Four Things I Learned This Week in Portland Food (January 17)

Big pizza news. I learned from the Willamette Week that Old Town Brewing (NE) will welcome Baby Doll to their kitchen. This will be Baby Doll’s second location. Fun fact: Adam Milne, who owns Old Town, also owns Baby Doll, which he bought in 2021. No indication in the article if they are up and running now, but it’s full of other great info—check it out. 5201 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Portland

LA Street Dogs at Niños Birrieria. I was over at the Niños Birrieria cart at Upright Brewing Station yesterday after a meeting and saw they just added what they call “LA Street Dogs” to the menu. They start out as a hot dog, are bacon-wrapped, with the addition of bell peppers, onions, mustard, mayo, and ketchup; jalapeño on the side. You can get them as a combo with fries. 7131 NE Prescott Street, Portland

Toro has temporarily closed. This Mexican restaurant on NW Everett has closed their doors and will reopen in spring 2025. During the closure the culinary team will travel to Mexico to honor “the traditions, techniques, and ingredients that make Mexican food so vibrant and diverse.” Look for an updated menu and redesigned space when they do reopen. 1355 NW Everett Street, #120, Portland

Sandy’s Myanmar Cuisine has left CORE. This is a big loss for CORE and for those of us who enjoyed their food there. No indication as to where Sandy’s Myanmar Cuisine will land—or if they will expand again beyond their catering work—but we will stay tuned to find out. They closed as of January 10. 3612 SE 82nd Avenue, Portland

Bonus: Pan Roast special. I mentioned Pan Roast last week as one of the vendors going into the Flock Food Hall. This weekend you can enjoy a sneak peek of one of the dishes they plan to offer only at Flock, but at their Oak Tree Station location: a loaded clam chowder bread bowl. On top of their New England-style clam chowder are prawns, clams, and a whole lobster tail. That’s quite a meal. Stop by Oak Tree Station this Saturday and Sunday, January 18 and 19, to enjoy, until sold out. 5900 NW Friberg-Strunk Street, Camas, WA


Stories you may have missed this week on Bridgetown Bites:

Restaurants Opening in Portland in 2025: What We’re Looking Forward To
Estes Residency at Broder Nord in Portland Starts Next Week
Getting To Know Speedboat Coffee in Southeast Portland
Valentine’s Day 2025 in Portland: Food and Drink

Also of note: We are starting to update our Portland Area Cultural + Food Festivals list. At the start of the year, details are always at a minimum, but we will update it throughout the year.

Restaurants Opening in Portland in 2025: What We’re Looking Forward To

Looking through the front door at Pleasure Mountain.

I thought I’d take a little time to share some of the restaurants opening in Portland in 2025 that I am particularly looking forward to. As we move further away from the pandemic—though COVID is not gone, by any means—I have hopes that its volatility that affected the city’s restaurants for too long is truly in the rearview mirror. And that other issues (like break-ins) can be addressed by our new city council. This year’s list includes a public market, a new coffee shop, Indigenous fine dining, and more.

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Brave Neighbor Coffeehouse Will Open in North Portland

Brave Neighbor Coffeehouse & Social logo.

A new coffeehouse called Brave Neighbor is opening up in the cafe space next to Spin Laundry Lounge on North Fremont Street. For a short time, this location was home to Harder Day, but starting in mid-January it will be home to this new coffeehouse, offering up espresso drinks, matcha, and other beverages, as well as baked goods, sandwiches, community, and more.

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Top Posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024

Pretty data.

Welcome to our end-of-the-year roundup of top posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024. Aside from our Thanksgiving article, the top posts were about openings and closings—restaurant, cafe, bar, and food cart news. And topping the list this year is a double-header: East Portland’s Wooden Chicken Pub! It if hadn’t been for this duo, the closing of 3 Doors Down would have taken spot number 10.

From an analytics POV, traffic had a healthy increase from 2023 to 2024. With 205,100 unique visitors up from 106,000 last year, that’s an increase of 93.3%. Page views were 142,000 last year and 265,000 this year, which is an 86.6% increase. I’m proud of the hard work that has gone into nurturing this site, and serving as a quality resource for those interested in Portland food news—all as an independent shop.

And while Bridgetown Bites is run by one person, our tipsters and readers who pass on news are invaluable to my work here, so thank you very much, friends! Additional thanks to all who read the site, comment, share articles, and send feedback. I look forward to continuing to bring you Portland food news and views in 2025.

So without further ado, here are the top 10 posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024.

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Masala Lab Will Close in Portland

Saagshuka from Masala Lab in Portland, Oregon.
Saagshuka, one of the dishes we will miss from Masala Lab. Photo credit: Masala Lab.

This morning a friend let me know that Masala Lab, a brick-and-mortar restaurant from Deepak Saxena, will close later this month. They announced the news on their social channels in the early hours of the morning. Additionally, the DesiPDX cart will close and go on a short break later this month, reopening at the end of January.

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