Portland’s best comfort food pampers the homesick heart | When you’re far away from home, feeling stuck in an unfamiliar place, food is an easy way to find solace. Sometimes just sitting in a warm, bustling restaurant where the waitress calls you “sweetie” before serving you a steaming vat of mashed potatoes and meatloaf can give you the strength to carry on—or at least put you in a food coma until you feel better. When you need a pick-me-up, try these Portland comfort food staples.
Cookin’ up comfort
Portland’s best comfort food pampers the homesick heart
Photo by Miles Sanguinetti
Cheesy consolation:Nothing beats a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese when you’re down in the dumps. If the first one doesn’t work, just eat another bowl.
When you’re far away from home, feeling stuck in an unfamiliar place, food is an easy way to find solace. Sometimes just sitting in a warm, bustling restaurant where the waitress calls you “sweetie” before serving you a steaming vat of mashed potatoes and meatloaf can give you the strength to carry on—or at least put you in a food coma until you feel better. When you need a pick-me-up, try these Portland comfort food staples.
Screen Door
2337 E Burnside St.
While dinner here is amazing, brunch is even better. Three breasts of crispy fried chicken atop a sweet potato waffle with maple syrup will ease a broken heart. Rum-infused bananas on Foster French toast will soothe your soul. You’ll walk away from Screen Door full, happy and ready to climb back into bed to sleep away the day and dream of a warm Southern bayou.
Mac! Mac & Cheesery
3936 N Mississippi St.
Sometimes there’s no better cure for homesickness than gorging on a giant bowl of macaroni ’n’ cheese just like your mom used to make. But this isn’t your mom’s mac—it’s better. There’s truffle mac for more discerning palates, vegan mac for the herbivores and grandma’s mac for the lost little kid in you (this one has pieces of cut-up hot dog in the mix). And for 50 cents, you can make any mac dish into a burrito—need I say more?
Southland Whiskey Kitchen
1422 NW 23rd Ave.
If you only order one thing at Southland—which I find difficult—make sure it has a side of mashed potatoes. The consistency is so thick and creamy you’ll wish you could lie down in it and make a snow angel. Then eat it. This new, authentic barbecue joint is spicing up Northwest 23rd with its smoked meats, homemade sauces, grits and sweet potato pie. Streetcar accessible.
Besaw’s
2301 NW Savier St.
Besaw’s features homestyle cooking that mixes classic
American with old-fashioned Southern. Their burgers drip succulent spiced meat juice down your fingers with every bite and the omelets are stuffed like pinatas with thick-sliced bacon or avocado. On icy days, nothing beats their steel-cut oatmeal smothered in hazelnuts, brown sugar and honey butter. They also offer a “$6 steal” menu for the financially strapped. Streetcar accessible.
Stepping Stone Cafe
2390 NW Quimby St.
Great any time of day, Stepping Stone Cafe offers manhole-sized pancakes, moist buttermilk biscuits the size of softballs and juicy meatloaf. The atmosphere is 1950s diner with attitude, decorated for Christmas at all times and run by hipsters you’ll actually want to befriend. Streetcar accessible.
Podnah’s Pit
1625 NE Killingsworth St.
Frito pie. All-meat chili. Banana pudding. These are the things you’re supposed to eat before and after you stuff yourself with spare ribs, pulled pork and brisket that’s been smoked for 10 hours. And each of these comes complete with two sides, like collard greens or potato salad. My advice: Wear elastic pants.
