Issue #198: A Local’s Guide to 85+ Date Night Spots, Coffee Shops, and Must-Visits in Portland

My complete, local guide and a downloadable map!

📺 “Overcompensating” on Prime: It’s a classic story. Boy meets girl, boy and girl attempt hookup, the whole thing ends in confusion as boy questions his sexuality amid the mounting pressure to fit in with new college classmates who casually cat call and throw around phrases like “porkfest.” This eight-episode series is fertile, thoughtful ground for a comedy about college freshman figuring out their identities (I’m also newly obsessed with Wally Baram, who plays the girlfriend, a comedy writer in her first acting role!).

📚 The Dry Season by Melissa Febos: After years of serial dating,

Melissa Febos

committed to a 90 day hiatus from sex and dating, which turned into a year of intentional celibacy and, to her surprise, one of the best years of her life—one in which she was able to turn to self-exploration, and discover pleasure and sublime in the absence of romantic partnership.

🫛 Greens-Packed Grilled Chicken Salad Sandwich: Necessity birthed this sandwich, which I made for my boyfriend me, for our flights to Guatemala last week, when we needed to empty-out the fridge of leftover grilled chicken and three kinds of greens, arugula, mizuna, and lettuce. So simple, delicious, and transports well!

P.S. My novel, You’re Safe Here, comes out in paperback today with a gorgeous new cover! To celebrate, I’m giving away five copies to five readers plus a month-long subscription to Morning Person. To enter, simply like and restack this post! I’ll select winners at random next week! x

I came to Portland by kismet ten years ago, when my boyfriend at the time won a sweepstakes to fly here for a food festival. We had been living in New York,¹ and my hot-trash-asphalt walk to the subway was beginning to smudge my rose-colored glasses. I was entirely unfamiliar with Portland but craving nature, so as soon as we dropped our bags off at the hotel, I went for a long run towards a large swath of green on the map. I had no idea what to expect, but it certainly wasn’t Forest Park—a sprawling forest that hugs downtown, with criss-crossing trails I still, to this day, haven’t explored in their entirety. I knew, on that run, that I would move here one day and seven years later, I did.

It’s been five years since I moved to Portland, but my love for this city has only grown. Its proximity to nature—the Oregon coast! the Columbia River Gorge!—continues to astound me. But it also has such a strong arts and book culture (with the largest independent bookstore in the world, and a thriving literary arts organization), and every neighborhood has at least one phenomenal coffee shop, restaurant, and bar. As a writer, student, addictions counselor, and outdoor enthusiast, I’ve had the unique opportunity to explore so many parts of this city I’m lucky to call home. Read on for:

• My top dinner spots and coffee shops, plus 85+ personally vetted recommendations

• A downloadable Google map, with even more recommendations

• The clothing stores and wine bars worth planning a trip around

• By popular request, I shared my favorite gourmet grocery shops and health food options!

Basically, I take my travel guides very seriously, just as I did with Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, and so many other destinations!

Clockwise from top left: Xiao Ye, L'echelle, Phuket Café, Lovely's Fifty-Fifty