Cheap-yet amazing-food in Portland, Oregon?

[ohromujici]

My best friend and I are going to hang out together in Portland, Oregon next week and we are both fairly poor. Does anyone have any good ideas on where to go for cheap-yet amazing-food in Portland? We both love any/every kind of ethnic food the world has to offer (spicy is a plus) and we are both beer-o-philes. He lives on north Broadway near the Rose Garden Arena but we are up for any restaurant that we can get to from public transportation. Thanks!

[AlbertaHound]

I checked out your other posts and I think you'd really like Le Pigeon or Toro Bravo. Both are close to the Rose Garden. Neither are particularly ethnic or spicy, nor particularly "cheap," but for a couple of "only in Portland" places, both of which could be described as "amazing," I'd strongly suggest you keep these two gems in mind.

[Meghan]

I fell in love with Pambiche the last time I was in portland. Went there twice and had no issue with the wait- well worth it! Highly, highly reccomended cuban/ latin american place that is pretty darn cheap and has great atmosphere. Trust me on this one!

[Freida]

Pok Pok does seriously amazing food, and I think it's pretty darn cheap for what you get. They have some great spicy stuff and a good Asian beer list, plus some fantastic cocktails (love that tamarind whiskey sour).

[MichaelG]

You're walking distance from Nicolas, a great and popular middle-eastern restaurant. You're also a short ride from Alberta Street, which is full of great Thai and Mexican places.

[SauceSupreme]

Maybe this thread will help:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/485589

[ohromujici]

Hi SauceSupreme. The thread you sent is titled "Seriously cheap food (pdx)". What is PDX? Is that an abbreviation for Portland, OR? When I did my search through the boards, I used Portland, OR as a search term and didn't come up with anything. Just curious.

[Nettie]

Yes, PDX is the airport code for Portland and is generally used on this board for Portland topics.

I've found myself at Clyde Commons for happy hour a few times recently, and while the HH menu is pretty limited, it is great food. The butter lettuce salad is really simple, but still very good, and it's like a whole head of lettuce for $2.

Outside of happy hour, I've had some pretty good and inexpensive meals at My Canh in the Hollywood neighborhood. You could take MAX to Hollywood or the 77 bus, which I believe goes very close to it.

[SauceSupreme]

Originally the airport code for Portland International, it's also acceptable to use PDX as an abbreviation for Portland in general. (It also helps to separate confusion between it and Portland, Maine.)

Alberta St and the Hollywood neighborhood have great cheap eats. Also, look at 82nd St on the Eastside, as that's where you have a large concentration of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants.

Happy Hour is definitely one of your best bets. Lots of places around town offer discounts on food and/or beverages, typically starting at 3pm until about 6pm. Some even offer late happy hour menus, starting at maybe 10pm. I picked up this book to help me out:
http://www.happyhourguidebook.com/

Here's a map from that site that might help you out:
http://www.happyhourguidebook.com/llo...

Finally, the Pok Pok suggestion is a good one as you're getting one of the top Thai places *in America*, let alone in Portland.

[MichaelG]

You need to search the "search this board" rather than the general search, so you can focus on the Northwest. Then you can skip the OR part and get plenty of posts for Portland. "portland cheap" will get you plenty. Enjoy!