Quick Hits: People's Pig

When we moved to Northeast Portland it wasn't unusual to have our sleep interrupted by the occasional spurt of gunfire. It wasn't coming from our street, but close enough, within a quarter mile or so, to keep me awake through the inevitable sirens that would follow. Mississippi, Williams and Alberta were streets best avoided after dusk, not just because they were lined with derelict buildings, but the nightlife they attracted back then was of a distinctly shadowy variety.

Fried chicken sandwich, mac salad.

That's all changed now, of course; our sleep is much more likely to be interrupted by a dog barking at the neighbor's cat or a passing squirrel. The derelict buildings have been repopulated with trendy shops and bars, or torn down altogether to make giant condo developments. Expensive city bikes have replaced the broken-down cars that used to cruise the avenues.

The Tropicana was one of the businesses left over from those early days, a neighborhood soul food restaurant and barbecue joint owned by 90-year-old Lula Parker that had survived from a time when the neighborhood was a bustling commercial center full of African American-owned businesses. Most were razed in the building of Memorial Coliseum in the late 1950s and the expansion of Emanuel Hospital in the early 1960s, a land grab which decimated the vibrant community and displaced residents. (See an excellent visual history of the neighborhood by Portland historian Thomas Robinson.)

Last year Ms. Parker decided to retire from the business she'd owned for more than 55 years. Which was fortunate for Cliff Allen, who'd been looking for a brick-and-mortar location for his People's Pig. They came to an agreement on the condition that he wouldn't change the interior. Not that he'd want to, mind you, since its simple counter and row of booths are wrapped around a behemoth brick smoker that Allen says can smoke 300 to 400 pounds of meat at a time.

Allen also isn't the type to need some fancy designers to zhoosh his vibe. Like the food he crafts, he likes to keep it simple: deeply smoked fried chicken, smoked pork shoulder and ribs served on parchment paper-lined trays, either piled high (the "plate" version) or almost contained in a hearty roll. Sides are also basic and equally crave-worthy, featuring macaroni salad, potato salad, beans and a slaw. Prices? Also reasonable. The sandwich, for eight bucks, comes with one side, the plate, ten bucks with two sides.

The fact that it's walking distance from our house? I'd say the neighborhood just took another major turn toward the positive.

Details: The People's Pig, 3217 N Williams Ave. 503-347-2357.

Quick Hits: Dime Store

Really great Chinese food. A brewpub with a menu that ventures beyond pizza, burgers and fried food. An East Coast-style diner. All in short supply in food-mad PDX. But the diner, that fixture of Americana with stools lining a counter and booths predominating over tables, may have just reappeared on a moribund corner of downtown.

Formerly Leo's Non-Smoking Coffee Shop and before that a series of greasier-than-greasy spoon luncheonettes parked behind the Central Library on SW 11th and Taylor, it was bought and reimagined as a "finer diner" by Dayna McErlean, she of the revitalized corner of NE 30th and Killingsworth's Nonna, DOC and Yakuza.

Hiring the whiz-bang wunderkind Claire Miller, known from her magical touch in the kitchen at Ben Meyer's Grain & Gristle, to run the kitchen at Dime Store was a stroke of genius. Claire, if she'd been born a few decades earlier, would perfectly fit the bill as the sassy proprietor of a classic 50s diner, cigarette dangling from her lip, slinging hash and bon mots at her regulars while feeding them food their mothers would approve of.

Though smoking has gone out of fashion (thank heavens), Claire's menu couldn't be more of a throwback to the days where everything in your favorite diner was handmade from quality ingredients. Breakfast is chock-full of items like granola, flapjacks, home fries and biscuits. Lunch features a meat loaf sandwich to die for, a burger of house-ground beef and a selection of desserts that look like they came from your grandmother's kitchen.

Portland hasn't seen a place like this since the days of yore when the late, lamented Shakers Café took the nascent and as-yet-unbranded Pearl by storm. Let's hope that Dime Store gets the same attention, because this classic is worth keeping.

