This homey restaurant tucked into an International District strip mall serves Mexican favorites like carne asada platters, tacos, burritos, and quesadillas, as well as Salvadoran pupusas. Made to order pupusas come with fresh masa and melted mozzarella cheese, combined with fillings like asada, jalapeno, mushrooms, and loroco, or edible flower buds. Cheese-filled birria tacos served in fresh, grilled tortillas with a side of warm beef consomé are a standout.

The bar at this downtown spot offers the best seat in the house. These coveted barstools provide the perfect perch to dine on classics like medium-rare steak medallions bathed in demi-glace with a mound of mash potatoes, or a crisp wedge salad topped with bleu cheese and a thicket of thinly sliced onion rings. Amaro’s also hosts a rotating menu of draft cocktails like the Season of the Witch, a rum punch spiked with Meletti, ginger liqueur, mulled apple cider, and both chai and bergamot tea.

Ella Bakh and her son and co-owner, Nico, opened this bright, cozy space last year to share the food of their native Tbilisi. The restaurant’s menu features comforting Georgian favorites like khachapuri adjaruli, a boat-shaped bread with fresh cheese, and khinkali, plump Georgian dumplings filled with beef and pork or mushrooms. An order should include both, as well as a few fresh salads and a small clay pot of a creamy bean stew called lobio. Dediko’s excellent wine list includes a number of Georgian wines made in the classic style, fermented in underground ceramic pots called qvevris. Miniature versions of these wine pots are scattered throughout Dediko, giving a traditional Georgian flair to this modern space.

When Noble Rot’s Mychal Dynes and Nodoguro’s Mark Wooten opened this palace of mezcal and tacos in September 2017, it quickly became a destination. The menu ranges from tacos with fillings like oyster mushrooms and frico’d cheese to crispy carnitas as well as hefty tortas like the brisket americano with braised beef and melted American cheese. Smoky mezcal cocktails accompany the food menu, with an impressively long mezcal list.

Joey Chmiko serves his wildly popular wild-yeast-dough pies at this downtown Vancouver pizza spot. The restaurant’s eclectic menu of bright salads, ice cream, and pizza toppings rely on provisions from a long list of local farms including Red Truck Farm, Flat Tack Farm, and Sprout and Blossom Farm.

Ken’s Artisan Pizza alumni Alan Maniscalco and Shan Wickham opened this shrine to pizza and frozen custard several years ago, when it seemed unthinkable that chefs from Portland would start a restaurant in the formerly run-down strip mall. The menu includes fresh salads, pizzas, frozen custard, and customer favorites like meatballs and greens, all featuring locally grown produce from farms like Wobbly Cart, Red Truck, Flat Tack, and lamb from Reister Ranch in Washougal. Reservations are available through Open Table.

Pho Vi Van, found in an unassuming space in an East Vancouver strip mall, consistently serves a wide range of fragrant pho. Pho Vi Van’s vegetarian pho comes with a surprisingly rich and complex broth filled with rice noodles, puffy fried tofu, shiitake mushrooms, and a rainbow of crisp vegetables. Other highlights include a spicy bún bò Huế — thick swirls of rice noodles and tender meat in a luscious broth — and a comforting egg noodle soup with plump pork wontons.

La Sorrentina Pizzeria — which received high praise from Portland Monthly food critic, Karen Brooks, for their Neapolitan pizzas at their Hazel Dell food truck — opened its brick-and-mortar restaurant in a strip mall off 164th Avenue in the midst of the pandemic. Owner and chef Daisuke Matsumoto bakes fire-roasted red sauce pizzas like the classic Margherita, as well as white sauce pies like the Terra Mia with eggplant parmesan, sausage, mozzarella, pesto, and basil on traditional or gluten-free crusts. The specials menu varies based on chef Matsumoto’s whims. Past offerings range from black truffle and wild porcini mushrooms served with freshly made tagliatelle to delizia al limone, a lemon pastry with fresh whipped cream from Sorrento, Italy, where chef Matsumoto trained with celebrated international chef Biagio Longo.

Entering Dosalas Latin Kitchen and Tequila Bar feels like a visit to a distant sparkling otherworld. The large glittery chandeliers, enormous bar, and cushy white leather covered booths overlooking the water provide a bit of Vegas glitz mixed with flourishes of old Hollywood glamour. The menu includes a variety of small plates like ahi tuna tostadas and guajillo mashed potatoes, as well as large shareable plates like ancho-spiced lamb chops or bone-in tomahawk ribeye. Showy cocktails like the Purple Rain with gin, St. Germain, prosecco, and a combination of butterfly pea powder and gold glitter flow from the sleek bar. Reservations are available through Open Table.

Dorothy Golson serves Southern food inspired by her childhood favorites at her red-and-white-checkered food truck in Hazel Dell. The daily menu includes classics like shrimp and grits, fried catfish, pimento cheese sandwiches, and sides like crispy disks of fried okra — tender on the inside, crispy on the outside. Golson often adds specials such as smothered pork chops with cabbage and roasted potatoes or sweet potato pie. Everything is made to order so wait times for food can be long. Orders can be placed ahead of time by phone.

Tim and Melissa McCusker, of Feast 316 in downtown Camas, recently opened an updated speakeasy in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The menu ranges from smaller bites like harissa-roasted cauliflower or duck fat fries with manchego and a duck-fennel-peppercorn gravy, to larger plates such as a decadent Delmonico steak with sauces like pine nut mustard puree. The Sedgwick also offers a daily yakitori menu and desserts like a make-your-own s’mores platter served with skewers and a small fire pit to roast marshmallows.

WanSook sits in a small food cart pod behind Doomsday Brewing in Uptown Village. The short menu offers dishes that range from silky pad kee mao to garlic-pepper chicken sprinkled with a nice dose of black pepper, served with sides of tender jasmine rice and crisp steamed vegetables.

La Bottega has offered a rotating menu of antipasti like roasted tomato bruschetta, fresh salads, and Italian entrees like lasagna bolognese with beef, veal, and pork since 2006. In addition to Italian classics served in a cozy space, La Bottega boasts an extensive deli counter, wine cellar, take-and-bake meals, and imported pantry items for easy at-home dining.

Keri Buhman’s Hazel Dell cafe and creperie offers savory crepes like the figgy piggy with prosciutto and goat cheese topped with fig jam and peppery tendrils of arugula, as well as Monte Cristos and cubes of grilled cheese served with tomato bisque for dipping. The store attached to the cafe houses charcuterie board fixings like Cowgirl Creamery’s Mt. Tam and cured meats like mole salami from Elevation Meats, as well as take-and-bake meals like Peruvian chicken with cilantro lime rice and aji verde.

This intimate hideaway tucked away from the traffic of Main Street offers a rotating seasonal cocktail list and a well-executed slate of pub fare. Dishes range from seasonal salads to the hedonistic Grocery burger, a Cascade Natural beef patty with bacon jam, sweet onions, garlic mayo, and American cheese on a potato bun served with hand-cut fries.