Pretty Ugly Opens in Portland: What We Know

Cocktail at Pretty Ugly.
Cocktail at Pretty Ugly. Photo credit: Pretty Ugly.

A new bar from the folks behind LULU and Silk Road (Vijay Kumar, Gilbert Leon) has been in development since early 2025. It’s called Pretty Ugly, and tonight is their official soft opening date, though they have had some informal events and soft opening evenings going on since the start of the year. Here is what we know so far.

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Top Posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2025

Yet another image of data.

Welcome to our end-of-the-year roundup of top posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2025—we have chosen the ten most-visited for the year. These posts were about restaurant openings, both happening at the time or at a future date; and roundups focusing on dumplings, anticipated restaurants, Thanksgiving, and SNAP meals (no questions asked). Fun fact: That prior year (2024) our Thanksgiving roundup also placed in the top 10.

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Summary: Portland Restaurant Openings and Closings, 2025

The dining room at ZabPinto Thai PDX. Portland Restaurant Openings and Closings, 2025
The dining room at Zabpinto Thai PDX.

Welcome to the summary of our coverage of Portland restaurant openings and closings, 2025. Our Portland Restaurant Openings and Closings List is the source (here is the 2025 archive), which we update throughout the year. It’s fun and interesting to look back and get that broader view of just exactly what restaurants did open and close. Here are our thoughts and observations.

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Small Bites: Estes Is Moving, Dame, Hey Luigi, and More

Estes is moving and bringing their spaghetti and meatballs with them.
Spaghetti and meatball at Estes. Photo credit: Estes.

Estes is moving to Concordia. The’ve been in residency at Broder Nord since January 2025, and in January 2026 they’ll be moving into their own brick-and-mortar space. Their final day of service at Broder was Wednesday, December 31 and they hope to open at the new location in the second week of January.

That new location is located on NE 30th Avenue just north of Killingsworth, “in the old Nonna space.” But this location has had a more recent tenant, which leads us to …

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