Portland food news and views
Today, June 6 is National Donut Day. It is celebrated on the first Friday of June each year, and as Portland is a big donut town, you can expect to find donut specials throughout the city. Here are some to watch for.
Continue reading “Small Bites: National Donut Day, CC Slaughters, Sports Bra, and More”Help the the Family of Niños Birrieria. Very sad news—and for some reason, I thought the cops were avoiding high-speed chases these days—for the family of Niños Birrieria. That’s one of the excellent food carts at the Upright Beer Station pod. Here’s what happened:
“On Friday, February 21, 2025, as Silverio (father/owner of Niños Birrieria) and his partner Julia were leaving work at Niños Birrieria in their car, they were hit by a car being chased by Portland Police going at very high speed, down Prescott St. Their car was totaled from the impact.
“They were taken by ambulance from 71st and Prescott to the hospital. Silverio has been discharged from the hospital with injuries that will prevent him from being able to work for at least the next month. His partner, Julia, remains in the hospital with an unknown discharge date and probable long term effects.”
They are running a GoFundMe—I hope you can help.
Thai Time has opened on the old Bang Bang space. Another Thai food restaurant, complete with alliteration, has opened in the old Bang Bang space next to Wonderly. They closed at the end of last year. But as I said last year, “However, all is not lost. The same people who run Bang Bang are behind Wonderly (they sit there next door to each other), and they serve food and drink there, so the quality you’re used to will be found at Wonderly. It’s a bit of a silver lining.”
Still, there’s new Thai food to explore! Thai Time operated as a food cart for a while, after they closed their downtown restaurant during the COVID pandemic. And now they are on NE Fremont. I have not tried Thai Time (though probably will soon), but I am sure happy to see this storefront is being used. 4727 NE Fremont Street, Portland
99 Ranch Market construction has resumed. The Montavilla News has an update on the 99 Ranch Market that will open in the Plaza 205 mall. Permitting hung them up, but they are over that hump and moving closer to opening. From the article:
“The highly anticipated Asian grocery store’s progress slowed after the property owner made exterior modifications to the storefront and installed new demising walls to create smaller storefronts flanking 99 Ranch’s entryway. The Plaza 205 buildout created a larger floor plan for the grocer at the back of the space while making room for complementary businesses along the shopping center’s frontage.” Read more here. 10546 SE Washington Street, Portland
A Mardi Gras roundup. Late last year, we wrote about where to find your king cakes in Portland, including the NOLA-style. EverOut has put together a nice roundup for Mardi Gras, which is this coming Tuesday, March 4; in the U.S., Mardi Gras is mostly associated with NOLA (my friend Cheron there can attest to that—lots of parades and such going on right now). Anyway, check out the Mardi Gras offerings—including king cakes—at places like Avenue St. Charles (a food cart in Beaverton), DB Dessert Company, Doe Donuts (also offering paczki), Screen Door, and more. Also, the Mardi Gras Parade and Ball are happening again this year! Various locations
Stories you may have missed this week on Bridgetown Bites:
McDonald’s To Open in Old Green Zebra Space on N Lombard in Portland
Ticket To Dine 2025 Is This March in Portland
Joe Brown’s Lounge Is Moving to NE Alberta Street in Portland
Our Farewell to Fallow’s Rest Wild: They Have Closed in Portland
There are a bunch of celebratory festivals coming up: Faching (German Carnival) and Kalevala-Finnish Culture Day on Saturday, Fastelvan (Nordic) on Sunday, and the aforementioned Mardi Gras Parade on Tuesday.
Additionally, Beaverton Restaurant Week starts Saturday for two weeks, the Portland Seafood & Wine Festival is also this weekend, Portland Sandwich Week starts Monday, as well as Ticket To Dine for the month of March, linked above.
Plus! Plus! On Sunday is the Portland CSA Share Fair! So much excellence this weekend.
Update on Arrowood. After I was asked if I had heard any updates from Arrowood (my emails remain unanswered), a neighbor indicated that they had seen a listing online for the Arrowood space. I checked it out, and found a listing on Crexi entitled, “For Lease: Turnkey Restaurant & Bar for Lease.” So, looks like we have the answer: They are done. Truly unfortunate for the neighborhood. 5846 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
Continue reading “Small Bites: Update on Arrowood, Flock Food Hall, Cassoulet, and More”Some openings of note. Tonight, head to Bar Mame for their opening; The Heist will open tomorrow, June 10; and Arrosto re-opened this week with a new ordering system—the outdoor walk-up window is a thing of the past. As a bi fan of Arrosto (especially their salad), here’s some tips from them I found useful: order inside Providore at the self-service Arrosto kiosk; food is served from 4pm to 7pm; they’ll start out with a simple menu of favorites (though more options are coming); and the Arrosto chicken salad and sandwich can be had at the deli case if you want it for lunch. 3279 SE Hawthorne Blvd (Bar Mame), 4727 SE Woodstock Blvd (The Heist), and 2340 NE Sandy Blvd (Arrosto), Portland
Yelp’s top donuts in Portland. Four donut shops in the Portland area made it on to the Yelp Top 100 list of donut shops around the U.S.:
2023 James Beard Awards winners. It was great to see Kann (which I recently ate at—the hype is real) and Berlu do well at the 2023 James Beard Awards. Kann won Best New Restaurant, and Vince Nguyen was named Best Chef: Northwest & Pacific (AK, HI, OR, WA). Congrats to both! 548 SE Ash Street (Kann) and 605 SE Belmont Street (Berlu), Portland
Happy one year anniversary, Fresh Love! Yesterday, Fresh Love celebrated one year in business. This little Roseway spot has become a dependable, lovely place to get delicious food (salad, sandwiches, bowls, smoothies, fresh juices, a few baked goods); pick up some produce and locally made artisan products (edible and not); and see local art. I was in there yesterday and got their seasonal chopped salad, which gets a thumbs up from me. They also stock my favorite Honey Mama’s bar, Tangerine Tahini. I wish them many more years in business! 7434 NE Fremont Street, Portland
Mocktails at Zinc. This week I had dinner at Zinc Bistro & Bar in Multnomah Village and was happy to see that they have three zero-proof cocktails on the menu. I chose the one that was particularly summery sounding, with flavors of cucumber, basil, and mint. Sparkly and very refreshing. 7800 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland
Get your birthday ice cream at Nico’s. Similar to the way Pip’s Original does it, you can stop by Nico’s and get a free ice cream on your birthday or seven days after. This is particularly great for us summer birthday kids! 5713 NE Fremont Street, Portland
Best butcher shops in Portland. PoMo has a great roundup of quality butcher shops around town where you can get your favorite meats for your Memorial Day cookout, or really any time of the year. I’m particularly glad to see Gartner’s in Cully on there, but all the selections are great. Definitely check it out. Various locations
Somebody Feed Phil in Portland. Thanks to The O, I learned that one of the episodes in Season 5 of Somebody Feed Phil takes place in Portland! Actually, now that I think about it, I may have heard Bill Oakley talk about it a while back. Anyway, The Oregonian article has good details—places Phil visited include Fried Egg I’m In Love, Matt’s BBQ, DesiPDX (these three he visited with Michael Russell, The Oregonian’s restaurant critic), Kachka, Han Oak, Ruthie’s food cart, Tov Coffee, and Doe Donuts. Bill Oakley also took Phil to Portland Caphe. It looks like a great episode.
