At this stellar Vietnamese restaurant on Glisan and 82nd, Grandma holds it down in the kitchen while her granddaughters deliver her specialty noodle soups to the dining room. As per their recommendation, order the crabmeat and escargot vermicelli soup with added fish patties and quail eggs. The resulting bowl sees springy noodles, perfectly cooked snail, and creamy eggs submerged in a rich pink broth. The soup's true standout, though, are the completely ethereal fish patties, in which ground fish encloses an explosive center of sweet and salty roe. [Photo]

When you reach the strip mall at the corner of 82nd and Harrison, look for the storefront that shines with the most abrasive fluorescent lights. You will have found Good Taste Noodle House, and soon your stomach will be sloshing with the most delicate yet filling wonton soup in Portland. The Super Bowl A, which combines skinny handmade noodles, juicy wontons, BBQ pork, roasted pork and roasted duck in an aromatic beef broth, deserves to be renamed Super Bowl A+. [Photo]

A crawfish boil at My Brother's Crawfish, in which juicy little mudbugs float in red hot Cajun broth, is worth the stinging hangnails; it's worth the glass of beer slipping from your sauce-covered grasp; it's worth the 5+ napkins you will inevitably go through; and it's certainly worth the garlicky stench that will haunt your esophagus for the subsequent 24 hours. Extra baguette to soak up the remaining broth is crucial. [Photo]

For most food nerds, a steaming bowl of pho is where our delicious liaison with Vietnamese cuisine began. Pay respects to the O.G. at Pho Hung, specifically the variety that includes thinly sliced flank steak, brisket, and tripe. The tender meat comes submerged in a rich broth, which has a bit of beefy murkiness to accompany accents of anise and cinnamon. This pho also benefits greatly from an optional dollop of Pho Hung's handmade chili sate sauce. [Photo]

Bun bo hue is the soup du jour at this eponymous restaurant, which might have the worst lighting in Portland. And that's okay, because diners don't come here for a soft, pretty glow. No, they come to get red, sweaty and snotty over a bowl of this ridiculously spicy noodle soup from the Vietnamese city of Hue. The noodles, meat and vegetables soak up a lovely tang from cubes of pig's blood in the spicy beef broth. [Photo]

Wong's King is a madhouse during dim sum hours, but come dinnertime, the place is practically dead. It's as if people don't realize those huge tanks of live seafood aren't just for display. For better or for worse — and let's be real, for better — the fate of Wong’s King’s live crabs is sealed in the form of salted spicy crab, in which a whole Dungeness, shell and all, comes deep-fried in a light and crispy batter with salt and chilies. [Photo]

At Beijing Hot Pot, the focal point is a jacuzzi of spicy broth at the center of each table. When the assortment of raw food arrives, dunk the vegetables in the cauldron first—they can afford to soak a little longer. Then, watch the razor-thin slices of pork and beef cook in seconds. After inhaling this DIY meal over steamed rice, throw in the handmade dumplings and noodles to soak up the rendered fat and aromas from the meat and vegetables. [Photo]

Chinese Delicacy might be the biggest misnomer on 82nd Avenue, aside from the nightmarish-looking strip joint across the street called “Passionate Dreams.” Despite the former’s nod to China, it’s actually Korean-owned and specializes in Korean dishes. On Sundays, the Korean post-church crowd goes particularly nuts for jajangmyeon, a sludgy noodle stew with salty black bean sauce, seafood, and chewy handmade noodles. [Photo]