How to order: Reserve a table for limited indoor and outdoor seating at Terlingua, or order takeout at Toast. An adjacent market offers house-smoked large cut meats, house-made cocktails to go, bottled beer and wine, Mexican blankets and other fun dry goods, grab-and-go meals. The cost: Small plates run $8-13, salads, chilis, tacos and sides are $2-16, BBQ boards are $34-62, cocktails range $9-16, and tequilas and other spirits go for $4-22. Go traditional, or swap tequila for mezcal or sotol, a spirit distilled from the desert sotol plant in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Terlingua’s bracing margaritas are offered with a salt or chili rim. Soft tacos include smoked brisket with avocado salsa and queso chihuahua and a daily barbecue board features smoked meats, greens and beans, cornbread with honey butter and pickles. Start with a plate of smoked pork ribs with fresno-lime hot honey and scallions, or a cooling ceviche of local seafood, citrus, ginger and hibiscus. The food: From tortillas, hot sauces, and chile-laced vinegars to house-smoked meats cooked in a custom-built, wood-fired smoker, just about everything on chef Rothchild’s menu is made from scratch. After a short COVID closure, they’ve reopened in a larger space complete with a two-tiered outdoor deck and festive margarita garden. The gist: Owners Pliny Reynolds and his wife, Melanie Kratovil, along with chef Wilson Rothschild brought Austin-style Tex-Mex barbecue to Portland’s Washington Avenue in 2015. How to order: Order takeout at Sichuan Kitchen or Square. Beer and other alcoholic beverages are on hold until in-person dining resumes. The cost: Small plates and salads range $7-15, vegetables, rice, and noodle dishes are $12-18, entrees run $10-25. Then move on to mala dry hotpot vegetables or spicy, sour soup noodles, a belly-warming soup featuring skinny tender noodles, fresh bok choy and minced pork. Start with Zhong pork dumplings, bathed in a sweet-tangy chili sauce, or a plate of smoky tofu and roasted peanut salad. Shen makes everything from scratch, including her own chili oil and doubanjiang-a fermented chili bean paste that gives dishes like double-cooked pork (tender flash-fried pork belly with leeks) their well-balanced, salty fermented flavor. The food: The menu includes the sorts of tongue-tingling málà dishes many American food enthusiasts know and love, but there are plenty of tamer options, too.
The gist: Nearly 100 paper lanterns cast a warm glow over the slim, two-tiered space where owner Qi Shen offers a wide array of authentic regional dishes from China’s Sichuan province. Look for an expanded à la carte menu later this year. The cost: Three-course prix fixe menu is $50, fresh oysters and caviar with fixins’ run, $24-65, beer and cocktails are $8-14 wines by the bottle range from $20-68.
There are Maine-centric craft beers and a full wine list, too. Couple these with bubbles from a beguiling list of Champagne, or stunning cocktails.
The prix-fixe comes with tender rolls and salty butter plus optional adds like raw oysters from up and down Maine’s coast, served with a weekly mignonette. The food: Hager’s seasonal sensibility-paired with influences from live-work stays in Germany, France, and Italy-translate to dishes like chicory salad with fresh horseradish dressing, glazed short ribs with Swiss chard and braised beans, and Parsnip cake with cream cheese frosting and salt-kissed toasted walnuts. and Drifter’s Wife GM, James Rose, who worked at Boston’s Neptune Oyster chef Billy Hager, who came to Portland byway of San Francisco, where he was chef-partner at Homestead and sous chef, Dana Woodward, formerly of Dobb’s Ferry in San Francisco.
The gist: The talent behind this chic oyster bar and bistro newcomer is impressive: owner Lizzie Legere, who previously did stints at More & Co.