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Thơm Owner Jimmy Le’s Go-To Restaurants in Portland

Where the Alberta restaurant owner takes dates, orders dumplings, and knocks back oysters

Jimmy Le, wearing a black baseball cap and t-shirt, leans against the doorway at Thom
Jimmy Le, outside Thơm in Northeast Portland.
Thom Hilton/EPDX

Welcome to Dining Confidential, a monthly column in which local chefs talk about their favorite places in Portland, highlighting their own restaurant’s ethos, sharing fun personal takes, and fostering a community spirit. Know of a chef you’d like to see featured? Let us know via our tip line.

Jimmy Le’s parents have owned Phở Lê in Vancouver for 30 years. In August, he opened his own Vietnamese restaurant called Thơm (meaning “smells good”) on Alberta. A cozy space with ten seats, four menu items, and no substitutions, the space crystalizes all of the lessons he learned from his family: keep it small, keep it simple, and keep your integrity intact.

“You go out to these restaurants with giant-ass menus and you’re overwhelmed,” Le says. “This menu is the four items that my parents have always been killing it with, since I was a kid. They’re the staples for a lot of customers. So I just thought: you know, why not focus on that?”

Le’s perspective as a restaurant owner is informed not only by his parents’ experience, but by what he’s witnessed at other Portland restaurants: boundary setting, a relatively new phenomenon within the restaurant world.

“My parents are from the generation where the customer’s always right,” he says. “I fuckin’ hated that. They’re immigrants who came here and all I saw was them getting taken advantage of and saying ‘yes’ all the time ... Seeing my parents work so hard and get walked over was really frustrating. I started eating out a lot around Portland and just seeing how you can say ‘no.’ It was kind of refreshing in a way. So here, it’s like: this is it. Take it or leave it. No subs.”

In this month’s Dining Confidential, Le shares not only his go-to date spots, delivery standbys, and Alberta favorites — he shares a little bit of his philosophy, as a restaurant owner, a Portlander, and his parents’ son. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.


Eater: What was one of those places where you saw people saying “no” that inspired you?

Jimmy Le: Nong’s Khao Man Gai. I remember my brother taking me there when the chicken and rice was like seven bucks. Just a couple items, that’s all you need. Seeing her grow with such a limited menu was really cool. I always get the dark meat and a side of the crispy chicken skins.

How much are you [at Thơm] during the day?

Right now, every day. I’m doing the prepping and everything myself. Phở is usually my breakfast. I just started getting help from my mom.

Portland’s a really tough town for after-work eats. Do you have any spots that you like?

Now? I don’t know, with COVID? It fuckin’ sucks, dude! What is there? Fast food? That’s another thing I wanna do here, is late night.

You’ll have a huge audience that is sick of going to Popeye’s at midnight.

I’m not rushing it, but that’s the eventual goal. I could go for a good Seattle dog at Donnie Vegas, down the street.

Do you frequent any of your other neighbors on Alberta?

Gumba, for unexpected pastas. Alberta Market, their chicken wings. The Filipino food truck down here on Prescott, Baon Kainan, they have a really good chicken adobo. Editor’s note: Baon Kainan has moved to 807 NE Couch Street.

What about a place where you would wanna take a date?

Next door, Urdaneta, probably the best tapas in Portland. The vibe, the food’s great, kind people. Javier (Cantreras), the owner, is a great dude. Brasa Haya is a good one, like a nice little cozy house, I remember taking a girl there. When I go out to eat, my cuisine of choice would be tapas. Bar Casa Vale is a good one. You just get variety and you get to try everything and it’s not all like twenty dollars a dish.

Jars of sambal, bottles of sriracha, and bags of chips and snacks sit on black shelving at Thom
The market shelves at Thom
Thom Hilton/EPDX

Do you have a spot you like to go to with a group of friends?

I like Rontoms… Usually with my friends, I would be the person to approach to go eat, we used to do tasting menus every weekend. Now… I don’t know anymore.

Now there are people who were the ‘you’ of their friend group who are gonna read this and look to you for recommendations.

I had a phase where I went to Kachka every week. Their Siberian pelmenis (dumplings made with beef, pork, veal, and onion) and horseradish vodka, I’d just drink that like water.

