Portland's Nostrana Picked #1 Italian Restaurant In Oregon

PORTLAND, OR — For discerning diners who turn up their noses when they hear someone talk about going out for “eye-talian” food, The Daily Meal put together a definitive list of the best Italian restaurants in every state.

In Oregon, chef Cathy Whims' Nostrana holds the crown for its delicious variety of authentic Italian dishes, not least of which includes its famous Neapolitan pizza pie.

Italy’s rich cuisine culture goes back centuries and includes pastas, breads and meat preparation techniques that vary by regions, reflecting cultural traditions that evolved based on the availability of local foods.

For example, Tuscany is known as the land of bean eaters, so you’ll find lots of foods rich in cannellini (or white kidney) beans in the region’s famous cuisine. (Editor's fun fact: Cannellini beans were taken from Peru to Italy by early Italian explorers.)

Additionally, polenta is big in Milan; chefs in Rome find delicious ways to serve pasta, bruschetta, artichokes and zucchini; and on the island of Sicily, look for the region’s famous meatballs — called polpette — topped with a spicy, aromatic tomato sauce.

The Daily Meal’s list of the best Italian restaurants features chef-inspired creations that bring many of these traditions to the United States. To assemble the list, The Daily Meal looked at various “best of” lists, reviews from local publications across the country, and also restaurants that have huge local followings. Big chains weren’t considered.

(Sorry, Old Spaghetti Factory. We still love you.)

Though if you’re just thinking about spaghetti — not that there aren’t some scrumptious-looking spaghetti dishes among the food site’s picks — you need to get out a lot more.

Here's what The Daily Meal had to say about Nostrana:

What's to love: While the variety and quality of Neapolitan pies at Nostrana are amazing enough, the Buckman neighborhood restaurant "isn’t just about pizza," The Daily Meal wrote.

"The delicious antipasti includes mushroom and vermouth soup and steamboat oysters with limoncello vinaigrette. Pastas like blue prawn ravioli and wood oven-roasted cannelloni Bolognese, and mains like the bistecca alla Fiorentina and grappa-braised pork shoulder are going to make it very difficult to decide what to order."

Read the full review here.

Where to find it: East Portland's Buckman neighborhood — 1401 S.E. Morrison St., on the corner of Southeast 14th Avenue.

Phone number: 503-234-2427

Hours:

• Monday through Thursday: 11:30 a.m. to –10 p.m.
• Friday: 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
• Saturday: 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• Sunday: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Website: nostrana.com

What do you think?: Did The Daily Meal pick it right? Is Nostrana the best Italian food Oregon has to offer? For this editor's money, I'll take Beppe & Gianni's Trattoria in Eugene — no offense to Nostrana, of course.

But please, let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Written by Beth Dalbey, Patch National Staff, with additional reporting by Travis Loose.

Image via Liv friis-larsen/ShutterStock