Bellepine’s Seasonal Apple Pie with basil and whipped cream, for the inaugural Apple Pie Week. Dolly liked apple pie, too. Photo credit: Bellpine.
Today is Dolly Day. On Wednesday, September 23, City Council President Jamie Dunphy read the proclamation for Dolly Parton Day in Portland, which takes place today, September 25 (9/25, nine-to-five). You can watch that here. And businesses are celebrating the day with specials, which you can find here. Happy Dolly Day, everyone! Multiple locations
The Bandit from Burger Syndicate: Double Cajun-seared patties, bacon, cheese, fried onions, slaw, pickles, BBQ and garlic sauce. Photo credit: Burger Syndicate.
Burger Syndicate has opened. This is a new spot downtown from the Nacheaux folks. They opened on Thursday, April 9. They wrote on social media, “Burger Syndicate is everything we’ve learned, every sacrifice, every lesson poured into one space. Creative smashburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, loaded fries, weekly specials, house-made lemonades, merch, and the same fun and flavor Nacheaux is known for.”
They have some late night hours: midnight on Sunday (after opening at 6pm that day); 1am Thursday to Saturday; and 1:30am on Monday nights. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. 221 SW Ankeny Street, Portland
Welcome to our review of the top posts for March 2026. Openings, reopenings, sourdough, and zeppole were the focus of readers last month, and it always warms my heart to see the interest in St. Joseph’s Day pastries each year in Portland.
Some of the sourdough breads I recently saw from Little T Baker at the recent plant sale at the Side Yard Farm.
April 1 is usually reserved for April Fools’ Day, but I have a better idea: Celebrate National Sourdough Bread Day on April 1 instead. Here in Portland you can immerse yourself in all things sourdough at the second annual Portland Sourdough Showcase, taking place at Steelport Knife Co. that afternoon. And it’s free to attend!
Painful and tragic: The flagship Elephants Deli burns. There’s plenty of news outlets reporting on this, but I’ll share the news releases (first, second) produced by Portland Fire & Rescue. Essentially:
“At 1am on the morning of March 10, 2026, Portland Fire & Rescue responded to a commercial fire at the Elephant’s Deli at 115 NW 22nd Avenue in NW Portland. This was a fire that was human caused on the exterior of the structure that extended to the interior of the building and into the elevated roof structure resulting in significant fire damage.”