Screen door is a popular Southern and soul food restaurant located at 2337 E. Burnside Street in Portland's Kerns neighborhood. Its specialty is crispy buttermilk-battered fried chicken, sometimes accompanied with sweet potato waffles. The menu also includes biscuits, fried green tomatoes, grits, macaroni and cheese, po' boy, pulled pork, and brisket; weekend brunch features Bananas FosterFrench toast and biscuits and gravy. The restaurant's hushpuppy recipe has been published by The Washington Post, and subsequently other outlets. Screen Door often has a queue line. According to co-owner David Mouton, the restaurant can host as many as 500 customers per weekend. Wait times are sometimes shared via voicemail. Screen Door warns guests, "Good fried chicken takes time. Please consider this when ordering." In 2013, the restaurant's head chef Rick Widmayer left after serving for six years, citing "creative differences". He said, "We'd had some creative clashes over the years and it finally got to the point where I wanted more freedom to experiment and to grow. Screen Door has such a rigid concept and criteria: over-the-top Southern…there's no room for change."
Reception
Screen Door has been associated with Portland's reputation as a food destination. In 2012, ABC News named Screen Door as one of the "Top Ten Restaurants in the Nation". The Cooking Channel has recommended the restaurant for the "best Southern breakfast on the West Coast". Glamour recommended the fried chicken and sweet potato waffles on their "must-try list for "serious foodies'". The Portland Mercury has described the restaurant as "spacious yet cozy", with a varied menu. In 2012, Portland Monthly reviewed and contrasted the restaurant's fried chicken and waffles with Simpatica's recipe in the magazine's "Battle for the BestFried Chicken and Waffles" in the city. The magazine also included Screen Door's "Spicy Creole Bloody" recipe in its list of Portland's best Bloody Marys. The restaurant's mashed potatoes and tasso gravy recipe was a contender in Portland Monthly 2016 "Spud Bracket", which recognized the city's best potato "creations". Tom Sietsema of The Washington Post wrote, "If you have time for only one breakfast, make it this convivial Southern charmer, easy to spot due to the inevitable line out the door".
