Sure Shot Burger Will Open a Restaurant in 2026 in Portland

The celebrated burger cart Sure Shot Burger that operates alongside the Oakshire Beer Hall on NE 42nd Avenue, is looking forward to some changes in the new year. They’ll be transitioning to a brick-and-mortar restaurant located just feet away—the space that has been home to Taqueria Los Pepitos Locos since 2016.

“Moving 20 feet away seems like the the safest bet for actually moving into a brick and mortar,” said Sure Shot’s Nick Jarvis. Hard to argue with that. I chatted with Nick last week to learn more about Sure Shot and this upcoming and exciting move.

First Indication of a Move for Sure Shot

I first caught wind of their plans to move from the cart to a restaurant in an Instagram post from mid-November. We also highlighted that piece of news here in a Small Bites column last month. To recap in Nick’s words:

“Restaurants is the dumbest fucking industry in the world and I’m so damn grateful to all of you for letting us make pretend like we’re a part of it. Sure Shot Roadhouse coming early 2026. March, maybe April… probably June.” They are hoping for April (but the “Roadhouse” part has been jettisoned).

About Sure Shot

Sure Shot first came to my attention via Bill Oakley a couple of years ago, who had great things to say about their burgers. They make cheeseburgers in a smash burger style, along with fries and nuggets, and a selection of sauces. Soft drinks, too. The menu is straightforward and they do it well.

Personally I’m a fan—the burgers are high quality at a good price point. As someone who has loved a single patty cheeseburger for decades, I can get one for $6 at Sure Shot and it has all my favorite toppings: cheese, onion, pickles, sauce. They use a Franz bun that is neither overly bready nor falls apart. Plus I like the insulated wrapper they package it in—the burger nestled inside it, snug as a bug in a rug.

Nick is also loves the simple cheeseburger. “I grew up in Seattle going to Dick’s Drive-in,” he said. And looking at their menu, you can see the influence as far as offering a pretty streamlined burger—some items on the Dick’s menu are what I would consider to be rather minimalist, much moreso than Sure Shot’s burgers.

Speaking of that insulated wrapper, Nick says, “It helps a lot—it steams the burger and kinds of melds everything together.”

Nick Jarvis and the Pivot

Sure Shot Burger is owned by Nick Jarvis and his business partner Will Kuhns. Nick’s background is in working for restaurant groups up in Seattle, helping them open restaurants. About 10 years ago he moved to Portland, where he worked for Revered Nat’s Hard Cider.

“Then in March 2020 I had just signed a contract to start working for Submarine Hospitality” he said. That date! My jaw dropped. “So I was laid off after two days.”

COVID was brutal. But Nick has a good attitude about it all. “I mean, for me it ended up working out for the best,” he said. 

Like a lot of people, he needed to figure out a way to pivot. “I love restaurants and food, and it seemed at the time that a food cart was the only answer,” he said.

Sure Shot: What’s in a Name?

So why did he name the business Sure Shot? “Originally, it was called Rough Draft Burger Shop,” he explained. “It was a pop-up—I was helping out a friend with it up in Seattle. We popped up at breweries around town up there.”

He continued, “And so when I opened in Beaverton in 2020, I kept the Rough Draft name, but before long it didn’t make any sense to keep the Seattle pop-up and the Portland food cart linked. So me and my partner split the thing up.”

He then mentioned Yaw’s Top Notch, which you can read about on the PDX History site. “I was always interested in this Portland institution called Yaw’s Top Notch, which is an old burger spot,” he explained. “And I was kind of trying to think of synonyms for ‘top notch’ and came up with ‘sure shot.’ It also came from my love of alliteration—like ‘Shake Shack.'”

More About Yaw’s

“They were they were kind of a Portland Institution,” said Nick. “They tried to reboot and they closed maybe like 12 years ago, and they tried to reboot more recently. I’ve always just been a fan of the signage and the name.”

Yaw’s most recent location was at 11340 NE Halsey St, kind of kitty-corner from the Gateway Breakfast House, but that building was demolished in probably 2019 because it was deemed unsafe. In its early days it moved around to various locations in the Hollywood District.

The Move to Portland and Switching Up the Cart

Eventually, they decided to move from the operation from Beaverton to Portland. He left behind the cart he was using because it was time to upgrade, and to get their own cart. “That old cart actually belongs to some friends of mine who own a place called Uptown Beer Co, and Binary Brewing,” he explained. That cart is now a Mid-City Smash Burger cart.

They bought their current cart, which was already set up nicely for burgers. “We bought from a guy named Don [Salamone], who had Burger Stevens,” said Nick. “We bought his cart from him that he had at the Prost food cart pod, and moved over to Northeast Portland on Northeast 42nd in January 2022.”

