Skip to main contentCall us control freaks, but the Bite Club feels better when we have a list. We heave a big, satisfied sigh every time we check off something we've accomplished--especially when our planner is packed full of delicious food events. And this week, we were nice enough to make you a list, too. Check.
Wednesday: Why celebrate Bastille Day, the Frenchy Fourth of July? Because the French flag shares the same colors as ours. And because they gave us the croissant. And because Fête de la Bastille means live music, heated pétanque matches and a whole roasted pig at chef Pascal Sauton's Parisian haven Carafe (200 SW Market St., 248-0004). St. Honoré Boulangerie (2335 NW Thurman St., 445-4342) promises artists, mimes and sweet, sweet, airy chouquettes.
Thursday: Regulars at the Portland Thursday Farmers Market at the Ecotrust Building (Northwest 10th Avenue and Johnson Street) have been talking with their mouths full--full of thick dollops of fragrant honey lavender, fresh mint, or strawberry ice cream sandwiched between chunky lemon, dark chocolate and coconut cookies. Who's to blame? Lisa Herlinger, the dairy queen behind Ruby Jewel Treats, a new cart featuring homemade ice-cream sandwiches ($3). Bite Club makes a beeline for the cinnamon-chocolate chunk cookie with Stumptown espresso ice cream every week. Be forewarned. If Herlinger's only got one left--we'll fight you for it.
Friday: Shed pounds and gain good karma with Oregon Food Bank's easy-on-the-joints Hikes Against Hunger program. The benefit walk raises funds by getting you to gather pledges from co-workers, friends and family, while keeping track of the miles you've traveled (be it on a Forest Park hike, dog walk, or StairMaster climb). After the Aug. 15 deadline, you simply turn in your donations. Visit oregon foodbank.org to get on track.
Saturday: As reported last week by a less stripper-friendly publication (read: the Portland Tribune), Old Town flesh-a-torium Exotica International Club for Men has shuttered its doors. Bite Club silently cursed the construction crew as it swarmed over the Northwest 2nd Avenue and Couch Street spot, ripping away Exotica's loud, cheerful decor to reveal the original stained glass and mahogany furnishings of some snoozy, no-account long-running club called Jazz de Opus. But fear not, T&A connoisseurs. Cabaret Lounge, a new adult club that features scantily clad girls performing skits, just opened in Cañita's old space, officially turning West Burnside's Cuban dance hall into a nearly bare booty-bonanza.
Sunday: Tom Hurley, chef of decadent small plates, is celebrating his restaurant's one-year anniversary with a special four-course prix fixe dinner featuring distinctive tastes like delicate flavor-bomb flans, frog legs with porcini mushrooms, and hot apple tarts. The birthday party ends Sunday, July 31.
Monday: Bite Club has learned that a neighbor of the former Spirit Room, E-San Thai, plans to reinvent the brick-walled boîte as the burger-sounding Second Avenue Bar and Grill next month. Note to Bite self: Peek through windows to assess if the hang-out potential might attract the Henry's crowd.
Tuesday: Healthy-munch spot No Fish! Go Fish! offers up its swank new lounge tonight for Cocktails for Equality, a dress-up party/benefit raising funds to help defeat Oregon's Defense of Marriage Coalition's anti-gay-marriage initiative. "Dress to impress in leather, vinyl, formal, drag, fetish or wedding attire," according to event organizer Darklady. Now where did we put our pair of Stepping Stone Cafe thong underwear?
, 1987 NW Kearney St., 295-6487.
birthday menu available Sunday and Tuesday-Thursday 5:30-10 pm. $30, $50 with wine pairings.
Cocktails for Equality, No Fish! Go Fish!, 3962 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 235-5378. 9 pm Tuesday, July 20. $10. RSVP to darklady@darklady.com.
WWeek 2015