Portland Restaurateurs Bid for Taste of the Summer

The Bitter Root Club, Dimo’s Italian Specialties and Everywhere Beer bring something fresh to the culinary scene’s table.

The Bitter Root Club (Ezra Johnson-Greenough)
By Ezra Johnson-Greenough

To stay relevant in Portland’s world-class culinary and drink scene, you’ve got to stay fresh and yet consistent. Here’s the rundown on upcoming pop-ups, collaborations and concepts from creators seeking out the flavor of the summer, and how we would describe that flavor.

The Bitter Root Club: Rustic NW Hunting Lodge

Since leaving high-end and fine dining restaurants such at Bullard and Imperial, Top Chef finalist Doug Adams revisits pub specialties with his wife, brewer Whitney Burnside, at Grand Fir Brewing, opened in 2023. Though he has fun slinging burgers and his famous fried chicken wings, Adams had a bitter itch in the back of his throat to get back to the more intimate and elevated foodie experiences brewpubs rarely afford with money or patience. The Bitter Root Club is his and A.J. McCafferty’s lodge-inspired dining room hidden behind Grand Fir Brewing. BRC will offer a family-style prix fixe menu and desserts from Kir Jensen of The Sugar Cube fame coming out of retirement. Expect regular high-profile culinary collaborations and additional special access via a members-only supper club starting in June. 1403 SE Stark St., Suite E, thebitterrootclub.com. Dinner by reservation only.

Dimo’s Italian Specialties: Le Specialità Gastronomiche

Dimo’s Apizza’s successful take on part electric-, part wood-fired New Haven-style pizza has made it one of Portland’s best new pizzerias. Doug Miriello opened Dimo’s at a difficult time in 2020, in a location known for a string of high-profile failures like Mikkeller Brewing and Burnside Brewing. Last year, Dimo’s’ neighbor Fracture Brewing went beer belly up, giving it the opportunity to expand. The upcoming Dimo’s Italian Specialties is part deli, part market, part bar, and part Italian supper club. For the first time, Dimo’s pies will be available by the slice, its frustratingly limited grinders will be served daily, and its fresh goods, like dough, house sauces and hand-pulled mozzarella, will be sold in to-go packaging. Loyal Legion’s former beer boss, Herb Apon, will run the bar, and Miriello will cut loose in the kitchen with Italian comfort food on reservation-based dining in late June. 701 E Burnside St., 503-327-8968, dimosapizza.com. Hours TBD.

Everywhere Beer: SoCal Cerveza

Every time I think about Everywhere Beer, I can’t get Phantom Planet’s The O.C. theme song out of my head. The Orange, Calif.-based brewery quietly opened a Portland outpost in May, trading sunny beaches and board shorts for grungy river floats and year-round beanies. Everywhere’s beers and vibes are still SoCal summer: vibrant fruit-forward IPAs, slushy sours, and tiki and agua fresca hard seltzers. The inviting, naturally bright space blooms with tropical plants, cool baby blues, faded pink hues, dropdown orb accent lights, and sprinkles of childlike illustrations. It’s the kind of place you want to send an adult to day care at during Portland’s most soul-sucking weather. California, here we come, right back where we started from. 920A SE Caruthers St., everywherebeer.com. 11 am–10 pm Sunday–Saturday.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.