One of my favorite lunches is the plate lunch. Whether Hawaiian, Korean, or even Chamorro, there is so much you can do with meat, rice and salad. Let’s start with the most traditional offering from Ate-Oh-Ate on Burnside. I love this place and have been eating here for years. The classic Hawaiian plate lunch of your choice of meat, 2 scoops of rice and 1 scoop of mac salad. My favorite is the Korean chicken, pictured above. Their chicken is crispy, perfectly grilled and so craveable in a sriracha based glaze. The bonus about this dish is that it also comes with a side of kimchi that the others don’t. Another favorite is their kal-bi ribs. Ate-Oh-Ate has what I consider the best plate lunch in town, and I love their mac salad, whereas most Hawaiian joints let me down.

Next up is the fiesta plate from Chochu Local, an excellent food cart on Sandy Blvd. Chochu serves up Chamorro food (from Guam & Mariana Islands) and Island BBQ. Another spot that I have been coming to for a long time since they opened. Super nice folks and they cook up some of the best food in town. A bit less traditional, but to me still a version of the plate lunch. Their rice is red rice, which is a bit different, and they offer up 2 salads: a traditional green mix but also a KNS salad, Kimchi Noodle Salad, which is cold, tangy and delicious. What I do when I order their plate is substitute one of the scoops of rice for a second salad, like you see above. Meat choices are chicken, ribs, pork belly or some combination of the 3. All are barbecued on the grill. Massive portions, and all super tasty. Along with Ate-Oh-Ate they have my favorite ribs. And their specialty sauce is called fina’denne’ (spelling varies) and is one of my favorite all-time sauces. It’s so flavorful and funky!

Last up is Du’s Grill, a legendary Portland restaurant serving Korean Teriyaki in a Bento Box form. Same rules apply: meat, rice, salad. Just different flavor sets. Here it is all about the teriyaki. Their sauce is so incredible, and of course you have to get extra to pour over the meat. I tend to go 1/2 chicken 1/2 beef. The salad is an iceberg salad, which normally I would not bother with, but they’ve got this very addicting and delicious poppy seed dressing that they use and it’s a nice light foil to the heavy grilled meat. All 3 of these places serve whopping portions, Du’s is no exception. It’s a legend for a reason! Hope you enjoyed this plate lunch roundup of my favorite spots in Portland, OR. Happy eating!