Portland food news and views
[Update 3/19/24: They are now open! I drove by yesterday and saw the open sign lit up.] In late February, Three Fifty Cafe closed, taking their delicious egg coffee and banh mi sandwiches with them. Neighbors soon wondered what was going to replace it, and relatively quickly a new sign went up for Taqueria La Bamba.
Continue reading “Taqueria La Bamba Is Coming to Cully”Three Fifty Cafe has closed. The good folks behind the Three Fifty Cafe in Cully posted on social media this week that they have shut their doors: “We are sad to announce that our café has permanently closed. Thank you for all the support from our neighbors and friends over this past year. We will truly miss you!” This is a real bummer. I wish them only the best of luck in whatever new path they take. 6205 NE Prescott Street, Portland
The Wild Bunch kickoff is tonight. The Wild Bunch, a celebration of natural wine (which I would totally be into if I drank alcohol) is this Saturday evening, but they are doing a kickoff party at Bar Norman tonight (Friday), and it’s looking good. Head there, “no tickets, just drop in,” from 6pm to 9pm.
“Stop tonight to taste 13 tasty wines from the heart of Central Europe. The winemakers from Blažič and Rodica (both from Slovenia) will be pouring, as well two of our favorite importers, Black Lamb Wines and Vinum. Expect to find wines from Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia in your glass!” There will also be smash burgers and short rib sandwiches from Little Brother; DJ Broken Arrow will be spinning tunes. 2615 SE Clinton Street, Portland
Quiche Me if You Can arrives in Montavilla this month. The old Sebastiano’s space has a new tenant: Quiche Me if You Can. The Montavilla News has more info:
“Owner Christa Voytilla will take over the shop on March 1st and begin reshaping the space with an indoor service counter and quiche-focused kitchen. Since 2019, the farmers’ market chef has grown her business and is now expanding into the company’s first brick-and-mortar location. Although the new Montavilla storefront will become the central home for Quiche Me if You Can, they will retain their farmers market roots.” Read more here. 411 SE 81st Avenue, Portland
More food trucks coming to Portland’s west side. In the continuing efforts to revitalize downtown Portland, “Portland City Council passed an emergency ordinance in January, directing the Portland Bureau of Transportation to establish the two-year [food truck] pilot [program].” The idea is to offer more dining options to folks downtown, workers and residents alike; and, to give food truck operators more opportunities, too. Three locations are already set:
Participants are limited to mobile food trucks, no static food carts. You can find a bunch of those at the Midtown Beer Garden. Read more about this pilot program from the city, here.
GrindWitTryz opening in old Nico’s Cantina space. Last year I wrote about Nico’s Cantina closing and that space on NE Cully Blvd being empty … again. Well, good news—GrindWitTryz is taking over the space. This restaurant is classified in various places online as a Hawaiian restaurant, but they offer dishes associated with other cultures as well, like chicken katsu (Japanese), pork bulgogi (Korean), and lechon kawali (Filipino), among others.
On January 2 they announced their closing to many sad fans … but less than a week later, they shared the news about their relocating: “If y’all thought we were closing, you thought wrong! Absolutely no one can stop us from spreading aloha in PDX! We are taking over Nico’s Catina! This space is giving us so much opportunity to grow and expand! Our grand opening will be in February.” Welcome to Cully, guys! 4318 NE Cully Blvd, Portland
New menu at Three Fifty Cafe. As they say, “New year, new menu.” The lovely little Vietnamese cafe has changed things up and you can see the new menu here. Stop in for one of the best banh mi sandwiches in town, have some fish sauce wings, and get yourself one of their excellent egg coffees to go with it all. 6205 NE Prescott Street, Portland
Get your Valentine’s treats at Bee’s. Although the cafe is closing, you can still order some of Bee’s fabulous treats for the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday. Head to the website to order—you can order things “Bento Box” style (one of each item offered in a premade box) or build your own box with just the items you want. Orders will be open until Monday, February 6 and you can choose to pick up on Tuesday or Wednesday, February 13 or 14. 7137 NE Fremont Street, Portland
Angel’s Donuts & Ice Cream seems to have closed. A neighbor online asked, “Anyone know what happened to Angels Donuts on Alberta? I walked by Friday and it was dark during business hours, then I drove by today and still dark.” Another neighbor confirmed it. I called, no answer. Yelp also says they have closed. Bummer. If anyone has more insight, drop a comment or an email. 2805 NE Alberta Street, Portland
We are comfortably into January 2024 and it’s time to take a look back at 2023’s most-read posts on Bridgetown Bites. They mostly involved openings and closings of restaurants and bars, but there was one article on an Asian market opening in SE Portland that made the list.
I’m happy to say that from an analytics POV, traffic almost doubled between 2022 and 2023 here on the blog. Regarding 2022 I said, “Over 55,000 visits were recorded, and almost 35,000 of those visits were new to the site.” In 2023 we had 106,000 unique visits, with 86,000 new to the site; these visitors generated almost 142,000 page views, too. Not too bad for this little independent blog.
I also read somewhere online that this blog skews toward NE Portland. That is a true statement. I also read in the same source that some readers would love to see more coverage of the west side of Portland. This is good feedback. will see what I can do about that, and diversifying geographically in general.
Thanks to all who have read, commented, sent tips (keep ’em coming!), and shared these articles/posts on social media and with friends. Here’s to another great year of delving into the Portland food world!
10. Yuginong Offers Gluten-Free Korean Fare in St. Johns
When I was at dinner the other night, my friends who live in St. Johns said “a Korean restaurant has finally opened in our neighborhood.” Of course, my interest was piqued so I asked more questions. The restaurant is Yuginong (or Yu Gi Nong), located in the space that was previously home to Sol Bowl and a Starbucks. They opened this past weekend.
Update: I hear only good things about Yuginong, with modifiers like “fresh,” “tasty,” and “very good.” I’m happy to know they are still going strong.
Continue reading “Top Posts on Bridgetown Bites in 2023”As I mentioned last week, I was off the blog for an extended time, but I still thought it would be interesting to see what was popular in April. Understandably, numbers were down but still there were about 9,500 page views and 6,500 unique visitors. Could be worse!
Some updates: Denizens Cafe is getting the old OG Ben & Esther’s space ready, and you can invest in them. Alux is up and running. Sandy O’s has applied for a liquor license. Locals have been posting about their love for the food and drink at Three Fifty Cafe and I enjoyed trying their food the other day. And The Heist is getting close to opening.
Thanks, as always for reading.
5. Denizens Cafe to Open on NE Sandy Blvd
A few days ago, James Helms posted on social media the news that the Rocky Butte Espresso Bar, which closed in late 2022, has a new location … as well as a new concept and new name. Along with coffee there are plans for food, and a projected opening is unknown at this time. The new name is Denizens Cafe.
Continue reading “Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, April 2023”