Pearl District

Peruvian cooking has held this corner of NW Glisan since 2003, built on ají amarillo, the yellow pepper at the heart of the cuisine, which is now grown in Oregon for the restaurant. Come early for happy hour in the lounge.

Daniel Shoemaker and Ted Charak opened Teardrop in 2007, and its cocktail list still turns over with the seasons. The bar opens at 4 p.m. every day; Crybaby, the room next door, takes reservations for groups of up to eight on Fridays and Saturdays.

A wine bar that takes its kitchen as seriously as its cellar: Wine Enthusiast named Arden one of the country’s 50 best wine restaurants in 2024, and the seasonal Northwest cooking comes à la carte or as a tasting menu. Dinner only, Monday through Saturday.

Paolo Parrilli’s trattoria began in 2003 as a coffee and wine bar and grew into a dinner spot. Regulars come back for the gnocchi di ricotta and the spaghetti with handmade pork-and-beef meatballs.

Breakfast here means a seat at a U-shaped Formica counter on a chrome stool, with a short menu of diner standards like corned beef hash, French toast and a Monte Cristo. Fuller’s dates to 1947 and closes at 2 p.m. daily, so plan on breakfast or lunch.

Italian soccer on the TVs, jerseys hanging overhead and a deli case of cured meats make this NW Johnson trattoria, open since 2000, feel a long way from Portland. Order pasta and settle in.

Billed as the world’s largest new and used bookstore, the flagship also has a rare book room, a coffee shop and frequent author talks. Cooks and home bartenders should head for the Orange Room.

Oblation makes its own paper and prints letterpress stationery by hand, a business that started at the Eugene Saturday Market in 1989 and moved into the Pearl in 1998. The shop is also stocked with fountain pens, its own ink and journals.

Rare and small-batch bottles share the shelves with everyday spirits at this NW Lovejoy liquor store, along with wine, craft beer, mixers and bar tools. It’s open seven days a week.

The interactive fountain here imitates a shallow tide pool and usually runs from late spring into early fall, while Kenny Scharf’s four 30-foot Tikitotemoniki totems stand along the edges.

A short walk north, this small wetland park recalls the springs and lake that once covered the ground. Its Artwall is built from 368 upended railroad rails set with fused glass painted with dragonflies, spiders and insects; dogs aren’t allowed.

At 3.35 acres, The Fields has room for a playground, picnic tables, a big lawn oval and a fenced off-leash area for dogs.

Portland Center Stage performs its season inside The Armory on NW 11th, and the building adds free extras around its productions, from gallery exhibits and film screenings to pre-show events.

Step off the street into Elizabeth Leach Gallery’s NW 9th Avenue rooms for rotating exhibitions of contemporary art, open Tuesday through Saturday.

The association’s board meets on the second Thursday evening of each month in a second-floor board room at 511 NW Broadway, and its meetings are open to everyone. Officers are elected at the annual meeting each October.

A few blocks east in Old Town, Blanchet House serves meals in its café Monday through Saturday and runs Bethanie’s Room, a women’s shelter. Volunteers pick café, clothing-sorting or shelter shifts through an online scheduler.

Just east of the Pearl in Old Town Chinatown, the garden leans on volunteers to greet visitors, groom its 200-plus Chinese plant specimens, staff Lunar New Year and Mid-Autumn events, or train as tour guides.

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