Photo credit: Alan Weiner for Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels
It’s that time again: Hanukkah 2025, the Festival of Lights! Hanukkah celebrates the miracle that a small amount of oil was able to last for eight days. Fun fact: Hanukkah is not a biblical celebration.
Here is where you can celebrate, eat festive foods, and enjoy this winter holiday focused on bringing light into the world.
Note: We are in the process of updating this SNAP meals list with the most updated offers. some restaurants have decided to pause the program since SNAP was started up again, but you never know if it’s gonna stick…
A number of restaurants, cafes, and food carts in the Portland area are providing what we are calling “SNAP Meals”: They’re stepping up and helping feed folks who will lose their SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, AKA food stamps) benefits starting in November. It is heartening to see this community effort and the generosity in our local food scene. We’ve put together a list of places—50 businesses making up 84 locations, at the writing of this roundup—where people can access food to eat while SNAP benefits are unfunded starting next month.
Halloween 2025 in Portland is just three and a half weeks away and our fair city is already in the swing of things as far as spooky season food and drink. Here’s our roundup for the year—we will update it throughout the month of October with new things that pop up.
Rosh Hashanah is almost upon us! As I write this, we only recently hit Enkutatash—Ethiopian New Year—-and now we are on to the Jewish New Year. It is also the start of a cascade of Jewish holidays: Yom Kippur ten days later, then Sukkot a few days after that. Next comes Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. All in less than a month!
I recently became aware of Navigator Coffee Co., a new business project from Justin King (it was on his Instagram where I learned about it). You may know him from, among other things, Ben & Esther’s Vegan Delicatessen. Navigator will be situated right on the southeastern edge of Hayden Island adjacent to the Jantzen Bay Marina, where Menjiro is currently operating.
I reached out to Justin with a few questions and here is what he told me.