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Pulled pork is swimming in gravy beside rice and salad.
A dish at Pambiche,
Ron Scott / Eater Portland

Where to Find Latin American Favorites in Portland and Beyond

The scoop on Guatemalan jocon, Puerto Rican mofongo, and more

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A dish at Pambiche,
| Ron Scott / Eater Portland

Most cities in the United States now have Mexican restaurants galore, but not all are blessed with restaurants representing other Latin American countries. Unlike Miami or New York, Portland doesn’t have neighborhoods with concentrated Latin American immigrant populations (think: Little Havana); instead, restaurants and food carts serving lomo saltaldo and empanadas are scattered throughout the greater Portland area.

When looking for an array of Latin American fare, the all-in-one Portland Mercado is an obvious place to start, but the city is home to a number of locally beloved establishments, bakery-cafe hybrids, and restaurants where reservations are highly recommended. Here are 15 places in Portland specializing in dishes from Central and South American countries. For more specificity, peruse our Peruvian and Cuban maps — and for Mexican food, try our taco map or our Mexican restaurant map.

Note: Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Los Chapines Restaurant

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What might look like a typical Hillsboro Mexican bakery from the outside is the one of the only specifically Guatemalan restaurants in the region. The name — Guatemalans call themselves “chapines”— is the tip-off. This is the place for hard-to-find meaty stews like the weekend-only beef soup sopa de res, the tomato-y shredded beef dish hilachas, and jocon, a green tomatillo-based stew that’s available with beef or chicken. For dessert, head straight for the rellenitos, little fried plantains stuffed with sweet bean and chocolate.

Boriken Restaurant

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The Pacific Northwest isn’t exactly overflowing with Caribbean restaurants, but for Puerto Rican food like crispy alcapurrias (plantains with seasoned ground beef) and bacalaitos fritos (salt cod fritters), head to Beaverton’s Boriken. One of the restaurant’s most popular dishes is its mofongo, a tasty mound of fried plantains mashed with chicharrones; the restaurant’s mofongos come with a choice of protein, ranging from skirt steak to slow-roasted pernil. No dish is complete without the shop’s garlicky mojo.

A pile of mashed plantains on a tall pedestal at Boriken.
Mofongo at Boriken.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Casa del Pollo

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Costa Rica attracts American eco-tourists seeking pura vida, but the Central American country’s cuisine isn’t represented as predominantly in the U.S. restaurant market. One of the Portland area’s only Costa Rican restaurants, however, serves Tico (Costa Rican) faves like gallo pinto, fried white rice and beans, and chifrijo, a.k.a. fried pork, pico de gallo, rice, and beans, served with tortilla chips for scooping. Casa del Pollo is also known for its roast chicken; any of the Costa Rican specialties work as a natural pairing for the restaurant’s birds.

Andina has developed a national reputation for its high-end Novo-Andean cuisine, and for many, it’s considered an embassy for Peruvian chefs and a starting point for novice diners. Andina has managed to stay relevant over the years, serving elegant and fresh ceviches in a restaurant space that borders on fine dining. One of the highlights of the menu: the beef heart anticuchos, supremely tender with just a kiss of char.

Caiman Cafe

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Downtown’s Caiman Cafe is a daytime spot serving both Cuban and Mexican food, which means breakfast burritos, sure, but also fritas a.k.a. Cuban hamburgers; lechón azado, marinated and roasted pork; and sides like boiled yuca with garlic mojo. It’s also a perfect pit stop for grabbing a Cuban cortadito and pastelito filled with guava and cream cheese.

Casa Zoraya

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Family-owned Casa Zoraya brings artful plating and an Andina pedigree to North Portland. The restaurant looks casual on the surface, with its narrow row of tables, rustic mixed wood accents, and pops of azure paint, but the food is meticulously constructed. Dishes showcase multi-hued potatoes and piquant peppers, and lomo saltado — a Chinese Peruvian dish of stir-fried beef, tomatoes, and french fries — gets an upgrade with sirloin and potato wedges adjacent to a neat mound of rice.

