The Places · United States
Portland
Made By profiles 22 places in Portland, spanning bar, american, artisanal french-inspired bakery — each tied to the people and producers behind it.
01.Modern Haitian Caribbean
Kann
Portland, United States
Kann is Portland's James Beard Award-winning live-fire Haitian restaurant from chef Gregory Gourdet, ranked #117 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list. Wood-fired cooking anchors a Caribbean-inspired menu that is entirely gluten and dairy-free, backed by a 550-bottle wine list weighted toward France and Oregon. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 4pm at 548 SE Ash St.
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02.Cocktail Bat
Scotch Lodge
Portland, United States
A whisky-focused bar on SE 9th Avenue in Portland's Lower Buckman neighbourhood, Scotch Lodge holds a 2025 Pearl Recommended Bar designation and a 4.8 Google rating across more than 700 reviews. The room draws a loyal crowd that returns for depth of selection and a programme built around serious Scotch without the library-scale spectacle of larger Portland whisky venues.
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03.Modern Maine Seafood
Scales
Portland, United States
Scales sits at 68 Commercial St on Maine Wharf, next to the Casco Bay Ferry Terminal, serving classic New England seafood alongside creative landfood dishes in a setting that balances working-waterfront character with a more considered dining experience. A Pearl Recommended Restaurant in 2025, it holds a 4.6 Google rating across more than 2,600 reviews. For Scales Portland Maine reservations, booking ahead is advisable, particularly during peak summer months.
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04.Maine Farm-to-Table Wood-Fired
Fore Street Restaurant
Portland, United States
Fore Street Restaurant has anchored Portland's Old Port dining scene for decades, earning Pearl recognition in 2025 with a daily-changing menu built around Maine's seasonal harvest. The wood-burning oven, grill, and turnspit visible from the dining room are not theatrical props but working infrastructure that defines how ingredients are cooked. A 4.6 Google rating across nearly 1,900 reviews reflects the kind of sustained local trust that outlasts trend cycles.
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05.Modern American Fine Dining
Coquine
Portland, United States
Coquine sits in Portland’s mature farm-to-table conversation rather than its flashier restaurant lane, with Katy Millard’s New American cooking framed by Oregon produce and a serious beverage reputation. The 2026 James Beard semifinalist nod for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, plus repeated Opinionated About Dining rankings, place it among the city’s more closely watched dining rooms.
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06.Farm-to-Table Italian Wood-Fired Pizza
Nostrana
Portland, United States
A James Beard-nominated chef and three consecutive years on Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual list place Nostrana in Portland's upper tier of neighbourhood-rooted Italian restaurants. Operating out of Southeast Morrison since the mid-2000s, the kitchen pairs regional Italian technique with Pacific Northwest seasonal produce. Open Tuesday through Saturday from 5 pm, with Sunday and Monday dark.
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07.Modern Small Plates
Central Provisions
Portland, United States
Central Provisions on Fore Street is among Portland's most consistently recognized casual dining addresses, holding multiple Opinionated About Dining placements across three consecutive years. Chef Chris Gould runs a New American menu built around small plates designed for sharing and grazing rather than linear progression. Open seven days a week for both lunch and dinner, with a 4.6 Google rating across more than 1,600 reviews.
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08.Modern Japanese Kaiseki
Nodoguro
Portland, United States
Nodoguro operates Monday, Tuesday, and Sunday evenings from Portland's downtown Broadway address, serving a Japanese-focused tasting format that has ranked among Opinionated About Dining's top restaurants in North America for three consecutive years. Chef Ryan Roadhouse runs one of the Pacific Northwest's most consistently recognized Japanese concepts, drawing a devoted following that books well ahead of each service.
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09.Modern Thai Tasting Menu
Langbaan
Portland, United States
Langbaan operates as a reservation-only Thai tasting counter inside Portland's NW 23rd corridor, where Earl Ninsom's kitchen constructs multi-course menus that read less like restaurant Thai food and more like a systematic argument for the cuisine's regional depth. A 2024 James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant and back-to-back Opinionated About Dining rankings in the top 50 in North America place it in a comparable set that extends well beyond Portland.
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10.New England Oyster Bar & Seafood
Eventide Oyster Co.
Portland, United States
Eventide Oyster Co. on Portland's Middle Street has ranked among North America's top casual dining destinations two years running on Opinionated About Dining, rising from #25 in 2024 to #12 in 2023. The raw bar format centers on Maine's oyster harvest, drawing a 4.5-star consensus across nearly 5,000 Google reviews. Open seven days a week from 11am to 11pm with no listed reservation requirement.
