Portland food news and views
The Spicy Sicilian pizza at Vincenzo’s Pizza. Photo credit: Vincenzo’s Pizza.
After a few months of preparation, Vincenzo’s Pizza is now open in the Rose City Park neighborhood. Their opening was last week, and already they have gained plenty of fans in the area already. They have a pretty nice menu featuring both Sicilian pies and round NY-style pizza pies, appetizers, salads, and pastas.
Continue reading “Vincenzo’s Pizza Is Open”
One of my favorite combinations at Red Sauce: pepperoni and ricotta (thank you Arturo’s in NYC for the inspiration)
This week, Red Sauce Pizza celebrates seven years in business. After making it through two years of heightened pandemic times, this is a real achievement. They are celebrating this week with pizza and ice cream deals, plus news on the opening of their dining room.
Continue reading “Red Sauce Pizza Celebrates 7 Years”Portland Fermentation Fest will not happen in 2022. The organizers behind Portland’s own “Stinkfest” announced they are now holder the Fermentation Festival this year: “The three of us (volunteer organizers Wanpaku Natto, Liz Crain and Urban Cheesecraft Kits) will re-evaluate for 2023. Time will tell. Thank you so much for your support over the years and patience in the last couple of years. We miss our sweet stinkfest and we miss you!”
It’s a great festival (see my writeup from 2019) and I do hope they will return in 2023.
Red Sauce Pizza will open their dining room. It’s coming, and for that I’m glad: the Red Sauce dining room is opening … soon. I’ll be there. 4641 NE Fremont Street, Portland
Future Days will pop up in the old Handsome Pizza space. Kiki and Casey, former employees at Handsome Pizza/Seastar Bakery, are popping up in their old digs this weekend as Future Days. They’ll be making pizza that was a hot ticket item during their time in SLC. Head there Sunday September 25, 5-9pm. It will be nice to have that oven working again. 1603 NE Killingsworth Street, Portland
Kalesa Coffee opens tomorrow morning. Head to the new brick & mortal space of former popup Kalesa Coffee tomorrow morning from 9am to 1pm for their grand opening party. There will be coffee, of course (their own roast), with Filipino flavors (ube, for one), plus breakfast sandwiches, toast, and sides from Balong. Definitely check them out! 7024 N Richards Street, Portland
Bonus: NYC’s Cevallos brothers custom made a sign for Laughing Planet in PDX. You can read about these brothers originally from Ecuador who work with many Queens businesses (in Jackson Heights, among other neighborhoods) to make hand-crafted signs as promotional tools. I have to admit I am delighted to see when Queens and Portland intersect. You can check out the sign here.
hit the spot! opens their first brick & mortar next week. Very happy for hit the spot!, a popular burger cart known for burgers with many patties, as well as their charitable interests, that made it to their first restaurant space. Their grand opening is going to be Wednesday, August 31 at 11am. “Enjoy the cheeseburger you’ve loved along with fried chicken sandwiches, cheese fries, milkshakes and brews.” 676 SE Morrison, Portland
Sayler’s gets some Feast love. Although Feast is known for its spendy festival and obsession with personalities of the Portland restaurant world, I was happy to see them give some love to Sayler’s Old Country Kitchen in east Portland. It’s been around for decades, is a shining example of the best of “old Portland,” and has a diehard fan base. From Feast:
“From the hottest new opening in the city, we turn our attention to what is among the city’s most venerable dining institutions: Sayler’s Old Country Kitchen. Opened in 1946 by brothers Art and Dick Sayler, the restaurant was founded around the maxim of offering a “quality steak dinner at prices that even the common man could afford.” Today, the restaurant is still owned and operated by the Sayler family, overseen in this, its 76th year in business, by third generation proprietors Bryan and David Sayler.”
Read more here. 10519 SE Stark Street, Portland
Lovely’s Fifty Fifty is coming to Netflix. The news has been spreading around Portland food media but I want to take some space and time to congratulate Sarah Minnick, the force behind Lovely’s Fifty Fifty, for being featured on “Chef’s Table: Pizza” on Netflix. I consider Lovely’s Fifty Fifty to be the best representative of a “Portland-style” pizza. I love her use of seasonal ingredients and lots of vegetables. The pizzas are delicious. You can watch “Chef’s Table: Pizza” on September 7, 2022 on Netflix. 4039 N Mississippi Avenue, Portland
Poor Richard’s in the news (so random). Willamette Week ran a story last week about the Poor Richard’s space, which closed in 2011. In 2019 I noticed activity inside, and had great hopes for a reopening of something great, but learned that it was going to be used for a Bank of America expansion (administrative needs, not customer space). A lot of Portland old-timers lament the shuttering of PR’s and remember the twofer fondly—two-for-one dinners featuring the iconic American dinner plate of steak, baked potato, onion rings, and salad.
As for what’s more current, it looks like they wanted to put up a new BofA sign (permit is still listed as Pending). Portland maps indicates it will be, “59.9 square feet with the following dimensions: 18′-11″ wide by 3′-2″ tall.” 3907 NE Broadway
Kachka pelmeni (frozen) at New Seasons. In the ICYMI category, Kachka’s delicious pelmeni are available in your local New Seasons frozen food aisle. Personally, I love the cherry ones in particular, but they are all good. Various locations in the greater Portland area
Burger Week is bigger than ever this year. The Portland Mercury presents its Burger Week event again this summer. It runs from Monday, August 15 to Sunday, August 21; there are 48 different burgers to eat and they will cost you eight dollars each. See what burgers will be available, here—there will be vegetarian / vegan options, gluten-free options, and takeout options. There’s a lot of really good looking burgers this year. Various locations around Portland
Pacific Crust Pizza Company has closed. For whatever reason, Portland pizza news is big right now (Handsome Pizza and Hogan’s Goat closing have been on our radar). Another one bites the dust, as they say: Pacific Crust Pizza Company, which was located in the Hotel Lucia, called it quits in downtown Portland and are moving on to a new home (where, is still a mystery as of this writing). It just wasn’t a good fit for the more urban downtown, as their vibe is about the outdoors and recreational camping—Willamette Week reported, “We’re looking to reopen soon in a space that allows us to have outdoor fire pits, picnic tables and true outdoor vibes to fit our brand better.” Destination unknown
Company Bar is now open. A new natural wine bar, Company, opened recently and had their opening event last weekend. From the event post: “Tucked away in a parking lot just off Belmont, Company is Portland’s newest garage bar. We’ll be serving a selection of natural wine glass pours and Modelo. They kicked off the party Friday night (8/5) in the afternoon “with Yawning and DJ Mr. Mumu spinning ’70’s soul and funk vinyl.” They are pretty excited to be there. Nearby neighbors include spots we’ve featured on this blog: Old Pal and Sugar Hill, and they are right next door to Lilith Rocket Ceramics studio. Looks like a nice addition to the neighborhood. 916 SE 34th Avenue, Suite B, Portland
