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 (September 9)

Bastion turns 1. Mark your calendars for a Bastion birthday bash on Saturday, September 17 in the form of their final Summer Maker’s Market for the year. There will be crafts, live music, “Brunchington” (likely with some delicious brunch specials), and good vibes for all. From the Bastion folks: “It’s been a year full to the brim with excitement, overwhelm, learning, growing & enjoying nourishing all of you.”

Bastion subscribes to the “food as medicine” philosophy and is particularly sensitive to their guests who abstain from gluten, refined-sugars, soy, and dairy; they value organic, local, sustainably-grown food. As a happy omnivore, I’ve had some delicious things there, and love their grain-free bread; plus their cookies (yes, made without refined sugars) are really excellent. Their Wild Alaskan Salmon Salad was recommended by Jennifer Joffe of Project Healthy Body during this year’s inaugural Salad Week. 6116 SE Milwaukie Avenue, Portland

And Wedgehead turns 4. This Sunday, September 11, Wedgehead is throwing a “super soft birthday party” from 3pm to 11pm (kids can participate until 6pm). Look for a cupcake decorating station, as well as party punch by Little Hands/Stiff Drinks; feather boas, tiaras, face painting, and pinball wristbands. Are you a princess? A prince? Something else? Regardless of your sex (or gender), experience the joy of wearing frilly things—Wedgehead is here for you. 3728 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Cheese plates available at Fresh Love. Stop by this gem on NE Fremont in the Roseway neighborhood for their latest offering: a beautiful cheese plate. Lately they’ve been on a goat cheese kick and the cheese plate includes Humboldt Fog and Midnight Moon from Cypress Grove , Sleeping Beauty from Cascadia Creamery, and a special flower petal crusted soft goat cheese (while supplies last). You can also pick up cheeses in their retail cold case. Yum. 7434 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Rey Taco opens in Montavilla. Montavilla News reports that the Rey Taco cart opened on 82nd Avenue near SE Ash, replacing Su Casa Taqueria. Along with improving the kitchen inside, they built a new covered deck with tables. Rey Taco offers “LA Street Food,” including “an assortment of tacos, birria quesa tacos, machetes, tortas, mulitas, burritos, enchiladas, and chilaquiles.” They are open for lunch and dinner. Read more at Montavilla News. 145 SE 82nd Avenue, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (August 26)

hit the spot! opens their first brick & mortar next week. Very happy for hit the spot!, a popular burger cart known for burgers with many patties, as well as their charitable interests, that made it to their first restaurant space. Their grand opening is going to be Wednesday, August 31 at 11am. “Enjoy the cheeseburger you’ve loved along with fried chicken sandwiches, cheese fries, milkshakes and brews.” 676 SE Morrison, Portland

Sayler’s gets some Feast love. Although Feast is known for its spendy festival and obsession with personalities of the Portland restaurant world, I was happy to see them give some love to Sayler’s Old Country Kitchen in east Portland. It’s been around for decades, is a shining example of the best of “old Portland,” and has a diehard fan base. From Feast:

“From the hottest new opening in the city, we turn our attention to what is among the city’s most venerable dining institutions: Sayler’s Old Country Kitchen. Opened in 1946 by brothers Art and Dick Sayler, the restaurant was founded around the maxim of offering a “quality steak dinner at prices that even the common man could afford.” Today, the restaurant is still owned and operated by the Sayler family, overseen in this, its 76th year in business, by third generation proprietors Bryan and David Sayler.”

Read more here. 10519 SE Stark Street, Portland

Lovely’s Fifty Fifty is coming to Netflix. The news has been spreading around Portland food media but I want to take some space and time to congratulate Sarah Minnick, the force behind Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, for being featured on “Chef’s Table: Pizza” on Netflix. I consider Lovely’s Fifty Fifty to be the best representative of a “Portland-style” pizza. I love her use of seasonal ingredients and lots of vegetables. The pizzas are delicious. You can watch “Chef’s Table: Pizza” on September 7, 2022 on Netflix. 4039 N Mississippi Avenue, Portland

Poor Richard’s in the news (so random). Willamette Week ran a story last week about the Poor Richard’s space, which closed in 2011. In 2019 I noticed activity inside, and had great hopes for a reopening of something great, but learned that it was going to be used for a Bank of America expansion (administrative needs, not customer space). A lot of Portland old-timers lament the shuttering of PR’s and remember the twofer fondly—two-for-one dinners featuring the iconic American dinner plate of steak, baked potato, onion rings, and salad.

As for what’s more current, it looks like they wanted to put up a new BofA sign (permit is still listed as Pending). Portland maps indicates it will be, “59.9 square feet with the following dimensions: 18′-11″ wide by 3′-2″ tall.” 3907 NE Broadway

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Four Things I Learned This Week (August 19)

MidCity SmashBurger must leave its Stark Street digs. Looks like MidCity SmashBurger, which has had their cart serving “smashy bois” on Stark Street for a couple of years now, is going to have to move. “We are beginning a move to create space for a new pod which has certain requirements for cart owners and I do not meet the proper ‘owner criteria.'”

