Trela Archives - Bridgetown Bites

July 14, 2025July 14, 2025

Welcome To Portland Salad Week!

Reeva's salad. — One of the most beautiful salads I’ve ever encountered, from Reeva.

Welcome to Portland Salad Week 2025! We’re glad you’re here.

The last time we did Salad Week was back in 2022, and we are really happy to bring it back again this year. I’m also thrilled that Judith Rich is back and helping immensely in preparing this week of salad. We have another person joining us, too: Bryan Vance from Stumptown Savings. This is a fantastic newsletter that helps you save money at the grocery store. He inspired us to do a tasting of supermarket and grocery store deli salads, which you’ll see later in the week.

But as we start this week that’s all about salad, we thought we’d ask the question, What’s a salad, anyway?

June 13, 2025June 13, 2025

Four Things I Learned This Week (June 13) in Portland Food

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:

Tartare de Atún (tuna tartare) served in a savory squid ink cone.
Gofre Bravas, a crispy potato waffle play on patatas bravas (they’ve taken a potato waffle dotted it with Bravas sauce and green garlic aioli.
Hiramasa Crudo (yellowtail amberjack) with grilled pineapple and piparra (semi-sweet peppers) emulsion.
Conejo al Ajillo featuring chicken-fried rabbit with espelette honey and aji amarillo.
Additionally they are featuring a strawberry Basque cheesecake topped with a biscuit crumble for Strawberry Shortcake Week.

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.

May 7, 2025May 8, 2025

Yiayia’s Greek Sweets Will Open in Portland

Bougatsa. — Bougatsa, one of the pastries from Yiayia’s Greek Sweets.

Back in December 2024 I mentioned that a Greek cafe and bakery would open adjacent to Tréla Greek Kitchen + Taverna called Yiayia’s—fully, Yiayia’s Greek Sweets. Well, they are getting closer to opening, and at this point it looks like they are aiming for June. I took some time to speak with Helen Tzakis, mother to the owners of Tréla and operator of Yiayia’s.

March 7, 2025March 7, 2025

Four Things I Learned This Week (March 7) in Portland Food

Tréla brunch launches this weekend. I heard from Napoleon Tzakis, one of the owners of the Greek taverna Tréla, that they are starting up brunch this weekend: “Here at Trela we are planning on opening for Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, starting March 8th.” I can only imagine how delicious it will be. 6000 NE Glisan Street, Portland

Face Plant is now open. ICYMI, the new plant-based burger joint, Face Plant, has opened. They have taken an old McDonald’s that had a lot of issues in the past and re-opened it with a small but focused menu. There’s burgers, fries, nugget, shakes, and soda; coffee is coming soon. Wishing them only the best on this journey. 3110 N Going Street, Portland

Microgreens dinner at Bergerac. Over at Bergerac they are offering a special seven-course dinner next week focused on locally-grown microgreens, partnering with Zigzag Microgreens. $90/person with a $40 optional wine pairing. Seating will be family style. Dinner is on Wednesday, March 12 at 6:30pm. Here’s the menu:

Garlic herb salted butter, toast & radish micro greens VG
Mushroom pâté, endive boat, green pea micro greens V, GF
Scallop ceviche, coconut milk, lime, shisho micro greens F, GF
Seared salmon sashimi, sushi rice, ginger oil, wasabi micro greens F, GF
Roast beef filet, Yorkshire pudding, horseradish, nasturtium microgreens
White bean dip, roast carrots, leek microgreens VG, GF
Poached meringue, honeydew creme anglaise, almonds, honeydew micro greens

Reserve via their Tock page. 5520 SE Woodstock Blvd, Portland

Portland makes the world’s top coffee list. This is the first year for The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops list, and two Portland roasters made it on this list. They are Push X Pull and Stumptown. Australia’s Proud Mary also made the list, which has a location in Portland. Do you feel differently? Tell us in the comments below. Various locations

Bonus: It’s Sebastiano’s birthday today! They are celebrating one year in their Sellwood location. Head there today for free funfetti birthday cake!

Stories you may have missed this week on Bridgetown Bites:

Top 5 Posts on Bridgetown Bites, February 2025
Black Cat Frozen Custard Will Open in Downtown Portland
St. Patrick’s Day 2025 in Portland
Navigator Coffee Co. Will Open on Hayden Island in Portland

The Beaverton Area Chamber of Commerce Restaurant Week continues; this weekend is also the tail end of Sandwich Week. SheBrew is on Saturday, and Ticket To Dine continues through the end of the month. More details on our list of Portland Food and Drink Festivals and Portland Cultural + Food Festivals.

January 13, 2025January 13, 2025

Restaurants Opening in Portland in 2025: What We’re Looking Forward To

Looking through the front door at Pleasure Mountain.

I thought I’d take a little time to share some of the restaurants opening in Portland in 2025 that I am particularly looking forward to. As we move further away from the pandemic—though COVID is not gone, by any means—I have hopes that its volatility that affected the city’s restaurants for too long is truly in the rearview mirror. And that other issues (like break-ins) can be addressed by our new city council. This year’s list includes a public market, a new coffee shop, Indigenous fine dining, and more.