for $6.75) and Cuban-ish tortas packed with pork, ham and American cheese ($4.75-$5.25).

212 Molalla Ave., Oregon City; 503-655-7197

Love Belizean is located at 1503 S.W. Broadway.Stephanie Yao Long/Staff

Love Belizean

For those looking to eat well on a budget anywhere near Portland State University, knowing about Love Belizean is like a secret password. Tiffany Love’s restaurant, which started life as a food cart, specializes in this garlic- and achiote-rubbed chicken roasted until the meat turns tender and the skin turns a gorgeous shade of brown. Each beautiful piece ($8) comes with beans, coconut rice, Caribbean salsa, arugula salad, fresh lime and your pick from a rainbow of Marie Sharp’s Belizean hot sauces. Obsessed with the chicken, I was slow to find the tri tip ($10) and the beer-braised pork ($12), but now each is firmly in the rotation.

1503 S.W. Broadway, 503-421-5599

Master Kong

The menu at Master Kong mostly hails from two regions: Tianjin, the port city near Beijing where chef-owner Kang Zhu worked for more than a decade, and Taishan, the much smaller city west of Hong Kong where he and his family were born. Both sides of Master Kong’s menu have their merits. From Taishan comes a silky congee floating with ghostly grains of rice ($7.50) and a rich wonton soup with fresh noodles, an almost buttery broth and pork-shrimp-mushroom dumplings with thin skin wrapped tighter than Spanx ($7.50). Tianjin adds goubuli, steamed buns that resemble rustic xiaolongbao ($7.50). Handmade dumplings ($6.50) and pot stickers ($7.50) are excellent. Note: In addition to Master Kong, Zhu owns Pot N Spicy, a dry Sichuan hot pot and skewer restaurant in the same restaurant Southeast 82nd Avenue complex as Teo Bun Bo Hue that’s also wildly inexpensive and worth your time.

8435 S.E. Division St., 971-373-8248

Nick’s Famous Coney Island’s “Old Fashioned” hot dog.Beth Nakamura/Staff

Nick’s Famous Coney Island

It’s easy to love Nick’s, with its friendly bartenders, old-school ambiance and decor little touched by the decades — news photos in the back, including a few of disgraced former Oregon governor Neil Goldschmidt, reveal that Nick’s was once the Portland political scene’s answer to the Iowa State Fair. Changes are to be made gently here, if at all. Last year, when new owners took over the joint, they paid homage to longtime owner Frank Nudo by leaving things mostly as they were, with one smart exception: The old commodity coneys are gone. In their place, the great, nearly foot-long frankfurters from Olympia Provisions, either unadorned ($6) or with a variety of toppings, including a now-pleasantly bright coney sauce ($8). And depending on where you are on your statin prescription, you might consider the cheesy dog egg rolls ($7), a deep-fried, hot dog and cheddar-stuffed egg roll that is exactly as decadent as it sounds.

3746 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 503-235-3008

Nong’s Khao Man Gai

The sign is right there on the wall: No reserving chicken skins. Not even for you Rihanna. And yes, RiRi, you want those fried skins ($2), which add a satisfying crunch to the dish that turned this former food cart into a sensation. Now with two brick-and-mortar locations, the restaurant still specializes in khao man gai ($11), the ambrosial chicken and jasmine rice combo credited to the southern Chinese island of Hainan but popular throughout the region, including in owner Nong Ponnsukwattana’s native Thailand. If you only have time to visit one location, make it the Southeast Portland shop, which offers cocktails and desserts, including a lemongrass- and pandan-flavored coconut milk soft serve that you can order dipped in roasted coconut shavings ($4) or as an affogato drowned in Stumptown coffee or Thai iced tea ($6).

609 S.E. Ankeny St., 503-740-2907; 417 S.W. 13th Ave., 503-208-2402; khaomangai.com

Otto’s Sausage Kitchen

There are few Portland traditions more sacred than a family trip to Otto’s, when Southeast Woodstock Boulevard fills with a sweet smoky smell rising from the grill out front of this Alpine-themed deli. You’ll find pork links and beer sausages, but since you’re here on a budget, ask for an old-fashioned weiner ($4), a sublimely juicy hot dog with subtle smokiness and the perfect snap. Round out the meal with a scoop of salad from the deli counter, a soda from the fridge or one of the good beers poured on draft. Winner winner hot dog dinner.

