Where to Eat This Week - Willamette Week

1. Purrington’s Cat Lounge

3529 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 503-334-3570, purringtonscatlounge.com. 9:45 am-6 pm Thursday-Sunday.

Be warned that Purrington’s, Portland’s only cat cafe, regularly sells out its weekend sessions—45-minute reserved slots for an assortment of singles and small groups. However, sitting outside the cat enclosure can be almost as delightful as being inside, especially since the realities of social hierarchy dictate that all adults must take a backseat to the wonder of well-mannered kids fixed on petting all available cats. This particular incarnation of the lounge is still new—co-owners Garret Simpson and Helen Harris bought the business from the original owners in 2019 and renovated the space. You can thank Simpson’s food and wine background for the cafe’s above-average snacks, which include a vegan board of carrot hummus, sunflower seed dip and kale pesto, served with baguette and veggies for dipping as well as an indulgent cheese board sourced from local monger Cowbell.

2. At the Garages

4810 SW Western Ave., Beaverton, 503-941-9139, atthegarages.net. 11 am-1 am daily.

A rock venue with a killer food cart pod, At the Garages has all the diverse food court-style offerings you want from a solid pod. It’s Love Pasta cart serves up fettuccine Bolognese that’s like an Americanized version of soffritto. Thai Lao Teriyaki’s pad thai arrives rich and sticky and just about perfect. But most famously, Ochoa’s Lupitas Tacos, prepares a torta that’s the size of a basketball, triggering heart palpitations at first glance. Five layers of beef, chicken and sausage puff this sandwich up so much, your cook will apologize that the size of the dish makes it impossible to close the box’s lid.

3. Brasa Haya

412 NE Beech St., 503-288-3499, brasahayapdx.com. 5:30-10 pm, Wednesday-Sunday. Indoor seating not ADA accessible, vaccination required to dine indoors.

A new Spanish restaurant in a converted home that was formerly Beech Street Parlor, Brasa Haya is a fine(r) dining restaurant with textbook salt cod croquettes. The portion was too small to split effectively but this is a problem inherent to tapas, not Brasa Haya.

4. Fills

726 SE 6th Ave., fillspdx.com. 10 am-1 pm Sunday.

A joint venture between pastry chef Katherine Benvenuti and Kurt Huffman’s omnipresent restaurant group, ChefStable, Fills introduced Portland’s culinary scene to a new style of doughnut—the Berliner—last year. Fills’ version of the traditional German pastry begins with a naturally leavened sourdough starter that’s not too sweet. It’s then fried in small batches, cooled, hand-filled with fruit, chocolate or custard, and glazed. Fills hasn’t reopened its downtown shop since the pandemic, but it runs a pop-up on Sundays.

5. Baon Kainan

4311 NE Prescott St., baonkainan.com. 5-8 pm Thursday-Monday, 11 am-3 pm Saturday-Sunday.

The biggest standout dish at this hot new Filipino food cart in the Metalwood Salvage lot is its kare kare fries. The classic braised beef peanut stew is thickened and poured over fries, aided by a dollop of shrimp paste and bright red pickled Fresno chiles. The result puts poutine to shame, but be sure to eat them as soon as they come out of the cart’s window—the fries hold up, but they’re best when eaten hyperfresh.

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Where to Eat This Week - Willamette Week
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