Portland: 10 Best Places for Summer Dining

Now that summer is officially here and you’ve hopefully planned your foodcentric trip to Portland, let’s look at some places that are most conducive to fostering summer spirit. That means patios, porches, pods (as in, food pods), as well as, of course, ice cream and picnic-friendly food such as fried chicken and sandwiches.

SEE ALSO: 33 BEST RESTAURANTS IN PORTLAND

10.  Perfect Brunch: Coquine

I can’t think of many other things I’d rather be doing in Portland city proper this summer than taking a long hike, bike ride or dog walk in Mt. Tabor and then lunching, brunching or dinnering at Coquine.

Coquine is set at the top of Portland’s tiny urban mountain and adjacent neighborhood and is graced with one of Portland’s best outdoor dining patios.

One of Portland’s finest (and probably my personal favorite) restaurants, Coquine is at once sophisticated and casual, with a friendly counter service menu featuring homemade pastries, breakfast and lunch, and a sublime fixed-option dinner menu that evolves with the seasons.

One of the things I love the most apart from the food and ambiance at Coquine, is that the surrounding Mt. Tabor neighborhood is truly tranquil.

There is no parking hassle and no mob scene.  You may have to wait, but instead of hearing cars or buses, you’ll hear birds chirping.  No place better in summer to enjoy a buckwheat biscuit with house made butter.

9.  Perfect Scoop:  Fifty Licks

Fifty Licks is my favorite Portland Ice cream. They’ve got some (surprise) unusual flavors, such as Cornbread Honeybutter, Thai Rice, and Coconut Lemon Saffron, and right now I’m in love with the Chocolate As #$*& and the Blackstrap Gingersnap.

8.  Perfect Portable: Fried Egg I’m In Love

Fried Egg I’m In Love is located in a teeny food pod in a nice outdoor street corner patio at the outer edge of the beyond-funky Hawthorne neighborhood, and shares space with Tov, the nation’s only Egyptian coffee shop set inside a red double decker bus. At Fried Egg I’m In Love, order yourself a Yolko Ono, their signature dish of fried egg, homemade pesto, parmesan and a handmade sausage patty which, like all of their egg sandwiches, is sprinked with “Magic Egg Dust.” It’s so good.

Bonus: Then head next door to Tov and sit upstairs in the canopied second story and do some good people watching. Tov’s proprietor, Joe, came to the U.S. to escape Egyptian Christian persecution and he pours all of his heart, blood, love and guts into his little bus.  Go there to grab a sweet hibiscus nectar and a falafel croissant.

SEE ALSO: THE BEST PIZZA IN PORTLAND: 28 TOP PICKS

7.  Perfect Cool-Off Cone: Wailua Shave Ice

When your car registers 98 degrees in the shade, it’s time for a diet of shave ice.  Set smack in the middle of downtown Portland, and in a nice new breezeway shopping corridor off Burnside Street, you can shop for various cool goods while your eating partner holds your place in line.

The menu at Wailua is chock full of tropical fruit creations including ice with pineapple, coconut and passion fruit flavors, and if you’re wilting due to lack of proper calories because it’s too hot to eat, choose the $1 extra scoop of ice cream on the bottom of your ice mountain.  Also available are added non-dairy coconut whip, shaved toasted coconut and nutella.  I love the shave ice here because it’s light, refreshing and flavorful, and satisfies your dessert cravings without weighing you down.

6.  Perfect Patio for Portland People Watching: Spitz

Spitz is young, fun and delicious. It’s one of my favorite places to stop on the way home so we can nosh on delicious doners at home.  No cook, no clean, no complain. The décor is so Portland.  Grab a doner sandwich, some fries and hang on the patio until the sun sets.

5.  Perfect Market and Pet Watching: Ps & Qs

Ps and Qs is a humble, low key café that is also part market. It’s in a great location, far far away from the throngs of the more tourist and restaurant-heavy neighborhoods near Alberta, Division and Hawthorne streets.  Grab a grilled cheese sandwich with pear, arugula and pesto and pick up some flowers, eggs, pasta, or an old school candy bar for your home pantry.  Win win.

4.  Perfect Pan Pizza: Red Sauce Pizza

Red Sauce Pizza is in the Cully neighborhood which is home to the famous Pizza Jerk, as well as a number of other worthwhile casual establishments I’ll clue you in on real soon.  Red Sauce is a spunky group of cooks and servers, slinging awesome pies in their funky indoor space, as well as on their killer outdoor patio.  Their mighty fine rectangular pan pie on Tuesdays and Wednesdays feeds a small army.  Try the salami and hot honey pie, and try not to eat half by yourself, especially those expertly charred corners. If you’re lucky, you might also snag a loaf of wild-yeasted, naturally fermented sourdough bread that they offer from time to time.

SEE ALSO: 101 THINGS TO DO IN PORTLAND, OREGON

3.  Perfect Picnic Food: Bunk Sandwiches

Summer always conjures up sandwiches for me, and if you add fried chicken to that mix, I’m in. Summer is picnic and therefore sandwich weather.  At Bunk I’ve had four delicious sandwiches, (the Italian is one of the best sandwiches in Portland, hands down) and I can’t imagine the rest of their offerings are any less delicious.  Bonus:  the portions are generous and a half sandwich will easily fill you up.  Bonus #2: they have froze served from a slushy machine.

2.  Perfect Tableside-Made Guacamole that Stays Cold: Tamale Boy

Hit Tamale Boy up and sit on their spacious outdoor patio for tacos, tamales, at-your-table-made fresh molcajete guacamole, fun side dishes and a wildly delicious corn soup are the highlights to enjoy here this summer.

1.  Perfect Portland Weirdness: Salt and Straw

Salt and Straw is the wild child of Portland ice cream shops, where you may find such things as Ramen, Pork, Thanksgiving Stuffing and Turkey Cracklings Caramel in your ice cream. They have become so popular they’ve opened up shops in San Francisco and Los Angeles. My go-to is their Olive Oil ice cream, which tastes like salty sweet butter. Although the lines can be ridiculously long at Salt and Straw, it’s definitely worth a visit.