4138 S.E. Woodstock Blvd., 503-771-6714, ottossausage.com

Papi Chulo’s is at 611 N.W. 13th Ave. Mark Graves/Staff

Papi Chulo’s

For those who work in or around the Pearl District, Papi Chulo’s opening was greeted with equal parts joy and incredulity. You mean to tell me there’s a new taqueria with big plates of nachos for $5, impressively stuffed burritos for $6 and a pair of cheesy birria dorados with consomme for $7? And they have margaritas? And the food is actually good? Well, the rumors were more or less true (prices have inched up a buck or two since opening day). Yes, you get what you pay for with the nachos. But those Tijuana-style birria tacos, their tortillas filled with tender beef, lightly stained with rich consomme and laid on the flat-top grill until the cheese oozes out to create a pleasant crunch, are among the best lunch values you can find downtown.

611 N.W. 13th Ave., 503-206-6085, papichulospdx.com

Pho Nguyen

Found behind the Raleigh Hills Fred Meyer, just down the road from Jesuit High School, Pho Nguyen is a true hidden gem. Like most local Vietnamese restaurants, Pho Nguyen specializes in phở bò ($10-$12), or beef noodle soup, serving an excellent bowl that hits the table lightning fast with fatty brisket, bouncy meatballs and still-rare slices of steak, good noodles and a broth scented with clove and star anise. But it’s not the only thing they do well: On a recent visit, the bánh xèo ($13), a turmeric-stained rice batter crepe that looks like a giant eggless omelet, was as impressive as the phở, with crispy tapered edges and a juicy center stuffed with bean sprouts and shrimp.

4795 S.W. 77th Ave., Beaverton; 503-297-3389

Pho Oregon

Pho Oregon, a cavernous Vietnamese restaurant in the dip between I-84 and Madison High School, is Portland’s weekend morning workhorse, a busy restaurant with the vibe of a big-city phở house. Bowls ($11-$12) arrive quickly and piping hot, with well-cooked noodles, tender brisket and a rustic-yet-elegant broth that has a strong hint of cloves and lots of caramel flavor from the roast beef bones. The menu is long enough to reward repeat visits, including the usual over-rice (com) and over-rice noodle (bun) dishes, a spicy bun bo hue ($11.95), plus their own good banh xeo ($13.95).

2518 N.E. 82nd Ave., 503-262-8816, phooregon.net

Pure Spice

For some, rolling carts loaded with tasty delights are an essential part of the dim sum experience. If all you care about is getting the freshest possible dumplings, head to Pure Spice, which cooks their dim sum favorites ($3.35-$3.95) to order. Though the restaurant changed ownership in 2018, pork siu mai and shrimp har gow still arrive in their baskets, piping hot, while fried, meat-stuffed seaweed-and-chive wraps stays crisp under a teaspoon of chili oil. In the afternoon, Cantonese classics appear, including an excellent salted fish and duck fried rice. But go in the morning to find Portland’s best dim sum. Who needs carts, anyway?

2446 S.E. 87th Ave., Suite 101; 503-772-1808; purespicerestaurant.com

Reel M Inn

Beloved by Portlanders of all stripes, this unassuming dive serves Portland’s most famous fried chicken and jojos (just ask Lady Gaga, who visited the bar while recording in Portland in 2017). A wait is all but guaranteed, but there’s good news: The friendly bartenders will use a pencil and paper to sketch out how much room is left in the next batch they plan to drop in the pressure-sealed broaster, or perhaps in the batch after that (around $12 for a four-piece basket). Go during a Blazers game and your food should show up right around Lillard Time.

