Four Things I Learned This Week (March 18)

Las Osita is moving to Montavilla. Mill Park‘s loss is Montavilla’s gain. La Osita—home to delicious breakfast tacos, coffee, and more—posted on their Instagram yesterday about their impending move to the Taylor Court Grocery space at 1135 SE 80th Avenue. “The building is a historic neighborhood market that shut down as life happened in the midst of the pandemic. It has fallen into a bit of disrepair but we are excited and thankful to have a chance to bring it back to life for the SE Portland and Montavilla community.” Why did they end up in Montavilla? “For the last year we had been looking up and down 122nd for a potential spot but nothing fit the bill.” Official opening date is to come. 1135 SE 80th Avenue, Portland

Kate’s Ice Cream opens today in North Portland. The Oregonian reports on today’s opening of vegan ice cream maker Kate’s Ice Cream in the old Ruby Jewel space on N Mississippi Avenue. Stop by starting at noon today for her creamy coconut-milk-based ice creams, including Mississippi Mayhem, “a purple cake-flavored ice cream with everything from brownies to sprinkles to cookie dough thrown in, depending on the day.” 3713 N. Mississippi Avenue, Portland

Lasagna listicle. The Willamette Week put together a list of six take-and-bake lasagnas you can get in Portland. It was a lot of fun to see what Jason and Andi chose, and I can personally give a major thumbs up to the Lasagna Project lasagnas. I started ordering them that first year of the pandemic and honestly, they have spoiled me for most others, because they are so freaking delicious. Next on my list is to try the lasagna from East Glisan Pizza Lounge. I’ll add that one glaring omission on the WW listicle is Stefania’s Kitchen, which makes a handful of excellent take-and-bake lasagnas.

Inaugural St. Joseph’s Market is Sunday. Head to Wellspent Market this Sunday from 12-4pm for their first annual St. Joseph’s Market. St. Joseph’s Day is a big day in Sicily, so expect to see some traditional Sicilian treats at this event, as well as things for the gardener, like garden-ready plants and heirloom Italian seeds. The aforementioned Sicilian treats include zeppole from Sebastiano’s and sfincione, a type of Sicilian pizza with origins in the 17th century, from Pizza Thief. Culinary Breeding network is also bringing a whole bunch of wonderful things: “authentic Italian marzipan molds in shapes inspired by the gardens of Italy, plant-themed jewelry, artwork, tea towels, linens, ‘zines, and more, including plants from Log House Nursery and seeds from Uprising Seeds.” It should be an excellent time. 935 NE Couch Street, Portland

Small Bites – Rangoon Bistro, Sebastiano’s Cannoli, Closings, Openings, and Breakfast

The highly-praised cannoli at Sebastiano’s. Photo credit: Sebastiano’s

I came across so many interesting tidbits this week, so here’s a Small Bites in place of Four Things.

Banh Mi Boys update. Back in September (in another Small Bites post) I wrote about the arrival of Metairie-based Banh Mi Boys in the old Doe Donuts space on SE 82nd Ave. Turns out that space has not worked out for them so they are on the hunt for another location. Here’s hoping they stay on the east side (but I’m biased that way). New location TBD

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Hyperlocal Goodness: Mill Park Stories

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Varieties of tea drinks at Just Tea, a popular business in the Mill Park neighborhood. Photo credit: Just Tea.

I have a soft spot in my heart for hyperlocal reporting—it’s where I started in digital publishing, and before that I participated in BBS communities that focused on very narrow topics and/or locations. I still look for new hyperlocal way stations online, so imagine how happy I was to come across Mill Park Stories on Instagram.

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Four Things I Learned This Week (March 6)

Client needs trumped my little blog for a few weeks and paying attention to food news took a back seat. Not this week! Here are four things I learned this week.

It’s Portland Dining Month. An annual month-long event in March in Portland lots of outlets have written about it (try here, here, here, and here for lots of info). Organized by Travel Portland, you can check out over 100 restaurants all over Portland and enjoy prix fixe three-course meals for just $33.

Check out this Taco Crawl map. Reddit user u/savethisplant posted a map to a taco crawl they did in Portland with friends and it’s a decent selection of spots. Personally, I’d add Taco Pedaler, La Osita, and El Gallo to the list; no doubt there are others worth an inclusion.

East Portland (and Gresham) eats. My pal Krista Garcia put together a helpful map of eats east of 205 for Eater Portland. As someone who lives east of 82nd, I love having resources on this side of town and further east. The aforementioned La Osita made the list, thanks in part to their fab breakfast tacos. Check it out.

More Pizza Coming Soon to FoPo. Looks like the Foster-Powell area is getting more pizza—Humdinger Pizza at 9201 SE Foster Road. They submitted a liquor license recently (a Brewery Public House/Full-On Premises license) and my interest is definitely piqued. Looks like developer Chad Rennaker is involved, who has been active in that part of Portland. I look forward to see how it compares to the other pizzerias along and near Foster that have opened relatively recently (Char, Atlas, Otto).