Four Things I Learned This Week (April 1)

It’s Poisson d’Avril today. Sure, it’s April Fools’ Day today in America, but in France (via Portland) it’s April Fish (Poisson d’Avril) Day. Over at Pix Patisserie‘s Pix-O-Matic vending machine you can get your chocolate and paper versions of April Fish 24/7, while they last. The chocolate fish are found all over France on this day each year and the trick part of the deal comes with children slapping unsuspecting adults on the back with a paper fish and yelling, “Poisson d’Avril!” while running away. No doubt the chocolate fish at Pix are going to be seriously delicious. 2225 E Burnside Street, Portland

10th Annual Greekster at The Side Yard Farm. The good folks at Cully’s Side Yard Farm are hosting a Greek Easter feast on Sunday, April 24—the day of Orthodox Easter. It will be an AYCE (all you can eat) affair on site, and in a very short time tickets sold out. But there is a takeout option for those who still want to enjoy the food. The meal includes a whole bunch of things including spanakopita and tiropita, pastitio, a Greek village salad, souvlaki, and baklava. Find more details, here. 4800 NE Simpson Street, Portland

Cheesemonger Sam from Cowbell wins gold. Great news from Cowbell: “Many of you will recognize Sam from behind the counter in our shop, and from wholesale sales calls and deliveries. We’re thrilled to say Sam brought home the gold earlier this month at the Cheesemonger Invitational in San Francisco—a national competition among the best cheesemongers in the country!” Big congrats, Sam! This is a fantastic achievement. 231 SE Alder Street, Portland

Support Nam Phuong Market. Roseway’s Nam Phuong Market, a wonderful Asian/Vietnamese market, was attacked this week by two people destroying their big picture window. I have no confirmation as the reason why they did it. From a neighbor: “The owners are very nice and they do not deserve this!! I always fill up on my condiments there. They also have a wonderful meat selection and lots of veggies!” You can see the two dudes breaking the front window via a security video posted over on Reddit. This really stinks and I hope you can stop by and support Nam Phuong Market with a purchase. 6834 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

A Second Location for Saint Simon Coffee Co.

While driving to dinner tonight (we had an excellent meal at Pocket Pub), I spied out of my peripheral vision the words “Saint Simon Coffee Co.” on a storefront along NE 15th Avenue. I pulled over, walked back to the building and was pretty excited by what I saw—but what I didn’t know is whether it was a new location or a second location (the current location is on NE Broadway). My hope was for the latter.

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The Sports Bra Sports Bar Opens Friday

Photo credit: The Sports Bra

The Sports Bra, a new sports bar in the old Carne space on NE Broadway, is opening this Friday—and they will play only women’s sports on their TVs. In fact, The Sports Bra is the first and only sports bar in the world that will focus completely on televising women’s sports. No doubt it will become known as “the Bra” over time, and it’s a pretty exciting idea to showcase women’s sports in the sports bar format, which appeals to me both as a woman, recreational athlete, and sports fan.

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Possibilities Near Delta Park: a New Food Cart Complex?

Bird’s eye view of the location of a potential food cart complex on N Hayden Meadows Drive. Photo credit: Portland Maps

Last month I came across a city permit indicating a new food cart complex could come to the Delta Park area on Hayden Meadows Drive. The permit had to do with arranging a “Pre-Application Conference”—this is “a meeting that the Bureau of Development Services has with a person who is interested in doing a development project in the City of Portland.” Interestingly enough this conference took place this morning. Outcome is unknown to me, but the whole thing is intriguing.

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