Category: Four Things

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Four Things I Learned This Week is a regular column published on Fridays, featuring four short entries of brief tidbits on Portland‘s food scene.

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Four Things I Learned This Week (January 5)

Fire at the Mercado. Heartbreaking news this week—it happened around 5:30am on January 3. Thankfully there were no injuries or deaths, but it’s still a very sad state of affairs. The Oregonian describes is like this: “Firefighters arrived to find a fire blazing in one of the building’s restaurant stalls and the large building filled with smoke, fire officials said. A second alarm was called but additional crews soon turned back as firefighters on the scene quickly got the blaze under control, including after spotting fires burning in ‘odd void spaces within the ceiling.’”

A fire relief fund has been started and you can give to that, here. 7238 SE Foster Road, Portland

Bee’s Cakes is closing. This sweet cafe at the corner of NE Fremont and 72nd Avenue is closing; January 14 will be their final day for the cafe, and in May the rest of the operation. From Rebecca: “This year has been difficult for us—as well as many other small business. We have had the pleasure of greeting and serving our customers pastries & coffee for the last couple of years, but it is time we switch directions. We will continue to take custom cake & catering orders until May 1st, 2024 and will be opening our calendar to take on more orders until then! We will be closing fully end of that month.”

This is a real loss for Roseway and nearby Cully and Sumner. Best of luck to Rebecca and her expanding family (she became a mom about a month ago), and here’s hoping something great opens up in that space. 7137 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Roam PDX + Bhuna. Roam, known for their handmade roti and “hyper seasonal ingredients” with a presence at the PSU and Montavilla Farmers Markets, will be doing a winter residency at Bhuna Restaurant in NW Portland. They’ll be there Monday and Tuesday evenings from 5pm to 9pm. Here’s the menu, and it sounds pretty good. “Come in and enjoy a cocktail while we put food on plates for ya! We are keeping the word on the street mellow while we get comfortable in the space.” 704 NW 21st Avenue, Portland

Masala Lab offers dinner service. Deepak Saxena of Masala Lab (and who runs the Chaat Wallah food cart in Cully) has launched dinner service at the Lab and went on KGW’s “Hello Rose City” to talk about it. It starts today, January 5. They offer a mix of small, medium, and large plates, which aim to be untraditional, very “fusiony,” and take inspiration from Deepak’s travels and his childhood. A few thing you can expect:

  • Shaved Brussels sprout salad with house-smoked bacon with a curry leaf-chickpea-applesauce-miso dressing.
  • Sorghum pilaf—sorghum is a grain used in India. Note: they are not serving rice at all, and are trying to explore other parts of Indian cuisine, including grains.
  • Roasted delicata squash tossed with roasted pumpkin seeds, served on a cashew and preserved lemon cream (spicy).
  • Burrata chaat—burrata cheese with quince chutney (note: chutneys will change seasonally) served with ghee crositini.

The menu is 100% gluten free, and they plan to rotate it every two to thre months. They also hope to eventually do events and farmers markets and are working on a product line—e.g., chai concentrate, snacky things. Happy Hour is in the works, and will go from 5pm to 6pm, and likely 4pm to 6pm in the summer. After a while, they’d like to expand evening hours on Friday and Saturday until midnight. No reservations yet. 5327 NE MLK Blvd, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (December 8)

HÂP Fresh has opened in Montavilla’s south end. Over on Montavilla News, they have published an article on HÂP Fresh, which opened in the former Thai Fresh location on SE Division. It’s considered an “Asian fusion” restaurant, with a focus on its “renowned handmade” dumplings, at least to start. Owners Nasy Chan and Thomas Trieu (who have opened four restaurants together previously) with Chef Gulian Lui have created the menu. They are offering a 20% discount during the month of December to celebrate the opening. Head over to Montavilla News to read more. 8409 SE Division Street, Portland

“Pizza School is back!” So says Shardell Dues at Red Sauce Pizza. You can learn about the practical hands-on elements of creating a pizza—how to make [their] dough, shape a dough ball, and stretch and dress a cheese pizza. Two-hour classes happen once a month on Sundays starting in January (for three months—January 14, February 18, and March 10—at this point). $100 per class, payable by Venmo. More info and register on the Red Sauce website. 4641 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Sea veggie bites! Get yer sea veggie bites! Head to Providore tomorrow, Saturday December 9 from 1 to 4pm to sample tasty sea veggie bites. Blue Evolution executive chef Maylin Chavez and Winter Waters Co-Founder Alanna Kieffer will be there, and you can “taste some simple and delicious applications of these kelps, and chat with Alanna and Maylin about all things seaweed.” Learn how to use these products at home, too. H/T to Kathleen Bauer at GoodStuffNW for promoting it on her Instagram so it could catch my eye. 2340 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Too Soon is opening … soon. A Bridgetown Bites tipster led me to the Instagram account for Too Soon, a new bar from Adam Robinson (also of Deadshot) and Nick Flower (of the Face/Off cocktail pop-up). This location has been home to a number of places over the years, including Nightingale. Google says they are opening Wednesday, December 13. 18 NE 28th Avenue, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (December 1)

