Portland food news and views
Portland! It’s where I live, work, and play. It’s where the food news happens (at least most of it). This category is one of the real constants on Bridgetown Bites and is probably a part of almost every post on this blog.
Some of the tasty treats at Bee’s Cakes during their pop-up retail event.
Today was the day—the day of the bakery pop-up at Bee’s Cakes! My friend Charlene and I headed over there this morning and found an abundance of irresistible choices. So many delicious options, from full-on cake slices to cookies to savory pastries. And speaking of savory pastries, the roasted red pepper, corn & goat cheese hand pie was stellar. Continue reading “Extraordinary Hand Pie and Cake at Bee’s Cakes Pop-up”
Bui Tofu’s delicious pandan cake.
Fridays are often reserved for my “Four Things I Learned This Week” column, but I have collected so many tidbits this week, I’m opting instead for a Small Bites post this week. Let’s see what’s up.
Love letter to Bui Tofu. This place is wonderful and it was nice to read of Katherine Chew Hamilton’s love of the place. Her PoMo review highlights one of my favorite items there, the pandan cake; love the sesame balls, too. 520 NE 76th Avenue, Portland
Continue reading “Small Bites – Bui Tofu, Davenport’s Cheeseburger, Paccasassi, and More”
While my friend Jen was in town I thought a trip to the newish Grand Stark Deli would be a great way to catch some breakfast before picking up my annual salmon share nearby—which, if you are unaware is a fantastic way to access high quality salmon in bulk (we’ve been doing it for 10 years). The deli is just off the lobby in the Hotel Grand Stark—the historic building was born as Hotel Chamberlain, converted to a local furniture manufacturer for 80 years and reopened as a hotel this past May. The deli serves up a west-coast interpretation of east coast deli food—including some of the best avocado toast I’ve ever eaten.
Continue reading “Excellent Avocado Toast and More at Grand Stark Deli”
If you remember a couple of years ago, I swooned over an Adriatic Fig I tasted at One Green World nursery in SE Portland. This past weekend, I found myself in the area and decided to see if they had any Adriatic Plants in stock. And they did! Continue reading “Reader, I Bought an Adriatic Fig Tree”
Brokedown Palace burger pop-up at Bar Norman on Saturday. You can look forward to burgers and market vegetables from Brokedown Palace tomorrow, Saturday August 28, at Bar Norman. “They’ll be popping up at the bar with delicious food and fun vibes (think street DJ, skate videos, and lots of chilled red wines)…the perfect way to say byyyyyyeeee to August.” The fun goes from 6pm to 9pm or until sold out. You can still hang out after that, though.
Hit the Spot to Open a Restaurant in Vancouver. Hit the Spot, the popular burger cart that sits in the Human Bean coffee shop parking lot on Sandy Blvd, will open a future restaurant at 2420 Main Street in Vancouver, Wa. “We’ve worked so hard to get to this point. Can’t tell you how great it feels to start with a pop up tent and a bbq in 2014 at the farmers market on the weekends, to going full time late 2018 in a food cart, to finally achieving a restaurant space in 2021.” From what I can tell, this means the cart will close eventually. CORRECTION: They are not closing the cart! The Columbian also reports on their dreams of further expansion. “The goal is to open hit the spot! restaurants in other parts of Vancouver, as well as suburbs such as Gresham and Beaverton.”
Asian vegetables grown in Gresham. Loved this PoMo article on Catherine Nguyen, who started Mora Mora Farm, where she grows bok choy, mizuna, yu choy, and kabu turnips, among other things. She has an annual CSA (currently there’s wait list) and she provides the veg for Cully’s Matta food cart. Personally, I love farms that grow produce common to diverse cultures, but I’m also the person that was drawn to the mysterious-to-me veg in the unmarked box at Berkeley’s Monterey Market years ago.
Join Wellspent Market’s olive oil CSA. Have you heard of this? It’s really a variant on the CSA model, but beneficial nontheless. Here’s how they describe the olive oil CSA as their way of helping to support their small farm partners: “It works like this: Early in the year you buy a CSA share for $100. We use the cash to pay the farmers, and when the season’s olive oil arrives here, that share is worth $120. It’s good for anything we sell at Wellspent Market, not just olive oil. Money well spent indeed!”
