A sea of gluttony at The Ocean

Just opened side-by-side in NE Portland's spankin-new micro-restaurant row The Ocean, Uno Mas and Basa Basa share a huge outdoor seating area, foreign names, big beers, and little else. The former's offering KFC -- that'd be Korean fried chicken -- while the other's a tacos-only joint with a twist, cooking up everything from steak to octopus on a colorful bed of vegetables, which you can also find at some of the more interesting nursing homes. Here's the rundown

Uno Mas: Offering tiny tacos -- and nothing else -- Uno Mas's deceptively simple menu's the baby of a chef who's cooked at some of the best Mexi spots in PDX (Authentica, Mextiza). Here he's got 20+ tacos the size of drink coasters rocking everything from carnitas, to chicharron, to octopus (oh, also: There Will Be Blood... sausage). The beers are considerably bigger, with micros by Fearless and Terminal Gravity, plus Mexican macros like Pacifico and Tecate, which're macro-er since they're served in 40s.

Basa Basa: This small, open-air joint's got a considerably large beer selection running from Sessions to 22ozers of Gigantic and Ninkasi, which's good, because their crispy, breaded KFC wings pack more spice than Victoria Beckham traveling with three suitcases of cardamom. Served with rice or thick mac salad, those wings come in three distinct flavors: the sweet/savory, ginger-kicked Basa Basa Original, the teriyaki-style Basa Yaki, and the fiery Thai Basa Ono -- too many of which will make it difficult for you and any eating companion to sit side-by-side.