11 Restaurants Where Dessert Steals The Show

There are several places that serve good cheesecake in Portland, but only one that does it in the style of Spain’s Basque region: Urdaneta. At first, Urdaneta’s version looks like a mistake, with no crust, a deflated center, and a burnt, blackened exterior—but every bite is silky soft, with just the right amount of tartness packing a ton of flavor. Urdaneta’s intimate, cozy setting feels like the right fit for the fluffy cake — especially with a glass of rare sherry. 

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My favorite PDX dessert from 2018: @urdanetapdx’s @chef_javiercanteras Burnt Basque Cheesecake is currently on #UrdanetaPDX’s Portland Dining Month Menu! So go there and order the cheesecake and hope I don’t eat it all before you get there #foodpdx #gastronomy #travelportland #pdx #pdxeats #portland #pdxrestaurants #Pdxfood #portlandor #portlandoregon #portlandeats #dessert #desserts #cheesecake #basqueburntcheesecake #myyearofdesserts2019 #portlanddiningmonth #eaterpdx

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Irving Street Kitchen’s recently revamped menu doubles down on comfort food like fried chicken and softshell crab. The restaurant’s butterscotch pudding, beloved by Portlanders for many years, has stuck on the menu for the whole run. Folks looking to enjoy their sweet treat al fresco can enjoy their own butterscotch pudding jar out on Irving Street Kitchen’s street-side patio.  

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It almost feels like Spring….. jump back into an ISK Classic. Irving Street Kitchen Butterscotch Pudding – Vanilla Bean Caramel, Salt & Pepper Corn Cookies * * * * * #dessert #pudding #butterscotch #pdxeats #pdxnow #portland #pnw

A post shared by Irving Street Kitchen (@irvingstkitchen) on Mar 12, 2019 at 3:45pm PDT

Although Papa Haydn, an old school Portland institution, is famed for its extensive pastry case, the triple chocolate cake stands out from the rest due to its relative simplicity. Diners looking for an elevated version of a nostalgic, birthday-party-style chocolate cake should look no further. The restaurant has several other cakes worth sampling, and the old-school NW location has plenty of room for groups looking to skip straight to dessert.

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Sexiest thing I have ever laid eyes on

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Dining at Pambiche always feels like a mini-vacation, thanks to its generous sidewalk seating and colorful interior set to a soundtrack of traditional Cuban music. The extensive dessert menu completes the restaurant’s vacation vibe, featuring cakes made with tropical flavors like guava, pineapple, lime and more. The flan, however, is a traditional Cuban caramel custard with silken texture — even considering its simplicity, it’s the star of the dessert menu. 

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Planet #flan #dessert @pambiche #pambichepdx #cubanfood #pdxfoodie #portlandeats #pdx #myfab5 #foodie #foodlover #foodiegram #forkyeah #forkfeed #eattheworld #localeats #epicurious #saveur #f52grams #foodandwine #bonappetit #foodpic #foodstagram #instafood #iactuallyatethat #eeeeeats #spoonfeed #iactuallydideatthat #eatingfortheinsta #food52 #nomad

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It can be argued that Le Pigeon, a tiny, intimate restaurant almost hidden away on busy Burnside, is one of Portland’s most quintessential restaurants. James Beard-winning chef Gabriel Rucker always finds a way to give traditional French fare a Portland twist, pairing beef bourguignon with Pacific Northwest produce like corn and green beans. The foie gras profiteroles — cream puffs that are sliced and filled with foie gras ice cream — are no exception to this rule; the caramel-drenched puffs are considered one of the city’s most iconic dishes. 

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the fois gras profiterole deserves its own post⁣ ⁣ ⁣ #foodphotography #foodporn #portland #portlandfood #lepigeon #pdxfood

A post shared by Laura (@twinkiesandwine) on Jun 17, 2019 at 8:11pm PDT

A meal at Trifecta Tavern can feel like everything at once—the restaurant is large but intimate, dark but cozy and warm in the winter, but also bright and airy in the summer when the windows are open. The menu is similarly diverse, offering some of the best bread and pastries in the city from their bakery, wood-fired vegetables and traditional steaks for dinner, all with an impressive bar program to boot. For dessert, the tavern’s key lime pie has developed a cult following in Portland, thanks to its incredibly photogenic and generous scoop of perfectly torched Italian meringue.

