Off the sprawling Woodlawn Park, the lengthy bar at Campana is a fine setting for bowls of no-nonsense Italian comfort food: Hearty bowls of spaghetti and meatballs, cavatelli in pork ragu, rigatoni with braised pork ribs with crispy polenta. The happy hour runs all night at the bar, with $10 Negronis and $16 bowls of penne alla vodka — extremely hard to beat, considering the quality.

Best known as a haven for cocktail lovers, this collaboration between local food impresario Naomi Pomeroy and her bartender husband Kyle Webster boasts a small but mighty food menu. Snack on a dizzyingly herbal tea leaf salad and an elegantly simple crustless onion and butter sandwich, or make it a meal with a spicy fried chicken sandwich or a plate of two the best burgers in town. The eclectic décor evokes an early 20th century spy novel, and the turntable plays Nixon-era classic LPs through the warmest of sound systems.

Perhaps no kitchen voyeurism is quite as rewarding as watching a top-notch sushi chef slice, brush, and shape nigiri. Gazing on the knifework of sushi creation in process can be a meditative experience, especially when dining alone. Zilla Sake House on Alberta specializes in immaculately prepared seasonal fish, as well as an eye-popping selection of sake. Note: Zilla offers seating at two bars on opposite ends of the establishment, but only one features sushi chefs in action — the other is a cocktail bar, though ordering food here is welcome.

With high-backed chairs at both a counter and at the cocktail bar, Slabtown’s G-Love is a terrific spot for the solo diner to glance over at a neighbor’s plate and ask, “What are they having?” G-Love embraces seasonal, locally grown produce with proteins typically used as an accompaniment rather than the bulk of a dish. Highlights include the crusty avocado dusted in a coco-blackspice seed mix and topped with ahi tuna and the peppers a la plancha, dressed in miso hollandaise.

On a trapezoidal block kitty-corner from the mammoth Powell’s City of Books, the tiny nearly all-white Maurice manages to be both delicate and rustic at the same time. Waist-level counter seating is the perfect spot for an exquisite Nordic fika or French déjeuner. That means menus offering everything from rosemary and prune scones to smørbrød with summer squash and cottage cheese, paired with tea or wine.

Inside the low-lit, intimate quarters of this subterranean bar, visitors sip drams of rare whiskies while waiting for plates of fried brie with verjus or arancini with avocado crema. Grab a seat at the bar and chat with the A-Team of bartenders, who are generous with their advice. While the menu is stacked with exceptional small plates, there are quite a few one-and-done meals that work well for a single diner: The soft-shell crab sandwich with white kimchi and shallots retains a cult following, and the papparadelle with duck and seaweed butter isn’t to be missed.

Vast ceilings and exposed steel venting give Afuri’s inner-Southeast location the feeling of an industrial music video, particularly at night when hunched over a steaming bowl of ramen alongside a dozen others. Afuri offers a respectable sushi menu, but the main attraction here is the astonishing yuzu ramen broth, served with expertly balanced ingredients dropped into the bowls with impeccable timing. The busy open kitchen and abounding hard surfaces might make a quiet intro to a neighboring diner challenging, but the creative highball cocktails from seasoned bartenders might bolster courage.

For those fairly new to the cuisine of the former Soviet republics (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and more), Kachka’s modest bar seating is the perfect spot to chat with staff and learn about the histories and nuances of menu items like Herring Under a Fur Coat or sour cherry vareniki dumplings, as well as ideal pairings from Kachka’s staggering vodka menu. And the deep counter will allow plenty of simultaneous dishes at-hand. For non-vodka drinkers, a wine list centering central Europe as well as a small beer list and excellent tea list are worthwhile.

This bright collection of exceptional Latin American food carts along SE Foster — including Cuban, Argentine, Oaxacan, and Colombian — affords the solo diner an easy opportunity to grab a meal and then sidle up to the bar at the cozy wine bar Barrio, or onto long indoor and outdoor picnic tables — friendly regulars often happily make room for others at the unused end. Well-behaved pooches are welcome, though Barrio owner Chris Shimamoto might try to grab a selfie or two with them.

Sellwood’s popular kappo-style sushi restaurant is practically made for solo diners. There’s bar seating that allows for maximum engagement with raw fish sliced and pressed onto seasoned rice by chef Shinji Uehara, and parties of one can snag hard-to-get reservations that larger groups can’t — Kaede limits visitors to groups of two. Diners should break out of their salmon and tuna rut by ordering one of the nigiri specials like lesser-seen golden-eye snapper or try the signature saba battera, a square roll of buttery mackerel that’s cured and punched up with ginger and yuzu.