Epif Reopens With Brunch This Week in Portland

Good news: Epif reopens tomorrow! Known for many years as a restaurant serving vegan food “inspired by the Andes region of South America,” it will shift from evening service to brunch service starting Thursday, November 6. And its new menu will remain completely vegan. I spoke with Epif co-owner Nicolle Dirks to learn more.

Epif Closed—Temporarily—in September

They closed on Sunday September 28, originally hoping they could stay open an additional week, but staffing issues affected that decision. They wrote, “Looks like Sunday, 9/28 will actually be the last day of this iteration of Epif.” Many people thought they were closing for good—myself included—but in hindsight it is clear they weren’t completing their final act.

“There was a little misconception, and a lot of people were like, ‘No, you’re permanently closing!'” said Nicolle. “But I think the closing announcement clearly said that we intended to open with a different iteration of Epif—that we were to pivot.”

She added, “We’re not ready to go out without a fight, if you will.”

Why They Are Making This Change

“So, we’d been doing evenings for almost ten years here in Portland,” explained Nicolle. “And before that, six years in Valparaíso, Chile—my husband [Pepe’s] hometown.”

She continued, “Honestly, sales were starting to dip. We were noticing a lot less people coming out to dinner, and there were certainly a lot less people ordering cocktails. And it felt like it was time for a change. I was feeling a little bit stagnant, personally, and we just wanted to mix things up—personally and financially—and to give us new challenges.”

Brunch Before

In the recent past they had done a few brunch pop-ups, and before the COVID pandemic they had full brunch service in addition to their evening service. Their brunch pop-ups this past summer gave them some really positive feedback. So once they realized that they needed to switch things up, they decided to go the direction of brunch because of the feedback they received.

Epif: What’s In a Name?

I had to ask what “Epif” meant—and I learned how to pronounce it. I though it was pronounced “EEE-pif” but it’s actually “EH-pif.” Nicolle added, “One of our longtime servers had this little hack that she told me: ‘It’s like ‘epic,’ but with a ‘c’ in place of the ‘f.'”

But as for the name’s origin, “It’s short for ‘epifania,'” explained Nicolle

She continued, “We opened our first location in my husband’s hometown in Chile and ‘epifania’ is ‘epiphany’ in Spanish. “Epifania in Spanish is spelled with an ‘f,’ not ‘ph,’ as we spell ‘epiphany’ in English.
So we just cut that word in half.

As a side note, Epiphany is the time when we eat King Cakes, which have become popular in their various forms in Portland.

Epif Brunch Starts Tomorrow

They’ll start by being open Thursdays through Sundays, 9am to 2pm, with the hope that this timeframe works out well for them. “And as soon as it makes sense, we will add on Mondays,” said Nicolle. And if that goes well, they’ll look at possibly opening additional days.

I asked if they were going to do any kind of big opening celebration, but they plan to simply open their doors, start welcoming people in and serve their customers beginning tomorrow morning. This is not, as they say, their first rodeo, and they feel confident in how to treat a first day.

The Menu

Like their hours and days, the menu will start off small, too. At this point they have about 12 mains, and some smaller side items. And they’ll expand from there, once they get their footing and stabilize this new format.

I asked Nicolle, “Will you hearken back to the cuisine that you had before? Will there be Latin American items on the menu? Or are you heading straight down the American breakfast/brunch path—pancakes, eggs, waffles, that kind of thing?” They have chosen the latter.

“My husband, who’s in charge of the kitchen, was just saying that he was starting to almost feel a bit constrained, because he would think of specials he wanted to run and then be like, ‘OK, but how do I make it South American?'” Nicolle said. “And he realized, ‘I just want to have more open creativity to do a bit of everything.'”

She continued, “And we were so happy and proud to do that—create somewhat of a South American vegan niche here in Portland for so many years. But now there’s a little bit more freedom for him to open up the options. So, yes, we’ll be more like a traditional [American] brunch.”

Brunch: Eating and Drinking at Epif

Some of these traditional brunch items include a benedict, pancakes, a parfait, some sandwiches, quiche, soups, salads, and more.

On The Topic of Vegan Eggs

I asked about their “egg” plans and she told me about their two approaches.
”The quiche uses a housemade mung bean egg,” she explained. “The breakfast sandwich and the scramble will use Just Egg. The benedict doesn’t have any egg,”

They find that the mung bean egg works really well for the quiche (it serves as a binder), but it doesn’t scramble that well. So that’s why they’re using the Just Egg for the scramble and for the egg sandwich, as the “egg” is more obvious and up front in those dishes.

And as they have a benedict on the menu, there will be hollandaise sauce, which has been praised by many as the best vegan hollandaise sauce they’d ever had. “And I do happen to agree with that!” exclaimed Nicolle.

You’ll also be able to get a half benedict—just one half of an English muffin instead of both halves. Nicolle finds benedicts to be a rich dish, so being able to order half of one is a nice flexible option they’re happy to offer. “You know, you can just order like one little benedict and then a parfait or a side of potatoes or a side salad. For my stomach, it’s the perfect breakfast.”

And they are making a gluten-free benedict option, with polenta cakes in place of the English muffin. And with that, you can order a half benedict, too.

I was a little confused, though: How do you eat an Eggs Benedict without a poached egg?Nicolle helped me understand: “It’s going to be either the polenta cake or the muffin, and then housemade sausage, tomato, spinach, and avocado,” she explained. “And the avocado really gives it that creaminess—like kind of an egg feeling. And it’s in a mound, almost like a poached egg. And then, the hollandaise sauce.”

To Drink: Coffee and Mocktails

Coffee is one of the things they are excited about working with. “I’m really psyched that we’re going to be doing espresso,” said Nicolle. “A lot of brunch places only have drip coffee.”

She continued, “I’m excited to have our espresso machine that we brought back with us from Chile.
It’s a beautiful old school, lever-style machine, so we’re going to be turning that on and doing full espresso service in addition to a full bar, beer, wine, etc.”

The espresso machine was made by Rancilio and the coffee roaster they chose is Roseline

Speaking of the Bar

As a NA drinker, I was happy to hear about their strong mocktail program. “We’re going to organize the drink menu in terms of like starting at a mocktail level and then you can add alcohol,” she explained. “We know our community, and honestly, I don’t see a ton of vegans doing a lot of day drinking. That’s a generalization, but it’s just the way it is.”

She added, “And also, a mocktail with your lunch sounds really nice—like a mint lemonade, or something like that, with your lunch is really refreshing.

What’s Special About the Epif Brunch?

Brunch is big in Portland, so I wanted to know how they’ll put their mark on Portland’s brunch scene. “Honestly, there’s a pretty big hole in vegan brunch options,” she said. “There are spots here and there.”

Nicolle also mentioned that few vegan brunch spots offer full service; most are counter service. And Epif is fully vegan. “In some places, they’re basically vegan but that you can add egg or cheese onto things,” she remarked. That will not be the case at Epif. 
Additionally, she indicated that their location is a plus (NE 28th Avenue’s “restaurant row”), as well as the fact that they’ve been around for a decade and are embraced by vegans and non-vegans alike.

I’m happy to know Epif will return and am looking forward to stopping in and trying their brunch items, coffee, and mocktails. Wishing Nicolle and Pepe all the best as the get ready to open tomorrow!

Epif [reopening November 6, 2025]
404 NE 28th Avenue, Portland
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