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Smallwares
Avila/EPDX

Brunches with a Global Beat

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Smallwares
| Avila/EPDX

Portlanders love brunch, and restaurants have learned to give the city what it wants when it wants it. Now there are line-worthy options in just about every neighborhood, and an increasing number are inspired by a world of cuisines.

So for this map, we're going beyond the usual breakfast players and taking a more global route, rounding up places where your morning-ish meal comes with a heavy dose of international flavors. If you wake up craving the likes of kimchi, fish sauce, hummus and chiles, these places have you covered. They don't necessarily claim to be authentic, but they'll give you all the reason you need to start your day.

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Autentica

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Oswaldo Bibiano's original Mexican restaurant is home to more than 20 brunch mains and sides, including tortas, chilaquiles and all kinds of huevos plates. If you’re looking for eggs made ranchero-style, Bibiano’s — resting in a pool of pumpkin-colored tomato sauce — will delight you. But if you’re a little blue from a little too much fun the night before, ask for a bowl of menudo (spiced with oregano, guajillo chilies and bittered greens) which should help you right any wrongs — or at least make sense of them.

Bamboo Izakaya

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Say what you want about bacon, it ain’t going quietly. Case in point: Bamboo Izakaya’s brunch bacon bar. Not only do you get to choose fried smoked strips from one of this country’s most famed baconries, you can order a whole flight and compare tastes. Start there and slowly work your way through the menu’s Japanese-inspired savories (grilled trout with rice and green tea dashi, benedicts made with pork collar, Dungeness crab and smoked trout) and sweets (vanilla-ginger French toast, Belgian waffles topped with duck confit).

Boke Bowl West

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The Eastside has Boke Bowl’s Korean BBQ nights, so it’s only fair that Westside Boke Bowl-ers get something that they, too, can call their own: dim sum. Yes, there may be a line when you get there, but thanks to the eagle-eyed dim summers rolling their bao-, pot sticker-, shumai- and chicken wing-filled carts across the dining room floor, the friends and neighbors who precede you will get filled up fast. And that means their table will soon be yours, and then it’ll be your turn to get filled up fast.

Bröder Cafe

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By now, almost everyone’s been to Broder, whether to the cozy original spot on SE Clinton or the slightly more spacious Broder Nord. Maybe it’s the aebleskivers (because who doesn’t like spherical pancakes?). Or maybe it’s the delicate lefse or the aquavit Bloody Marys. But the heartiest winner (especially on a cold day) is the förlorade ägg: a cast-iron skillet filled with spinach, ham and eggs baked in a buttery cream sauce that’s all hidden beneath a think panko and parmesan cheese crust. If that’s your jam, just remember to give yourself plenty of time to walk it off.

Cafe Castagna

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There are still some familiar brunch favorites on Cafe Castagna’s new Mediterranean-inspired menu (the butter lettuce salad and the hamburger remain unchanged), but there are also lots of new items that reflect the new Middle Eastern bent: hummus with sujuk sausage; shakshouka with feta and plenty of pita bread. Even restaurant classics are given cradle-of-civilization twists: Think eggs Benedict with housemade lamb ham and Niçoise salad coated with za’atar dressing.

Cameo Cafe

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There’s a sign outside Sue Gee Lehn's Roseway breakfast and lunch spot telling all who drive by that this is the home of the “Acre Pancake.” But in addition to pancakes so big they drape over your plate, plus all the usual eggy breakfast dishes typically found at a neighborhood diner, this place is offers a smattering of options with a Korean accent: hashbrowns fried up with kimchi and topped with eggs; giant Korean pancakes with green onions, mung beans and shredded carrots. But the best part of making the trip is to meet Sue Gee herself, who often holds court with regulars in her decked out dining room, turning first-timers into true-blue regulars, too.

Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen

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Okay, the brunch menu at Kenny & Zuke’s isn’t necessarily International (it’s not Israeli), but who can argue with a New York-style Jewish deli that serves latkes and blintzes, bagels and bialys, lox omelets and challah French toast and breakfast dogs (with bacon, eggs and cheddar) all in one place? And we haven’t even gotten to K&Z’s specialty: pastrami, which gets a 10-hour smoking and winds up in everybody’s favorite breakfast staples — beneath your eggs on the Benedict and in the gravy of your biscuits and gravy.

La Panza Cafe

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Blue corn enchiladas. Blue corn pancakes and, in typical New Mexican style, red salsas and green salsas (or both, if you’re doing it right). Those are just a few of what soon might be your favorite things from this still-new New Mexican spot tucked into a little storefront right off Division. The kitchen also does burritos (which all of you vegans can get with tofu or soyrizo instead of eggs), and the bar, although not a big one, stirs up five signature margaritas, including a frozen one made from the prickly pear.

Le Vieux

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Just as 2014 was about to run out of weeks, San Francisco restaurateurs Annette Yang and Brian Leitner opened up their own Old World-inspired restaurant, where dinner and weekend brunch menus run for a three-week engagement before being retired for something fresher. The cuisine from most Mediterranean countries will get some play before the menu globetrots someplace else, so don’t get too attached to any new-found favorites. Right now you can catch dishes like Moroccan yogurt with pistachios and huckleberries, skillet-baked eggs with duck confit, and softly scrambled eggs with bottarga and mint.

On Sundays, Levant's refined Middle Eastern/North African menu takes a brunch-y spin with dishes like shakshuka, halva croissants, and lemon-rose-pistachio sticky buns. Not only that, the popular happy hour schwarma-spiced lamb burger with housemade feta becomes a permanent brunch staple.If you've got a large group in tow, you an order the family-style brunch for the table, which includes an egg dish and a potato dish, plus other sweets and sides for $20 per person.To drink, expect classic brunch cocktails spiked with a Middle Eastern twist, and boozy updates to traditional Middle Eastern beverages like the orchid root-based Sahlab.

Oso Market & Bar

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The first weekend of every month, this friendly, Mediterranean-ish wine bar goes jet-setting across countries and continents, cooking up an "Adventure Brunch" for thrill-seeking palates. The kitchen has made layovers in Mexico, Canada, Poland, Hawaii, Japan, and India. Next stop: Thailand in March. Mark your calendar.

Pepper Box Cafe

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The paint’s still fresh on this fairly new brick and mortar spinoff of the popular food cart, but longtime devotees know this is the place to get your breakfast taco fix, with three variations to choose from, plus migas, cornmeal pancakes, and big plates of potatoes topped with eggs and a whole mess of meats. Of course, at lunch they’re coming back for the green chile cheeseburgers and green chile mac & cheese.

¿Por qué no?

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At prime eating times, there’s almost always a line snaking its way inside Por Que No’s North Portland and SE Portland locations. But the line can be deceptive and the tables turn pretty quickly, meaning there are fewer and fewer minutes that stand in the way of you and your breakfast tacos, chilaquiles or egg-topped tamales that rotate in and out on the regular.

Smallwares

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Johanna Ware has already dazzled this city with her dinner menu (even Bach couldn’t compose as beautiful an Amen the way Ware does with her tempura-fried kale with bacon, mint and fish sauce), but now she’s giving her dinners a run for their money with her very own (and still quite new) Smallwares brunches. Think a Monte Cristo-like ham and Swiss French toast sandwich (with raspberry-kimchi jam) and bowls of ramen, the ingredients of which rotate from weekend to weekend, and at Ware’s whim.

Tapalaya

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In the last few months, this Creole and Cajun small plates joint announced a pair of changes. First: it would be offering selected dinner items from a special menu based on the Vietnamese heritage of head chef and New Orleans native, Anh Luu. Second: it would finally start offering brunches, too, with a similar approach. That means you can now get grits, beignets and fried oyster Benes along side coconut and pork rice bowls, mién ga and bánh mì sandos.

