Two Oregon restaurants and a pair of Portland chefs earned high-profile honors Tuesday from the New York Times and Food & Wine.
In its big annual restaurant guide, the Times included Southeast Portland’s OK Chicken & Khao Soi and Carlton’s Hayward on its mix of 50 places old and new.
Of OK Chicken & Khao Soi, the Times recommended the eponymous chicken and khao soi dishes at the “rambling indoor-outdoor space once home to Pok Pok,” including a fish-sauce-marinated gai yang with a ”tingling chargrilled funk.“
Of Hayward, the newspaper compared the feeling of stepping into the restaurant from the “sleepy streets” of Carlton to ”walking through a dimensional portal.”
“Chef and owner Kari Shaughnessy’s menu is thoughtful and concise,” the Times wrote, recommending the spot prawn agnolotti and fried black cod katsu from a menu that changes with the seasons.
Quynh Nguyen and Carlo Reinardy are a married couple who started the restaurant in 2023 after living in Hanoi. They are currently the co-owners and co-chefs.Allison Barr/The Oregonian
Meanwhile, Food & Wine named The Paper Bridge chef-owners Quynh Nguyen and Gian Carlo Reinardy to its annual list of Best New Chefs. (The Northern Vietnamese restaurant was also reviewed by The Times last year in the newspaper’s first-ever starred review of a Portland restaurant.)
The magazine found its own dimensional portal walking down the steps to the Northern Vietnamese restaurant, describing the experience as “crossing the threshold into another city.”
“The menu at The Paper Bridge offers a whirlwind culinary tour of the lesser-known stars of the country’s Northern cuisines,” Food & Wine wrote.
Dining and Cooking