Small Bites: Mudd Works Cafe, Futura, Next Level Burger, and More

Seasonal salad at Fresh Love. Photo credit: Fresh Love.

Mudd Works Cafe has moved. Earlier this week, the Mudd Works folks moved their cafe into Replicant, a bar and bottle shop, just a half block away from where they were. I believe the roastery will stay put. This new location gives them more space and seating, too. 7033 NE Glisan Street, Portland

The Machetes residency at OK Omens is coming to an end. This Sunday and Monday, May 25 and 26 from 5pm to 9pm, they’ll be at OK Omens for their final two days there. @espina_letal will be spinning at 5:30pm. You’ll see “ice-cold oysters, crudo stacked high.” Reserve your spot via OpenTable. “This is our residency farewell tour. Come get your fav bites, drink our cocktails for the last time and vibe to our dear friends set, before we run it back to the streets.” 1758 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland

Get ready for arepas at Futura. They are coming soon! It looks like Futura‘s arepas will be the Colombian version, which are topped, not the Venezuelan version, which usually come stuffed. Multiple locations

New salad at Fresh Love. This week Fresh Love announced their newest salad: local greens, fresh herbs, tender beets, creamy chèvre, toasted almonds, basil oil, and a tangy preserved lemon dressing. All the vegetables are local and organic. 7434 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Pastificio d’Oro will close in July. They started as a meal kit service in 2020, popped-up in 2021 at Gracie’s Apizza, opened their dedicated space in 2022, and made it through the pandemic. Here’s what they said about closing:

“As the end of our lease approaches in August, we have made the decision to not renew. For reasons still unclear to us a new lease would require us to be open twice as many hours and to not ever sell out, terms we cannot feasible make work. We are also incredibly, incredibly burnt out and need a moment to rest and focus on our health. Our final day of service will be Sunday July 20th.”

They have “some cool things [they] are working on behind the scenes.” Stay with their Instagram to keep up with their future plans. 8737 N Lombard Street, Portland

Tito’s Taquitos opened May 20 in Multnomah Village. Currently in soft opening mode, they have brought back their delicious food to the neighborhood, setting up shop across from the Multnomah Arts Center. This is a brick & mortar, not a food truck, but this is where their first food truck started. So stop on by, they’d love to see you. 7705 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland

Hidden Kitchens is closing. This decision to close stems from the lingering issues that Linh, one of the owners, has experienced after a car accident in 2021, so they are prioritizing health and healing. Unfortunately, that means closing the restaurant. “June will be our final month, with the last two weeks featuring a special farewell menu celebrating dishes that have defined our culinary journey.” Reserve your spot via Tock. 2625 SE 21st Avenue B, Portland

Alpenhütte opens today. Starting at 11:30am today you can hang out and enjoy “sausage, schnaps, and sunshine,” from the folks at Olympia Provisions and Alpenrausch. They are putting down some astroturf in the Alpenrauch parking lot to create a seasonal patio (kids and dogs welcome). They are also having a grand opening party on Sunday, May 25 from 3pm to 7pm. Here’s what to expect then:

Shelby Imholt on accordion + yodels at 3pm.
Salt & Straw scooping Braulio Alpenhütte Ice Cream.
Free tastes of Rosenstadt Hüttli Lager + Stick Figurine Hüttli Red.
First-ever chance to taste Tuff Talk x Alpenrausch Pflamenschnaps.
Austrian wine by the glass and bottle from High Five Selections.

3384 SE Division Street, Portland

Next Level Burger on West Burnside has closed. They were located next to Mox Boarding House. Here is the message they posted:

“To Our Portland Community: At Next Level, we’re committed to creating safe, welcoming spaces for our team, our guests, and the communities we serve. Following a pause in operations due to a significant incident during service, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our West Burnside location due to ongoing security concerns in the surrounding area.” There’s a discussion on Reddit about it. 1972 W Burnside Street, Portland

Scottie’s Pizza Parlor now serves lunch at their SE Division locagtion. That pretty much says it all. Pizza lunch starts at noon. 2128 SE Division Street, Portland

The 2025 Cully Farmers Market season is almost here. They’re back starting Thursday, June 5. They’ll be operating from 4pm to 8pm every Thursday until August 28. 5011 NE 42nd Avenue, Portland

The next Salona meal will return to Mayfly (but later in June at Commensal Fermentation). Salona, which offers “Heritage Roman Cuisine in the PNW,” recently had their first event at Mayfly. You might consider “heritage” to mean “ancient,” as in “ancient Rome.” Regardless, it’s a pretty fascinating idea of serving up this food to modern eaters. Most of us can’t conceive of Italian food without tomatoes, but it was that way for millennia. Here is what was missing during this time period Salona focuses on:

“In this time, Italy, along with the rest of the Roman empire, lacked Mexican tomatoes or Chinese pasta. They did not have coffee from the Horn of Africa nor, with the exception of the Levantine provinces, eggplant. Potatoes were still a millennia away. Yet for most of the Empire’s illustrious history, famine was a rare occurrence. These people ate and they ate well.”

You can see the first menu on their Instagram page. Their next event is, again, at Mayfly, but on June 21 they are doing a “good old fashioned pagan bacchanalia” at Commensal Fermentation (mid-summer to the ancient ones and current pagans) so stay tuned on their Instagram for more info. 8350 N Fenwick Avenue, Portland and 3901 N Williams Avenue Suite A, Portland

Additional tips. Some tipsters shared some news on spots a little further afield, and I thought I’d share them here.

Hangry’s, which started as a food truck in Dayton, has opened in the old Tommy’s Restaurant space in McMinnville. 1947 OR-99W, McMinnville, OR
Dave’s Station will also open in McMinnville. This is an old 1950s Shell gas station, which will be a bar/lounge, six food cart spots, with indoor/outdoor covered seating. Opening summer 2025 (July/August). 645 NW Adams Street, McMinnville, OR
Nolys Wine Bar is a new wine bar coming to Sherwood with the aim to open in July 2025. 21900 SW Alexander Lane, Sherwood, OR
BearKat Brewing from Shawn Bayer and Jill Katsis will offer artisan-style ales and lagers to Sherwood’s beer lovers. They are looking at an August 2025 opening. 20345 SW Pacific Hwy, Sherwood

Stories you may have missed this week on Bridgetown Bites:

Lil’ Shalom Closed April 30 in Portland
Hi-Top Adds Coffee and Lunch Service in Portland
Memorial Day Weekend 2025 in Portland and the Willamette Valley
Bridgetown Bites Editor on City Cast Portland
Eli Jo Coffee Stop & Shop Will Open in Portland
The 2025 Rocky Butte Farmers Market Season Starts Saturday
The Veganizer Asian Market is June 1 in Portland

CityFair starts this weekend, as well as the Multnomah Country Fair. The Return of the Dragon is downtown on Saturday, too. You can see more event on our Portland Area Cultural + Food Festivals and Portland Food and Drink Festivals lists.