Coquine, a celebrated neighborhood spot on SE Belmont, offers some of Portland’s most “grown-up” cuisine with dishes like a milk-braised sugo and a classic roast chicken for the table to share. Although its menu can seem traditional, Coquine adds unique touches like offering a “dim-sum style” candy tray. Diners can choose from a selection of sweets like pate de fruit and the famed smoked almond, salted caramel, and chocolate chip cookies to end their meal. 

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We’re back. We’re open. We’re rested. We have cookies. . : @carly.e.diaz

A post shared by Katy Millard (@coquinepdx) on Sep 12, 2018 at 3:48pm PDT

A meal at Kachka, an airy, expansive restaurant that manages to be a cross between Portland’s new architecture and a Russian grandmother’s dining room, is a celebration of Slavic food through and through. Although diners can order Russian drinking food and booze like “herring under a fur coat” (a Russian seven-layer dip) and horseradish-infused vodka, the dumplings are a perennial favorite. When pan-fried, the sour cherry vareniki taste like little bites of fresh deep-fried cherry pie.

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We came for haircuts and left with three different kinds of Russian dumplings including these pan fried sour cherry and cheese dumplings. . . . . . . . . . . #pdx #pdxlife #portland #portlandia #oregon #pnw #portlandoregon #portlandeats #pdxdining #russiandumplings #dumplinglover #sourcherries #autumn #seasonaldisorder #ourdailyinspiration #inspirational #artofslowliving #liveyourbestlife #buddhabelliespdx

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Although Shalom Y’all can be next-level loud during peak hours, diners endure the long waits and loud volumes for delicious Israeli street food like fresh pita with hummus and house-made labneh. The challah bread pudding is the sleeper hit of the menu, made with a babka-like challah swirled with chocolate and served with smoky tahini, walnuts, and sour cream ice cream. 

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Baked Challah French Toast • huckleberry compote. sweet tahina. Brunch 9am-3pm Sat-Sun at Shalom Y’all on the east side. #brunch #challah

A post shared by Shalom Y’all (@shalomyallpdx) on Apr 29, 2018 at 10:09am PDT

OK Omens is the celebrated Castagna’s hipper, cooler younger sister; this is the sister that doesn’t take herself as seriously, skipping tweezer food and prix fixe menus in favor of $36 bottles of natural wine and fried chicken dusted with Sichuan peppercorn. The dessert menu here can be overshadowed by the impressive and reasonably priced wine and fun dinner menu, but a meal at Ok Omens isn’t complete without something sweet. The pastry menu is equally as creative, offering a take on McDonalds’ famed McFlurry made with house-made ice cream, butterfingers, and chocolate.

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kinda like a mcflurry part of our $33 three-course Portland Dining Month menu with vanilla ice cream, butterfingers, and chocolate.⁣⠀ ⁣⠀ #okomens #pdxeats #pdxnow #eaterpdx #eater #pdx #portland #pdxdining #chefsofinstagram #portlanddiningmonth #travelportland #youcaninportland #eeeeeats⠀

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Dining at HK Cafe can be an overwhelming experience; there are long waits and big crowds (especially on the weekends), and dim sum carts can sometimes zip by your table at the speed of lightning, making it hard to navigate the restaurant’s extensive offerings. But those willing to brave the chaos are rewarded with some of the city’s best dim sum. For dessert, diners must order the pineapple egg yolk buns—the buns don’t contain any pineapple (instead, the name refers to the sugar-crusted topping, which is meant to assemble the outside of a pineapple), but are filled with warm, creamy custard that explodes into your mouth with every bite. 

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Because brunch = dim sum

A post shared by Jennifer Baum Lagdameo (@jenniferlagdameo) on Nov 25, 2018 at 1:05pm PST