El Pilón

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El Pilón, the lone yellow cart two blocks from the waterfront, specializes in Colombian empanadas, arepas, and patacónes, all naturally gluten-free. Patacónes, normally flattened fried plantains, arrive as little bowls stuffed with shredded chicken, beef, or cheese and greens, topped with Colombian salsa called hogao. Pair it with a hybrid fruit cocktail-punch, salpicon, a name often used for a minced meat dishes in the rest of Latin America.

Pambiche

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Pambiche, the colorful Cuban restaurant on the lower level of a Victorian building, has persisted just off the now-trendy 28th Avenue corridor since the dawn of the millennium. It’s also one of the few places in town people can find bacanes, a tamale-esque filled cassava-plantain cake steamed in banana leaves; they arrive filled with things like stewed okra and black-eyed peas or braised Creole chicken. Larger plates include classics like ropa vieja; most of them come with moros y cristianos, the colloquial name for black beans and white rice.

Brazilian House

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Beyond rodizios like Brazil Grill and national chain Fogo de Chão, Brazilian food isn’t easy to come by in Portland. Belmont food cart Brazilian House fills the gap by offering comforting classics like feijoada, the hearty black bean stew filled with sausage and smoked meat, and moqueca, a coconut milk-based seafood stew flavored with palm oil. The cart shares a pod with local legends like Viking Soul Food, with shared seating.

PKs -Penalty Kicks- Colombian & Chilean Food

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Latin America’s approaches to hot dogs vary greatly: Colombia has perros calientes — often topped with things like crushed potato chips, mayo, pineapple — and Chile has the completo, garnished with guacamole and sauerkraut. At PK’s food truck in the Barley Pod, visitors can try both, as well empanadas served with pebre, a mild Chilean hot sauce, and the mazorcada, a wild dish that combines corn kernels with slew of chopped meats, garlic sauce, cheese, and shoestring fries for crunch. Grab a beer from the taproom as a pairing.

La Arepa

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Venezuelan food shares similarities with nearby countries, and both La Arepa carts offer the namesake corn cake. For something specifically Venezuelan, order pabellón, a mix of shredded beef, plantains, and black beans as an entree served with rice, stuffed into an empanada or arepa, or as a patacón, a sandwich using two tostones for bread.

Alecocina

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Alecocina at the Portland Mercado is one of two local Argentine food carts (Abuela Chona in Beaverton’s BG Food Cartel is the other). There’s no better representation of the Italian influence on Argentina’s cuisine than the milenesa, steak (or chicken) pounded thin, breaded and fried, and served simply with fries or Napolitana-style, slathered with tomato sauce and topped with melted cheese and herbs. For something more portable, try a classic choripan, chorizo and chimichurri stuffed into a French roll or a dulce de leche-filled alfajor.

Que Bacano!

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Que Bacano is one of the most popular carts at Portland Mercado, likely because Colombian food is scarce in the city. It serves the holy trinity of arepas, empanadas, and patacones, as well as bigger entrees like arroz con pollo and the bandeja paisa, a traditional hefty platter of rice, soupy pork-filled beans, plantains, sausage, chicharrones, fried egg, avocado, plus an arepa.

An arepa at Que Bacano arrives wrapped in foil in a paper boat.
An arepa at Que Bacano.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Merendero Estela

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Merendero Estela, a Honduran food cart just a few blocks north of Cartlandia, specializes

in pollo con tajadas, a.k.a. “chicken with very green bananas,” an underwhelming name for a princely basket of fried chicken and sliced tostones, nestled next to a bed of shredded cabbage and pink pickled onions. For something simpler, the cart’s baleadas — soft, handmade flour tortillas folded over refried beans, cotija, and crema — are hard to beat.

