Small Bites: bb.q Chicken, Layoffs, Frontera Sur, and More

Chicken dishes from bb.q Chicken on this edition of Small Bites.
Photo credit: bb.q Chicken.

bb.q Chicken celebrates 30 years. The folks from Korean fried chicken chain bb.q Chicken reached out to me to inform me that this September marks bb.q Chicken’s 30th anniversary. And not only that, it’s also the birthday of their beloved mascot, ChiBBoQ. To celebrate, they are rolling out a nationwide promotion: free delivery September 4 to 7 and free ddeok-bokki (one of the best street foods ever) September 8 to 12. 2850 SE 82nd Avenue #2 and 917 SW Alder Street, Portland

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Small Bites: Orange Julius, Beer, FIKA, El Mercado, and More

Orange Julius retro.
This is the Orange Julius branding I remember from years past. Photo credit: Retro News Now.

Farewell, Orange Julius. The Oregonian reported that Portland’s last remaining Orange Julius, located in the Lloyd Center, was closing (by now, it’s in the past tense). The franchise’s owner, Bob Slayton, died from cancer on May 19. This Orange Julius had been around for 42 years. I have fond memories of going to the OJ in the mall near me in SoCal during my youth, enjoying one of their drinks along with a pretzel from “Pretzels and Cheese.” Read more about Bob and his business over on The O. 2314 Lloyd Center, Portland

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Small Bites: Balong, Brunch, Ice Cream, and More

Breakfast sandwich from Balong.
Photo credit: Balong.

Balong is officially open. After a short time in soft opening phase, they had their grand opening this week. This Filipino-American breakfast sandwich spot (they also make fresh bread like pan de sal) from Justin Dauz opened their brick & mortar after being a pop-up since 2022. They are now located in the former Meianna Bakery in the Fubonn Shopping Center (considered the largest Asian mall in Oregon).  2850 SE 82nd Avenue #27, Portland

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Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, March 2025

Data Analytics Chart

It was a very interesting group of articles that Bridgetown Bites readers enjoyed the most in March 2025. A holiday roundup, news of restaurant openings, and the first look at the Flock Food Hall from this past January all caught your collective eyes.

However, Google launched a core update in mid-March, and Bridgetown Bites unfortunately was affected (I can see the downward line on a graph of engagement in my analytics). I looked back at March 2024’s top 5 review and interestingly enough, the site got hit then, too. So, fool me twice, shame on me—I’ll be making yet another set of adjustments.

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