Screen Door

Screen Door is Portland's most popular Southern restaurant, occupying a bright corner space on East Burnside Street in the inner Southeast neighborhood. Since opening in 2006, the restaurant has built a devoted following around its honest, generous interpretations of American Southern cooking—biscuits, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, and sweet-tea-brined pork—executed with locally sourced ingredients and an enthusiasm that keeps weekend lines stretching down the block for hours. The Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Waffles is the dish that defines Screen Door in Portland's collective food memory: the chicken is brined overnight, fried to a golden crisp, and served with a Belgian-style waffle and housemade maple syrup. Shrimp and Grits draws from the Lowcountry tradition, using stone-ground grits and Gulf-sourced shrimp in a savory, butter-enriched sauce. Biscuits—tall, flaky, and buttery—arrive alongside nearly every meal and are good enough to justify the trip on their own. The breakfast and brunch hours are the heart of the Screen Door experience; the restaurant also serves dinner with a short menu of Southern-influenced entrées including blackened catfish and braised collard greens. The dining room is warm and informal, with Southern folk art on the walls and long communal tables that fill with families, couples, and groups of friends. No reservations are accepted at any time, and weekend waits of 90 minutes to two hours are well documented. Arriving before 8 AM on Saturday or Sunday, or visiting on a weekday morning, eliminates most of the wait. Screen Door's consistent quality over nearly two decades has made it a genuine Portland institution in a neighborhood full of worthy competition.