Michael Russell

3 days ago | oregonlive.com | Mims Copeland |Michael Russell

Last week, we opened up nominations for the Portland area’s best barbecue joint as part of The Oregonian’s Readers Choice Awards, and hundreds of you told us about your favorite spot. The 10 places with the most nominations are now the finalists for everyone to vote among. Cast your ballot at this link or at the bottom of this story. You can vote once a day until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, 2025. We’ll reveal the results later that week at oregonlive.com/readers-choice.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

If the phrase “all-you-can-eat sushi” invokes free birthday meals at Todai, the now-defunct buffet chain that once had a location in downtown Portland, this restaurant might surprise you. Found on a narrow street on a quiet stretch of downtown near the Ritz-Carlton, Hamono Sushi opened four years ago, but only rolled out its all-you-can-eat sushi option.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

If you had to pick a moment when Portland sushi entered its modern age, it was probably near the end of 2008, when Southeast 28th Avenue sleek Masu was converted into Bamboo Sushi, the world’s first certified sustainable sushi restaurant. As part of that package, Bamboo became one of the first local sushi restaurants to explain where their fish came from, and how they were caught, like a seafood version of an early “Portlandia” sketch.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

The first ten years at the James Beard Awards went about as you might expect, with national awards mostly going to America’s major dining capitals. More than half of the Outstanding Restaurant awards handed out between the first ceremony in 1991 and the end of the decade went to restaurants in New York — Bouley in 1991, Le Cirque in 1995, Union Square Cafe in 1997, Le Bernardin in 1998 and The Four Seasons in 1999.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

Timothy Wastell, a former Portland chef who now serves “a very nice lunch” at the Amity winery Antica Terra, took home the Best Chef: Northwest and Pacific award at the 2025 James Beard Foundation’s annual ceremony Monday in Chicago. The chef, whose acceptance speech was not aired on the award show’s herky-jerky livestream, has been with Antica Terra for nearly a decade. He previously worked at Northeast Portland restaurants including DOC, Old Salt Marketplace and Firehouse.