Portland is the kind of town where everybody might not know your name, but they probably know your friend’s. Some of the clichés are true: bicycles and beards are as universal as tattoos and high-waisted shorts. Mostly, though, it’s the ingrained childlike sense of excitement that makes this town the home of America’s best food. Everyone is here to have fun. And some of them do it best.
[B]Beast[/B]
A tiny open-kitchen room that embraces each of the city’s greatest stylistic hits – chalkboard walls, a supperclub feel, communal tables – and renders them flawless. Naomi Pomeroy and her sous chef Mika Paredes work together with a balletic grace that makes what could be a high-pressure six-courser feel like a leisurely dinner at your favorite friends’ home - if your friends served foie gras bonbons and quail egg toasts.
[B]Le Pigeon [/B]
Gabriel Rucker’s open-kitchen spot that brings a new level to the word ‘intimate.’ Fighting the myth that expansion is the only way forward, Rucker just brought general manager Andy Fortgang in as partner, lending more stability and longevity to this tiny home of specials like chopped beef heart in a grilled peach or the Proustian nostalgia-inducing sundae. It’s the game hen, though, that’s the must-have: confited, cooked under a brick, with just a few little claws to remind you it once ran.
[B]Bunk Sandwiches[/B]
Named for a Wire character and as popular as that genre-defying HBO series. The sandwiches here are gargantuan, combinations of meats and cheeses and peppers and confits and salt cod and tongue and snails. They are reinventions without novelty, progress without preciousness. They are also, megalomaniacally, unforgettable.
[B]Viridian Farms[/B]
Run by a husband and wife team who really like Basque cooking and head to Spain for ‘research’ every few months, Viridian Farms is the only place to get Pimientos de Padron (everywhere on late-summer menus), Piment d’Espelette, and the alien-looking glacier lettuce. Not to mention the best and biggest blueberries—the secret is a seaweed fertilizer—around.
[B]Beaker & Flask[/B]
A Southeast Portland cocktail lounge and restaurant that opened in the dog days of August. Run by Kevin Ludwig, with the aid of just about every bartender in town, Beaker & Flask is the ultimate collection of Portland superstars, all under one chalkboard-walled roof. The happy hour menu, there to accompany the ambitious cocktails, is sometimes funny—pork rillette tater tots—and sometimes obscene—the mac and cheese doesn’t quite need that square of crumbly blood sausage.
[B]Laurelhurst Market[/B]
The latest venture founded by the Simpatica crew. Essentially a fancy bacon sammy, the pork belly sandwich layers slabs of Laurelhurst Butcher Shop’s pork belly with Pimientos de Padron and housemade aioli. It’s dark, earthy, and feels profoundly dangerous.
Amangiri resort, Utah
Read the article: Amangiri resort%A
Best Made Axes
Read the article: Best Made Axes%A
Commonwealth Utilities S/S 09 collection
Read the article: Commonwealth Utilities
BlackWhite House in Bethesda, Maryland by David Jameson Architects
Read the article: David Jameson Architects
Methow Cabin, by Eggleston Farkas Architects, Seattle
Read the article: Eggleston Farkas Architects
Hotel Erwin, Venice Beach, California
Illustration from the Monkey Bar by Barry Blitt, New York
Read the article: Monkey Bar, NYC
Interior of the Monkey Bar
My Best Fred, NYC
Read the article: My Best Fred
Neal Creek, Hood River by Paul Mckean, Oregon
Read the article: Paul Mckean, Oregon
Beaker & Flask, Portland
Read the article: Portland food
Laurelhurst Market, Portland
Bunks famous sandwiches, Portland
Le Pigeon, Portland
Viridian Farms, Portland
Installation by Johanna Grawunder in Robert at MAD, NYC
Read the article: Robert at MAD, NYC
Speakeasy - Rye NYC
Read the article: Speakeasy Rye, NYC
Speakeasy - Clover Club, NYC
Read the article: Clover Club, NYC
Speakeasy - The Violet Hour, Chicago
Read the article: The Violet Hour, Chicago
Speakeasy - The Varnish, LA
Read the article: The Varnish, LA
Speakeasy - Bourbon & Branch, San Francisco
Read the article: Bourbon & Branch, LA
Diamond House, XTEN Architecture, LA
Read the article: XTEN Architecture
-
Explore the design and history of the humble camping tent in a new book‘The Camping Tent’ by Typologie reframes a familiar object, revealing its complexity and cultural weight – and invites us to look at it anew
-
Can happiness be designed? A Helsinki exhibition looks for an answer‘Happiness is both deeply personal and undeniably collective,’ says curator Anniina Koivu, whose exhibition explored the perfect equation for happiness at Helsinki Design Week 2025
-
Is the MG Cyberster an electrifying sports car or a hefty grand tourer? In truth, it’s a bit of bothMG returns to its roots, sort of, with a sporting two-seater that electrifies the sector and points to a bolder design future for the Chinese-owned brand
-
In Los Angeles, Darling doesn’t want to be your average dinner spotVinyl, live-fire cooking, and California’s finest ingredients come together in this immersive new concept from a celebrated Southern chef
-
The best dinner party in San Francisco is thrown at this bistro and vinyl barA new chapter begins in Mission Creek as Side A opens in the former Universal Café space
-
Daisy Margarita Bar reimagines the Mexican tavern with vaquero flair in Los AngelesFrom frozen guacamole margaritas to lamb shank with frijoles puercos, this new Sherman Oaks destination mixes playful gastronomy with tradition
-
Javier's, a new cathedral-inspired restaurant in downtown LA, offers a divine take on Mexican cuisineAt the restaurant's newest location, discovery lies around every corner – and on every plate
-
Why everyone in LA is talking about Café TondoHelmed by chef Valeria Velásquez and designed by Aunt Studio, this new spot delivers Latin American buzz all day long
-
Size doesn’t matter at Now Now, a micro-hotel for solo travellers in New YorkCan you pack style into 32 square feet? We find out
-
At this LA dining hotspot, go Spanish or Japanese as you pleaseA dual-concept dining destination designed by the Rockwell Group brings Mediterranean warmth and Japanese precision to Century City
-
The Benjamin’s chic new upstairs bar is Hollywood’s hottest hideawayAt Bar Benjamin, speakeasy mystique meets elevated snacks, cocktails and views
