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.
Welcome to our list of favorite bites of 2025 in Portland! While Bridgetown Bites is not primarily a restaurant review site, we do comment here on things we like. And, like most humans, we are happy to tell you what we think tastes good in Portland.
So here’s a list (and a map) of our favorites for the year—plus, some things we’d consider as superlatives in 2025. Enjoy!
I had the opportunity to participate in a taste test for rotisserie chickens, led by Bryan Vance of Stumptown Savings. I joined a handful of local food writers on Tuesday, November 18 to taste a total of nine chickens from eight stores. Bryan has published our results over on Stumptown Savings (subscription required to read—it’s free to subscribe), but I thought I’d share some additional thoughts on this very fun gathering.
Over the past couple of days, a number of readers have shared the news with me about the unfortunate reality of Reeva’s extended closure. This popular and highly-regarded pizza truck in the Roseway neighborhood indicated back on Tuesday, November 4 that they were closing at the end of service on Sunday, November 9 to attend to “personal matters.”
This vague statement could have meant any variety of things but now we know what happened: Roberto Hernandez Guerrero, owner and operator of Reeva Cafe y Cocina a la Leña, is stuck in Mexico, having been denied reentry into the U.S.
It feels strange to be writing this on such a beautiful, sunny fall Portland day: Chef Justin Woodward has died. He was only 43. He was best known in Portland as chef at Castagna (now closed) and OK Omens.