FEAST Portland, the food festival that drew people from all over the nation to our local food scene has taken its last bow. Gutted to get this press release this morning from Mike Thelin of FEAST Portland – Dear Friends, In an interview with Karen Brooks at Portland Monthly Magazine today, I shared the news that our festival would not be returning—not in 2023 and not ever again. Such a message would have been unthinkable just a couple of years ago, but a lot has changed since early 2020—both for our organization and for the communities with which we are aligned. You can read more in Karen’s a ..read more

Eater broke the story this morning that the SE Portland restaurant, Renata has closed for good. Renata Italian Restaurant Lovers of their frozen pizza will be glad that they will continue to be available. From the Renata Instagram – natapdx Real talk: most people think life is back to normal. The pandemic is a thing of the past and we’re all moving on. The reality is that the damage done to restaurants continues to be part of our daily life. The challenges that we face every day and the struggle to just open our doors are real. We at Renata have had a fair share of those lately. But they say ..read more

Naomi Pomeroy announced today that Ripe Cooperative, her pivot from the critically acclaimed BEAST, will close permanently at the end of day on October 16th. I’ve always liked Naomi. Her restaurants have been true to herself. She has been at the forefront of the Save Our Restaurants initiative led by herself and chefs Tom Colicchio, and Kwame Onwuachi, campaigning with Congress for loan extensions and business insurance interruption coverage, which kept many afloat during the pandemic. She’s a class act, and I hope she will return to put her stamp on our restaurant scene once again. Here is he ..read more

Sarah Pliner, one of Portland’s best chefs, and one of the founders of Aviary Restaurant was killed in a bicycle accident yesterday. The news this morning via local food writer Michael Zusman’s Facebook, was like a gut punch. I met Sarah several times over the years, but can’t claim to have had deep insights into her personality. But over the years I’ve heard many good things from people who loved her. However, I can speak to her food. In my opinion, she was one of the finest chefs ever to grace the Portland food scene. When she and her fellow chefs Jasper Shen – now at XLB, and Kat Whitehead ..read more

FILLS and Lac St. Jack are closing on November 23rd and October 29th respectively. I’m not particularly surprised to hear about these closures. I always thought the location was odd and the parking could be a pain, but it’s still sad to see them go, as I enjoyed both. This makes me wonder about the fate of the other restaurants, Grassa, Lardo, and Oven and Shaker. Here is the announcement with a few excerpts from their websites – Au revoir Lake Oswego. Lac St. Jack and FILLS are closing the doors to their Mercato Grove restaurants. Both businesses are proud of the work they did to bring a fre ..read more

Maya announced today on Instagram that she is leaving the restaurant industry for good. This is after closing Yonder and Mae, and opening Hissyfit a month ago. From Insta – Thank you to all of you for your support, thank you for visiting us, thank you for visiting @yonderpdx and @maepdx and follow us for the last seven years. We have made the decision to walk away from the restaurant industry and see a more gentle, joyful, sustainable life and livelihood. Go support your local faves, tell them you love and appreciate them. We’ll see ya out in the world. We make this decision with full hearts ..read more

I’ve got my reservations, so I’ll post this now – they are going very quickly. Not much to say other than what is in this PR. I live in the area so have been driving by regularly. Here is the announcement in its entirety – Find Canard’s famed steam burgers, exuberant cooking, wines, and more at the newest outpost from the Le Pigeon team PORTLAND, Ore. (July 6, 2022) – Beginning July 10th, two-time James Beard winning Chef Gabriel Rucker, Co-owner Andy Fortgang, and Partner Taylor Daugherty will bring Canard’s famed Steam Burgers, wines, and good times to Oregon City. Canard’s new Oregon City o ..read more

Pix Patisserie owner Cheryl Wakerhauser announced yesterday that the popular restaurant would close. The first date I ever had in Portland was to Pix, a quirky dessert spot way out on SE Division. It was a great, comfortable place to hang out with a friend, so packed with interesting stuff, it was an easy conversation starter. Though the date didn’t go anywhere, I’ll never forget the space or the desserts. Since the original spot closed, I’ve enjoyed going by Pix on East Burnside St, after dinner to indulge in pastry and one of the best wine lists in the Northwest, which has been named one of ..read more

Yonder will close on June 26th. Owner Maya Lovelace made the announcement via newsletter on June 3rd. She plans to reopen in the same space with the name Hissyfit. Here is the announcement – The last time we wrote you, we were celebrating our three year Yonder-versary. The past few years have been a roller coaster of tremendous highs and staggering lows, from opening our first brick and mortar restaurant to pivoting time and time again to make our little business run during a global pandemic. Now, we’re writing a new chapter with a brand spankin’ new concept and menu under the name Hissy ..read more

I’ve been fielding a few comments and emails about why FEAST for 2022 was canceled. This newsletter explains their reasoning and is posted in its entirety. Welcome to the Feast newsletter. We’re so glad you’re here. When we began planning the return of Feast in early 2022, we set two objectives for the year. The first was to return to our September full weekend format for the first time since 2019. The second was to completely revamp our newsletter into a new platform for news and storytelling for the food and beverage industry in Portland. With great sadness, we announced a few weeks ago tha ..read more