In what feels a little like a shock to the Portland’s restaurant system, three restaurants/bars have announced closings in the last week: Bar Asha, Zula, and XO Bar. Honestly, I cover closings throughout the year but this seems like a lot.
Bar Asha
This was the first of the three that I became aware of. On October 18, they posted on Instagram an image that says, simply, “Permanently closed.” with the accompanying message, “That’s a wrap.” Comments were turned off.
Bar Asha is the successor to the popular vegan Indian restaurant The Sudra, which operated for 10 years (I miss their chickpea cutlets). At their operational height they had four locations in the area. They eventually slimmed down to one last location on NE 28th Avenue, which later transitioned to Bar Asha.
They opened in June 2024; closed the following July to rework the menu; and reopened again in late August. They started out with a vegan menu, but after they reworked things they offered meat and dairy dishes. It was run by Sanjay Chandrasekaran, Deepak Saxena, and Ben Preacher. Naureen Huq handled cocktails.
Only a couple weeks after re-opening in August, Bar Asha suffered what they called a stressful and upsetting break-in. The thieves smashed the glass front door, and stole a lot of cash, liquor, and left a big mess—physically, of course, but also an understanding mess on morale.
So is this the reason they closed? Did this break-in inflict a wound deep enough to force the owners to close? Perhaps. Regardless, you have options when it comes to enjoying Deepak Saxena’s food—head to DesiPDX (4233 N Mississippi) and Masala Lab (5237 NE MLK Blvd).
Zula
This one was a real surprise to me; I didn’t see it coming. I’ve had really good meals there and always enjoyed my experience from both a food and service standpoint. They posted about their closing the day they shut their doors. Here’s their message:
“Sadly, Zula’s is closing its doors permanently as of today. We appreciate the opportunity to have served you and dined with you. We want to thank Zula’s incredibly devoted and passionate staff—you are the heart of what made Zula so special. We are so grateful for what Zula was and the experiences it gave us, and we hope to see you on the flip side.”
I am hopeful the “flip side” means they will reopen in some capacity. They made my favorite version of muhmmara and they had some really tasty NA cocktails. I’ll miss them.
XO Bar
Another restaurant founded by The Sudra folks, this 100% vegan bar announced their closure on Instagram. “We will be closing permanently 10-27.” As to why, they gave their reason in the comments; “Unfortunately, we’ve been treading water for a while and it’s only gotten worst to the point we can’t keep our doors open any longer.” My guess is that the folks behind the recently-closed Cereus PDX could relate.
Out of Sanjay Chandrasekaran’s The Sudra lineage, what remains is JUNE, the cocktail bar in Beaverton. My hope is that their closing is not on the near horizon.
As someone said in the comments on Instagram, ““Why?!!!??? Ugh, I’m tired of literally everything I care about disappearing.” Feels like it sometimes.
I wish the staff and owners at Bar Asha, Zula, and XO Bar only the best as they figure out what’s next for them.
Bar Asha [closed October 18, 2024]
28 NE 28th Avenue, Portland
Bar Asha website | Instagram
Zula [closed October 20, 2024]
1514 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland
Website deleted | Instagram
XO Bar [closing October 27, 2024]
906 N Fremont Street, Portland
XO Bar website | Instagram
Updated October 24, 2024.
Meg Cotner
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I had not heard of any of these other than XO bar, which we went to a few months ago with some friends who were very excited to have us try a particular tofu dish. The whole menu had been revamped and everything was unfortunately pretty underwhelming. I would chalk that one up to an unwise rebranding effort. The space was beautiful but there was nothing else that might get us to come back.