Verde Cocina en la Perla

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Is there a friend in your group that doesn’t dig meat or wheat? Then we’ve got good news. The kitchen at Verde Cocina puts out lots of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, and none of it’s ever fried, and every dish comes with chef Noé Garnica’s specialty—sautéed vegetables—making it a great spot for health-conscious carnivores, herbivores and wheatless eaters. Still, if you like eggs, ask for Garnica’s huevos rancheros, spread inside with his signature white bean-garbanzo mash.

Autentica

Oswaldo Bibiano's original Mexican restaurant is home to more than 20 brunch mains and sides, including tortas, chilaquiles and all kinds of huevos plates. If you’re looking for eggs made ranchero-style, Bibiano’s — resting in a pool of pumpkin-colored tomato sauce — will delight you. But if you’re a little blue from a little too much fun the night before, ask for a bowl of menudo (spiced with oregano, guajillo chilies and bittered greens) which should help you right any wrongs — or at least make sense of them.

Bamboo Izakaya

Say what you want about bacon, it ain’t going quietly. Case in point: Bamboo Izakaya’s brunch bacon bar. Not only do you get to choose fried smoked strips from one of this country’s most famed baconries, you can order a whole flight and compare tastes. Start there and slowly work your way through the menu’s Japanese-inspired savories (grilled trout with rice and green tea dashi, benedicts made with pork collar, Dungeness crab and smoked trout) and sweets (vanilla-ginger French toast, Belgian waffles topped with duck confit).

Boke Bowl West

The Eastside has Boke Bowl’s Korean BBQ nights, so it’s only fair that Westside Boke Bowl-ers get something that they, too, can call their own: dim sum. Yes, there may be a line when you get there, but thanks to the eagle-eyed dim summers rolling their bao-, pot sticker-, shumai- and chicken wing-filled carts across the dining room floor, the friends and neighbors who precede you will get filled up fast. And that means their table will soon be yours, and then it’ll be your turn to get filled up fast.

Bröder Cafe

By now, almost everyone’s been to Broder, whether to the cozy original spot on SE Clinton or the slightly more spacious Broder Nord. Maybe it’s the aebleskivers (because who doesn’t like spherical pancakes?). Or maybe it’s the delicate lefse or the aquavit Bloody Marys. But the heartiest winner (especially on a cold day) is the förlorade ägg: a cast-iron skillet filled with spinach, ham and eggs baked in a buttery cream sauce that’s all hidden beneath a think panko and parmesan cheese crust. If that’s your jam, just remember to give yourself plenty of time to walk it off.

Cafe Castagna

There are still some familiar brunch favorites on Cafe Castagna’s new Mediterranean-inspired menu (the butter lettuce salad and the hamburger remain unchanged), but there are also lots of new items that reflect the new Middle Eastern bent: hummus with sujuk sausage; shakshouka with feta and plenty of pita bread. Even restaurant classics are given cradle-of-civilization twists: Think eggs Benedict with housemade lamb ham and Niçoise salad coated with za’atar dressing.

Cameo Cafe

There’s a sign outside Sue Gee Lehn's Roseway breakfast and lunch spot telling all who drive by that this is the home of the “Acre Pancake.” But in addition to pancakes so big they drape over your plate, plus all the usual eggy breakfast dishes typically found at a neighborhood diner, this place is offers a smattering of options with a Korean accent: hashbrowns fried up with kimchi and topped with eggs; giant Korean pancakes with green onions, mung beans and shredded carrots. But the best part of making the trip is to meet Sue Gee herself, who often holds court with regulars in her decked out dining room, turning first-timers into true-blue regulars, too.

Kenny & Zuke's Delicatessen

Okay, the brunch menu at Kenny & Zuke’s isn’t necessarily International (it’s not Israeli), but who can argue with a New York-style Jewish deli that serves latkes and blintzes, bagels and bialys, lox omelets and challah French toast and breakfast dogs (with bacon, eggs and cheddar) all in one place? And we haven’t even gotten to K&Z’s specialty: pastrami, which gets a 10-hour smoking and winds up in everybody’s favorite breakfast staples — beneath your eggs on the Benedict and in the gravy of your biscuits and gravy.

