It should go without saying Portland is more than the Pearl District, Division Street, or Mississippi Avenue. As residents get pushed further eastward and neighborhoods like Montavilla, Foster-Powell, and Lents grow, it’s becoming imperative to expand culinary horizons farther east. In fact, more than 20 percent of all Portland residents live between I-205 and Gresham, a figure that’s only likely to grow.

Unlike inner Portland and the westside with its constant churn and international outposts, Portland’s east side is home to the old guard, like quintessentially American steakhouses and cheesesteak joints, as well as restaurants celebrating the cuisines of Somalia, Ukraine, Laos, and beyond.

This map focuses on Gresham and the portion of Portland east of 205 sometimes referred to as “The Numbers,” colloquially. For tacos, specifically, see Where to Find Next-Level Tacos in Gresham. Eastside residents and fans, feel free to chime in on local favorites for future updates.

Fork And Spoon Food House 10634 NE Sandy Blvd

Portland, OR 97220 (503) 867-7716 Visit Website Across the street from the Parkrose Grocery Outlet, Fork and Spoon House — simply decorated with a Philippine flag, folk art, and TV tuned to a Filipino station — is the place to go for homestyle sisig, bicol express, and the occasional special of sweet Pinoy-style spaghetti with chopped up hotdogs mixed in. Filipino breakfast dishes, “silogs,” with garlic rice, a fried egg, and choice of meat are what to get during the day. Open in Google Maps

Lily Market 11001 NE Halsey St

Portland, OR 97220 (503) 255-0448 Visit Website This Southeast Asian grocery store in the Gateway District is actually a serious lunch spot: The deli counter near the cash registers is where the action is. Curries and stir-fries on rice are available, but it’s the crumbly, grilled pork sausages and hot-as-hell Lao-style papaya salads where Lily Market excels. The fiery shredded papaya, called mak hoong, gets its hardcore funk from fermented crab. Lily Market deli counter Krista Garcia/EPDX Open in Google Maps

Jet Black Coffee Company 11150 NE Weidler St

Portland, OR 97220 (503) 889-0739 Visit Website Jet Black Coffee, an airy, black-walled cafe in a repurposed Gateway District midcentury structure, is a clear labor of love (and ode to the band Jawbreaker). Owners Travis Coe and Karla Nolt sell Water Avenue custom blends and vegan baked goods from Sweetpea Baking Company and Shoofly Vegan Bakery; the hip coffee shop still feels like an anomaly in the triple-digits. Open in Google Maps

Taipei Noodle Haus 11642 NE Halsey St

Portland, OR 97220 (503) 206-5090 Visit Website This no-frills restaurant stocked with video lottery games is a Korean-Chinese specialist in disguise. Pros know to skip the chow mein and kung pao chicken, instead opting for dishes that feature chewy, hand-pulled noodles like the ja jiang mein black bean seafood noodles or “chow ma” spicy seafood noodle soup. Open in Google Maps

La Osita PDX - Coffee and Mexican Food 1515 -A, SE 122nd Ave

Portland, OR 97233 (503) 358-3364 Visit Website Nearby Mill Park residents are lucky enough to snag La Osita’s Mexican breakfast fare and a cup of Proyecto Diaz coffee in the morning, though the food cart stays open until late lunch. Co-owner Elizabeth Guerrero, who moved to Portland from Puebla, Mexico when she was four, serves her memorable brunch tacos with a hard-fried egg, sauteed peppers, and slice of thick-cut bacon, topped with pink pickled onions and default mild green salsa. Along with Jet Black Coffee, this small cart in a strip mall parking lot is one of the few businesses offering explicitly vegan menu options east of 205. La Osita’s brunch taco Krista Garcia/EPDX Open in Google Maps Also Featured in: Where to Find a Real-Deal Breakfast To-Go in Portland

Citymaxx Food Stores 3552 SE 122nd Ave

Portland, OR 97236 (503) 719-4161 Visit Website For those craving Ukrainian piroshki, Armenian kefir, and Georgian wine, East Portland is where a large portion of Portland’s Eastern European treasures reside, and Citymaxx is the biggest player in town. With an orange-and-black color scheme and matching logo that make the well-stocked grocery and liquor store seem like a chain (it isn’t), this bright-and-shiny relative newcomer has most of the Baltic bases covered, plus a deli counter with combo plates and beef stroganoff, borscht, and chicken kiev by the pound. Open in Google Maps

Salama International Bazaar 12435 NE Glisan St

Portland, OR 97230 (503) 477-6211 Compared to other East African cuisines like Eritrean and Ethiopian, Somali food is less commonly found in Portland restaurants. For a plate of suqaar (stewed beef, peppers, and onions) or kaykay (stir-fried strips of chicken and sabayad, flaky paratha, served with a lime-heavy, spicy green sauce), head out to Salama International Bazaar, a restaurant with comfortable chairs and patterned silk tablecloths, next to a Somali mini-mall. Most entrees are served with a choice of buttery rice, spaghetti and marinara, or anjeero, a spongy flatbread traditionally made with sorghum flour. Kaykay at Salama International Bazaar Krista Garcia/EPDX Open in Google Maps

