Tag: Denizens Cafe

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Four Things I Learned This Week (July 19)

Apologies for the lack of posting this week—I had emergency eye stuff to attend to and it really threw me for a loop. Take care of your eyes, friends; your vision health is not something to neglect.

Chef Naomi Pomeroy has died. On this past Monday I was scrolling Instagram and saw this post from Portland Monthly. I was stunned—surely it was not true. But it was, it is, and it is a huge loss for her friends and family, loved ones, fans, and Portland’s restaurant and food world. Countless tributes have been posted, and much sadness and shock has been expressed.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office reports that she “drowned shortly before 8:30pm on July 13 near river mile 132 in Corvallis about 100 yards upstream from the Mary’s River.” KATU reports that she was “pulled under the water and held by the paddle board leash. She was not wearing a life jacket and, unable to resurface, drowned.” Her body has been recovered.

I hope anyone who is reading this takes this awful tragedy to heart and chooses to wear a life jacket next time they’re floating on the river.

Read more about Naomi Pomeroy’s remarkable work, career, and influence in the world of food in this NY Times article (unlocked). I never met her, so I can’t speak personally about her, but I know she essentially changed the world—and many lives—with her work.

Indian food is coming to Argay. A Bridgetown Bites tipster alerted me to a new Indian restaurant opening up in that shopping center on NE Sandy Blvd and 139th Avenue (same center where the P-Town Pizza is opening). It’s called Best of India, and from what I can tell from when I peeked in the other day (I did not ask questions, as they were moving heavy things around), they are currently revamping the interior. Research as of today has not yielded much; I’ll look into it more next week. 13882 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Look at this cool map of Roseway. Illustrator Sunny Eckerle put together this sweet map of the Roseway neighborhood (she lives nearby), featuring some of the great eats you can find along NE Sandy Blvd and 82nd Ave, including Junior’s Roasted Coffee/Upright Beer Station, Denizens Cafe, the Sandy Jug, Fresh Love (who has a new vegetarian Muffuletta sandwich on the menu), Reeva and Pizzeria Otto, and the Mom & Pop Wine Shop. She also included Madison South’s The People’s Courts and Sumner’s My-O-My (she and I have a lighthearted agreement for joint custody of My-O-My and Roseway’s Cameo Cafe). Various

Belle Époque Pies opens in August. Pizza pop-up Belle Époque Pies will open their doors on Saturday, August 3 at 5pm at the 23rd and Alberta Food Cart Pod. “Join us for an afternoon of pizza and music with a wonderful acoustic performance by @caicedo_decia and a DJ set by mi hermano @_muertitos_.” They offer Sicilian/Detroit-style pies. 2231 NE Alberta Street, Portland

Stories you may have missed this week on Bridgetown Bites:

A Few Updates: Bobacat Teahouse, Pizza, and Greek Food

I thought I’d also tell you what festivals are coming up soon, listed on our Portland Area Cultural + Food Festivals page:

Fuji to Hood, Saturday, July 20, 2024 (Portland)
Portland Highland Games, Saturday, July 20, 2024 (Portland)
Four Days of Aloha Hawaiian Festival: Welcome Pāʻina, Thursday July 25, 2024 (Vancouver)

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Four Things I Learned This Week (March 29)

I may have been captured by doing my taxes this week (the reason behind my absence), but I still kept an ear to the ground on some of the goings-on in Portland. Let’s go!

Pacific Market burned. On Tuesday morning I got an email from Portland Fire & Rescue about the 3 alarm fire that consumed the building that held Pacific Market, a popular Asian market in the Madison South neighborhood of Northeast Portland. On Thursday the firefighters returned to the scene to put out any hotspots; 20-foot flames were visible during the fire. Thao Tu, president of the Vietnamese Community of Oregon, laments its destruction (the market had been around for over three decades), but said, “We hope that the owner will consider to rebuild the store so people in the community will come back.”

And remember The Snug? They are located next door to what was Pacific Market. They posted a really nice message on their Instagram (with some very sad photos) after the fire. “We are incredibly saddened by the loss of our next-door neighbors at Pacific Market. As we have built our business this last year, we have relied on them to feed us, and Pacific Market has always been a hub of the South Madison neighborhood. We will miss them terribly, and hope that all their employees, family members and neighbors in the area are recovering.” 6750 NE Broadway, Portland

Quiche Me If You Can opens this weekend. Check them out starting Saturday, March 30, in Montavilla (Sebastiano’s old location): “We’ve been working hard to get it ready and we plan to open the doors for the very first time THIS SATURDAY! We still don’t have tables or chairs but we will have quiche for you to take home, just in time for Easter.” 411 SE 81st Avenue, Portland