Baleadas at Merendero Estela, sitting on a white plate.
Baleadas at Merendero Estela.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Chepe's

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Salvadoran pupuserias are scattered throughout East Portland beyond 205, and Chepe’s is one of the most popular. Pupusas, flat corn cakes that are sparingly filled with things like beans and cheese, are grilled and served naked with hot sauce and curtido, a pickled cabbage and carrot slaw spiked with jalapeños. They’re also available with more fanciful toppings — shrimp and cilantro sauce, chorizo and egg — plus sour cream and avocado.

Chepe’s revuelta pupusa with curtido sits on a green plate.
Chepe’s revuelta pupusa with curtido.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Los Chapines Restaurant

What might look like a typical Hillsboro Mexican bakery from the outside is the one of the only specifically Guatemalan restaurants in the region. The name — Guatemalans call themselves “chapines”— is the tip-off. This is the place for hard-to-find meaty stews like the weekend-only beef soup sopa de res, the tomato-y shredded beef dish hilachas, and jocon, a green tomatillo-based stew that’s available with beef or chicken. For dessert, head straight for the rellenitos, little fried plantains stuffed with sweet bean and chocolate.

Boriken Restaurant

The Pacific Northwest isn’t exactly overflowing with Caribbean restaurants, but for Puerto Rican food like crispy alcapurrias (plantains with seasoned ground beef) and bacalaitos fritos (salt cod fritters), head to Beaverton’s Boriken. One of the restaurant’s most popular dishes is its mofongo, a tasty mound of fried plantains mashed with chicharrones; the restaurant’s mofongos come with a choice of protein, ranging from skirt steak to slow-roasted pernil. No dish is complete without the shop’s garlicky mojo.

A pile of mashed plantains on a tall pedestal at Boriken.
Mofongo at Boriken.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Casa del Pollo

Costa Rica attracts American eco-tourists seeking pura vida, but the Central American country’s cuisine isn’t represented as predominantly in the U.S. restaurant market. One of the Portland area’s only Costa Rican restaurants, however, serves Tico (Costa Rican) faves like gallo pinto, fried white rice and beans, and chifrijo, a.k.a. fried pork, pico de gallo, rice, and beans, served with tortilla chips for scooping. Casa del Pollo is also known for its roast chicken; any of the Costa Rican specialties work as a natural pairing for the restaurant’s birds.

Andina

Andina has developed a national reputation for its high-end Novo-Andean cuisine, and for many, it’s considered an embassy for Peruvian chefs and a starting point for novice diners. Andina has managed to stay relevant over the years, serving elegant and fresh ceviches in a restaurant space that borders on fine dining. One of the highlights of the menu: the beef heart anticuchos, supremely tender with just a kiss of char.

Caiman Cafe

Downtown’s Caiman Cafe is a daytime spot serving both Cuban and Mexican food, which means breakfast burritos, sure, but also fritas a.k.a. Cuban hamburgers; lechón azado, marinated and roasted pork; and sides like boiled yuca with garlic mojo. It’s also a perfect pit stop for grabbing a Cuban cortadito and pastelito filled with guava and cream cheese.

Casa Zoraya

Family-owned Casa Zoraya brings artful plating and an Andina pedigree to North Portland. The restaurant looks casual on the surface, with its narrow row of tables, rustic mixed wood accents, and pops of azure paint, but the food is meticulously constructed. Dishes showcase multi-hued potatoes and piquant peppers, and lomo saltado — a Chinese Peruvian dish of stir-fried beef, tomatoes, and french fries — gets an upgrade with sirloin and potato wedges adjacent to a neat mound of rice.

El Pilón

El Pilón, the lone yellow cart two blocks from the waterfront, specializes in Colombian empanadas, arepas, and patacónes, all naturally gluten-free. Patacónes, normally flattened fried plantains, arrive as little bowls stuffed with shredded chicken, beef, or cheese and greens, topped with Colombian salsa called hogao. Pair it with a hybrid fruit cocktail-punch, salpicon, a name often used for a minced meat dishes in the rest of Latin America.

