Scoop: Carts, Comics, Coffee and... Camel Salami?

1. CYBER COMICS: Portland comic publisher Top Shelf Productions dove into the digital world head-first on Monday, Nov. 14, releasing two iPhone/iPad apps. The publisher is digitally releasing dozens of its books, including locally made titles such as Nate Powell’s Any Empire and Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin’s Gingerbread Girl. Thus far missing: Craig Thompson’s 600-page epic, Blankets. Let’s all say a little prayer for the intern scanning that monster.

1. GOAT HAM AND CAMEL SALAMI: Portland chef Greg Higgins (of the eponymous downtown restaurant) is in Mongolia, sharing his sausage and charcuterie-making expertise with local butchers as part of Mercy Corps’ Farmer to Farmer project. During his three-week stay, he’ll be blogging regularly for Willamette Week. Things we have learned so far: How do you make charcuterie without pork? “Camel, goat, sheep, horse, an occasional yak and sometimes beef.” Read it here.

1. WEST END BREWS: East Burnside Street’s Heart Coffee Roasters is opening a second location at West End Bikes on Southwest Stark Street and 11th Avenue. The counter will be inside the bike store, but Heart plans to have coffee available through a roll-up door on the side of the building. It’s an interesting choice of location, with Stumptown and Courier Coffee just blocks away. “We’re kinda testing the waters and seeing how people like our product on this side of town,” Heart owner Wille Yli-Luoma told WW. He’s hoping to open Nov. 16 or 17.

1. CARTY ON: Although the weather is no longer quite so conducive to al fresco dining, Portlanders continue to try their luck in the food cart business. New and soon-to-open carts at downtown’s 9th and Alder pod include Zizzo’s F.C., an Italian cart from Portland Timbers player Sal Zizzo; Donut O Rama, promising crème brûlée and banana-bacon-flavored donuts; Wayang House, serving Indonesian dishes; Supernatural Burgers, selling synthetic-hormone- and antibiotic-free burgers; and a new Mexican cart named Santana, selling sopes and huaraches with tacos and burritos.

1. HUNGRY? Lots of new restaurants and bars are opening their doors in mid-November: Ambonnay Champagne Bar opened in the Olympic Commerce Center over the weekend; Laurelhurst Thai bar PaaDee opened Monday, Nov. 14; Seattle pizzeria Via Tribunali opened its Old Town outpost Tuesday, Nov. 15; former Couvron chef Anthony Demes opens his new French joint, Noisette, sometime this week; downtown Vietnamese bar Lúc Lác has a ticketed launch party Sunday, Nov. 20; Interurban, the new bar from John Gorham, has a soft opening Saturday, Nov. 19, and its grand opening Dec. 1; and Oven and Shaker, a pizza and cocktail bar from Nostrana chef Cathy Whims, has preview dinners Nov. 22-26.

WWeek 2015