Middle Eastern cuisine with modern tweaks and adornments (plus a vegetable-driven focus) is the specialty at this new destination.

Website: tuskpdx.com

Address: 2448 E. Burnside St.

Phone number: 503-894-8082

Number of seats: 56, plus 12 at the bar

Entrée price range: $10-$24

Popular dishes: Tusk hummus with house-baked wholegrain flatbread; vegetables with whipped feta, herb tahini, egg, seeds and almonds; kibbe naya: green wheat, raw lamb, apples, turmeric yogurt, chips and romaine lettuce.

What others say: “Chef Sam Smith trained with Michael Solomonov at Zahav in Philadelphia, so the mechanics of his modern Israeli cooking are just right: the hummus smooth, the pita puffy, the feta tangy. But with a few clicks to the left, Smith — who runs the place with Ava Gene’s honcho Joshua McFadden — recalibrates this food to make it all his own.” — Jordana Rothman, Food & Wine

The dining area

Kibbe naya

Invention and re-invention (and still more re-invention after that) are high priorities at this spirited home for creative Korean cuisine by chef Peter Cho.

Website: hanoakpdx.com

Address: 511 NE 24th Ave.

Phone number: 971-255-0032

Number of seats: 48

Entrée price range: $9-$13 (or $45 prix fixe)

Popular dishes: Pork and chive dumplings with black vinegar and ginger broth; Korean fried chicken with choice of gochujang tamarind glaze or dry spice and bread and butter daikon; koji-marinated slow-roasted pork belly with rice cake, pickled daikon and scallion salad.

What others say: “Portland’s best Korean food adventure is an Etch A Sketch, its dials twirling four nights a week in a secret courtyard off of NE Sandy Boulevard.” — Karen Brooks, PDX Monthly

The kitchen

A tabletop

Chef Katy Millard and her wine-minded husband Ksandek Podbielski play impeccable hosts at this home for approachable fine dining with a wandering eye for flavors from all over.

Website: coquinepdx.com

Address: 6839 SE Belmont St.

Phone number: 503-384-2483

Number of seats: 32

Entrée price range: $20-$35

Popular dishes: Roasted whole pasture-raised organic chicken to share with smoked green farro, garlic scapes, romanesco, fava beans and fava-basil crème fraîche; halibut with potxa beans, fennel, celery, Cerignola olives, almond milk and lovage butter; asparagus with little gem lettuce, mint, lemon, benne seed and oil, charred calçot and pecorino.

What others say: “The name is French, the menu only vaguely so, with dishes featuring Oregon produce and incorporating flavors from Japan (lacey, tempura-fried green beans with a dank brown butter dashi) and the American South (cornmeal-crusted green tomatoes with anchovy and dill).” — Michael Russell, The Oregonian

The outdoor dining area

Pan roasted lamb loin

The streets of Beijing are summoned inside the Portland-industrial setting of this teeming new addition to the Inner Central Southeast neighborhood.

Website: danweicanting.com

Address: 803 SE Stark St.

Phone number: 503-236-6050

Number of seats: 49

Entrée price range: $7-$12

Popular dishes: Pork Jiaozi: boiled dumplings with pork, ginger, chives, garlic and Napa cabbage; lamb burger braised with cumin, garlic and chiles; Hong Shao Rou: “red” cooked pork belly with star anise, cinnamon, fennel seed and crispy skin; Beijing Peanuts: wok-roasted peanuts marinated in black vinegar, scallions, and cilantro.

What others say: “Ever since Chinatown moved east to 82nd Avenue and beyond, decent Chinese food in the center of Portland has been as elusive as protests in Tiananmen Square.

“Not only does Southeast Stark Street's new Chinese spot, Dānwèi Cāntīng, turn this sad situation around, it does so with a menu focusing on Beijing street food — a category rarely explored in Portland or, frankly, anywhere else I've been in the United States.” — Michael C. Zusman, Willamette Week

La zi ji chicken

Lamb jiaozi

Lamb burger

Matters of ingredient-sourcing rule the roost on the changing, evolving, adapting menu at this neighborhood eatery that dreams beyond its own neighborhood confines.

Website: quaintrelle.co

Address: 3936 N Mississippi Ave.

Phone number: 503-200-5787

Number of seats: 50

Entrée price range: $22-$42

Popular dishes: Duck ham with house pickles; sheep cheese dumplings with king trumpet mushrooms, asparagus and morels; pork confit with mustards, green strawberries, purple daikon and hazelnuts.

What others say: “Under chefs Bill Wallender (Little Bird, Ava Gene's) and Matt Hensel (who worked with Spanish celebrity chef José Andrés), the onetime haute mac-and-cheese parlor has been overhauled into a farm-to-table restaurant with an industrial feminine chic vibe: roll-up garage doors, soft candlelight, and photo-art prints of heirloom pigs along the back hallway.” — Jordan Michelman, Willamette Week

Dishes on the menu

Salad