Lunar New Year 2025 in Portland starts on Wednesday January 29, when we will enter the Year of the Snake—more specifically, the Wood Snake. Here, you can read more about the qualities of this upcoming year with more insight than I could possibly give you. And, as a Monkey myself, it’s nice to read that “those born in the Years of the Rat, Monkey, Rooster, Horse and Dragon should experience good luck.”
Here are some ways to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Portland and surrounding areas.
A new coffeehouse called Brave Neighbor is opening up in the cafe space next to Spin Laundry Lounge on North Fremont Street. For a short time, this location was home to Harder Day, but starting in mid-January it will be home to this new coffeehouse, offering up espresso drinks, matcha, and other beverages, as well as baked goods, sandwiches, community, and more.
Welcome to our end-of-the-year roundup of top posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024. Aside from our Thanksgiving article, the top posts were about openings and closings—restaurant, cafe, bar, and food cart news. And topping the list this year is a double-header: East Portland’s Wooden Chicken Pub! It if hadn’t been for this duo, the closing of 3 Doors Down would have taken spot number 10.
From an analytics POV, traffic had a healthy increase from 2023 to 2024. With 205,100 unique visitors up from 106,000 last year, that’s an increase of 93.3%. Page views were 142,000 last year and 265,000 this year, which is an 86.6% increase. I’m proud of the hard work that has gone into nurturing this site, and serving as a quality resource for those interested in Portland food news—all as an independent shop.
And while Bridgetown Bites is run by one person, our tipsters and readers who pass on news are invaluable to my work here, so thank you very much, friends! Additional thanks to all who read the site, comment, share articles, and send feedback. I look forward to continuing to bring you Portland food news and views in 2025.
So without further ado, here are the top 10 posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024.
Saagshuka, one of the dishes we will miss from Masala Lab. Photo credit: Masala Lab.
This morning a friend let me know that Masala Lab, a brick-and-mortar restaurant from Deepak Saxena, will close later this month. They announced the news on their social channels in the early hours of the morning. Additionally, the DesiPDX cart will close and go on a short break later this month, reopening at the end of January.
Welcome to the final monthly top 5 posts roundup of 2024. Popular posts were all about restaurant openings and closings, with the SE Division Dairy Queen garnering the most interest, by far. Tréla was also something people wanted to read about; it had been in process for years! Following it from an idea presented to the world to its opening was gratifying.
December was a busy month, and undoubtably the best month to date on Bridgetown Bites from a traffic standpoint: Over 28,300 unique visitors generated close to 39,000 page views. Compare that to November’s numbers of 22,600 and 30,000, respectively—25% and 30% increases. It was even more drastic an increase to compare the January to December numbers—140% and 144% increases in uniques and PV.
As always, thanks to you for reading, sharing, and commenting—and for your tips!
