Four Things I Learned This Week (January 5)

Fire at the Mercado. Heartbreaking news this week—it happened around 5:30am on January 3. Thankfully there were no injuries or deaths, but it’s still a very sad state of affairs. The Oregonian describes is like this: “Firefighters arrived to find a fire blazing in one of the building’s restaurant stalls and the large building filled with smoke, fire officials said. A second alarm was called but additional crews soon turned back as firefighters on the scene quickly got the blaze under control, including after spotting fires burning in ‘odd void spaces within the ceiling.’”

A fire relief fund has been started and you can give to that, here. 7238 SE Foster Road, Portland

Bee’s Cakes is closing. This sweet cafe at the corner of NE Fremont and 72nd Avenue is closing; January 14 will be their final day for the cafe, and in May the rest of the operation. From Rebecca: “This year has been difficult for us—as well as many other small business. We have had the pleasure of greeting and serving our customers pastries & coffee for the last couple of years, but it is time we switch directions. We will continue to take custom cake & catering orders until May 1st, 2024 and will be opening our calendar to take on more orders until then! We will be closing fully end of that month.”

This is a real loss for Roseway and nearby Cully and Sumner. Best of luck to Rebecca and her expanding family (she became a mom about a month ago), and here’s hoping something great opens up in that space. 7137 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Roam PDX + Bhuna. Roam, known for their handmade roti and “hyper seasonal ingredients” with a presence at the PSU and Montavilla Farmers Markets, will be doing a winter residency at Bhuna Restaurant in NW Portland. They’ll be there Monday and Tuesday evenings from 5pm to 9pm. Here’s the menu, and it sounds pretty good. “Come in and enjoy a cocktail while we put food on plates for ya! We are keeping the word on the street mellow while we get comfortable in the space.” 704 NW 21st Avenue, Portland

Masala Lab offers dinner service. Deepak Saxena of Masala Lab (and who runs the Chaat Wallah food cart in Cully) has launched dinner service at the Lab and went on KGW’s “Hello Rose City” to talk about it. It starts today, January 5. They offer a mix of small, medium, and large plates, which aim to be untraditional, very “fusiony,” and take inspiration from Deepak’s travels and his childhood. A few thing you can expect:

Shaved Brussels sprout salad with house-smoked bacon with a curry leaf-chickpea-applesauce-miso dressing.
Sorghum pilaf—sorghum is a grain used in India. Note: they are not serving rice at all, and are trying to explore other parts of Indian cuisine, including grains.
Roasted delicata squash tossed with roasted pumpkin seeds, served on a cashew and preserved lemon cream (spicy).
Burrata chaat—burrata cheese with quince chutney (note: chutneys will change seasonally) served with ghee crositini.

The menu is 100% gluten free, and they plan to rotate it every two to thre months. They also hope to eventually do events and farmers markets and are working on a product line—e.g., chai concentrate, snacky things. Happy Hour is in the works, and will go from 5pm to 6pm, and likely 4pm to 6pm in the summer. After a while, they’d like to expand evening hours on Friday and Saturday until midnight. No reservations yet. 5327 NE MLK Blvd, Portland