Quaintrelle a Fresh and Innovative Restaurant in North Portland

Quaintrelle is an immensely enjoyable restaurant in North Portland with creative, seasonally fresh food. Plus, the cocktails are outstanding.

I’ve said it before, but Portland never ceases to amaze me when it comes to food.

I joke that I never eat at the same restaurant twice because every time I try a new place it tops everything else I’ve had before. This continues to hold true. Last week I visited Quaintrelle for the first time and it was fantastic!

Quaintrelle

As soon as I walked into Quaintrelle I was in love with the space overall. It’s small yet so inviting. It has a cozy feel to it. The bar is gorgeous.

The Pacific Northwest-inspired menu is set up in four sections: Start, Vegetables, Meat & Fish, and Sides. For two people I recommend ordering one item from each section and sharing. Or do the five-course dinner for two.

Starters

The menu changes seasonally and the ingredients are locally sourced as much as possible. Even the appetizers highlight the seasonal harvest. I visited during the middle of fall and had the sweet potato and broccoli tempura, chili honey, smoked pecorino appetizer.

Vegetables

The chef is a wizard when it comes to salads and vegetables. He takes all the best offerings of the fall season and turns them into exquisite plates like the apples, celery, pine nuts, currants, shiso, and bread crumbs.

Here the chef has taken some fall carrots and turned them into one of the best dishes I’ve ever had!

Quaintrelle pdx

I believe this was an acorn squash dish. It was really good too. Meats & Fish

For the main course, I had the $45 Ribeye with baby carrots, brussels, pickled ramps, amerosa chips, and black radish. This steak was superb.

Cocktails

The cocktails like the “Path to Fortitude” featuring Dystopia vodka, priorat natur vermut, china china amer, lemon, pink peppercorn “balanced, herbaceous, tropical” are beautiful, inventive, and fresh, created by Camille Cavan. There is a nice wine list as well.

Happy hour is available every day 5-6:30 PM at the bar with food options priced between $3 – $8. As you can see in the first photo there isn’t a ton of room at the bar, so you will just have to take your chances. The first time I was there for about an hour of happy hour and no one sat at the bar the entire time. The second time I went was not during happy hour and the bar was packed. Go figure.