• New Seasons supermarket. They make the best sandwiches and have an awesome deli counter. You choose your bread, meat/tofu pate, veggies, and spreads. Quality that you've never seen before. Every one will love it. Five locations and more on the way, Concordia, Orenco Station, Raleigh Hills, Sellwood, and Seven Corners on SE division.
 • The downtown core is home to a small army of Food Trailers. With less overhead than the traditional indoor restaurant, you can pick up a delicious meal on the cheap. Choose from a wide variety of ethnic foods including Indian, Mexican, and hot dogs.
 • A staple in Seattle, Taco Del Mar serves up a 2 lb. burrito for around $5. The ingredients are fresh and the staff are mostly laid-back hipsters. Try the fish taco (their namesake). Various locations around the downtown area. Better, more authentic Mexican can be found scattered about the city.
 • The Delta at 46th & SE Woodstock Street. Southern food (chicken fried steak, jambalaya, grits, etc.) on the cheap. Reed College is nearby and, as such, The Delta is often populated by vaguely poor but very interesting people. The food is excellent and in large portions.
 • El Grillo. A great dive (although recently remodeled) Mexican joint on SW Broadway between US Outdoors and Mary's Stripclub (a Portland landmark). Great fish tacos for $1.50. Butts up against Mary's, so the bathroom is in the club, and seedy characters exit the stripclub discreetly through the restaurant, making your dining experience more interesting.

Mid-range

 • Great brunch at Henry's on SE 26th and Clinton.
 • Byways Cafe, 1212 NW Glisan St. A very '50s-style diner in the middle of the trendy Pearl District, with spectacular breakfast eating and enormous portions. Get a serious blast from the past, and enjoy the food too.
 • Excellent thin-crust pizza at Pizzicato or Hot Lips Pizza. At Pizzicato try the faux-Italian options, and at Hot Lips get any of the surprisingly good veggie pizza toppings like artichoke. Pizzicato is throughout the metro area; Hot Lips is at 1909 SW 6th Ave. downtown near Portland State University and in the Pearl District at 710 NW 10th Ave.
 • For New York-style pizza, it's hard to beat Escape from New York at 622 NW 23rd., and New York, NY at 7737 SW Barbur Blvd. uptown. The restaurants are shrines to New York, unlike their chain-restaurant counterpart, Pizza Schmizza, (also quite good and spread throughout Portland). Also worth checking out are Bella Faccia at 2934 NE Alberta St. and Pizza A Go-Go at 3420 N Williams Ave.
 • Kornblatt's Delicatessen at 628 NW 23rd Ave. serves up a mean corned beef sandwich, better than most of what you'll get on the West Coast, not to mention their famous bagels. Outside tables in the summertime add to the pleasure.
 • Portland is famous for its bread, and the bakery that started it all, Pearl Bakery, anchors the Pearl District. The bread is rightly acclaimed as the best in town, and you can eat in and get a variety of sandwiches or even excellent breakfast pastries. 102 NW 9th Ave., in the Pearl District.
 • Mio Sushi, near NW 23rd St., is a great and constantly crowded place to eat sushi. It's also pretty reasonably priced. The sushi is fresh and even when crowded the service is pretty quick. 2271 NW Johnson St.

Splurge

 • Basta's Trattoria, at 410 NW 21st Ave., serves excellent Italian food in a rustic-style decor. The wine list is extensive, and the menu is long but not overwhelming. Try the ragout over rigatoni or the lamb.
 • Portofino CafféItaliano is a very small restaurant with attentive service and solid northern Italian and French Riviera cuisine. 8075 SE 13th Ave., in Sellwood.
 • Pazzo Ristorante, downtown, has both an excellent location near several movie theaters and the shopping district and solid Italian-Pacific Northwest fusion cuisine. It gets quite crowded on Friday and Saturday nights, however, so be forewarned. 621 SW Washington St.
 • For a more bistro-like atmosphere Southpark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar is located in the southwest corner of the shopping district and near a few movie theaters and the main Portland Center for the Performing Arts facilities. The food is, again, excellent Mediterranean-Italian fare with a regional seafood twist. 901 SW Salmon St.
 • McCormick and Schmick's has now expanded across the U.S., but way back when it was just four (now five) Portland fresh-seafood restaurants. They still serve fresh seafood, too, and it's excellent almost any way they prepare it. Downtown at 235 SW First Ave. (McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant), 0309 SW Montgomery St. (McCormick and Schmick's Harborside at the Marina), 401 SW 12th Ave. (Jake's Famous Crawfish), 611 SW 10th Ave. (Jake's Grill), and in Beaverton at 9945 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. (McCormick's Fish House and Bar).
 • El Gaucho, a chain with other restaurants in Seattle and Tacoma, serves what The Oregonian sometimes calls the best steak in town and has one of the darkest interiors in town. The steak and ambiance don't come cheaply, however, so be prepared. 319 SW Broadway Ave., downtown.
 • Ringside is El Gaucho's local competition, also an on-again, off-again champion of the Portland steak contest. It, too, is dark, but fully local and noisier. Expect to spend here as well. 2165 W Burnside, downtown.
 • For a more ethnic experience, Plainfields' Mayur is well-known for both good Sub continental food and good overall experience, in a big house at the edge of the West Hills. 852 SW 21st Ave., near downtown.
 • If you like dessert, Papa Haydn is the place to go. Although the entrees aren't all that impressive, sometimes there are four different lemon desserts, not to mention a plethora of chocolates of every kind, on the menu. Either at 701 NW 23rd Ave., near downtown, or 5829 SE Milwaukie Ave., in Sellwood.