I just made their frozen dumplings! You can get them everywhere now.

Canard’s a good spot, steam burgers are always a hit. I have to get them when I go there. I was just at Someday having oysters. Oysters are big for me, and mussels at La Moule and St. Jack.

Charcuterie boards are big for me when I go out, too. Love Cheese and Crack, it’s fun. Another spot on that street is Stammtisch; I can go for a good sausage every now and then. A bar I like over there is Angel Face — the food is more than just your average bar food.

Oh, Chicken and Guns. I get extra green sauce. Like, seven extra ones.

It is life. It is so perfect.

Since COVID I order so much fuckin’ food.

What are your delivery staples?

(Jimmy immediately pulls out his phone)

Yeah, pull up the history!

Salmon nigiri’s my go-to sushi order. Sushi Chiyo, conveyor belt, affordable. Momoyama in the Pearl. Fish and Rice I thought was a really nice counter service spot on NW 23rd.

Phở Mekha on Sandy, a Vietnamese spot, they have a good hủ tiếu, a pork noodle soup.

You’re, like, a big soup guy.

Yes. Yes. Asian soups, mostly. Fork and Spoon over on Sandy, they have really good sinigang, it’s a Filipino sour soup.

Could you throw out maybe one or two Vancouver spots for people that live out there?

My parents’ spot.

That’s the most important, right?

Thơm is open for onsite dining and takeout at 3039 NE Alberta Street.

Urdaneta

3033 Northeast Alberta Street, , OR 97211 (503) 288-1990 Visit Website

Donnie Vegas

1203 Northeast Alberta Street, , OR 97211 (503) 477-7244 Visit Website

Canard

734 East Burnside Street, , OR 97214 (971) 279-2356 Visit Website

Someday

3634 Southeast Division Street, , OR 97202 Visit Website

Fork And Spoon Food House

10634 Northeast Sandy Boulevard, , OR 97220 (503) 867-7716 Visit Website

Kachka

960 Southeast 11th Avenue, , OR 97214 (503) 235-0059 Visit Website

Stammtisch

401 Northeast 28th Avenue, , OR 97232 (503) 206-7983 Visit Website

Chicken and Guns

1207 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, , OR 97214 (503) 234-7236 Visit Website

Fish & Rice

2332 Northwest Westover Road, , OR 97210 (503) 954-1270 Visit Website

Alberta Market

909 Northeast Alberta Street, , OR 97211 (503) 282-2169 Visit Website

Thom

3039 NE Alberta Street, Portland, Oregon (971) 255-1947 Visit Website

Sushi Chiyo

4029 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, Oregon (503) 288-4858 Visit Website

Pho Le

2100 SE 164th Avenue, Suite D-109, Vancouver, WA (360) 892-8484 Visit Website

Baon Kainan

1027 Northeast Alberta Street, , OR 97211 Visit Website

Cheese & Crack Snack Shop

22 Southeast 28th Avenue, , OR 97214 (503) 206-7315 Visit Website

Nong's Khao Man Gai

609 Southeast Ankeny Street, , OR 97214 (503) 740-2907 Visit Website

Pho MeKha Restaurant

4999-4851 Southeast Division Street, , OR 97206 (503) 719-7366 Visit Website

Brasa Haya

412 NE Beech Street , Portland, Oregon (503) 288-3499 Visit Website

St. Jack

1610 Northwest 23rd Avenue, , OR 97210 (503) 360-1281 Visit Website

Angel Face

14 Northeast 28th Avenue, , OR 97232 (503) 239-3804 Visit Website

La Moule

2500 Southeast Clinton Street, , OR 97202 (971) 339-2822 Visit Website

Bar Casa Vale

215 Southeast 9th Avenue, , OR 97214 (503) 477-9081 Visit Website

Gumba

1733 Northeast Alberta Street, , OR 97211 (503) 975-5951 Visit Website

Rontoms

600 East Burnside Street, , OR 97214 (503) 236-4536 Visit Website

Momoyama

1022 NW Johnson Street, Portland, Oregon (503) 477-9201 Visit Website