Pambiche

Pambiche, the colorful Cuban restaurant on the lower level of a Victorian building, has persisted just off the now-trendy 28th Avenue corridor since the dawn of the millennium. It’s also one of the few places in town people can find bacanes, a tamale-esque filled cassava-plantain cake steamed in banana leaves; they arrive filled with things like stewed okra and black-eyed peas or braised Creole chicken. Larger plates include classics like ropa vieja; most of them come with moros y cristianos, the colloquial name for black beans and white rice.

Brazilian House

Beyond rodizios like Brazil Grill and national chain Fogo de Chão, Brazilian food isn’t easy to come by in Portland. Belmont food cart Brazilian House fills the gap by offering comforting classics like feijoada, the hearty black bean stew filled with sausage and smoked meat, and moqueca, a coconut milk-based seafood stew flavored with palm oil. The cart shares a pod with local legends like Viking Soul Food, with shared seating.

PKs -Penalty Kicks- Colombian & Chilean Food

Latin America’s approaches to hot dogs vary greatly: Colombia has perros calientes — often topped with things like crushed potato chips, mayo, pineapple — and Chile has the completo, garnished with guacamole and sauerkraut. At PK’s food truck in the Barley Pod, visitors can try both, as well empanadas served with pebre, a mild Chilean hot sauce, and the mazorcada, a wild dish that combines corn kernels with slew of chopped meats, garlic sauce, cheese, and shoestring fries for crunch. Grab a beer from the taproom as a pairing.

La Arepa

Venezuelan food shares similarities with nearby countries, and both La Arepa carts offer the namesake corn cake. For something specifically Venezuelan, order pabellón, a mix of shredded beef, plantains, and black beans as an entree served with rice, stuffed into an empanada or arepa, or as a patacón, a sandwich using two tostones for bread.

Alecocina

Alecocina at the Portland Mercado is one of two local Argentine food carts (Abuela Chona in Beaverton’s BG Food Cartel is the other). There’s no better representation of the Italian influence on Argentina’s cuisine than the milenesa, steak (or chicken) pounded thin, breaded and fried, and served simply with fries or Napolitana-style, slathered with tomato sauce and topped with melted cheese and herbs. For something more portable, try a classic choripan, chorizo and chimichurri stuffed into a French roll or a dulce de leche-filled alfajor.

Que Bacano!

Que Bacano is one of the most popular carts at Portland Mercado, likely because Colombian food is scarce in the city. It serves the holy trinity of arepas, empanadas, and patacones, as well as bigger entrees like arroz con pollo and the bandeja paisa, a traditional hefty platter of rice, soupy pork-filled beans, plantains, sausage, chicharrones, fried egg, avocado, plus an arepa.

An arepa at Que Bacano arrives wrapped in foil in a paper boat.
An arepa at Que Bacano.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Merendero Estela

Merendero Estela, a Honduran food cart just a few blocks north of Cartlandia, specializes

in pollo con tajadas, a.k.a. “chicken with very green bananas,” an underwhelming name for a princely basket of fried chicken and sliced tostones, nestled next to a bed of shredded cabbage and pink pickled onions. For something simpler, the cart’s baleadas — soft, handmade flour tortillas folded over refried beans, cotija, and crema — are hard to beat.

Baleadas at Merendero Estela, sitting on a white plate.
Baleadas at Merendero Estela.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

Chepe's

Salvadoran pupuserias are scattered throughout East Portland beyond 205, and Chepe’s is one of the most popular. Pupusas, flat corn cakes that are sparingly filled with things like beans and cheese, are grilled and served naked with hot sauce and curtido, a pickled cabbage and carrot slaw spiked with jalapeños. They’re also available with more fanciful toppings — shrimp and cilantro sauce, chorizo and egg — plus sour cream and avocado.

Chepe’s revuelta pupusa with curtido sits on a green plate.
Chepe’s revuelta pupusa with curtido.
Krista Garcia/Eater Portland

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