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Things got too hot in the kitchen back in April, when a fire caused RingSide Steakhouse to temporarily close. The beloved West Burnside steakhouse, which first opened in 1944 and revamped twice during the 2010s, announced this week that it’s back in business following necessary restoration work. RingSide’s dining room and bar reopen on Monday, Aug. 4, just in time for its weekly prime rib dinner special.
Steak with all the trimmings has been a natural draw for generations, while relatively newer fare like crispy miso-glazed octopus and Hamachi crudo might draw diners craving something different in a classic steakhouse (said in a press release to retain as many of its features as possible).
One classic item making its triumphant return is RingSide’s acclaimed onion rings.
James Beard once called them the best ones he’d eaten in America—high praise coming from one of the country’s most well-respected culinary figures. Back in March, roughly one month before the fire, WW critic Michael C. Zusman connected his family’s multigenerational dinners at RingSide (and the orders of onion rings they ate together) with a deep dive into what makes its crunchy cuts of Washington and Idaho onions so tasty. In his review, Zusman called RingSide’s onion rings “magnificent as always.”
“Few Portland dining rituals are so enduring as an order of onion rings fresh from the fryer at the 81-year-old RingSide Steakhouse on West Burnside Street,” he wrote. “Though the rings did not find their place on the menu until sometime in the early 1960s—then at 80 cents an order—it is hard to imagine eating around Portland without falling for them.”
EAT: RingSide Steakhouse, 2165 W Burnside St., 503-223-1513, ringsidesteakhouse.com. 4:30–9 pm Monday and Tuesday, 4:30–9:30 pm Friday, 4–9:30 pm Saturday, 4–9 pm Sunday.
