Portland food news and views
And there you have it—Salad Week 2025 has come to an end. We had a great time planning, researching, tasting, and enjoying salads in the Portland metro area, and sharing it all with you. Here’s our 2025 Portland Salad Week recap, plus our readers’ salad recommendations.
We hope you enjoyed this salad-centric week!
Continue reading “2025 Portland Salad Week Recap: The Good, the Surprise, and You”Lil Barbecue will open in Portland. The Oregonian has the details: “In a social media post Sunday, Ali Clem, owner of the Michelin-starred Austin barbecue joint La Barbecue, announced her ‘right and left hand’ man, GM and pitmaster Ben Vaughn, was ‘moving to Portland to start an extension of our beloved La Barbecue.’” Read more here, plus, here is their Instagram. Location TBD
Tréla celebrates 6 months. It feels like they’ve been around forever, but it’s true: Tréla has been in business for 6 months at the end of June. They are celebrating on Monday, June 16 with a new dinner and drink menu, and live bouzouki music from 5pm to 9pm. 6000 NE Glisan Street, Portland
You can now order Red Sauce Pizza at Tomorrow’s Verse Taproom. The Tomorrow’s Verse folks have partnered with Red Sauce Pizza so that you can order their pizza and eat it at the bar. The two businesses are less than a block away from each other, so it’s an easy run. “We have QR codes for you to order from at the bar, just order and they’ll run it over for you. It’s that simple.” 4605 NE Fremont Street, Suite #103, Portland
New menu items at Urdaneta. I’ve learned that Urdaneta has put together a new menu after their annual staff trip to Spain. It “reimagines traditional Basque bites through a seasonal Pacific Northwest lens.” Some of the new dishes are:
3033 NE Alberta Street, Portland
Reminder: The James Beard Awards are Monday. Next Monday is the day the James Beard Awards finalists gather together in Chicago for the Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony. There’s going to be a virtual press room and yes, I plan to be there. I am considering “live skeeting” it on Bluesky Monday afternoon/evening, but no promises. I’ll let you know. Here are the finalists from Oregon.
Stories you may have missed on Bridgetown Bites this week:
The Inaugural WasabiFest Is June 14 in Portland
Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, May 2025
Opening Soon: Yellow Line Food Cart Pod, Navigator Coffee, and Alma in Portland
Enjoy Summer Nights 2025 in Parkrose in East Portland
The Portland Midsummer Festival and WasabiFest are Saturday. Strawberry Shortcake Week continues until Sunday. It’s also Father’s Day on Sunday, so happy day to the dads of all kinds. More events throughout the year can be found on our Portland Food and Drink Festivals and Portland Area Cultural + Food Festivals lists.
HÂP Fresh has opened in Montavilla’s south end. Over on Montavilla News, they have published an article on HÂP Fresh, which opened in the former Thai Fresh location on SE Division. It’s considered an “Asian fusion” restaurant, with a focus on its “renowned handmade” dumplings, at least to start. Owners Nasy Chan and Thomas Trieu (who have opened four restaurants together previously) with Chef Gulian Lui have created the menu. They are offering a 20% discount during the month of December to celebrate the opening. Head over to Montavilla News to read more. 8409 SE Division Street, Portland
“Pizza School is back!” So says Shardell Dues at Red Sauce Pizza. You can learn about the practical hands-on elements of creating a pizza—how to make [their] dough, shape a dough ball, and stretch and dress a cheese pizza. Two-hour classes happen once a month on Sundays starting in January (for three months—January 14, February 18, and March 10—at this point). $100 per class, payable by Venmo. More info and register on the Red Sauce website. 4641 NE Fremont Street, Portland
Sea veggie bites! Get yer sea veggie bites! Head to Providore tomorrow, Saturday December 9 from 1 to 4pm to sample tasty sea veggie bites. Blue Evolution executive chef Maylin Chavez and Winter Waters Co-Founder Alanna Kieffer will be there, and you can “taste some simple and delicious applications of these kelps, and chat with Alanna and Maylin about all things seaweed.” Learn how to use these products at home, too. H/T to Kathleen Bauer at GoodStuffNW for promoting it on her Instagram so it could catch my eye. 2340 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
Too Soon is opening … soon. A Bridgetown Bites tipster led me to the Instagram account for Too Soon, a new bar from Adam Robinson (also of Deadshot) and Nick Flower (of the Face/Off cocktail pop-up). This location has been home to a number of places over the years, including Nightingale. Google says they are opening Wednesday, December 13. 18 NE 28th Avenue, Portland
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.