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11.Seasonal Mediterranean Small Plates
Tusk
Portland, United States
Tusk brings Middle Eastern cooking to Portland's East Burnside corridor with a consistency that has earned back-to-back Opinionated About Dining recognition from 2023 through 2025. Under chef Sam Smith, the kitchen works in a register that sits comfortably between casual and gourmet, approachable in format, deliberate in execution. A 4.6 Google rating across more than a thousand reviews confirms the dining room's hold on the neighbourhood.
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12.Southern Comfort Food
Screen Door
Portland, United States
On East Burnside, Screen Door has become a reference point for Southern-inflected Regional American cooking in Portland, drawing consistent recognition from Opinionated About Dining's North America Casual list across three consecutive years. Under chef Dan Grill, the kitchen operates across breakfast, lunch, and dinner service daily, grounding the city's appetite for comfort-driven cooking with serious culinary intent behind it.
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13.Modern French Bistro
Canard
Portland, United States
Canard is Gabriel Rucker and Andy Fortgang's French bistro on East Burnside, ranked #65 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Casual North America list. Wine Director Ben Roan oversees a 2,500-bottle inventory weighted toward France, Champagne, and Burgundy, priced at the $$$-tier. Dinner runs nightly from 4pm, with a two-course meal landing in the $40–$65 range before wine.
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14.Thai BBQ Fusion
EEM
Portland, United States
EEM brings Thai barbecue and cocktail culture together at a North Williams address that has become one of Portland's most consistently decorated casual dining destinations. Chef Earl Ninsom's approach places the restaurant inside a tight comparable set of Thai-focused Portland kitchens, with Opinionated About Dining rankings in consecutive years confirming its position. Open daily from 11am, it draws both lunch crowds and late weekend sittings.
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15.Texas BBQ Tacos
Matt's BBQ Tacos
Portland, United States
Matt's BBQ Tacos on SE 50th Ave sits at the intersection of two American traditions that don't often share the same tortilla. Ranked #104 on Opinionated About Dining's 2025 Cheap Eats North America list, this Portland taqueria earns its reputation through smoked meats folded into taco format, drawing a consistent 4.7-star score across more than 700 Google reviews. Open seven days, with weekend hours starting at 8am.
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16.Artisanal French-Inspired Bakery
Standard Baking
Portland, United States
Standard Baking has anchored Portland's Old Port waterfront since the 1990s, earning consecutive Opinionated About Dining recognition through 2025. The bakery operates seven days a week from 7:30 am, drawing a cross-section of the city for laminated pastry, naturally leavened bread, and a format that treats morning as its primary act rather than an afterthought to dinner service.
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17.other
The Jewel Box
Portland, United States
At 644 Congress Street, The Jewel Box occupies a corner of Portland, Maine's dining scene where the city's commitment to regional sourcing meets considered technique. The address places it in the company of a food culture built on proximity to the Atlantic and the farms of the Northeast, a context that shapes what lands on the plate and how seriously the kitchen takes its supply chain.
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18.american
Little T American Bakery
Portland, United States
Little T American Bakery on SE Division has appeared on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in North America list three consecutive years, rising from Recommended in 2023 to #329 in 2024 and #349 in 2025. Open Tuesday through Sunday from 8 am to 2 pm, it represents the serious end of Portland's neighborhood bakery tier, where technique and sourcing carry more weight than square footage or spectacle.
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19.american
Tandem Coffee and Bakery
Portland, United States
Tandem Coffee and Bakery Portland elevates artisanal coffee culture in a converted 1930s gas station, where James Beard nominee Briana Holt's innovative pastries like Elote Danish and Sticky Buns pair with meticulously sourced single-origin coffees from founders Will and Kathleen Pratt's acclaimed roastery.
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20.Bar
Allagash Brewing Company
Portland, United States
Allagash Brewing Company has shaped Portland, Maine's identity as a craft beer city more than any single brewery of its generation. Operating out of Industrial Way on the city's western fringe, it built its reputation on Belgian-style ales at a time when the category was an outlier in American brewing. The taproom functions as a working brewery visit as much as a drinking destination.
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21.Bar
Enoteca Nostrana
Portland, United States
Enoteca Nostrana occupies a corner of Portland's SE Morrison corridor where the line between wine bar and neighborhood institution has long since dissolved. Regulars return for a program built around Italian-leaning bottles and a room that rewards lingering — the kind of place where the second visit feels more revealing than the first. It sits inside Portland's broader shift toward European-format wine drinking, where the glass matters as much as the occasion.
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22.Bar
Crispy Gai
Portland, United States
On Exchange Street in Portland, Maine, Crispy Gai occupies a spot in the Old Port's increasingly confident drinking and dining scene. The bar draws a mix of regulars and visitors looking for something more considered than the neighbourhood's louder options, anchoring itself as a community fixture rather than a destination curio. For a city still shaping its cocktail identity, it represents a useful reference point.
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