Screen Door alumni Chris “Salty” Reed and Cindy Reed recently added a twinkling-light strewn covered and heated parklet outside their beloved cocktail and southern-inspired food spot in downtown Vancouver. The end-of-the-cul-de-sac location gives the space a private, intimate feel away from the traffic on Main Street. It’s the ideal space to feast on a Grocery Burger topped with bacon jam, sweet onions, garlic mayo, and melted American Cheese while serenely sipping a Thai Me Up, Dolly with rum, BROVO amaro #4, Thai tea, coconut cream, and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Minors are allowed until 7:30pm. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. and all day on Sunday.

A maze of tents fills the back courtyard of this downtown favorite. Amaro’s popular happy hour still runs from 2 to 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close every day, with $4 to $7 treats like Bavarian cheese fondue and ricotta doughnuts served alongside similarly priced classic and draft cocktails. The regular menu includes elegant entrees like beef tenderloin medallions in a demi-glace served with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. Amaro’s rotating draft cocktails, like Midnight Sun sangria with bitter blood orange, Suze, ginger tea, and brown sugar, are the star of the show. Reservations are recommended and can be made by phone.

Nobel Rot’s Mychal Dynes and Nogoguro’s Mark Wooten have added a parklet with heaters to the space outside their beloved mezcal and taco spot in downtown Vancouver. Taco lovers devouring meaty oyster mushroom tacos and cheeseburger-like tortas Americano, while sipping mezcal-infused cocktails, fill the tables in Little Conejo’s warmed parklet, spilling out into the unheated picnic tables lining the outside of this corner space. Little Conejo doesn’t take reservations so it’s best to come at less popular times around lunch time and before the dinner rush.

Husband-wife team Miguel and Allison Sosa, along with their young children, collected the Columbia River driftwood that lines the outside of their elegant heated, semi-enclosed outdoor space on Main Street in downtown Vancouver. Element’s rotating seasonal menu features microgreens from Harvest of Peace, as well as produce from other nearby farms like Red Truck Farm, Flat Tack Farm, and Wobbly Cart Farm. Currently, seasonal Oregon white truffles can be found in the beef tartare, the potato gnocchi, and in as truffle sauce spooned over Snake River Farms Waygu ribeye. Reservations are required and can be made through Resy or by calling the restaurant.

Ella Bakh and her son, Nico, opened this charming space in downtown Vancouver to share food from Ella’s hometown, Tbilisi, Georgia. Their parklet mirrors the modern European-style of their restaurant with horizontal slats of wood, plants, and strings of honey-colored lights that flutter in the breeze like fireflies. Eastern European soul food like a warm Lobia pot (bean stew), boat-shaped khachapuri (cheese bread) warm from the oven, or tender knot-topped khinkali (dumplings) with beef and pork or mushrooms provide sustenance against the cold of winter. Mason jars of hot kompot (fruit tea), fresh fruit bobbing on the surface, or a glass of amber-hued Georgian wine complement the food. Reservations can be made by phone or through OpenTable. Happy hour runs everyday from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.

Acorn and The Oak is 20 miles east of downtown Vancouver, perched on Lacamas Lake. At this secluded spot, Chuck and Janessa Stoltz have created a unique outdoor dining experience by adding their own quirky style to their newly renovated lake chalet. Janessa’s florist skills came in handy snagging a wedding-level tent and festooning it with greenery and flowers. A small projector silently projects subtitled film favorites — from classics like The Wizard of Oz to Gen-X nostalgia like Say Anything — onto one of the tent’s walls. From noon to 4 p.m., the spot serves light bites like deviled eggs, cheese boards, and cocktails. After 5 p.m., the menu shifts to updated classics like wedge salads and chicken stroganoff, along with cocktails like the Tipsy Oak, a blend of bourbon, orange juice, and Acorn and The Oak’s own thyme simple syrup, finished with a few splashes of cardamom and walnut bitters. The tent will be transformed into a tiki theme in March. Reservations can be made by calling the restaurant or through OpenTable.

Bonnie Brasure recently added a black-and-white-striped awning, with clear side panels and heaters, to the space outside her bakery and cafe in Uptown Village. The outdoor space attracts ladies who lunch catching up after a long social hiatus, as well as couples enjoying a relaxing mid-day break. They dine on soups like Brasure’s mushroom barley, a restorative mix of wild mushrooms and tender barley pearls, alongside decadent meat-free options like crustless quiches packed with bits of broccoli and melted cheddar cheese. Tables are limited, so it’s worth it to go during typically slow hours.

This neighborhood hangout in Hazel Dell recently added tenting and heaters to the outdoor patio, creating a comfortable spot to sip beer and sample food from the cluster of food carts outside the brewery. Beer choices range from a crisp, clear Czech style pilsner called The Peoples Pilsner, and several juicy hazy IPAs, to dark brews like bold, brown malt infused Jp’s Meetinghouse Brown Ale. One of the several nearby food trucks, The Hungry Sasquatch, offers Neapolitan-inspired pies with a crust made of their own mix of wild yeast sourdough starter and organic whole-wheat flour. The Octo-squatch is made by covering this carefully formulated crust with pesto, smoked mozzarella, and tender octopus rings, baked at 800 degrees in a wood-fire oven. After it’s cooked, ghost pepper flakes are sprinkled on top for an added kick.

Sipping a steaming bowl of pho on a cold afternoon at Pho Haven feels replenishing, even on the coldest days. The heated front porch of this Vietnamese restaurant, housed in an old Victorian, offers a nice perch for watching people and traffic pass by on Main Street. Pho Haven’s menu includes a variety hot soup, from their meat-y special pho with eye round steak, flank steak, and meatballs, to a lighter vegan pho with tofu and mushrooms in a broth flavored with a mix of fruits and vegetables. The six outdoor tables often fill up around 6 p.m., but are typically available for walk-ins at lunch and before or after 6 p.m. Reservations can be made by phone.