Details: Dime Store, 837 SW 11th. 503-228-1866.

Quick Hits: Oso Market

In case you hadn't noticed, the latest thing on Portland's dining scene isn't spherification—using sodium alginate and calcium chloride to make balls of flavored liquid—or making bacon-flavored ice cream or even adding a surcharge to your tab to provide health care for a restaurant's employees (as worthy a cause as that is). Walk into a recently opened eatery in this town, particularly one that caters to a younger demographic, and you'll find shelves stocked not with the usual logo-ed t-shirts and shot glasses, but wines, beers and foodstuffs.

Luce opened with one wall loaded with hand-picked Italian dry goods. Laurelhurst Market boasted a full-blown butcher shop and deli sandwiches. Old Salt Marketplace integrated a meat case stocked with pork, chicken and aged grass-fed beef, along with house-made sausages and charcuterie into its whole animal meat program, as well as offering packages of the flours, beans and other products from local farms used on its menus.

Oso Market is just the latest bistro showcasing this trend, with wines, beers, ciders, honey, cheeses and bread stocked along two walls of its wood-raftered space at the east end of the Morrison bridge. Light pours in from the large windows on Southeast Grand Avenue and stop sign-red metal chairs glow against the clean, neutral-toned walls. But of course it's the food, served on mix-and-match vintage plates, that make this place worth checking out.

After a couple of lunch visits, along with a thumbs-up review of their by-the-glass wine pours from my brother, I'm ready to put this spot on my regulars list, especially after Sasha Davies decided to pull the plug on lunch at Cyril's (sob) my most recent mid-day go-to. Reasonably priced, with super-fresh seasonal offerings like sardines, wild boar brats and beautifully composed salads populating its menus, it's open for lunch, happy hour, casual dinners and weekend brunches.

Details: Oso Market and Bar, 726 SE Grand Ave. 503-232-6400.

Quick Hits: Grassa, Ha & VL, Stone Cliff Inn

When it comes to meeting up with a friend for lunch, those of us on the east side of the river have endless choices in a panoply of cuisines, from American barbecue to Mexican tacos to African stews to Cuban sandwiches. And you can pretty much name your price point, from cheap to très cher. Downtown is another story altogether—in numbers, variety and cost—if you want to sit at an inside table in a heated room, and the past few weeks have been so unseasonably cold that those were pretty much required attributes.

Grassa's Aglia Olio.

So when a friend who works at PSU wanted to meet during her limited lunch hour, I suggested Grassa, Rick Gencarelli's pasta emporium on the upper side of downtown, an area recently bestowed with the tony-sounding title "West End." Walking in, some neck-craning is required to read the ceiling-to-floor blackboard menu before you step up to the register to place your order. Then you're given a number and directed to the long, shared counter-height tables and stools or the bar facing the kitchen.

We opted for two plates of the house-made pasta, and within 15 minutes they were placed before us. My squid ink pasta "Aglia Olio" was a basic pangratatto, the pasta beautifully black and tossed with olive oil, garlic, chiles, romano and crunchy toasted breadcrumbs. My companion's "Gigli"—lamb bolognese, pecorino and a sprinkling of fried mint—broke the comfort-o-meter with its warm, luscious combination of pasta and fatty meat sauce. At eight and eleven dollars, respectively, these were well worth the price, and we could have split a salad for not much more. Plus we were finished in time for a leisurely cappucino at Heart a half-block away.

Details: Grassa, 1205 SW Washington St. 503-241-1133.

* * *

The day after my friend Hank Shaw's incredible booksigning/dinner at St. Jack where chef Aaron Barnett blew the roof off the building with his ducky prowess, we decided to take it easy and have a restorative lunch at what I consider the finest pho palace in PDX, Ha & VL. This postage stamp of a place has been known to run out of soup late in the morning, so I was somewhat nervous walking in a little closer to noon than I like. Plus Hank's home town of Sacramento has some of the best Asian restaurants of anyplace in California, which cannot, sadly, be said of Portland.

