The Mule Bar Archives - Bridgetown Bites

January 7, 2025January 6, 2025

Top Posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024

Welcome to our end-of-the-year roundup of top posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024. Aside from our Thanksgiving article, the top posts were about openings and closings—restaurant, cafe, bar, and food cart news. And topping the list this year is a double-header: East Portland’s Wooden Chicken Pub! It if hadn’t been for this duo, the closing of 3 Doors Down would have taken spot number 10.

From an analytics POV, traffic had a healthy increase from 2023 to 2024. With 205,100 unique visitors up from 106,000 last year, that’s an increase of 93.3%. Page views were 142,000 last year and 265,000 this year, which is an 86.6% increase. I’m proud of the hard work that has gone into nurturing this site, and serving as a quality resource for those interested in Portland food news—all as an independent shop.

And while Bridgetown Bites is run by one person, our tipsters and readers who pass on news are invaluable to my work here, so thank you very much, friends! Additional thanks to all who read the site, comment, share articles, and send feedback. I look forward to continuing to bring you Portland food news and views in 2025.

So without further ado, here are the top 10 posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2024.

December 30, 2024December 29, 2024

Summary: Portland Restaurant Openings and Closings, 2024

The dining room at Zula in Portland, Oregon. Portland restaurant openings and closings. — The dining room at Zula, which closed in October 2024.

Over the years, Bridgetown Bites has published numerous stories about Portland restaurant openings and closings. But what’s different about this year, is that I kept a simple list of those we covered, in reverse-chronological order. I thought it would be fun to look back on that list, and make a few observations.

March 19, 2024March 19, 2024

Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, February 2024

Posting this in a “better late than never” approach, I’m happy to say that February 2024 was another good month on the blog with about 19,000 page views generated by over 14,500 unique visitors—and for a shorter month than January! As for what was popular, it was heavy on the bars, with a couple of eatery news stories. The opening of new places is always something fun to read about.

As always, thanks for reading, sharing, and sending tips!

5. Mokdong Gimbap to Open in Old Frog & Snail Space

As you know from reading this blog, Frog & Snail closed earlier this year, ending easy access to crepes and the magnificent French onion meatball sub they were known for. But a new place is opening up there, Mokdong Gimbap, offering sushi and—you’d expect—especially gimbap.

February 17, 2024February 15, 2024

Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, January 2024

The rare weekend post—I wanted to get this up before I forget. January 2024 on Bridgetown Bites was a good month: almost 12,000 unique visitors landed here and generated close to 16,000 page views. Here’s what you all enjoyed the most last month—the Sandy Jug got a lot of attention, in particular (it’s cool to see the before and after shots of the building further down this post).

As always, thanks for reading, sharing, and sending tips!

5. New Food Cart Pod Coming to NE Fremont

ne-fremont-44th-ave-food-cart-pod-development-portland-oregon

This morning I read an email from a Bridgetown Bites reader about a new food cart pod coming to NE Fremont Street. It will be in the old Barrett Automotive space there on the northeast corner of 44th Avenue.

Update: A new permit was set-up on February 13, 2024 with this description: “Request for dedication to be waived or contingent upon removal of existing building on NE 44th.” A “dedication” is explained on the Portland city website as so: “As part of a development permit or land use application, the landowner may be required to grant an easement to the City for public right-of-way purposes. This is often referred to as a ‘dedication.’”

June 21, 2023June 21, 2023

The Mule Bar: New Life in the Old Stanich’s?

4915 NE Fremont has been home to Stanich’s for decades. Photo credit: Google Maps

Looks like the building in the Cully neighborhood that was home to Stanich’s for many years will become something new. A new watering hole, currently called The Mule Bar, is looking to open up at 4915 NE Fremont.