Tag: Hollywood District

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Four Things I Learned This Week (January 13)

Preorders from Shop Halo Halo for Lunar New Year are open. Lunar New Year is right around the corner (January 22) and among all the holiday offerings that are showing up, consider the Filipino treats from Shop Halo Halo for your celebration. Mooncakes and variety boxes are available. Orders will be accepted by 5pm, Sunday, January 15 (or when items are sold out).

The variety box includes two of each: taro buns, ube mochi (GF), back sesame mooncakes or two ube mooncakes (vegan), matcha sugar cookies (vegan), lavender calamansi shortbread (vegan). They’ll be setting up a pick-up station at their shop where you can pick-up your pre-orders on your choice of Saturday, January 21 between 10am and 2pm or Sunday, January 22 between 10am and 2pm. Preorder here. 4981 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland

Cooking With Whey book launch party. Claudia Lucero of Portland’s Urban Cheesecraft is celebrating the launch of her newest book, “Cooking With Whey.” It will take place on Thursday, January 19, from 6pm-8pm at Vivienne Culinary Bookstore in the Hollywood District. Your $20 ticket includes the panel discussion and a signed book. Claudia will also make the book’s whey cornbread for you. Get your tickets here. 4128 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

A la carte dining returns to Coquine. After weeks of abiding by a prix fixe menu at Coquine, they are now “offering a more casual option for full service dining titled, ‘A la Carte Coquine’.” It started up this past Wednesday and the hours will be 5pm to 8:30pm
Wednesdays through Saturdays. Here’s what you can expect:

“Featuring a menu of new and classic Coquine dishes, offered with full service dining in the restaurant. Cocktails, beer, zero-proof, options will all be available along with wine by the glass and by the bottle from our list of 450+ selections.”

Reservations are recommended, but if you’re lucky you could get a walk-in space (but really, reservation is best). You can reserve a table via Tock. 6839 SE Belmont Street, Portland

Challenges at Cloudforest. Over on their Instagram it sounds like they are meeting unexpected challenges in 2023: “We ran into a roadblock forcing us to pause our popular hot chocolate, marshmallow, and espresso service. The retail shop will continue to be open Friday-Sunday from 12-5pm offering chocolate bars, pantry items, confections, self-serve Ecuadorian brewed coffee, self-serve silky vegan Ecuadorian drinking chocolate, Ecuadorian vanilla, and packaged cookies. Our apologies for the inconvenience.”

Please consider stopping by and picking something up—their Magic Spread is one of my favorite things I put in my mouth, and their packaged bars are some of the best in Portland. Supporting them with sales helps support them. Their neighbors Mattino’s will also be open and offering tasty sustenance. I wish Cloudforest all the best as they navigate these current choppy seas. 935 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland

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Four Things I Learned This Week (October 28)

Two new food books on my radar. I’ve become aware of two new Portland food-oriented books—one Portland-centric and one by a Portlander that I’ve been following for a while (since my traditional food scene days). The first is Lost Restaurants of Portland, Oregon by Theresa Griffin Kennedy. The beginning of the blurb goes like this: “Delve into the Rose City’s colorful and sometimes tumultuous past through the memories, meals and recipes that put these bygone restaurants on the map.” Author Kennedy is a native Portlander.

The other book is called Cooking with Whey, by Urban Cheesecraft’s Claudia Lucero, who lives in Portland. The book’s subtitle is, “A Cheesemaker’s Guide to Using Whey in Probiotic Drinks, Savory Dishes, Sweet Treats, and More.” I once knew a guy in Queens—who eventually founded a kombucha company—who would buy gallons and gallons of whey from the Amish for his health needs. A friend once made me a whey soda that was out of this world tasty. Whey is amazing stuff. It deserves a book like this.

Hollyween Market is this Saturday. Head to the Hollywood Farmers Market this Saturday for their Halloween parade. There will be costumes. There will be dogs (most of which will also be in costume). And those (humans) in costume can enter a lottery to win fun market prizes post-parade. Plus, as always, there will be excellent vendors and chances to pick up some great food and products. 4420 NE Hancock Street, Portland

Adios, Fills. Fills, as reported, is closing down its Lake Oswego shop. Their final day of business will be Sunday October 30. They were going to close ion November 23 but persistent staffing issues sped things up. Prior to Sunday, you can visit them 8am to 8pm (Breakfast sando: 8am to 11:30am; Berliner Burger: 11:30am to 8pm). 3955 Mercantile Drive, Lake Oswego

Bakeshop and the Thanksgiving pies that won’t happen. Bakeshop announced in an email newsletter that they will not be making Thanksgiving pies and cheesecakes this year, which they understand will be disappointing to some. Here is their message:

“For the first time in twelve years, we will not be making Thanksgiving pies and cheesecakes. This has been a very difficult decision, especially knowing that many of you count on us for your dessert. But as we began this week short 6 of our 12 staff, I decided to admit defeat for my and my staff’s sanity, and to give you ample time to make alternate arrangements. Obviously this was a very difficult decision to make, as holiday pies have represented one of our largest, if not the largest, revenue streams of the year for Bakeshop — a stream that we depend on to buffer us through slow periods of the year.” 5351 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland

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Pono Brew Labs Opens Friday, August 26

Photo credit: Hollywood Boosters

Back in March I speculated, thanks to a Bridgetown Bites tipster, that Pono Brewing was opening up in the old Spud Monkeys space (formerly Columbia River Brewing). Since then there have been some articles written to confirm that, which is great news—that empty storefront had such a sad feel to it during the pandemic. Here’s even better news: Pono Brew Labs is opening their doors to the public tomorrow (August 26)!

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Water Avenue Coffee Is Opening a New Cafe in the Hollywood District

Photo credit: Water Avenue Coffee

When I was driving home from my first post-COVID massage this afternoon, I glanced over at the old Joule space on NE Sandy and 46th Ave and saw a sign installed indicating Water Avenue Coffee is opening a new cafe there. I’m really glad to see that something is being done with that space; it has been vacant for too long.

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