Ha Luu, maestress of pho.

I needn't have worried on either count. Since proprietor Ha Luu has started making two soups a day rather than just one, we were able to get a bowl of each. Mine was the Phnom Penh special, a perfectly balanced bowl of broth, noodle and bits of pork and seafood that makes me crave Luu's soups on a regular basis. Hank's pho ga (chicken soup for you non-pho speakers) was equally amazing, and he proclaimed that the pho here was as good as any he could get in his home town.

Details: Ha & VL, 2738 SE 82nd Ave., #102. 503-772-0103.

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The Stone Cliff Inn is one of those places that takes you by surprise. First off, it's a giant Doug fir-timbered lodge set high on a cliff overlooking the Clackamas River outside of Carver. It was built by the son of a local logging family, the Rosenbaums, on the site of a rock quarry, the rock from which was used to line the steep driveway and which forms the foundation of the lodge.

Inside you can sit in the vaulted dining room in front of the giant stone fireplace (left) or at one of the many windowed tables with a spectacular view of the river. The lunch menu features a decent middle-of-the-road selection of salads and sandwiches, but on it is also a very good and  plate of fish and chips with a hefty helping of fish, a decent cole slaw and some of the best sweet potato fries I've had in town.

If you're looking for a destination after a weekend drive in the country, this would be a fun place to go, or to take your Aunt Tilly for a nice lunch and a glass of wine. I'm interested in heading back when the deck is open and I can sit looking out on that great view with a cold beer to go along with those sweet potato fries.

Details: Stone Cliff Inn, 17900 S. Clackamas River Dr., Oregon City. 503-631-7900.

Quick Hits: Xico, Angel Food & Fun, Teote

I've had a yen, an itch, a yearning lately for Mexican food, the real stuff, not a knock-off I've dreamed up to put in tacos here at home. The past couple of weeks I've had some that hits the spot.

The sign pointing the way to lunch at Kelly Myers' Xico is both functional and fun—after all, you do have to go around to the side of the building to find the window where you'll place your order. But it also spells lunch as "lunx," emphasizing the fact that Xico is pronounced "CHEE-koh" not "SHEE-koh."

Once you walk up to that window you'll find a list of several Mexican tortas, or sandwiches (pork belly torta, left), made with pork (belly or shoulder) simmered in Kelly's signature chile sauces, as well as chicken, chorizo and vegetarian versions. All feature some combination of Oaxacan cheese, red onion escabeche, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and beans layered in a light bread roll that holds up nicely to the saucy fillings, and all are incredibly delicous at under $10.

The Sonoran hot dog (top photo), however, is crazy good and a steal for $6. A Nathan's all beef frank is wrapped in bacon and grilled, then laid on a pinto bean-slathered bun, topped with the house tomatillo salsa and showers of crumbled cotija cheese, escabeche and a zigzag of crema to top it all off. Add in a hibiscus flower agua fresca or, my choice, their sublime horchata, a just-slightly-sweet-with-a-hint-of-cinnamon beverage that is ideal as a counterpoint to chile spicing, and you've got a totally awesome, not-to-be-forgotten midday meal.

Oh, and in case you thought the walk-up window means sitting on the sidewalk in the cold, you get to go through the side door and choose one of their comfy banquette tables inside. Sweet!

Details: Xico, 3715 SE Division St. 503-548-6343.

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When my friend Michel suggested checking out a new Mexican place in the 'hood, I was all for it. When she told me the name of it was Angel Food & Fun, I was a little less excited. But because Michel knows her south-of-the-border cuisines, and I subsequently read that the owner was former Bluehour sous chef Manuel Lopez, any anxiousness disappeared.

