Ha VL Sandwiches or Rose VL Deli - amazing vietnamese food
Portlander here, don't know of anything particularly amazing that I would recommend.
Depends what you like and what your budget is.
Most things are pretty expensive so I steer away.
Altabira was pretty good.
Fried Egg I'm In Love
Miss Delta
Pine State
Tilt
Brunch Box
Killer Buger(try the one with peanut butter, trust me)
Coco Doughnuts
And go to Ground Kontrol!!
Any idea what area you'll be in? Doesn't do us much good to recommend stuff on Division if you're 15 miles away in St. John's. I'll echo Lardo for sandwiches, Bollywood Theater for Indian street food (the chicken kati roll is to die for), Andina for dinner, and Tasty n Sons for brunch (or lunch, or dinner, really). Portland City Grill has the best views in town if you can get a table near a window (food's good too).
-EDIT- Ecliptic Brewing on Mississippi has the best burger I've ever had (with pancetta and gruyere). Beer's decent too.
Some of this depends on where you're coming from, so skip the biscuits if you're from the south, and Kenny & Zukes if you're from NYC. Also, if you're interested in breakfast and brunch in Portland. Go as early as humanly possible. The wait at places like Screen Door can be around 2 hours.
I've yet to find good BBQ in Portland. Screen Door has passable southern food. Pine State is fine, but skippable if you've had good biscuits. Screen Door's are better. As others said, skip voodoo if you care about taste more than novelty and do Blue Star.
Kenny & Zukes is pretty good if you don't mind the wait and haven't had a good pastrami sandwich before. If you like Indian, there's a great indian food cart downtown called Bombay Chaat House. You can get a nice sized sampler dish for lunch up until like 6pm.
If you've got a car, go to Cloud City for ice cream instead of Salt & Straw. Depends on the day, but usually better ice cream than anywhere in the PNW, except maybe the new vegan place in Seattle. It's a bit out of the way, but the ice cream is generally better and it's cheaper, but it's usually not as excotic. They've got a good selection, with some nice twists on more classic flavors (think sea-salt cookie dough and cinnamon oatmeal cookie, marscapone & red velvet). The sunshine one is awesome too (vegan, coconut, cardamom, ginger, etc).
There's a nice ethiopian food truck around 102 and Stark that's great if you can catch it open. Bete-lukas isn't bad otherwise but pricier. Enat Kitchen was pretty good.
Tabor Bread has some really nice dark, whole grain breads and some interesting pastries and desserts.
Harlow is also pretty good especially if you're veggie/vegan.
I think i'm 15 miles west of downtown. I'll have a car.
Is there a food truck area?.
that's basically Beaverton. There's some decent Ramen out that way, actually, I've heard.
I'm just gonna go ahead and say do not fuck with Screen Door, period. The waits are entirely too long for the food you get. It's good food, don't get me wrong. But there are entirely too many great options in town for you to spend north of an hour standing around in front of a restaurant for some fucking chicken.
Some people like Podnah's for BBQ, I think Russell St is better, personally.
MULTIPLES.
There's Cartopia out on 82nd, Killingsworth's got one now down by MLK, Sandy's got one by Cosmic Monkey Comics, Downtown's got like 3 of em, There's one on the corner of Hawthorne & 12th...
Here's a map of most of 'em, actually.
First time in Oregon OP? If so, you owe it to yourself to do some sightseeing of the natural beauty of the area.
Legit Ramen? I'm a HUGE Ramen guy considering my Japan travels. Thanks for the info.
I highly recommend, especially if you're in the Beaverton/Hillsboro area, Helvetia Tavern. Best burgers you'll ever eat. Also, it's right next door to the Roloft family (stars of Little People Big World).
Pambiche for a weekend brunch is awesome.
http://www.pambiche.com/
Pambiche is always busy, but never as busy as it deserves to be, especially at brunch. I love that place.
I love that one of their breakfast menu items is basically a bucket of tiny muffins. Like, that's the breakfast. Coffee and a bucket of assorted tiny muffins. My favorite is the Tortilla a la Romana, though.
Also, ignore the Pine State hype and go to Gravy if you want breakfast.
Alright, the Ramen spots I've hit that I would say are worth the time and the money:
Noraneko
This place is right by OMSI, too. You gotta visit OMSI, btw.
Izakaya Kichinto
Right by the Wonder Ballroom (and the aforementioned Russell St. BBQ)
Boxer Ramen
There's a couple of these around town (owned by the Blue Star Donuts/Little Big Burger people) but I really like the one on Alberta.
Hapa
Got food carts on west and east sides. Amazing stuff.
Kayo's Ramen Bar
The ramen would be top-notch even if they didn't give you two eggs per bowl.
I haven't gone to Biwa or Mirakutei, yet, but people speak pretty highly of em. I'd also put in a word for House of Ramen downtown, which looks basically like a convenience store with tables, and is definitely not trying to class the dish up any, but can't deny: They make good soup.