I noticed back in January that there was something going on at that location but beyond there being a new food cart pod arriving and improvements to the building, that’s all I knew. In late July, PoMo wrote an article about the newcomers taking over the space—a pod that will be operated by BIPOC and LGBTQ restaurant owners. The building will be home to the incoming Fracture taphouse, and that building will provide indoor seating for the pod adjacent, called Lil’ America.

MidCity will be looking for a new location—lots of fan suggestions in this Instagram post’s comments, but the PoMo article indicates “just a block away.” And it will have to happen by end of summer if the projected opening of Lil’ America happens in September as they would like. MidCity SmashBurger’s Cartside and Bend locations are staying put. 1015 SE Stark Street, Portland

Montelupo Market offers pasta night tote bags. For $65 you get “everything you need for a pasta night at home, ready to grab and go.” That includes a box of their house dried pasta, jarred sauce, wine & olive oil, all pre-loaded into a toma-tote. Nice. 344 NE 28th Avenue, Portland

Bag-O-Crab is open in Portland. Occupying what was the Original Taco House (locals still lament its closing) and more recently El Palenque (sadly, closed during the panedmic), Bag-O-Crab is now open in that space. They are a franchise, established in 2010 and have locations in CA and WA, and bring all sorts of seafood yums to the table—here’s their introduction:

“In Bag O’ Crab, you can enjoy a wide range of selected seafood including Dungeness Crab, Lobster, Shrimp, Crawfish and more in family inherited receipts. These seafoods are handpicked every day to ensure the highest standard is provided to our customers. Don’t like the seafood? Sorry to hear that. Although Seafood is our specialty, we also have something for you! Our Cajun style wings and Grill beef short ribs with French fries are gorgeous! And you can always explore the menu for more!” 3255 NE 82nd Avenue, Portland

Portland Polish Festival—on, then off again. The Portland Polish Festival, arguably one of the most beloved and popular cultural festivals in Portland, was planning on coming back after being on hiatus during the pandemic. However, they have since changed their minds. On their Facebook page they posted, “The Portland Polish Festival will not be held in September 2022 in our North Portland Neighborhood due to unforeseen circumstances (primarily related to safety concerns associated with the homeless encampment located in our neighborhood).”

They are, however, planning a smaller event—perhaps Dozynki, like last year? I’ll keep an eye on it. If you’re interested in knowing about other cultural festivals in the area, keep this list handy.

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Four Things I Learned This Week (August 12)

Kachka pelmeni (frozen) at New Seasons. In the ICYMI category, Kachka’s delicious pelmeni are available in your local New Seasons frozen food aisle. Personally, I love the cherry ones in particular, but they are all good. Various locations in the greater Portland area

Burger Week is bigger than ever this year. The Portland Mercury presents its Burger Week event again this summer. It runs from Monday, August 15 to Sunday, August 21; there are 48 different burgers to eat and they will cost you eight dollars each. See what burgers will be available, here—there will be  vegetarian / vegan options, gluten-free options, and takeout options. There’s a lot of really good looking burgers this year. Various locations around Portland

Pacific Crust Pizza Company has closed. For whatever reason, Portland pizza news is big right now (Handsome Pizza and Hogan’s Goat closing have been on our radar). Another one bites the dust, as they say: Pacific Crust Pizza Company, which was located in the Hotel Lucia, called it quits in downtown Portland and are moving on to a new home (where, is still a mystery as of this writing). It just wasn’t a good fit for the more urban downtown, as their vibe is about the outdoors and recreational camping—Willamette Week reported, “We’re looking to reopen soon in a space that allows us to have outdoor fire pits, picnic tables and true outdoor vibes to fit our brand better.” Destination unknown

Company Bar is now open. A new natural wine bar, Company, opened recently and had their opening event last weekend. From the event post: “Tucked away in a parking lot just off Belmont, Company is Portland’s newest garage bar. We’ll be serving a selection of natural wine glass pours and Modelo. They kicked off the party Friday night (8/5) in the afternoon “with Yawning and DJ Mr. Mumu spinning ’70’s soul and funk vinyl.” They are pretty excited to be there. Nearby neighbors include spots we’ve featured on this blog: Old Pal and Sugar Hill, and they are right next door to Lilith Rocket Ceramics studio. Looks like a nice addition to the neighborhood. 916 SE 34th Avenue, Suite B, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (August 5)

Beaverton’s Best. Pamplin Media Group did a “best of Beaverton” competition and you can see the winners for the Eating & Drinking section, here.

Preview of Kann Restaurant. One of my favorite bloggers, Michelle Tam (aka Nom Nom Paleo) got to attend a recent preview of Kann Restaurant, the Hatian restaurant from Gregory Gourdet, and loved it. The food looks really good and I hope I can eat there one day.

Olive oil at Sebastiano’s has arrived. Very exciting—I wrote about their olive oil project back in March, and I’m glad to see it is now available at Sebastiano’s. Stop by and pick up a bottle today!

Cully Upright Brewing update. I reached out to Upright’s owner, Alex Ganum, since I drove by and saw real, honest-to-goodness windows on the exterior. Here’s what he said: “Yep, we’ve finally been able to put some more work into the space as evidenced by the new garage doors. It’s coming together. Really excited for the project! Right now my best guess for opening would be November, but of course that can change based on happenings outside of our control. I can’t wait to finally open—the finished space should be a wonderful addition to the neighborhood.”