We walked in at noon straight up and found the cozy canteloupe-colored room scattered with a few simple tables, each one topped with the colorful fabric flowers you'll see at any open-air mercado in Mexico. The menus were stacked at the counter, and Manuel's wife, who also helps out in the kitchen, was happy to answer questions and make recommendations.

While the menu features the expected burritos, tacos and tamales, they're well-executed versions—handmade tortillas, well-seasoned meats and escabeche on the tacos, a grilled cheese frico rolled into the burrito and a banana leaf-wrapped tamale. But it's the authentic Yucatecan treatment that Lopez gives to the other items that makes this a stand-out place rivaling higher-priced Mexican restaurants around town.

We started with a panucho (above left), a refried tortilla spread with refried black beans and shredded chicken, then heaped with avocado, lettuce, tomato, escabeche and a slice of pickled jalapeño. The cochinita pibil (top photo) is a hearty bowl of achiote-braised pork that's been wrapped in banana leaves and braised for hours, served with a topping of pickled onions and cabbage with some of the afore-mentioned house tortillas on the side. A dish I hadn't had before was a relleno negro (above right), a stew of luscious pulled turkey meat in a recado negro, a sauce of blackened chiles and turkey broth that Lopez tops with slices of warm corn mush, comfort food of the highest order.

Seriously, the prices here are so reasonable, the executions so awesome, that it'll be hard not to go back on a regular basis on those I-don't-feel-like-cooking or need-a-fix-of-authentic-Mexican-goodness nights. The fact that it's close by is just icing on the cake.

Details: Angel Food and Fun, 5135 NE 60th Ave. 503-287-7909.

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Arepa: (Spanish pronunciation: [aˈɾepa]) a flatbread made of ground maize dough or cooked flour prominent in the cuisine of Colombia and Venezuela. It is eaten daily in those countries and can be served with various accompaniments such as cheese (cuajada), avocado, jelly or jam or (especially in Venezuela) split and used to make sandwiches. - from Wikipedia

Called an "areparia," Teote specializes in this classic street food of Venezuela with a distinctly NW twist—it's also gluten-free, which means that carbs are of the rice, corn, beans and plantain persuasion. Its wildly south-of-the-border, technicolor-meets-barn wood ambience is owner Michael Kennett's brick-and-mortar expansion of his Fuego de Lotus food cart that he's branding a "Latin American street food experience"that "curate[s] a menu of exciting cross-cultural flavors and epicurean delights."

Regardless of the marketing buzzwords, the food here is luscious, the plates loaded and very reasonably priced. My pernil, pork roasted in a Morita chile sauce, was a thick slice of deliciously seasoned meat served with kale salad, rice, verde sauce, queso-sprinkled black beans and plantains. The arepa, which I've never had before so have nothing to compare it to, was crispy on the outside but a bit heavy and bland inside, though it did complement the rest of the plate.

An interesting new cuisine, great prices and loads of food? Makes a good lunchtime stop for me!

Details: Teote, 1615 SE 12th Ave. 971-888-5281.

Quick Hits: Sen Yai, Alberta St. Pub, Reister Farms

"Sen Yai specializes in Kuaytiaw, the noodle dishes of Thailand. Kuaytiaw is eaten at all times of the day; as a late night snack, economical dinner, a quick lunch on the run, even for breakfast."

True to the Pok Pok ethos and like his other local eateries, Andy Ricker's brand new Sen Yai Noodles is packed with native vibe and lots of hard-to-pronounce items on the menu. To be clear, in my book that is a reason to run in, rather than away from, a restaurant.

Roasted peanuts.

I also broke one of my cardinal rules when I visited, which is to give a new place a couple of months to work out kinks, settle in and get a groove going. But when the lovely and massively talented Ivy Manning called with an invite to check it out for lunch, how could I say no? Lots of other folks had the identical urge that day, and while there were plenty of seats available when we got there, within a few minutes every tiny table in the place was taken, with a line snaking out the door.

Boat noodles.

Ivy's been to Thailand and knows its cuisine quite intimately, so I let her do the ordering. We started with the house-roasted red peanuts, which came as a small stapled packet containing the aforementioned peanuts along with lime leaf, chiles and salt…a crunchy, delicious teaser. Traditional Kuaytiaw Reua or "boat noodles" were a big hit, rice noodles in a complex, richly aromatic dark broth, three preparations of beef and "water spinach" (ipomoea aquatica) as well as dry-roasted chiles, herbs and bean sprouts.

For noodle-heads this is a must-try and, though prices aren't cheap, the preparations are terrific.

Details: Sen Yai Noodles, 3384 SE Division. 503-236-3573.

* * *

Once again I broke the "don't go to a just-opened restaurant" rule when I decided to head up the hill to the just-opened Alberta Street Pub with the inimitable, estimable talents of Kevin Sandri (Garden State and Burgatroyd food carts) in the kitchen. I knew he'd been perfecting the stalwarts of any pub menu, a standout burger and fabulous fish'n'chips, and I wanted to stop in to both support him and check out the progress of his efforts.

Boiled peanuts.

Along with my two favorite testers, my husband Dave and our son, both Sandri fanatics, we got the only three seats left in the bar, which was packed due to a crowd waiting to attend an evening concert in the attached performance space. Sandri and his crew were handling the opening week pressure with aplomb, though, since our beverages and food orders popped out of the kitchen without delay.

We started with the boiled peanuts, a treat Sandri came across while driving through North Portland, spotting a guy selling them on a corner. Immediately smitten, he'd been obsessively working on perfecting this Southern specialty for the menu. In their shells and soaking in a dark, salty broth, they were amazing, a soft, messy, delicious counterpart to the roasted peanuts I'd had at Sen Yai (see above).

Strawberry hand pie.

Even with Sandri's mad skills at hand, I was nervous about the fish'n'chips, having been disappointed at so many other places, but one look at the plate when it arrived and my fears were erased. Three good-sized pieces of delicately battered, perfectly cooked cod were resting comfortably on a pile of crispy hot fries, sided by a slightly sweet tarragon and dill-inflected tartar sauce. And it goes without saying that the porchetta sandwich, pork shoulder and belly with salsa verde, mayo and arugula, was sublime given Sandri's sterling meat cred.

We even sprang for the Whiffies fried hand pie filled with local strawberries, a treat I'll be remembering for a long, long time. I can only hope that Mr. Sandri decides to stay in this kitchen for an equally long, long time.

Details: Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta St. 503-284-7665.

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More meat is good meat in my book, especially when it comes from animals pasture-raised on a small family farm. Which is what drew me to the awning at the Buckman Farmers Market with a hand-lettered blackboard that read "Reister Farms." Well, that and the fact that I'd just run into Mark Doxtader of Tastebud, who was eagerly devouring a lamb kielbasa dog featured on that same blackboard. So with the attitude that if Mark likes it, I probably will, too, I wandered over.

The dog, grilled before my eyes à la Foreman, was a hefty length of lamb innovatively wrapped in a pretzel roll from Fressen Artisan Bakery and smothered in fresh sauerkraut.  The salty sturdiness of the roll was a great foil for the lamb and sauerkraut, and held together till the very last bite, a good test of any hot dog bun worthy of the name.

I'm looking forward to getting to know more about the Reisters, who hail from Washougal, and their farm. In the meantime I'll be sampling their dogs and whatever other wares they're featuring the next time I'm at the market.

Details: Reister Farms products can be found at the Buckman Farmers Market on Thursdays from 3-7 pm, at SE 20th & Salmon between SE Belmont and SE Hawthorne in the parking lot of Hinson Baptist Church.

Quick Hits: Raven & Rose, Mirakutei, Clemente's

In recent years there's been a dearth of great places to have lunch downtown, with most of the hot lunch action taking place on the east side of the river. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, since that's my side of town, but when there are friends on the west side with prescribed lunch hours, it'd be nice to have someplace decent to drop into.

