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After a two-and-a-half-year period where local headlines were often filled with historic restaurant closings, it’s a small relief to be suddenly inundated with so many openings. Still, the glut of new places to eat can be hard to keep up with — I didn’t know Langbaan had reopened in northwest Portland, or Okta would debut in wine country this week, until I work on this list. To help you keep track of all the most intriguing new and upcoming restaurants in Portland and beyond, here’s a quick guide to 22 places that have opened since spring 2022, listed by month they opened.
Dough area
This famed Seattle dumpling house brought its seared bao and slinky-like sliced cucumbers to Portland earlier this year, taking over the glitzy glass-walled building that once housed Lucier, a former fine-dining restaurant on the Willamette River.
Where: 1910 Dr River S.
Open in: April 2022
La Fondita and Taqueria Los Ponchos
The Republica team recently opened these side-by-side restaurants in the former Park Kitchen space, one built around Janet “Doña Chapis” Vargas’ impeccable tortillas, the other a taqueria showcasing fried quesadillas, tacos suadero and cabeza and al pastor shaved the spit.
Where: 422 NW Eighth Ave.
Open in: May 2022
Akadi, a West African restaurant, recently reopened in the former Grixen Brewing space on Southeast Division Street.Mark Graves / The Oregonian
Akadi 2.0
Fatou Ouattara closed Akadi’s original location northeast of Portland in 2020, returned to Ivory Coast to learn more about her homeland’s ingredients and recipes, then returned to reopen Akadi in a larger space filled with sunset colors and African artwork this spring.
Where: 1001 SE Division St.
Open in: May 2022
Afuri Ramen and Tanaka Lab
Afuri’s team has been busy, first opening a ramen “laboratory” in the Slabtown neighborhood that seeks to let diners participate in the noodle-making process, then opening Tanaka, a full-fledged Japanese bakery and a katsu sando shop in the former headquarters of Blue Star Donuts. .
Where: 1650 NW 21st Ave. and 678 SW 12th Ave.
Open in: May and June 2022
Caspian Skewer
This once-beloved Portland food cart, which served its last grilled meat skewers and saffron rice at Prost pod in 2019, popped up with a full restaurant nearly three years later in Beaverton.
Where: 3807 SW Orbit St., Beaverton
Open in: May 2022
Lila
Sudra owner Sanjay Chandrasekaran’s latest project in Aviv’s former police station kitchen focuses on plant-based pasta and is likely the city’s first all-vegan Italian restaurant since Portobello. Please note: according to social media, the restaurant is on temporary hiatus.
Where: 960 SE Madison St.
Open in: May 2022
Lark
This new neighborhood bistro, a collaboration between Diane Lam of Sunshine Noodles and Wei-En Tan of Stem Wine Bar, opened in the spring with butter-braised cruciferous vegetables, beef fat fries and butter-cooked burgers. spiced with vadouvan.
Where: 2764 NW Thurman St.
Open in: May 2022
Cintli Canteen
This new North Portland restaurant, across from the Twilight Room, specializes in indigenous recipes from Cha Cha Cha chef-owner Javier Hurtado’s childhood in rural Mexico, with homemade corn tortillas, Huitlacoche and grilled grasshoppers.
Where: 5225 N. Lombard Street
Open in: June 2022
Olive Trolley
The latest restaurant from the Sesame Collective group (Mediterranean Exploration Company, Shalom Y’all, Bless Your Heart) focuses on the flavors of southern Italy, including daily focaccia, fresh pasta, Sicilian wines and Italian appetizers .
Where: 527 SW 12th Ave.
Open in: June 2022
Bar Cala
This Latin cocktail bar has been serving fish tacos, caramelized pineapple relish burgers, pisco sours and bourbon and banana liqueur cocktails since late May in the refurbished former Station/Siam Society space. day with tropical plants and lots of pink paint.
Where: 2703 NE Alberta St.
Open in: June 2022
Espresso martinis are back in vogue, though Morgenthaler notes he started serving one at Pepe Le Moko, the bar under Clyde Common, as early as 2014.Courtesy of Pacific Standard/Rachelle Hacmac
Pacific Standard
About a year after the Clyde Common officially closed, award-winning Portland bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler and his longtime running mate Benjamin “Banjo” Amberg opened this “love letter to the West Coast” in the hotel’s sprawling lounge. Icelandic KEX from Portland.
Where: 100 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Open in: June 2022
Langbaan
One of Portland’s top restaurants, Earl Ninsom’s Thai Tasting Menu recently reopened in Northwest Portland, where it shares space with Phuket Cafe, a popular new Thai restaurant with outdoor seating. outdoors in a patio designed to look like a Thai train car.
Where: 1818 NW 23rd place
Open in: July 2022
hissyfit
Chef Maya Lovelace’s new concept for the recently closed Yonder space replaces southern fried chicken with a globally inspired menu of Korean spring onion pancakes, McFarland Springs trout with guajillo butter and tomato and marinated green beans tempura with a smoked cheddar cheese fondue.
Open in: July 2022
Where: 4636 NE 42nd Ave, Suite A
Oregon City Duck
Portland’s Restaurant of the Year 2018 recently opened a second home for steamed burgers, dry-aged Salisbury steak fries and Dole Whip soft serve sundaes brought to a new patio in the lower storefront of the Oregon City, which previously housed Grano Bakery.
Where: 1500 Washington Street, Oregon City
Open in: July 2022
Okta
Former Castagna chef Matthew Lightner is set to open Okta, a “progressive dining destination” at McMinnville’s new Tributary Hotel “offering a multi-dimensional experience inspired by the seasonal rhythms and terroir of the valley.”
Where: 618 Third Street NE, McMinnville
Opening in: July 2022
Masala Lab
This new gluten-free brunch offering both traditional Indian dishes and modern interpretations of the classic American breakfast, comes from Desi PDX owner Deepak Saxena, who hopes to launch the concept on July 21.
Where: 5237 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Opening in: July 2022
Gregory Gourdet stands inside the unfinished home of Bar Sousòl, his upcoming pan-Caribbean cocktail bar.Courtesy of Kann/Zach Lewis
Kann and Sousol
Arguably the most anticipated spot on this list, ‘Top Chef’ star Gregory Gourdet’s wood-fired Haitian restaurant plans to open later in southeast Portland in “late July,” according to a source. Sousól, the Caribbean bar under Kann, will debut a few weeks later.
Where: 548 SE Ash St. and around the corner at 227 SE Sixth Ave.
Opening in: End of July and August 2022
Jacob and son
Noah Jacob, a Portlander resident who left a career in finance to help launch San Francisco’s popular Wise Sons delicatessen, is already downtown most of the time, supervising a team making challah and smoking cold fish in the former KitchenCru Commissary.
Where: 337 NW Broadway
Opening in: September 2022
Read more:
9 new places to have fun for summer 2022
Sandwich steaks, saffron rice and other restaurant cuts new for June 2022
Indian popsicles, Caribbean bar snacks and other Portland restaurant news for May 2022
Dough Zone, Phuket Cafe debut, star chefs expand beyond Portland, plus other local restaurant news for April 2022
—Michael Russell, mrussell@oregonian.com @tdmrussell
