Category: Portland

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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.

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Flooding at Pho Oregon

Posted in multiple social media outlets over the past couple of days, a video of some epic flooding of Pho Oregon is pretty intense. There’s what looks like a couple feet of water pouring out from the front doors onto the sidewalk from the ground floor. Community observation indicated it might be flooding from fire sprinkler pipes; and because we’ve had all this frigid weather, frozen pipes could be part of the story (fun fact: freezing rain is coming down as I write this).

Thankfully, the dining area is higher up inside, so it may not be affected as badly, but overall it looks like a mess. Unfortunately, all that water running out will no doubt doubly ice up the sidewalk, so if you walk by, be careful. I wish the Pho Oregon folks good fortune in cleaning things up, and look forward to eating their delicious food when things get back to normal.

You can watch the short video here. Thanks to a Bridgetown Bites tipster for telling me about the Reddit post. 2518 NE 82nd Avenue, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (January 12)

GrindWitTryz opening in old Nico’s Cantina space. Last year I wrote about Nico’s Cantina closing and that space on NE Cully Blvd being empty … again. Well, good news—GrindWitTryz is taking over the space. This restaurant is classified in various places online as a Hawaiian restaurant, but they offer dishes associated with other cultures as well, like chicken katsu (Japanese), pork bulgogi (Korean), and lechon kawali (Filipino), among others.

On January 2 they announced their closing to many sad fans … but less than a week later, they shared the news about their relocating: “If y’all thought we were closing, you thought wrong! Absolutely no one can stop us from spreading aloha in PDX! We are taking over Nico’s Catina! This space is giving us so much opportunity to grow and expand! Our grand opening will be in February.” Welcome to Cully, guys! 4318 NE Cully Blvd, Portland

New menu at Three Fifty Cafe. As they say, “New year, new menu.” The lovely little Vietnamese cafe has changed things up and you can see the new menu here. Stop in for one of the best banh mi sandwiches in town, have some fish sauce wings, and get yourself one of their excellent egg coffees to go with it all. 6205 NE Prescott Street, Portland

Get your Valentine’s treats at Bee’s. Although the cafe is closing, you can still order some of Bee’s fabulous treats for the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday. Head to the website to order—you can order things “Bento Box” style (one of each item offered in a premade box) or build your own box with just the items you want. Orders will be open until Monday, February 6 and you can choose to pick up on Tuesday or Wednesday, February 13 or 14. 7137 NE Fremont Street, Portland

Angel’s Donuts & Ice Cream seems to have closed. A neighbor online asked, “Anyone know what happened to Angels Donuts on Alberta? I walked by Friday and it was dark during business hours, then I drove by today and still dark.” Another neighbor confirmed it. I called, no answer. Yelp also says they have closed. Bummer. If anyone has more insight, drop a comment or an email. 2805 NE Alberta Street, Portland

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The Pod on Halsey Is Coming to the Gateway Neighborhood

Image credit: The Pod on Halsey

I heard about this food cart pod about six months ago but hadn’t tracked down much information readers would find interesting. Now I’m happy to say that I have a number of details to share with you on it. First, the pod will be located on the northeast corner of NE Halsey and 106th Avenue, extending north to NE Weidler.

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Top Posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2023

Data Analytics Chart

We are comfortably into January 2024 and it’s time to take a look back at 2023’s most-read posts on Bridgetown Bites. They mostly involved openings and closings of restaurants and bars, but there was one article on an Asian market opening in SE Portland that made the list.

I’m happy to say that from an analytics POV, traffic almost doubled between 2022 and 2023 here on the blog. Regarding 2022 I said, “Over 55,000 visits were recorded, and almost 35,000 of those visits were new to the site.” In 2023 we had 106,000 unique visits, with 86,000 new to the site; these visitors generated almost 142,000 page views, too. Not too bad for this little independent blog.

I also read somewhere online that this blog skews toward NE Portland. That is a true statement. I also read in the same source that some readers would love to see more coverage of the west side of Portland. This is good feedback. will see what I can do about that, and diversifying geographically in general.

Thanks to all who have read, commented, sent tips (keep ’em coming!), and shared these articles/posts on social media and with friends. Here’s to another great year of delving into the Portland food world!

10. Yuginong Offers Gluten-Free Korean Fare in St. Johns

dining-room-yuginong-korean-portland-oregon

When I was at dinner the other night, my friends who live in St. Johns said “a Korean restaurant has finally opened in our neighborhood.” Of course, my interest was piqued so I asked more questions. The restaurant is Yuginong (or Yu Gi Nong), located in the space that was previously home to Sol Bowl and a Starbucks. They opened this past weekend.

Update: I hear only good things about Yuginong, with modifiers like “fresh,” “tasty,” and “very good.” I’m happy to know they are still going strong.

Continue reading “Top Posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2023”