Perfect celery root soup with lardons, chive blossoms.

Fortunately for downtowners, there's more than just Clyde Common and Higgins for a nice-to-fancy spot for a business lunch, a meet-up with your auntie or just a soup-and-sando with a friend. And since it's located in one of downtown's oldest buildings, a former stable for city father William Ladd's horses, Raven and Rose provides plenty of fodder (ha!) for conversation.

Rabbit Caesar salad.

Open less than six months, R&R's menu offerings, under the direction of Exec Chef David Padberg, are coming along nicely, with the intimate dining room opening for lunch just a week ago. Lunch revolves around a selection of soups and salads, a few sandwiches and a sampling of larger plates with staples like fish and chips, shepherd's pie, a couple of seafood options and a pasta dish that are augmented with Padberg's stable of seasonal vegetables and greens along with herbs from his prodigious garden.

Rhubarb phosphate.

The rabbit Caesar I ordered was spot-on, the rabbit, sourced from a small local farm, braised to fall-apart perfection and shredded over a bed of tender local greens. My friend's black cod was similar to the version found on the dinner menu, roasted and placed on top of cannelini beans, chard stems, celery and wild mushrooms. I couldn't resist ordering a rhubarb phosphate, though I was tempted by the anise spritzer that was also on the non-alcoholic beverage list. There is, of course, a complete menu of fully-leaded cocktails, wine and beer available, but I like the seasonal sodas that Padberg and Dave Shenaut, R&R's bar director, are developing, a category that isn't often found on PDX bev menus.

Next time I'm going for the fish and chips, since I'm obsessed with finding a decent representative of that most quintessential pub grub, and the burgers and fries ordered by other patrons looked luscious. Comfortable and clubby inside, with outdoor tables ringing the building on sunny days, this is a nice place to spend even a short lunch hour.

Details: Raven & Rose, 1331 SW Broadway. 503-222-7673.

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It can be said, without equivocating in the least, that I adore sushi and its riceless cousin, sashimi. They would be my choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner if it was possible. Though I'm married to someone who, while he enjoys it on occasion, is just not as cuckoo as I am for these articles of Japanese cuisine, which means lunches are a good time to head out for a fix.

There are several good places to experience this food in Portland, though it's slow going getting around to them due to the (mostly justifiably) pricey tabs that can be run up sampling this and that. Mirakutei, just over the bridge from downtown on East Burnside, is a little hole-in-the-wall spot to do just that.

It's built its reputation on ramen, but I found both the sushi and sashimi to be moderately priced and cleanly made, with super-fresh fish that was beautifully and simply presented. Well worth checking out, especially on week days.

Details: Mirakutei, 536 E Burnside St. 503-467-7501.

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Tables of steam trays, racks of meat under heat lamps and baskets and bowls heaped with pastries and out-of-season fruit have always puzzled me as a solution to a holiday breakfast. Maybe it's that Grannie and Uncle Henry and the nieces and nephews can all find at least one thing in the pile they'll like, but, really?

Clemente's.

Call us fogies, but we rarely go out for a traditional brunch or even for breakfast, preferring to sit and sip our coffee, read the paper and maybe have toast or an omelet, all in the comfort of our jammies and slippers. So on Mother's Day, when the males in the household said we were going to go on a road trip dubbed the Magical Mother's Day Mystery Tour, especially when it was mentioned that the dogs would be coming with us, I was in.

A terrific Bloody Mary.

Without a blindfold, it was pretty obvious when we hit Highway 30 that we were heading for the beach, so when we pulled into Astoria around one-ish I was more than ready to fill the gaping hole that had opened up since toast and coffee earlier that morning. Fortunately, we pulled up in front of Clemente's, the refreshing addition to Astoria's previously moribund dining scene, a place where seasonal and local rule and ingredients are treated with knowledge and respect.

