Oregon is home to a lot of restaurants, bars, wineries, and breweries, but there are tons of hidden gems that some Portlanders aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's many food players to share their recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential.
Image of Double Dragon courtesy Don B. via Yelp
Chef Paul Klitsie may have grown up in the Netherlands and cooked professionally in Switzerland, but for more than 20 years, the acclaimed chef has focused his passions on Italian cuisine. In 1998, Klitsie to Portland, where he opened Fratelli Ristorante & Bar in the Pearl District, serving regionally (and internationally) inspired Italian dishes — including, appropriately enough for Pizza Week, wood-fired pizzas in the Fratelli bar. So where does a Dutch dude with a penchant for pasta go when he's ready to get his grub on? A new-ish Vietnamese sandwich shop from Rob Walls, a semi-recent Portland transplant (and alum of Momofuku and Lupa), does the trick.
[At] Double Dragon, it's the simplicity that really pulled me in: simple furniture, simple and small menu. People knock themselves out on lunch menus — sometimes a full page [long] — [but there's] no need for that if you're devoted about what you're doing and doing it well, like at Double Dragon. I'm a sandwich guy, so show me what the other side of the world does with pork: Both the pork belly and pulled pork sandwich hit the spot for me; the carrot soup with potato chips as a side alone would work too. Honestly, as I mentioned before, love what you do, share it, and keeping the menu simple should bring lots of people (unfortunately, I know that's subjective) through the door. All I can hope for is if that happens the way it should, they stay true to their craft and keep on serving great food.
·Double Dragon [Official site]
·All Previous Double Dragon Coverage [Eater PDX]
·All Previous Dining Confidentials [Eater PDX]
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