The Sure Shot Restaurant Concept

Nick described their new spot as place for burgers, fries, and shakes. “Our idea is sort of a drive-in, minus the roller skates and car delivery,” he remarked. “A burger and a milkshake spot.” But not a Happy Days or American Graffiti kind of scene. “I’m trying to avoid this sort of 50s nostalgia aspect of it,” he said.

And they will not have an actual drive-in or drive-through. New drive-ins are hard to implement in Portland (in most places it’s forbidden). He’s planning on closing off the parking lot and putting in a patio area in its place. The aim is to create a family-friendly space.

Interestingly enough, this current scenario was not their original plan. “Originally, our plan had been to find a bar,” explained Nick. “We were looking at southeast Portland. We wanted to find a bar space a little farther away and keep the cart where it is, but the opportunity here was too good.”

What’s Coming To Sure Shot the Restaurant

I asked what kind of things we’ll see at the new restaurant—the burgers, of course, will come with them, including the Impossible burgers along with traditional beef. “We like how the Impossible smashes on the grill and caramelizes,” he said.

They will also keep a rotating burger special. He added, “That’s kind of our marketing strategy, having something new every week to two weeks.”

“We do chicken nuggets, which was just a special we ran one time, and then they ended up being our highest margin item, so we have to keep them,” said Nick. “And there are some sides that we’ve done. We do a fried Brussels sprout that has always been incredibly popular, but not easy to do the cart, so that’s coming with us.”

He’d like to bring back even more things that were specials at the cart, so stay tuned for that.

Sorbu Will Stay

Right now there is a cart already on the property: Sorbu. They will remain where they are and will be the sole cart on the property.

“We are very good friends,” said Nick. “And that was also a big incentive because I think it’ll be really good to have them on site with a really good partnership.” They’ve done collabs before, and will do them again.

Sorbu announced on their social media that they are taking an extended break, so that timing is in alignment with this transition period for Sure Shot.

Hope for the New Place

I was curious to know what he is really excited about or hopeful for in this new phase for Sure Shot. Will, his aforementioned business parter, who has more of a chef background (he’s been a chef and sous chef around town) has shared the dream with Nick to open a restaurant.

“Basically, it’s always been both of our dreams to have a restaurant,” he explained. “So that’s the aspirational part of the business. We do love burgers, but we do want to do a little bit more than that.”

As far as that goes, they’re looking at vegetable sides, for one, and salad. “This is something we’ve tried several times to sell before on the cart, it just won’t sell,” he said. “It’s the nature of the food cart—people just want burgers and fries.” So, perhaps salad will sell at the restaurant.

They also hope that alcohol sales will help boost the profit margin; they are looking to get a full on-premises liquor license. “So the basic concept is cheeseburgers and highballs, a limited beer and wine selection,” he said.

And a patio—they got permission to turn the parking lot into patio seating, which could be upwards of 100 seats. They’d like to beautify and shade the patio but the extent of which will depend on what kind of budget they have available to them.

Ice Cream and Gelato

I was curious if they were going to connect with Pronto Gelato, which will be directly across the street from them in the new location. It makes sense to consider this option, but their restaurant location also used to be home to Roses Ice Cream … and the ice cream maker is still there.

“We’re not interested in making ice cream to compete with Pronto,” said Nick. “But we may make our own own ice cream for milkshakes. The machine is there, it’ll silly not to use it. Our dessert program is going to be root beer floats and milkshakes.” Root beer will be on tap, too.

Some NA Drinks

The NA drink options there at Sure Shot looks to be both NA cocktails on tap, with at least one dedicated NA tap cocktail, and soft drinks. “I’m actually kind of excited about the non-alcoholic drink program, maybe more so than the alcohol,” said Nick.

He continued, “So what we’ve always done before are just the glass bottle sodas, which are not particularly profitable or exciting. So we are going to keg up our own root beer and have that on tap.” And they are going to have orangeade.

I mentioned to him how much I miss the orangeade from Bless Your Heart Burgers from when they were in the Pine Street Market (sadly, it never made it to the NE 33rd Avenue location). So I am very much looking forward to orangeade at Sure Shot to come!

Opening the Sure Shot Restaurant

As I mentioned earlier, they are looking at an April opening; Nick will get the keys on January 1, 2026 and the guys at Los Pepitos Locos are moving at the end of 2025 (likely to Clackamas). He said, “I feel comfortable saying April. There’s a chance it could be sooner’s really good, if everything lines up nicely.” 

The cart will operate in its current location while they get the restaurant space ready for opening later next year. They envision perhaps halting service for a week or so between closing the cart and opening the restaurant. At that point they will decide among their options for the cart: keeping it, selling it, or moving it to a food cart pod. But that decision is one to be made at a later date.

Wish Nick, Will, and the Sure Shot team all the best as they work to transition to the restaurant while running the cart, too. Spring can’t come soon enough!

Sure Shot Burger [projected restaurant opening April 2026]
5011 NE 42nd Avenue, Portland
Sure Shot website | Instagram