Supremely satisfying crab Caesar.

It was a casual, order-off-the-menu brunch-or-lunch scene with not a steam table in sight, and I exercised my mother's privilege of ordering a Bloody Mary made with house mix and home pickles, followed by a half dozen local oysters. They needed just a couple of drops of lemon before being consumed, and then my crab Caesar arrived with a pile of Dungeness smiling up at me from the plate. Though Dave hit the jackpot with his seafood-alicious cioppino (top photo), crammed with salmon, oysters, scallops and crab. Other than a puzzling spoonful of quinoa on one side of my salad, it was a particularly satisfying way to celebrate the holiday, especially since it was followed by a romp on the beach and a (for me) sleepy ride home.

Details: Clemente's, 1198 Commercial St., Astoria. 503-325-1067.

Quick Hits: Lunching on the Go

There are some things it takes me an embarrassingly long time to get around to. Like learning how to roast a chicken. Or, perhaps more surprisingly, trying and subsequently falling in love with bourbon. I'd heard a lot about Rick Gencarelli and his Lardo food cart, but it took until he'd opened not one, but two, brick-and-mortar outlets for me to get in there. The focus, of course, is meat, mostly of the porcine variety, in all its wondrous incarnations: smoked, ground, grilled, braised and fried. There are a couple of vegetarian sandwiches, a few salads, a long tap beer list. (Word is, Gencarelli's planning on simplifying the menu and making it into a chain operation.)

From my visit to their Hawthorne location with the big tent on the corner for even-in-the-rain outdoor dining, that could be a truly great idea. My pork meatball banh mi, with its juicy ground pork balls and vinegar-and-fish-sauce-infused veggies topped by cilantro was a pile of porkyliciousness, and the smoked coppa cubano was a big mouthful of hell yes. Fries tossed with herbs and parmesan were of the could-be-crisper but perfectly decent persuasion. And prices were in the low to moderate range, meaning right around ten bucks for lunch (without beer). For the quality you're getting, that's a steal.

Details: Lardo Eastside, 1212 SE Hawthorne. 503-234-7786.

* * *

Tacos, to me, are the perfect street food, best consumed standing up outside where the juices and, occasionally, some of the contents can trickle onto the ground. Ideally, that would be on a sandy beach in Mexico or from a market stand in the city with people and scooters hustling by loaded down with what will become the day's meals.

Here in Portland we have to take into account what the rain would do to those tacos, so we must compromise on the outdoor aspect on occasion. But the bright, cheery interior of Uno Mas makes that a pleasure, especially with the handmade corn tortillas and authentic fillings and sauces of Oswaldo Bibiano's latest Mexican eatery.

Cheap at $2 each for the "tradicional" (meat) and "vegetal" (veg/cheese) versions and $3.75 for the seafood-laden, these little flavor bombs are priced to mix and match at will. There are also steamed tacos, which I'd never had, small tortillas filled, folded in half, then steamed, that were kind of like mini pupusas. Bibiano himself was in there the day I visited, looking happy with his new baby. As well he should.

Details: Uno Mas Taquiza, 2337 NE Glisan St. 503-208-2764.

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One of the absolute best perks of being a writer is the opportunity to meet and get to know people I might never have had the chance to talk to in my normal life. One of those was an interview with Tina and David Bergen (below left) owners of the landmark restaurant Tina's in Dundee, for last year's spring wine guide in the Oregonian.

So when a friend suggested a field trip out to wine country for lunch and tastings, I hinted that it might be fun to stop at Tina's to check out their spring menu. Lovely and warm but unpretentious, it has to be one of my favorite outside-of-Portland spots, with a dedication to local ingredients—and by local I mean within a mile or two—and letting those ingredients speak for themselves rather than be drowned out by execution.

For example, the fried oysters (right) were simply battered and briefly fried, leaving their fresh brininess still intact, and with a light sorrel mayonnaise that accented, rather than buried, their sweetness. The day's spring pea soup was like tasting a pea shelled right in the garden, and the risotto with asparagus and duck confit was probably one of the best risottos I've ever had, period.

