With its ceiling covered in baseball caps, farmland feel, and a legendary burger, Helvetia Tavern is a popular pit stop off of Cornelius Pass. The jumbo burger is true to its name, which means circumference rather than height; diners who prefer more meat per bite can order a regular burger as a double. Burgers come with a bag of Tim’s potato chips, though the real move is to get a half-and-half order of fries and onion rings to share (or hoard).

A butcher shop with a cafe attached, this casual lunch spot with a touch of country flair serves a solid roster of sandwiches and burgers, including a stellar Reuben with house-smoked pastrami on marbled rye. The shop’s elk burger is another strong choice, arriving topped with provolone and chipotle aioli to stand up to the flavor of the meat. Daily specials feature a Friday cheesesteak slathered in jalapeno cheese sauce and Thursday’s mushroom beef melt with au jus on the side for dipping.

Local beers are easy to find in Hillsboro, and ABV might be the city’s most popular brewpub. Here, the food has equal importance to the regional beers on tap, including Hillsboro-based options like Vertigo’s raspberry wheat and Helvetia Cider’s Son of a Peach. Bar food includes a Nashville chicken sandwich, as well Italian Dirty Fries topped with bacon, Mama Lil’s peppers, and rosemary aioli.

This elegant strip mall restaurant is the destination for Southern Indian food, which means many of Chennai Masala’s tables are covered by massive paper-thin dosas, served with coconut chutney and sambar, fried vadas, and steamed idlys. Pre-pandemic, the lunch buffet full of steam table curries and pans of tandoori chicken might’ve been Chennai Masala’s biggest draw, but the popular all-you-can-eat deal has yet to return. 

Vivi’s is Hillsboro’s solid Vietnamese choice, with classics like beef pho and crispy spring rolls covered. Unusually, tripe and tendon is nowhere to be found, though here the dac biet features chicken breast, beef, chicken, and shrimp balls, in addition to the usual flank steak. Juicy and char-streaked grilled meats come with rice and nuoc cham, unless they’re rolled in rice paper with herbs and cucumbers. However you order, it’s hard to go wrong.

Staying true to the name “umma,” which translates to mother, this airport-adjacent restaurant serves homestyle Korean food from a mother-daughter team. Banchan, or small side dishes, arrive alongside plates of steamed or fried mandu, sizzling platters of squid and pork belly bulgogi, and bubbling bowls of jjigae, soups that contain kimchi, spicy fish roe, or beef brisket and soybean paste for ultra umami. In the summer, Umma’s selection of naengmyun variants are a fun way to cool off.

Curry & Crust could just rely on the novelty of its most famous dish: pizzas topped with Indian dishes like palak paneer or tandoori chicken. However, the restaurant’s straight-up Indian menu has its own roster of devotees, thanks to its gently spiced butter chicken and chef’s choice thali. If Curry & Crust has some of its mithai — or sweets — on the menu, they’re worth an order.

With its substantial sake selection and ever-changing list of white board specials, Syun Izakaya is a big draw for Japanese food aficionados. Just off Main Street, this sprawling restaurant — filled with paper lanterns, plants, and fishing nets — feels more Hokkaido than Hillsboro. Nigiri and specialty rolls (sometimes featuring local seafood) are a big attraction at the carved wood sushi bar, though the comprehensive menu features fried dishes, noodles (both stir-fried and in soups), and izakaya staples like chicken yakitori, grilled mackerel, and okonomiyaki.

This sweet bakery in a renovated Hillsboro home is the place to be for pastel-hued macarons, doughnuts coated in inventive rotating glazes, and tall layer cakes. Those seeking something savory can also order breakfast and lunch sandwiches, including ones on flaky house biscuits, which are served all day.

A local favorite, downtown Hillsboro’s Amelia’s, aka Amelia’s Exquisite Mexican Food, has been serving traditional fare from regions across Mexico since 2007. The family-run restaurant with cheery brick red and saffron walls offers a legendary loco burrito, a two-pound behemoth bursting at the seams and drenched in mild green tomatillo salsa. The menu has been pared down since the pandemic started, but visitors will still find tostadas topped with stewed tinga, vegetarian huaraches, and ever-popular quesabirria, as well as more substantial dishes like Yucatecan cochinita pibil, mole poblano, and multiple dishes featuring flatiron steak.

Ochoa’s is a popular counter service restaurant housed in a burnt orange building with a welcoming hand-painted sign on the facade. Taqueria is in the name, and there’s certainly a lot of fillings to choose from, though before deciding what to order, make sure to give the huge wall menu with individually framed photos of dishes a skim. That’s where diners will find entrees like fried fish, pork chops, and roast chicken served with beans and rice, as well as seafood cocktails and caldos.

While Mexican cuisine reigns in Hillsboro, food from nearby Latin American countries also thrives in the suburb. One of the few full-on Guatemalan restaurants in the Portland area, Los Chapines is the go-to source for hearty soups and stews like jocon, with a green tomatillo-based broth; hilachas, shredded beef braised with tomatoes; and sopa de res, a weekend-only beef soup. This strip mall business also functions as a bakery and small grocery store.

Antojitos are typically refers to snacks in Mexico, but Hillsboro’s Antojitos House hopscotches around Central America, with a selection of Salvadoran pupusas, Honduran baleadas, and Venezuelan arepas and patacones. The patacones are particularly special at Antojitos House: two flattened, fried green plantains stand in for bread, sandwiched around choice of meat with shredded cabbage and dressing.