Welcome to January 2026’s review of top 5 posts for the month—the first one of 2026. In January, the most visited articles were restaurant roundups and a couple of single restaurant news pieces.
As far as traffic goes, it was less than in December 2025 but that’s understandable; the end of the year tends to be a big traffic time on Bridgetown Bites, and the article on Dairy Queen was a massive 20,000+ page view event (massive for us, at least).
As far as unique visitors and page views go, in January 2026 the numbers are around 55,000 and 75,000, respectively, compared to 66,000 and 87,000 in December 2025. Still, these numbers are healthy, and I’ll take them. Another fun comparison is with January 2025 with about 31,000 unique visitors generating 43,000 page views back then. It’s a solid increase.
As always, thanks for reading, commenting, sharing, and for your tips!
5. Summary: Portland Restaurant Openings and Closings, 2025
Welcome to the summary of our coverage of Portland restaurant openings and closings, 2025. Our Portland Restaurant Openings and Closings List is the source (here is the 2025 archive), which we update throughout the year. It’s fun and interesting to look back and get that broader view of just exactly what restaurants did open and close. Here are our thoughts and observations.
4. Restaurant AMA Will Enclose Their Rooftop Deck in Hillsboro
While putting together our Valentine’s Day 2026 roundup, I learned about Restaurant AMA in Hillsboro and their sister restaurant Urban Decanter in Forest Grove. At Restaurant AMA, they’ve decided to enclose their rooftop deck and run a tiki bar of sorts up there until summer. I was curious and intrigued by this, so I connected with Jill Craig, who owns both restaurants, to learn more.
3. Restaurants Opening in Portland in 2026: What We’re Excited About
As we head toward the end of the year, a lot of things come to mind—and that includes looking forward to the restaurants opening in Portland in 2026. Here are the ones (that we know at this point in time) we’re particularly keen on in the new year.
2. National Shutdown: Restaurants Open and Helping in the Portland Metro
Tomorrow—Friday, January 30, 2026—is a National Shutdown day across the country, in response to the killings by ICE. The campaign’s subtitle is “No Work. No School. No Shopping. Stop Funding ICE.” It’s a kind of general strike.
1. Pretty Ugly Opens in Portland: What We Know
A new bar from the folks behind LULU and Silk Road (Vijay Kumar, Gilbert Leon) has been in development since early 2025. It’s called Pretty Ugly, and tonight is their official soft opening date, though they have had some informal events and soft opening evenings going on since the start of the year. Here is what we know so far.
Meg Cotner
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Love to see this, Meg! And I like the uptick provided by the timely news pieces. Nice work! Definitely food for thought 😉