No Portland restaurants made it onto Esquire’s Best New Restaurants, 2008, but Beast (5425 NE 30th Ave) did garner one of the Other Awards:
MOST TOLERABLE EXAMPLE OF THE COMMUNAL-TABLE TREND.
In the regional seasonal utopia that is Portland, Oregon, the community table is exactly that: a way of gathering people for the purpose of sharing an experience. But it isn’t all peace, love, and understanding. From her open kitchen at Beast, chef Naomi Pomeroy keeps a hard line: two seatings for a six-course daily menu “based on what sounds great, right, and true”–in other words, whatever she wants to serve that night. Don’t even think about asking for substitutions.
In related news, Clyde Common‘s bar is recognized by Esquire as one of the Best Bars, but strangely they use a photo of Portland, Maine on the webpage.
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