Four Things I Learned This Week (October 11)

Welcome to this edition of Four Things I Learned This Week!

New yums at Muji. Oyatsupan, Beaverton’s celebrated Japanese bakery, announced that they have a presence at Muji in downtown Portland: “Guess what?! We’ve starting selling a small amount of our pastries inside the café of #mujiportland! Come see how cute their store is, and stay tuned for more exciting things coming…”

Little Bird flies away. The popular bistro Little Bird will close; Sunday, October 27 is its final day of service. I’ve had some good food there—including some delicious dumplings during Dumpling Week. It’s a lovely spot and I will miss it.

Captain Obvious is writing for WalletHub. No surprise to us that Portland is a top “foodie-friendly” town. Here are some stats (1=Best; 91=Avg):

  • 6th – Restaurants per Capita
  • 1st – Affordability & Accessibility of Highly Rated Restaurants
  • 10th – Gourmet Specialty-Food Stores per Capita
  • 1st – Craft Breweries & Wineries per Capita
  • 1st – Coffee & Tea Shops per Capita
  • 25th – Number of Grocery Stores per Capita

Progress with Collective Oregon Eateries. The 82nd Ave. Business Association posted a photo on Instagram with this caption: “This development is picking up steam. Nice to see progress on the future food hall and cart pod!” The Farm House Restaurant is gone and the new structure is on its way to completion. Willamette Week reported back in 2017 that CORE food hall “will draw from cuisines across the spectrum. In addition to at least nine indoor mini-restaurants in the an 8,500-square-foot space—a bit similar to the Pine Street Market—the parking lot will house 15 or so outdoor food carts, a covered patio and parking for both bikes and cars.” The location is SE 82nd Ave and SE Lafayette.

Dumpling Week 2019 in Portland

Pork and Leek Dumplings

The pork and leek dumplings from Chin’s Kitchen.

The Oregonian’s Fifth Annual Dumpling Week is back here in early 2019—get your fill of dough-encased delights for $10 or less from 36 places in Portland from Friday, February 1 to Saturday, February 9. The dumpling passport is back, too: download it here.

You can find the full list of participating restaurants on the Dumpling Week website, (also in map form) but if you’re like me, it will be hard to hit them all. Real talk: even though I focus some of my time on food and eating, I also have a roster of clients who need my time, too. So, if I was to visit one place a day (and twice on the weekend) for the nine days, here’s where I’d go.

Boke Bowl. Szechuan style 5-spice duck dumplings, a fantastic flavor combination. Boke East, 1028 SE Water Ave; Boke West, 1200 NW Northrup. bokebowl.com. Daily 11am-9pm.

Continue reading “Dumpling Week 2019 in Portland”