Republica Archives - Bridgetown Bites

July 3, 2025July 3, 2025

Happy Birthday Bridgetown Bites! You Are Eight Years Old Today

Happy birthday Bridgetown Bites! That’s right: Bridgetown Bites turns eight years old today. On July 3, 2017, I launched this website with the desire to write about the Portland food and drink scene. It’s grown and changed over the years, but the mission remains the same.

In honor of these eight years, I thought I’d put together eight things I’ve enjoyed learning about over those years, in Portland food and drink. In some cases, I’ve changed my attitude about long-held beliefs. NB: This list is by no means comprehensive.

June 5, 2025June 13, 2025

Strawberry Shortcake Week 2025 Starts June 9 in Portland

Strawberry shortcake from Take Two during Strawberry Shortcake Week in Portland, Oregon. — A favorite strawberry shortcake of mine from last year, made by Take Two bar.

Strawberry Shortcake Week 2025 is from June 9 to 15. It’s a week of restaurants offering their version of strawberry shortcake, inspired by James Beard’s strawberry shortcake recipe. Last year’s Strawberry Shortcake week was fantastic—full of taste treats—and I expect this year’s to be, too. Over 40 locations will be participating this year.

January 4, 2023January 4, 2023

Top 10 Posts on Bridgetown Bites for 2022

It’s 2023! And though we are in a new year, I’m looking back at the top 10 posts of 2022. I realize that the last time I did this was … 2017.

It was, as usual, interesting to see what got the most traffic in 2022—meaning, what readers were particularly drawn to. It’s no surprise that restaurant news was the main driver, and summer seems to be a bit of a theme.

Over 55,000 visits were recorded, and almost 35,000 of those visits were new to the site. Not bad for this modest operation.

As always, thanks for reading!

10. Portland Strawberry Museum Returns to Zuckercreme This Year

Last year I remember coming across something called the “Portland Strawberry Museum” and wondering, “what the heck was that?” I mean, what a great name! Is there some kind of museum dedicated to strawberries in Portland? Turns out it was a month of Saturdays in June of celebrating the strawberry, from Brittany Sigal’s Zuckercreme (then a popup). It is back this year for the entire month of June at her space in Montavilla.

December 5, 2022December 5, 2022

Roundup: Bests and Awards of 2022

Excited for all the winners!

It’s that time of year again: the time when local media outlets (and nationwide ones, too, but that’s not the focus here) gather their bests and make lists of various things—including food. Personally, I love lists and it’s fun to see what the different food media sources deem “the best” in any given year. It’s unclear in my mind if I’m going to do that kind of roundup before the close of 2022, so I thought I’d round up what’s out there already.

November 1, 2022November 1, 2022

Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, October 2022

I’ll admit it—October was a bit of a tough month for Bridgetown Bites because of a deluge of editing work that came my way. Not really anything to complain about but I missed my daily time with the blog. Regardless, here are the most read articles from October 2022. As always, thanks for reading, especially during a relatively dry month content-wise.

5. Interesting Projects From República’s Team & Associates

República, a restaurant that offers enjoyment and world-expanding flavors in delicious regional Mexican cooking, has garnered high praise from both food media (PoMo’s Restaurant of the Year 2021, PDX Eater’s Best New Restaurant 2021, 2022 James Beard Award Semifinalist as Best New Restaurant) and eaters in Portland. They show us that there is much to experience from a country that is often thought of in the U.S. as simply the home of margaritas, burritos, tacos—and, if you’re getting fancy, tres leches cake (these are all delicious, but are a fraction of what Mexico has to offer as far as food goes). I personally think it’s very important and meaningful to highlight the regional tastes of our neighbor to the south, and I’m glad República is doing just that.