Four Things I Learned This Week (September 20)

It’s here! Here are four things I learned this week in Portland food.

Old news, with an update. It was reported a little while back that The Sudra, a vegan Indian restaurant—that makes some of the most flavorful food in town— is going to open up in the Revere building on N Mississippi. The new detail is that they plan to be open there around November.

Changes at Nonna. Italian comfort food resto Nonna will close its doors on September 28 as a restaurant. Then the transition:  “After more than five years of happily dishing up creative Italian comfort food and cocktails in the Concordia neighborhood, Nonna Tavern will stop serving nightly dinner and re-boot as a multi-use catering kitchen, parties, educational workshop and collab pop-up event space.” To get your last plates of their delicious food, head over on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights, 5pm till close. I look forward to seeing what the changes bring to the neighborhood.

Cider Riot is for sale. Sounds like a sad but sound financial decision. “Goldman-Armstrong said a costly expansion in 2016 coupled with cider sales below what he and his investors had projected left them with little choice other than to put their facility, equipment and brand on the market.

Bankrupt but not closing. Kenny & Zuke’s deli will file for bankruptcy—Chapter 11. They will reorganize and pay off their mountainous debt… but they are not closing. According to the owner, they are “absolutely [in] no danger of closing, or curtailing operations in any way.” The yums will keep coming.

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.

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