The days when Portland was a national media darling, its chefs celebrated in glossy magazines, its food scene named the best in America, might be over.
Nevertheless, for locals, the food scene remains one of the best reasons to stick around.
In a March survey of 600 voters commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Portland area adults were asked a simple, open-ended question: “What two or three features of the Portland metro area do you find most appealing that encourage you to stay?”
While Portland’s outdoor attractions were the No. 1 response, 13% of respondents credited the food scene as a primary reason for sticking around, one of the most common answers after the outdoors and the weather. That figure spiked to 25% for residents of Portland’s close-in City Council District 3, which encompasses many of Portland’s best restaurants.
Given its world-class farmers markets, award-winning cocktail bars, promising pop-ups and the James Beard Foundation’s reigning pick for America’s most outstanding restaurant, it’s only surprising that the figure isn’t higher.
For Colleen Honl of Clackamas County, a major draw of living in the Portland area are the abundance of “creative and crazy good places to eat,” from “food carts to high-end restaurants with celebrated chefs.”
“You can find an amazing meal in almost any of Portland’s quirky (and charming) neighborhoods and enjoy it while people-watching from a sidewalk table or a cozy patio,” Honl wrote in response to a follow-up email. “I was sad when we lost so many old standbys and up-and-coming eateries during/after the pandemic. I was afraid it would never really recover, but I think the food scene is finally getting its footing again.”
Poll results came from a survey of 600 registered voters in the three-county Portland area conducted March 5 to March 12, with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, and a higher margin of error for subsets of respondents. It was commissioned by The Oregonian/OregonLive and conducted by Portland-based DHM Research. Survey participants were reached by telephone or text, and the demographics of respondents was tailored to be representative by age, gender, race, education, income and political party.
According to Honl, Portland stands out for the number of moderately priced or even inexpensive restaurants scattered throughout the metro area — you can eat a great meal “without making a reservation, changing your clothes, trekking across town (or having to find) parking.”
“It can be a walk or bike ride away and the atmosphere is usually friendly and fun vs pretentious,” Honl wrote, citing local favorites Nuestra Cocina and Ken’s Artisan Pizza, as well as the recent Keeper Coffee expansion in Milwaukie. “It seems like good food in many cities is often equated with high end, high-priced dining. Eating well in Portland is very accessible and is a true part of the culture here.”
Nathan Bubna agrees — “even at the nicer restaurants, you don’t have to be dressed up,” he wrote — while also highlighting the access to fresh and affordable produce and the local passion for brewing and cooking.
“This encourages and supports a creativity that L.A. or Seattle struggle to match,” Bubna writes. “It’s just that much easier to get started with your food cart dream or thin restaurant margins than elsewhere.”
For an example, look no further than Canard’s Oregon City location, not far from where Bubna lives, and their “fresh, seasonal, rotating menu where you cannot get something bad.”
For Paul Bovarnick of unincorporated Multnomah County, one of the best aspects of the local food scene is Oregonians’ shared love for “good food, good beer, good coffee and good wine and spirits.”
“When I get together with friends and family, the conversation invariably includes a discussion of some new place — from dive bars to high end restaurants — that we’ve discovered,” Bovarnick writes. “And the fact that people care about food is one of the reasons it’s so good here.”
Locals tend to have a better sense of where their food comes from, rather than just something you buy, whether that’s salmon fished from the Columbia river or cattle raised by a friend in Eastern Oregon. Some of Bovarnick’s favorite places to eat and drink include The MAC, Andina, Stepping Stone Cafe, Higgins, Urban Farmer and Le Pigeon.
“As you can tell, I love living here,” he writes. “There are things about the way we live here that I’m not crazy about, but the food and beverage that you can get in Portland is one of the things that makes this such a great place to live.”
— Michael Russell; [email protected]
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