• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Le Pigeon   (Photo: Courtesy of Jeremy Lanig/Ian Lynam Creative Direction)

Sneak into Portland’s secret breakfast spot du jour, the vegetarian-friendly Beaterville Café (201 N. Killingsworth St.; 503 735-4652). Waitresses inked with tattoos hover over fifties chrome-trim tables, serving strong coffee and tasty, egg-based breakfasts, vegan alternatives, and biscuit sandwiches named after vintage cars.

Watch one of the country’s hottest young chefs in action at Le Pigeon, the food-magazine-anointed platform for 27-year-old Gabriel Rucker. The small, rustic space provides the setting for bold, daily-changing dishes like duck pancakes and apple sauce, swordfish with lobster mushrooms, and sweetbread with smoked veal tongue.

Put yourself in the capable hands of local darling Naomi Pomeroy, who hosts pre-set prix fix dinners ($45) and brunches ($30) at her new 24-seater, Beast. The Northeast Portland restaurant opened this September with a palette of charcoals and pinks, a black chalkboard scrawled with chef’s notes, and an open kitchen.

Published on October 10, 2007 as a web exclusive.