Rare thrills: The New York Times gives first starred review of Portland restaurant
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The New York Times recently released its first starred review of a Portland restaurant – highlighting a North Vietnamese spot with “rare thrills.”
This marks the first starred review the New York Times has given to a Portland restaurant, as first reported by The Oregonian.
As reported by the New York Times, co-chefs and co-owners Quynh Nguyen and Gian Carlo Reinardy named the restaurant after a translation of the Cầu Giấy district of Hanoi where they used to live.
Nguyen was a traditional Vietnamese dancer who occasionally helped at her family’s buffet style restaurant, the Times reports, noting Reinardy was a chef hailing from Milwaukee and had been cooking in restaurants since he was 14.
Now, the pair are serving dishes inspired by Cầu Giấy, with modern and traditional meals.
“Here was a real place, with food we adored, a tangle of alleyways in between wide tree lined boulevards,” The Paper Bridge website says of Cầu Giấy. “Wet markets and street vendors tucked away from the sprawling shops on the main streets; seventy-story skyscrapers across from pop-up street food cooked on coal fired bbq’s, served on rattan platters.”
The New York Times published its first-ever starred review of a Portland restaurant on May 5, 2026 – giving two stars to The Paper Bridge, a North Vietnamese restaurant (Courtesty Gian Carlo Reinardy and Quynh Nguyen).
The New York Times published its first-ever starred review of a Portland restaurant on May 5, 2026 – giving two stars to The Paper Bridge, a North Vietnamese restaurant (Courtesty Gian Carlo Reinardy and Quynh Nguyen).
The New York Times published its first-ever starred review of a Portland restaurant on May 5, 2026 – giving two stars to The Paper Bridge, a North Vietnamese restaurant (Courtesty Gian Carlo Reinardy and Quynh Nguyen).
The New York Times published its first-ever starred review of a Portland restaurant on May 5, 2026 – giving two stars to The Paper Bridge, a North Vietnamese restaurant (Courtesty Gian Carlo Reinardy and Quynh Nguyen).
Describing the menu, the New York Times reviewer Rao wrote, “Fresh rice noodles arrive in a floating jumble. They carry the broth up to you — intensely beefy, almost muscular, only lightly spiced — before they melt away. The kitchen makes these bánh phở every morning, steaming a milky white batter into sheets along the conveyor belt of a machine. And the result, especially if you’re used to the weight and resilience of dried rice noodles, is shockingly tender.”
“At Paper Bridge, you’ll find a smaller, northern-style pho, a bit more aligned with the dish’s 19th century roots in Nam Dinh, and more like how you’d see it presented in Hanoi today. This is to say, no bean sprouts, no basil, no hoisin, no Sriracha,” Rao furthered.
In a statement shared with KOIN 6 News, Reinardy said, “We are incredibly grateful to the NY Times. We’re still so grateful every day to be able to provide to the people of Portland and beyond the Northern Vietnamese foods we fell in love with. We would especially like to give a big thanks to all of our staff who have made this all possible through the love they put into everything. We couldn’t do it without them.”
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