Espresso makes a return to Denizens Cafe. When Denizens (formerly Rocky Butte Espresso Bar, but reimagined with more food) first opened last June, they did not offer espresso drinks. I seem to remember them being concerned about space and where exactly to put and operate their machine (not that they disliked serving espresso). I’m happy to see that they found a way to incorporate their espresso machine into the cafe, and make the drinks so beloved by their community again. In their words, “Now, in addition to our all-day brunch menu, you can order a latte, mocha, croissant, sweet roll, and more! Don’t miss out!” 6912 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

McCormick & Schmick’s (Harborside and Pilsner Room) closes after this weekend. Chatter on Facebook sprouted up this week about the closing of the last Portland location of this seafood chain, and Willamette Week spread the story. Landry’s Inc. bought the chain in 2012; they still own Jake’s Famous Crawfish, which I hope they won’t close. The location of McCormick & Schmick’s is for sale—the listing was posted earlier in March. Another farewell to an “old Portland” business. 309 S Montgomery Street, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (February 9)

New mural at Denizens Cafe. Artist Alex Chiu painted a mural on the eastern wall at Denizens Cafe and it looks great! You may remember him from our article on Mill Park Stories, the Instagram he started to highlight community in that little corner of SE PDX. He has moved on to another Instagram account, Art by Alex Chiu, where he featured his work at Denizens.

His concept here, “was to highlight some landmarks of the neighborhood’s past and also create a warm and welcoming atmosphere inside of the space,” He continues, “I’ve included some photo reference that I used to create some of the images in the mural including old pictures from George’s Grocery Store and the Roseway Theater. I painted a house inspired by the cute homes in the neighborhood. I painted food from Denizens Cafe’s menu and a mug of coffee from Rocky Butte Roasters, run by the same owners. Mt. Hood is in there as well!” Check it out, for sure, and pick up something tasty while you’re at it. 6912 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Chocotaco returns today. Head to Salt & Straw today, Friday 2/9 at 1pm, for the return of the chocotaco. And if you miss that, don’t miss this month’s special flavors, five of them in “The Chocolatiers Series.” I stopped by earlier this week and had a chance to try three of them: Fran’s Chocolate Almond Gold Bar, Cloudforest’s Cocoa Hazelnut Magic Sauce, and Compartés Cake Batter Chocolate Fudge. They were all very good, but I think the Almond Gold Bar was my favorite, thanks to the caramely bits. But I’d eat them all again. Various locations

Don’t miss Citrus Fest this weekend. Rubinette Produce and the rest of the folks at Providore are celebrating 8 years together in a market-wide party and citrus festival. The centerpiece of the event will be the Celebration Trifle: Panettone and layers of whipped cream and Seville + blood orange, served at noon. You’ll also be able to sample specialty citrus varieties, fresh squeezed juice, a lemon and olive oil tart from Pastaworks, kumquat tea cake from Little T Bakery, and other citrus-centric items throughout the market. 2340 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

Lan Su Chinese Garden’s tea house has reopened. They reopened the teahouse on February 7—this is good news, as the teahouse at Lan Su is one of the highlights of spending time there (access comes with garden admission). Lunar New Year starts tomorrow, and the Chinese Garden is the place to be. At the teahouse you can choose from over 20 Chinese and Taiwanese-style teas; along with that, they are offering a tea service (three kinds); traditional dishes, snacks, and pastries; and beer and wine. Note that during Dragon + Lantern Viewing evenings, they “will offer an abbreviated menu of teas and tea service to accommodate as many visitors as possible during this busy time.” Also, they are going to give the teahouse a new name—stay tuned for that. 239 NW Everett Street, Portland

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Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, April 2023

Data Analytics Chart

As I mentioned last week, I was off the blog for an extended time, but I still thought it would be interesting to see what was popular in April. Understandably, numbers were down but still there were about 9,500 page views and 6,500 unique visitors. Could be worse!

Some updates: Denizens Cafe is getting the old OG Ben & Esther’s space ready, and you can invest in them. Alux is up and running. Sandy O’s has applied for a liquor license. Locals have been posting about their love for the food and drink at Three Fifty Cafe and I enjoyed trying their food the other day. And The Heist is getting close to opening.

Thanks, as always for reading.

5. Denizens Cafe to Open on NE Sandy Blvd

denizens-cafe-artist-rendering-portland-oregon

A few days ago, James Helms posted on social media the news that the Rocky Butte Espresso Bar, which closed in late 2022, has a new location … as well as a new concept and new name. Along with coffee there are plans for food, and a projected opening is unknown at this time. The new name is Denizens Cafe.

Continue reading “Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, April 2023”