Salad Dressing Showdown: The Best Store-Brand Ranch and Italian

365 Organic Ranch and Organic Italian salad dressing bottles on a wooden surface with other assorted dressing bottles in the background.
Romaine calm—we’ve got every leaf covered from Ranch to Italian! Photo credit: Bryan M. Vance/Stumptown Savings.

From Meg: Welcome to this year’s Salad Week taste test, where we searched for the best store-brand ranch and Italian dressings. This was done in conjunction with Bryan M. Vance at Stumptown Savings, and is a version of a piece he ran last week. Many thanks to Bryan, Elsy, and Heather for participating in this experiment that yielded—for me, at least—surprising results. Read on for all the ranch and Italian dressing taste test goodness.

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Where To Find the Vegan Salads in Portland

The Berkeley Salad at Thunderbird.
Berkeley Salad at Thunderbird. Photo credit: Thunderbird.

Portland is one of the top cities in the U.S. for vegan eating, with restaurants, cafes, and bakeries having won a number of awards for the high quality plant-based food made in this town. For Salad Week this year, we wanted to feature specifically where to get vegan salads in Portland, because they deserve a proverbial seat at the table.

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2026 Portland Salad Week Restaurant Specials Are Here

Peach Burrata Salad from Fresh Love.

Welcome to 2026 Portland Salad Week, one of our favorite annual traditions at Bridgetown Bites! It’s a chance to celebrate the incredible restaurants and small businesses that showcase the abundance of fresh, local produce our lovely state has to offer. And we’re excited to spotlight the 2026 Portland Salad Week restaurant specials for you to enjoy over the next five days.

At these restaurants you’ll find familiar favorites that have been with us from the beginning alongside some wonderful newcomers, each serving up a salad worth checking out. We hope you’ll discover a few new favorites and get out to experience them for yourself.

Many of these featured salads will be available during Salad Week: Monday, July 20 to Friday, July 24, while others will remain on menus longer, giving you more time to enjoy the season’s fresh flavors. A map of the participants can be found here.

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Cay Bar & Grill Will Open in the Old McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside in Portland

Cay Bar & Grill logo.

A new Vietnamese restaurant will open in what was the McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside restaurant space for many years. It’s called Cay Bar & Grill, and they’ll offer “authentic Vietnamese cuisine with a modern bar experience.” I reached out to owner Khoa Tran the other day and here is what I learned.

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