Von Ebert Brewing Glendoveer 14021 NE Glisan St

Portland, OR 97230 (503) 878-8708 Visit Website Formerly Ringside East, Von Ebert Brewing took over the midcentury clubhouse restaurant at the Glendoveer golf course in 2018. The well-preserved restaurant with vaulted ceilings and globe light fixtures still serves Ringside’s famous steak bites and horseradish sauce, as well as house-smoked wings, smoked brisket sandwiches, and croquettes. The varied tap list includes seasonal lagers, fermented sours, and wild farmhouse ales, crafted on site by head brewer Sean Burke. Open in Google Maps

Birrieria La Plaza - Birria de Res | Mexican Food Truck & Taqueria 600 SE 146th Ave

Portland, OR 97233 Visit Website For messy tacos, quesadillas, and cups of consomme, ketchup-red food cart Birrieria La Plaza has quickly become a birria staple on SE Stark. The restaurant’s crunchy vampiros are a particular favorite, but it’s worth taking home as much of the restaurant’s deeply savory soup as possible. Open in Google Maps Also Featured in: The Hottest Restaurants in Portland, March 2020

Level Beer 5211 NE 148th Ave

Portland, OR 97230 (503) 714-1222 Visit Website This sprawling family-friendly brewery in an industrial patch where Costco is the lone nearby landmark serves everything from popular hazy IPAs to saisons made with plum and tamarind. Food is available from a number of carts outside, including Bam Pow Burgers and even oysters on the half-shell from Tidal Boar Foods. There are a few bar-height tables and chairs inside and picnic tables on the covered patio. Counter at Level Beer Krista Garcia/EPDX Open in Google Maps Also Featured in: An Essential Guide to Portland’s Breweries

Grant's Philly Cheesesteaks 15350 NE Sandy Blvd

Portland, OR 97230 (503) 252-8012 Purists tired of too-fancy cheesesteaks made with melted provolone should get to Grant’s Philly Cheesesteaks, a small standalone house on a Sandy Blvd corner, for the real deal dripping with orange Cheese Wiz and crammed with sauteed onions like nature intended. Non-traditionalists can instead choose American cheese—and yes—provolone. The bare-bones interior screams to-go, but there are a few metal tables and chairs for sitting if need be. The little white bag of thick-cut, made-in-house potato chips that come with the sandwiches are a sleeper hit. Grant’s Philly Cheesesteak half cheesesteak Krista Garcia/EPDX Open in Google Maps

Kasoy & Co 2280 NW Burnside Rd

Gresham, OR 97030 (971) 293-9077 Visit Website Specializing in Lao and Mien food, Kasoy is a food cart pod standout next to a self-storage operation that’s easily missable if buzzing down Burnside. Those who stop will be rewarded with the namesake soup, kasoy: a large bowl of bone broth filled with fresh wide rice noodles, topped with minced pork sauce, cherry tomatoes, quail eggs, and beef meatballs. Some of the menu leans Thai (and even Korean), but the tham mak hoong, a Lao-style papaya salad made with fermented crab, or the fried milk fish served with spicy Laotian dipping sauce jeow som, are both standouts. Kasoy&Co food cart Krista Garcia /EPDX Open in Google Maps

Try Me Ethiopian Cuisine 580 NW Eastman Pkwy

Gresham, OR 97030 (503) 661-8078 Visit Website Try Me — a small, sparsely furnished Ethiopian restaurant with apple green walls — sits quietly amid the chains in a Gresham area strip mall. Not all Ethiopian restaurants in town serve kifto, a berbere-laced, finely chopped steak tartare served with ayeb (cottage cheese) and gomen (collard greens), and Try Me’s version is an opportunity for those unfamiliar to, ahem, try the dish. Much of the restaurant’s Ethiopian cuisine is vegan-friendly by default, but the menu provides balance with many lamb and beef choices. Open in Google Maps

Nicholas Restaurant Lebanese and Mediterranean Cuisine 323 N Main Ave

Gresham, OR 97030 (503) 666-3333 Visit Website The Gresham outpost of the popular family-run Grand Avenue Lebanese restaurant serves the same freshly baked pita, creamy hummus, pizzas, and mezze the original is known for. Right on the quintessential small-town main drag, far eastside Nicholas, with its gold and scarlet color scheme, is suburban-style spacious with generous room between the solid wood tables and wrought-iron chairs. Open in Google Maps

Tamale Factory 2870 NE Hogan Dr

Gresham, OR 97030 (503) 512-8603 Visit Website Gresham might be a taco-lovers paradise, but tamale fanatics can also get their fix at a strip mall on the border of Troutdale. “Food To Go” lettered on the side of the shop hints at the simple wooden tables and chairs within, though even if the cutlery is disposable, the plates are not. It’s hard to go wrong at Tamale Factory, whether customers order the restaurant’s corn husk tamales, like the pork in red sauce, or the Oaxacan-style chicken mole tamales wrapped and steamed in aromatic banana leaves. Open in Google Maps