Prices, as you might expect, aren't cheap, but for a special day out in the country in spring, you won't find better, more beautifully prepared ingredients anywhere, or more lovely people.

Details: Tina's, 760 Hwy 99W, Dundee. 503-538-8880.

Photo of David and Tina Bergen by Beth Nakamura for the Oregonian.

Quick Hits: Clyde Common, Theory, Relish

Whether you call it luncheon or lunchin', Clyde Common is a downtown gem where business guys in suits (Are there really still offices where suits and ties are de rigeur?) settle in at the large common tables next to hipsters with short-sleeved plaid shirts and flapped hunting caps. The menu offers something for everyone, from simple salads of seasonal greens to big meaty sandwiches with house-made condiments to hearty entrées and hand-made pastas.

I was there for a casual ladies' lunch with a good friend, the only downside to the whole experience coming as the place filled up and the volume increased with it. That began the ever-escalating upward slope of noise, where, to be heard, everyone starts talking louder, etc., etc. Not to get off on an cranky rant, I'll just note that it's best to go when it's not crowded if you need to catch up with an old friend. The upside, of course, was that the food was terrific, particularly my squash and ricotta agnolotti in a luscious cream sauce sprinkled with candied walnuts. Heaven! Also, we weren't in a particular hurry, so eventually the business guys had to get back to the office and the hipsters migrated to the Stumptown outlet next door for their afternoon caffeine fix, leaving us to comfortably finish our conversation.

Details: Clyde Common, 1014 SW Stark St. 503-228-3333.

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If you have kids or you're meeting a friend for lunch who does, it's a natural. But even adults needing a quick, fairly inexpensive noontime meal are going to find it a desirable option, particularly since every seat in the house has a million-dollar view of the river and downtown through the soaring walls of windows. And as soon as the weather warms up a bit and the patio opens, you'll be able to dine riverside on the patio.

Inside, it's set up like a modernist cafeteria, with stations for kid-centric comfort food like meatloaf and mac'n'cheese, another for ethnic street food, a full deli and even a gorgeous wood oven where you can build your own hand-thrown pizza. And did I mention a full pastry case and coffee bar? All of it is dedicated to serving fresh, local and sustainable food, with most dishes made to order.

So where is this paragon of modern dining, you ask? Shockingly, it's a new restaurant called Theory inside…wait for it…OMSI, the city's science museum-cum-kid heaven. Run by the forward-looking, award-winning Bon Appétit food service that's been revolutionizing so-called institutional food for years and overseen by executive chef Ryan Morgan, they've even got a full bar and tap list and are set to start regular happy hour service soon. Count me in for a cocktail on the patio when the sun comes out again.

Details: Theory, 1945 SE Water Ave. 503-797-4000.

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The McMenamin brothers proved that Portlanders will go just about anyplace for a burger and a beer, opening pubs in somewhat unconventional locations like, say, an elementary school, the county poor house, even a funeral home.

Now the Moreland neighborhood has its own version of Portlandia-style quirk in the form of the recently opened Relish Gastropub, located in the former Wilhelm's funeral home building. It had been converted into a now-closed music club before being bought by Marla and Akhil Kapoor, who wanted to open a neighborhood-friendly, reasonably-priced place to serve fresh, local and seasonal cuisine (like their sturgeon-mussel stew, above*). A recent stop at their bar featured a surprisingly extensive and well-curated tap list, a wide selection of wines by the glass and a tempting range of cocktails. Dining rooms are intimate, and happy hour had several small plates that were promising. Be sure to ask to see the elevator they're using to haul the kegs up from storage, which used to be the casket elevator.

Details: Relish Gastropub, 6637 SE Milwaukie Ave. 503-208-3442.

* Photo of Relish sturgeon-mussel stew from their blog.