Happy Birthday Bridgetown Bites! You Are Eight Years Old Today

Happy birthday Bridgetown Bites! That’s right: Bridgetown Bites turns eight years old today. On July 3, 2017, I launched this website with the desire to write about the Portland food and drink scene. It’s grown and changed over the years, but the mission remains the same.

In honor of these eight years, I thought I’d put together eight things I’ve enjoyed learning about over those years, in Portland food and drink. In some cases, I’ve changed my attitude about long-held beliefs. NB: This list is by no means comprehensive.

🍕 Portland Is a Great Pizza Town

I lived in NYC for over a decade, and when you live there you are bombarded with the message that New York City has the best pizza ever, full stop. Of course NYC has great pizza, but there are other styles (when I argued this with a New Yorker, she came at me bro—with fire). Portland proves its stature as a great pizza city through its diversity.

There are all sorts of styles here: Chicago deep dish, Detroit style, NYC slices, Neo-Neapolitan, tavern pies, PNW (Lovely’s 5050). It’s a wonderful mosaic of pizza styles and a relief from the drone of NYC pizza superiority pressure.

🍹 The NA Drinking Scene in Portland Is Robust

I gave up alcohol in 2018 after a breast cancer diagnosis. After that I came to realize how many great non-alcoholic options we have in Portland: mocktails, NA beer, kombucha, CBD soda, water kefir, coffee and tea, and even a few decent NA wines.

I often say that if you are sober—for whatever reason—Portland is one of the best cities to live in. You can see examples of that inclusive NA scene in this year’s Dry January roundup. An app called BuzzCutt was also developed here in Portland, guiding users to places that serve and sell non-alcoholic beverages.

🍨 Pinolo Converted Me To a Pistachio Gelato Lover

I have disliked pistachio ice cream for like forever. It always had a weird, almost fruity taste that tasted kind of fake. That was until I tried the pistachio gelato at Pinolo Gelato years ago. It was a revelation—nutty and sweet with none of that fake aftertaste.

I learned recently that it’s also very good in an affogato.

🍤 I Finally Learned To Like Shrimp at The Deck

I have tried to enjoy shrimp over the years, with the hope of understanding the appeal. The texture, it wigs me out. But one day, I decided to give bay shrimp a try in The Deck’s bay shrimp salad. Turns out, I loved them! No texture issues, plus this salad is fresh and simple—romaine lettuce, bay shrimp, diced tomato, cucumbers, and scallions, with dressing of your choice.

This was a real win for me. Thank you, Portland!

🍽️ República Has Outstanding Service

I recently ate at República and along with varied, intriguing, and delicious food, the service was top notch. They treated me and my friend Judith with a warm, welcoming approach that made us feel special. Their storytelling was beautiful, too.

It’s probably the best and most elevated service I’ve experienced in Portland so far, and it’s changed the way I see this aspect of a meal. Bravo to the FOH team at República—you make a difference.

🚚 The Food Cart Scene Is Impressive

It is hard to imagine Portland without its food cart scene, and the pods just keep on coming—Delta Carts, Brooklyn Carreta, the reopening of Foster Food Carts are new kids on the block, joining many pods of all sizes (I’m a big fan of the little pod at Upright Beer Station). Before I moved here and started paying attention, I didn’t know just how important they are to Portland’s food culture. Now I know.

🍓 The Glory of Hood Strawberries

There are strawberries, and then there are Hood strawberries. I look forward to them every year; they taste like summer. I’d never heard of them before I arrived in Oregon, but I feel extremely lucky to have access to them here. They are fairly fragile, so they are mostly found at farmers markets. What a gift for all of us strawberry lovers here!

🇻🇳 Getting To Know Vietnamese Food

It’s been an opportunity for me to essentially learn about this cuisine from the ground up, here in Portland. When I lived in Queens, there wasn’t much in the way of Vietnamese food (Isan Thai and Chinese regional dishes were more accessible), so I didn’t really have much exposure to it. When I was a teenager I had cà phê phin once but that was about it.

In Portland, there are so many options that are very good—restaurants big and small, Vietnamese cafes, tea shops, delis, food carts, and probably places I don’t even know about.

In trying myriad dishes, I have to admit: Bún chả remains my favorite Vietnamese dish and has fallen into what I consider comfort food, along with Greek avgolemono soup, Thai Khao Soi, avocado sushi rolls, Ethiopian misir wat, Indian samosas—as well as the simple grilled cheese sandwich.

Thus endeth the list. Here’s to many more years of reporting on Portland food and drink, eating delicious things, and getting to know the myriad individuals that make Portland’s food scene so interesting and appealing.