On the edge of the northeast corner of the Hollywood District lived Hot Lips Pizza. It closed back in March 2023 and a number of people expressed sadness about that. But according to city documents, a new pizzeria is opening in there: Fusion Curry Pizza. Update: They are open for business.
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.
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.
Getting to this a little later than I’d like, as I’ve been buried under a massive pile of client editing work in April. I love it, but it’s a lot right now. Anyway, March 2023 was a good month for the blog. Close to 8,900 unique visitors arrived and a little over 14,000 page views were generated, which might be a record at this point in time.
News of bars, restaurants, and food cart pods were the name of the game in May. Thanks, as always, for reading!
This time around an old post made its way into November’s top five: December 2021’s rundown of Salt & Straw ice cream flavors. Good news for those who like consistency, though: December 2022’s Holiday Series flavors are the same as last years!
As for traffic, Bridgetown Bites is growing, apparently. My web host has questions about traffic, so that’s why the site was down for a few days in November (they nuked it around Thanksgiving, nice … not). I’m currently in troubleshooting mode to fix the issues. And looking into new hosts (if you have a favorite, shoot me an email). Thanks for your patience. And thanks, as always, for reading.
While perusing my sources today I saw one document that had a big ol’ “No Saint” written on it. I thought, “Huh, that’s so familiar.” I wracked my brain and then it hit me—No Saint was the pizza/Italian eats pop-up I went to with my friend Annie many months ago. Turns out they are the same folks behind Mattino’s Wine, a “natural wine bottle shop + luncheonette” that will open on Hawthorne Blvd in the Buckman neighborhood.
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.
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.