Is downtown Portland turning a corner? It will take time to know for sure, but at the very least, its reputation seems to be improving (which could be half the battle). Earlier this year, a survey of Portland-area residents showed that opinions of the embattled neighborhood are trending upward, even among those who haven’t visited in months.
But a true downtown revival will take more than return-to-work orders and a rise in civic pride. People need a reason to return: a Timbers or Thorns playoff game, the Portland Art Museum’s upcoming Mark Rothko Pavilion, the decades-in-the-making James Beard Public Market. Or a great new place to eat.
This month, with the fall arts calendar in full swing, reporters for The Oregonian/OregonLive dropped by five new downtown Portland restaurants, from a charming Mexican oasis decked out in royal blue and gold to a triumphant Filipino residency in a hip Chinatown hotel. We sampled the wares at one of Portland’s newest — and cleanest — food halls, ordered traditional Hawaiian poke from a deli case near Portland State University and met friends at an everyday izakaya imported from Las Vegas with shockingly affordable food and drink…