The 52nd Annual Gingerbread Masterpiece at The Benson Hotel. At 6pm on Wednesday night, The Benson Hotel revealed their annual gingerbread house—a giant replica of Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle—at a free event for kids (of all ages). It featured, of course, the amazing gingerbread castle, along with holiday music, children’s crafts, cookies, beverages, and a special appearance by Santa. Check it out in their lobby—it will be up until Saturday, December 30. 309 SW Broadway, Portland

Wonderwood Springs has re-opened. You can stop by this cafe, now run by Mike Bennett and continuing to feature his cartoon art, in the St Johns neighborhood. The cafe closed for a while as the business transferred ownership (and some former employees were dismayed by the process), but now it’s back. I visited them in their previous incarnation and to be honest, I was a bit disappointed in the food options. Happily, it looks like the food aspect of the cafe has evolved: Pastry Chef Victoria Ascencio is making a variety of things in-house, and there are new savory options on the menu. Look for pastries, breakfast sandwiches, popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, cheese plates and more. They are open Wednesdays to Sundays from 8am to 10pm. 8811 N Lombard Street, Portland

A Franz Bakery outlet store is closing. Reported on Facebook about the closing: “The Franz Bakery Outlet Store at 14510 SE Stark Street ([open]since 1980) [is closing]. Other locations will remain open. Last day for this store will be December 6th.” 14510 SE Stark Street, Portland

New holiday drink menu at My-O-My drops tomorrow. Glad to see more seasonal drinks being developed at this great east Portland bar. One of the new drinks is the Frosted Candy Cane Slushie, which happens to be non-alcoholic. It’s made with coconut milk, white chocolate, milk chocolate, and peppermint. If you want to make it boozy, they recommend adding Rumplemintz. I can’t wait to see the rest of their festive holiday cocktail menu! 8627 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (October 20)

Du’s Grill westside has closed. After five years in business, Du’s Grill on the westside/Hillsboro closed, as of October 16. Their location, aka “Ol’ Faithful,” on NE Sandy Blvd is still going strong, so you can still get your Du’s teriyaki and salad fix on the east side. 1249 NW 185th Avenue, Hillsboro (closed) and 5365 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland (open)

Aviv rebrands as TAL. Aviv, which closed their brick & mortar in 2021, has been doing pop-ups in various places, serving its vegan Middle Eastern food to the masses. They announced this week that they are rebranding themselves as TAL. As for their next pop-up event, head to Labyrinth Forge Brewery this weekend in SE Portland, where they will serve “Shawarma fries, hummus, falafel, and a medley of other delectable treats” at the newish brewery location. 61 SE Yamhill Street, Portland

FYI Fusion Curry Pizza is open. In case you were wondering, Fusion Curry Pizza is open and has been for about a month. Lots of great reviews on Yelp; Portlanders seem to enjoy their food quite a bit. 4630 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

The start of Thanksgiving pre-orders. Thanksgiving may seems like a ways away, but in reality we only have about a month to go (Thanksgiving this year is on November 23). The first outlet offering Thanksgiving yums to land on my radar is Revel Meat Co., which will offer local turkeys, duck, rabbit, applewood-smoked ham, pork rib loin roast, and porchettas, “all sourced from Revel’s local ranching partners.” The turkeys are part of a “super-limited run” from Totum Farm (~16 to 20 pounds) and Champoeg Farm (two sizes). Orders start today and end on November 20. Email holidays@revelmeatco.com or visit the butcher counter to reserve your order with a $25 deposit.

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Four Things I Learned This Week (October 6)

Yaowarat opens today. What was Lazy Susan in Montavilla is now Yaowarat, which we mentioned here back in July. It is brought to you by Akkapong Earl Ninsom and crew, makers of much deliciousness in Portland. The food is “Thai-Chinese street food both along Bangkok Chinatown (Yaowarat neighborhood) and the restaurants that we fell in love with from travel and grew up eating (during my college time),” according to Ninsom. Surprisingly, Montavilla does not have much in the way of Thai restaurants, so this is a pretty great addition to the neighborhood.

No takeout, no reservations, no phone—yet. They’ll be open Wednesdays to Sundays, 5pm to 10pm, at least to start. Check out the PDX Monthly article on them from earlier this month to get a better picture of the whole shebang. 7937 SE Stark Street, Portland

The Yanick Room is open. Over at Kann, they have put together a private dining room for large parties, 12 guests to 36 guests. The Yanick Room is named after Chef Gourdet’s mom. Access reservations through Resy. 548 SE Ash Street, Portland

What’s next for the Woodsman Tavern space(s). The Oregonian tells us what’s what with these two spaces: the restaurant and market. Los Burros Supremos, a burrito shop, will take over the market space; La Leñadora, “a full-service restaurant with lamb shank birria, sizzling Oregon albacore fajitas and lots of Mexican seafood.” Read more about the plans here. 4537 SE Division Street, Portland

Mattino’s Wines is closing their shop. We wrote about this sweet spot last October, and by the end of their run on October 29, they will have been open for around a year. On Instagram they explain why all is not lost: “We feel excited about our next chapter at 935 SE Hawthorne. We are taking it in a new direction — a wine delivery service, club, and space that hosts gatherings. There’s so much to share about these upcoming changes. Stay tuned.” Best of luck to them in this transition. 935 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland