A Bridgetown Bites tipster alerted me to a new Vietnamese restaurant poised to open: The Paper Bridge, which will be located in the old La Luna Cafe space on SE Ash Street and 9th Avenue. They will serve northern Vietnamese food.
I do enjoy Vietnamese food and understand Vietnam is a beautiful country; I’m happy that we have a strong Vietnamese immigrant community here in Portland. I will fully admit, though, that I am unschooled in the differences between northern and southern Vietnamese cuisine. Also, my understanding is that there are less northern than southern Vietnamese restaurants in this town. I welcome hearing from you if you would like to share your knowledge about the differences and similarities.
The folks behind The Paper Bridge are Gian Carlo Reinardy and his wife Quynh Nguyen. Gian Carlo cooked in Wisconsin, and with Quynh lived in Vietnam (Hanoi, in the north). They moved to Portland in 2021.
The Paper Bridge will offer, as I mentioned above, northern Vietnamese cuisine. In their job listings they identify as an “upscale from-scratch North Vietnamese restaurant” and continue with “Our menu features upscale version of classic regional dishes of North Vietnam with a focus on rare imported ingredients, fresh house-made rice noodles and fermented chili sauces.”
As for the story behind the name, they talk about it on their website:
“Our choice to name our restaurant ‘The Paper Bridge’ began as a simple translation of the ‘Cầu giấy’ district in Hanoi where we lived, and where the original idea for our restaurant was conceived. Here was a real place, with food we adored, a tangle of alleyways in between wide tree lined boulevards. 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. It was a place, at first jarring in its dualities, that seemed to fully embrace a modern world while unwaveringly refusing to open and compromise its traditions.”
They go on to talk more about wanting to capture the contrasts and dualities they found in Hanoi. You can read more of their thoughts on The Paper Bridge, here.
While they are not yet ready to open at the writing of this article, they do have their menu up. It’s a mix of:
- Small dishes—like sautéed morning glory, boiled peanuts, water buffalo jerky
- Medium-small dishes—like rolled pho noodles, fried pork-stuffed glutinous rice cakes, Sapa-style skewers
- Pho of varying kinds
- Medium-large dishes—like vegan mushroom-stuffed tofu, Quang Ninh style clams, stuffed five-color sticky rice
- Dishes for larger groups—like whole grilled duck and grilled fish
- Extras—like noodles, herbs, rice, pickle, fermented chili sauce
They will also offer tea, coffee, blended drinks, and other non-alcoholic libations. There’s beer, wine, and cocktails on the menu, too. I encourage you to check out the menu, as they have included some extended descriptions of much of the food they are offering.
I suspect they will open relatively soon, as the Poached job postings were made in the last few days to a week.
I’m really looking forward to checking this place out. Best of luck to them as they head to their opening.
The Paper Bridge
828 SE Ash Street, Portland
thepaperbridgepdx.com | Instagram | Facebook
Meg Cotner
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Hah, I just walked by their storefront and was wondering what was moving in, thanks for answering before I even asked!
We ate there tonight and the food was on another level how delicious it was. North Vietnamese food is more subtle and less spicy from my experience in Vietnam and I generally liked the food in the south better, but there have been a lot of changes in the country in the past 30 years and the culinary scene surely has blossomed.
Jeffrey, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on Paper Bridge. It sounds so good! I hope to visit them soon.