Steps from Cathedral Park, this German restaurant tucked alongside Occidental Brewing offers all the standards — bratwurst, spatzle, schnitzel — as well as a few harder-to-find options. The restaurant’s schweinebraten, a slow-roasted pork shoulder dish, is a good example, available with mashed potatoes or in the gargantuan Das Hüftgold, a platter with schnitzel, bratwurst, spaetzle, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, and gravy. The beer list is extensive, with Portland-brewed options and plenty of German imports.

Local celebrity artist Mike Bennett opened this fantastical spot on Lombard as both a gallery and a cafe, serving coffee and hot chocolate in a room surrounded by cartoon creatures. While the space alone makes the cafe worth a visit, drinks here are fun and distinctive, pairing espresso with house-made syrups or lemonades with teas and strawberry sauce. Food options here include breakfast burritos, sandwiches, and other cafe staples.

Steaming bowls of ramen arrive filled with delicate-but-chewy noodles and light, bright broths at this Lombard Japanese restaurant. The rich and creamy chicken shoyu is a top choice here, omitting the more familiar slices of pork for soy-marinated chicken, in addition to a jammy egg. There is not a lot of nearby competition for sushi, but even so, Mikasa’s is worth an order: The spicy salmon roll is finished with a spicy yuzu sauce, for a floral kick.

This Lombard Italian restaurant serves a tight menu of antipasti, pasta, and bread to wipe the plate clean. The menus often rotate, but look forward to dishes like Genovese salami dressed in olive oil, house-marinated olives, and gnocchi in a rich beef and mushroom sauce. Save room for panna cotta topped with housemade orange marmalade for dessert.

Hidden behind a small mercado in downtown St. Johns, Tienda Santa Cruz is a cult favorite for rich and porky carnitas tacos, burritos the size of a small child harboring a full half-avocado, and some bright-red caldos. But the true star of this hole-in-the-wall is the avocado salsa, so popular that the restaurant has set limits on how much anyone can take. Stop in and order some burritos to take to Cathedral Park, just down the street.

This minimalist Korean restaurant on North Lombard serves organized, meticulously laid out plates of gochujang-glazed chicken, cold-smoked steaks, and salmon speckled with red gochugaru alongside sides of expertly made banchan. Round out any meal here with a side of japchae or corn cheese.

Portland is home to relatively few Greek restaurants, but this Ivanhoe spot offers standards like souvlaki, gyros, and horiatiki (often known as Greek salad). Those stopping in for dinner may want to sit down to a whole grilled branzino or red snapper, followed by a slab of baklava; otherwise, a stuffed pita sandwich works well for a picnic at Cathedral Park.

Gracie’s Apizza owner Craig Melillo has established himself as one of Portland’s premiere pizzaiolos, though he’d probably bristle at the superlative. Melillo’s delicate, tangy, naturally leavened crust supports a rotating cast of Oregon and Washington-grown produce, house-made cheeses, and drizzles of green garlic olive oil, landing at tables alongside fun seasonal salads and inexpensive, tasty glass pours. Ice creams here — with flavors that range from fig leaf to honey pink peppercorn — are a must.

Adored for its sweet and savory pies, Paiku owners Marica and Justin Thompson went from pie cart to brick-and-mortar in April 2018. Luckily for the St. Johns community, the cozy wood-toned restaurant has stayed in the neighborhood. Locals pop in for brunches of biscuits and gravy, and wild boar chili hash, while others pick up pre-ordered pies ranging from chicken pot pie to lemon chess. The shop’s Easter pie, an Italian tradition loaded with cured meats and eggs, is a rarer treat found at the Leavitt shop.

Jamaican restaurants are not exactly abundant in Portland, but this cozy, casual house-turned-restaurant is all the fun of a beachside barbecue. Inside, hand-painted murals line the walls; outside, listen for the sizzle of the restaurant’s knockout jerk chicken, a true crime to miss. If not eating meat, the chicken is able to be swapped for tofu. With a pile of plantains served on the side either way, everyone is happy.

This Vietnamese restaurant is one of the neighborhood’s only spots for hulking banh mi, vermicelli noodle bowls overflowing with grilled prawns and pork belly, and shimmering, oversized, golden-fried bao. The shop’s garlic noodles are an underrated star on the menu, as is the beef stew pho, which falls somewhere between bo kho and beef pho, fragrant with star anise.

Located at St. Johns Beer Porch, this vegan truck specializes in crispy fried chicken sandwiches — made, of course, without meat. The classic sandwich comes with a plant-based patty, No Clucks sauce, vegan mayonnaise, and pickles, while the deluxe option adds in lettuce, tomato, and melted cheese. For a little heat, try the spicy chicken sandwich, which comes smothered in hot sauce and topped with tangy slaw.

This St. Johns Beer Porch cart specializes in the foods of its namesake, including delicately folded momos, the comforting noodle soup thukpa, and the knotty steamed bun known as tingmo. The butter chicken-smothered momos are a particular winner here, though any momo with the house hot sauce is sure to please.

Chefs across Portland love to whisper about this under-the-radar cart and its next-level carnitas. El Coyote serves a shockingly large variety of tacos and burritos for its size, with fillings ranging from shrimp to buche to ham and pineapple. But here, it’s all about those salty, crispy carnitas, folded into a taco.