La Panza Cafe

Blue corn enchiladas. Blue corn pancakes and, in typical New Mexican style, red salsas and green salsas (or both, if you’re doing it right). Those are just a few of what soon might be your favorite things from this still-new New Mexican spot tucked into a little storefront right off Division. The kitchen also does burritos (which all of you vegans can get with tofu or soyrizo instead of eggs), and the bar, although not a big one, stirs up five signature margaritas, including a frozen one made from the prickly pear.

Le Vieux

Just as 2014 was about to run out of weeks, San Francisco restaurateurs Annette Yang and Brian Leitner opened up their own Old World-inspired restaurant, where dinner and weekend brunch menus run for a three-week engagement before being retired for something fresher. The cuisine from most Mediterranean countries will get some play before the menu globetrots someplace else, so don’t get too attached to any new-found favorites. Right now you can catch dishes like Moroccan yogurt with pistachios and huckleberries, skillet-baked eggs with duck confit, and softly scrambled eggs with bottarga and mint.

Levant

On Sundays, Levant's refined Middle Eastern/North African menu takes a brunch-y spin with dishes like shakshuka, halva croissants, and lemon-rose-pistachio sticky buns. Not only that, the popular happy hour schwarma-spiced lamb burger with housemade feta becomes a permanent brunch staple.If you've got a large group in tow, you an order the family-style brunch for the table, which includes an egg dish and a potato dish, plus other sweets and sides for $20 per person.To drink, expect classic brunch cocktails spiked with a Middle Eastern twist, and boozy updates to traditional Middle Eastern beverages like the orchid root-based Sahlab.

Oso Market & Bar

The first weekend of every month, this friendly, Mediterranean-ish wine bar goes jet-setting across countries and continents, cooking up an "Adventure Brunch" for thrill-seeking palates. The kitchen has made layovers in Mexico, Canada, Poland, Hawaii, Japan, and India. Next stop: Thailand in March. Mark your calendar.

Pepper Box Cafe

The paint’s still fresh on this fairly new brick and mortar spinoff of the popular food cart, but longtime devotees know this is the place to get your breakfast taco fix, with three variations to choose from, plus migas, cornmeal pancakes, and big plates of potatoes topped with eggs and a whole mess of meats. Of course, at lunch they’re coming back for the green chile cheeseburgers and green chile mac & cheese.

¿Por qué no?

At prime eating times, there’s almost always a line snaking its way inside Por Que No’s North Portland and SE Portland locations. But the line can be deceptive and the tables turn pretty quickly, meaning there are fewer and fewer minutes that stand in the way of you and your breakfast tacos, chilaquiles or egg-topped tamales that rotate in and out on the regular.

Smallwares

Johanna Ware has already dazzled this city with her dinner menu (even Bach couldn’t compose as beautiful an Amen the way Ware does with her tempura-fried kale with bacon, mint and fish sauce), but now she’s giving her dinners a run for their money with her very own (and still quite new) Smallwares brunches. Think a Monte Cristo-like ham and Swiss French toast sandwich (with raspberry-kimchi jam) and bowls of ramen, the ingredients of which rotate from weekend to weekend, and at Ware’s whim.

Tapalaya

In the last few months, this Creole and Cajun small plates joint announced a pair of changes. First: it would be offering selected dinner items from a special menu based on the Vietnamese heritage of head chef and New Orleans native, Anh Luu. Second: it would finally start offering brunches, too, with a similar approach. That means you can now get grits, beignets and fried oyster Benes along side coconut and pork rice bowls, mién ga and bánh mì sandos.

Related Maps

Verde Cocina en la Perla

Is there a friend in your group that doesn’t dig meat or wheat? Then we’ve got good news. The kitchen at Verde Cocina puts out lots of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options, and none of it’s ever fried, and every dish comes with chef Noé Garnica’s specialty—sautéed vegetables—making it a great spot for health-conscious carnivores, herbivores and wheatless eaters. Still, if you like eggs, ask for Garnica’s huevos rancheros, spread inside with his signature white bean-garbanzo mash.

Related Maps