Wonderlove is open (partially). This is good news—the SE Portland food cart/bar/entertainment venue Wonderlove is open! A post on Instagram about a week ago goes like this:
“So excited to partially open! 11am-7pm. The first stage of our amazing journey starts now with opening (a few )of our fantastic food carts! And that’s not all—we’re also serving adult beverages out of the Wondercat Pizza Cart! Stay tuned because the Wonderlove Bar is the second act, and it’s coming soon!” 262 SE Main Street, Portland
6520 NE Sandy Blvd—news I missed and maybe you did, too. While I was driving along NE Sandy Blvd in Roseway this week, I noticed that there were people trimming trees and cleaning up the landscape at 6520 NE Sandy Blvd. I had wondered about this building back in November 2021, as it looked like a restaurant might open in that boarded up house on a triangular piece of property (there are a bunch of these triangles along Sandy-the-Diagonal-Road). Willamette Week wrote about it in March 2023—sounds like the property owner, Joel, Leoschke, wants to sell. It would have been great if he had been able to do something with it. 6520 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
Cloud Pine Tea + Culture closed for good this week. It was known as a three-year project with a defined ending, but it doesn’t make it any easier for fans of this teahouse, Cloud Pine Tea + Culture, from Milwaukie-based singer and composer Emily Lau to say goodbye. It was a good run; food and drink was delicious. That said, they are planning some summer pop-up salons and tea ceremonies! You can get tickets here, for those events. 10835 SE Main Street, Milwaukie
6th Annual North Portland Taco Ride is coming in July. Mark your calendars for this tasty food tour via bike and part of Pedalpalooza. You’ll start at Peninsula Park near the gazebo on Tuesday, July 23 at 5:45pm; ride leaves at 6pm, sharp. End at 8:45pm in St Johns.
“Once again, we’re gonna eat almost 400 tacos from 6 of North Portland’s best taquerias and food trucks. birria, shrimp, asada, chorizo, fish, chicken, veggie, relleno, mango habanero, carnitas, and more.” Head to the event’s website to RSVP and for more info. 700 N Rosa Parks Way (starting location)
Speaking of tacos … choco taco is back! Get ’em this weekend at Kate’s: “They’ll be available until sellout at both our shops on Saturday and Sunday, June 29th & 30th! (*Pro Tip: Do NOT wait until Sunday night). Come get the classic hard taco-shell stuffed with delicious vanilla bean ice cream, drizzled with chocolate, and sprinkled with peanuts! All 100% plant-based and gluten-free. We only made a limited amount so make sure to stop by ASAP! Once they’re gone, they’re gone until the fall!” 3713 N Mississippi Avenue and 1430 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland
50 Top Pizza USA 2024 Portland winners There is something about “50” that seems to be the hot listicle number these days. When it comes to pizza in the US, Portland made its mark thrice in this list, the “Guide to the Best Pizzerias in the World“: Ken’s Artisan Pizza (No. 5), Grana (No. 27), and Nostrana (No. 30). Congrats to the trio of winners! 304 SE 28th Avenue (Ken’s), 2811 E Burnside Street (Grana), and 1401 SE Morrison Street #101 (Nostrana), Portland
22 of the Best Pizza Places in the United States. Yes, more pizza. I believe strongly that Portland is one of the best pizza cities in the US. But it’s great to see top pizza joints in the metro area suburbs getting some attention. Enter Hapa Pizza, in Beaverton, which is included in the NY Times’ list of best pizza in the US right now (unlocked article).
“True to its name—a term for multiracial people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent—the restaurant works in multiple culinary traditions. The pies stay faithful to the Neapolitan canon of pleasingly charred and chewy dough, but also to vivid Asian flavors, as in the pho or Thai green curry pies. Mr. Truong manages to get a lot on his pizzas without them seeming gimmicky or overloaded.” Have you been? 12755 SW Broadway Street, Beaverton
Wine Spectator’s 2024 Restaurant Award winners. The annual list includes 23 places in Oregon. And of those 23, seven are in Portland: Canard, Mortons the Steakhouse, Mucca Osteria, RingSide Steakhouse, Fogo de Chão, Olympia Provisions, and Portland City Grill. Congrats to all! Various locations
JaCiva’s Bakery ends its run on Saturday. Head over there Saturday! From JaCiva’s:
“Saturday will be JaCiva’s Bakery’s last day open, we invite everyone to come down and help us say goodbye to this iconic Portland business! We will have prizes and games and music and we would really like to go out on a positive note! We still have a lot of chocolate to sell and in our chocolate boxes and bars we have hidden some golden tickets worth all kinds of prizes including THE LAST EVER 7TH HEAVEN TORTE.” 4733 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland
Also Saturday: Get your pickle on. The Second Annual Pickle Party is tomorrow, Saturday 6/29 at Church Bar, noon to 5pm. More:
“This year we branched out and have pickle makers, fermenters, and pickle artists, from Tacoma to central Oregon, all coming together for you in PDX!!! Free pickle flash tattoos! Pickle cider and cocktails!!! Dill-odious food!!! A pickle ice luge!!! Free mullet hair cuts!! Pickle eating contests! Pickle games, raffles, and prizes! Pickle swag! Pickles! Pickles!! PICKLES!!!” 2600 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
Openings we’ve written about. A reminded that Northport in Kenton and Zaiqa in South Waterfront opened earlier this week; Tikka Taco Rito will open on Monday, July 1. 8103 N Denver Avenue (Northport), 3682 S Bond Avenue (Zaiqa), and 1436 NW Glisan Street (Tikka Taco Rito), Portland
SPECULATION: Food carts on Foster coming back? I’ll leave you with this to ponder: As you know the Carts on Foster pod was abruptly disbanded in 2023. Its address was 5205 SE Foster Road; this address was changed (an assessor change) to 5215 SE Foster Road, completed June 10, 2024.
But wait! Turns out Ta Buono Ne, which shut down this past week on June 25, submitted a liquor license application for 5205 SE Foster Road. Their Instagram post said they hope to be open at a new location by end of July. A permit filed 5/13/2024 indicates new food carts slated for 5215 (formerly 5205) SE Foster. It reads, “New food carts, temporary covered seating areas, grease interceptor, and trash enclosure < 120 sf.” I will look into it some more next week; if you know any details about this space, shoot me an email. 5205 (or 5215) SE Foster Road, Portland
Stories you may have missed this week on Bridgetown Bites:
Food Cart Pod Opening on NE Fremont Street: Update
The Fire at Shin Shin Foods In North Portland
The Wooden Chicken Pub Is Closing
Umi Organic Production Stopped After Shin Shin Foods Fire
Meg Cotner
Latest posts by Meg Cotner (see all)
- What We Know About Hearth & Vine, Opening in NW Portland’s Pearl District - September 8, 2025
- Small Bites: Pamana, Deadshot, The Indoor Trio, and More - September 5, 2025
- Pizza Thief Will Open in Southeast Portland - September 4, 2025
That wine list from Wine Spectator is pretty disappointing, really. Feels like it was done by a reviewer who’s visited Portland like twice on business trips.