2430 S.E. Division St., 503-231-3880

A pepperoni slice at Scottie’s Pizza Parlor on Southeast Division Street in Portland.Beth Nakamura/Staff

Scottie’s Pizza Parlor

Want to see a restaurant outgrowing its space in real time? Visit this slender Southeast Portland pizzeria, and watch owner Scottie Rivera’s recently unionized crew turning out some of the city’s best pizza to a dining room that no longer has any tables. The restaurant, reconfigured last year to make room for making more pizza, seems to be busier than ever, with customers bird-dogging the handful of stools along the window and wall as they wait for whole pies or inexpensive slices to finish their time in the hot ovens. Cheese slices start at $3 (or $2 during happy hour) and come with an almost translucent crust dappled with pretty brown spots. The seasonal white pie with roasted radicchio, citrus gremolata and toasted almonds was pleasantly bitter. And it’s no exaggeration to say that the DeFino ($4) is among the most famous grandma slices in America. There it is on the wall, gracing the cover of trade publication Pizza Today.

2128 S.E. Division St., 971-544-7878, scottiespizzaparlor.com

Spring

Make your way down an aisle filled with dried seaweed or instant ramen, head up the wooden stairs at the left of the butcher counter and you’ll find yourself at Spring, a friendly, low-frills restaurant overlooking G Mart, the Beaverton supermarket. The specialties here are steamed mandu (dumplings, $9.95), as well as soups and stews, particularly the stainless steel bowls of naengmyeon ($12.95), a cucumber-scented beef and buckwheat noodle soup, that seem to dot every table in summertime. Each order comes with a half-dozen banchan, the small plates of mostly pickled things that can turn a simple sundubu jjigae (soft tofu stew, $11.95) into a proper feast.

3975 S.W. 114th Ave., Beaverton; 503-641-3670

Tasty Pot

If you’re the kind of person who stops at Taiwanese hot pot restaurant Boiling Pot when you’re in Seattle, you might be curious to learn about Tasty Pot. The chain, similarly based in Taiwan and serving an individual hot pot lineup, opened quietly last year less than a mile from Beaverton’s popular Little Sheep. There are straightforward soups built around spicy or curry broths, beef, lamb or lobster, and others thickened with cheese. We chose the stinky tofu, which came stuffed with cabbage, pork, quail egg, pork blood, mushroom, intestine and soft tofu with only a mild funk for $14, which is a bit higher than our budget, but included enough food to bring home leftovers. The ingredients are pre-set, meaning once you’ve settled on a flavor, the only real choice is whether to get a side of vermicelli noodles or rice (get the rice), and when to toggle the switch that controls the flame — or, in our case, extinguish it immediately.

13227 S.W. Canyon Road, Suite B, Beaverton; 503-746-6455; tastypotusa.com

Tortilleria y Tienda de Leon’s

The main attraction at this mini tortilla plant and store isn’t the hot Cheetos and other snack foods lining the aisles, or the tortilla press working overtime in the back. Instead, it’s the long deli case up front filled with guisados, or stewed meats and veggies, each bubbling in their metal trays. Order, in Spanish if you can, or by pointing through the glass toward the pork, chicken and beef simmering in a ruddy rainbow of sauces from soft green to burnt red. Each meat (most $10-$12 a pound), from the familiar pork in chile verde to the mound of bronzed pig skin, can be made into a sopping taco or an inexpensive plate with yellow rice and black or refried beans.

16223 N.E. Glisan St., 503-255-4356

The eponymous xiao long bao from XLB in North Portland.Stephanie Yao Long/Staff

XLB

When the celebrated Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung opened its first Portland-area location in Tigard at the end of 2018, we worried about what it would mean for our homegrown soup dumpling spot. In hindsight, our concern might have been pointed in the wrong direction. As Din Tai Fung struggled with consistency in the early going, XLB continued to improve, dialing in its simple sauteed greens, stir-fried noodles and namesake xiaolongbao, the broth-filled wonders of the dumpling world. Any visit to the North Portland restaurant — or its new Slabtown sister — will include a round of those broth-filled soup dumplings, though we usually can’t pass up orders of sauteed greens ($5/$9), garlic eggplant with tofu ($5/$9), five-spice popcorn shrimp ($7/$11), chili shrimp wontons ($9), beef ho fun ($12) and a refreshing glass of the Portland Soda Works lychee-lime soda ($4).

4090 N. Williams Ave., 503-841-5373; 2175 N.W. Raleigh St., 503-384-2262, xlbpdx.com

— Michael Russell

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