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Portland’s Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings of 2021

For obvious reasons, you’re right to expect a down year for Portland food. The slate of upcoming new restaurants going into 2021 is, let’s say, a bit dry. Still, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to get excited about—it just means we might have to get a little more excited about new chains moving into town than we normally would. Here’s a quick rundown of our most anticipated openings.

It Was an Apocalyptic Year for Portland Food. Here Are 12 Things That Didn’t Suck.

Nobody needs to be reminded what a shit year it was for Portland’s food scene. Empires toppled, neighborhood hangouts shuttered, thousands lost work. And it’s still not over. The devastation was the headline from March on. But even among the carnage, there was still culinary joy to be found, primarily in the scrappiness of the city’s restaurateurs who adapted, pivoted and innovated on the fly to make what they could out of this rotted Chopped basket of a year.

Tryzen Patricio’s Hawaiian Cooking Has Gone From a Dorm Room to a Cart to a Restaurant—and the Lines Keep Getting Longer

Formerly located at the Park the Carts pod on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, GrindWitTryz was a near-instant sensation, its crowds and wait times harking back to the early days of Salt & Straw or Apizza Scholls, and even more so after COVID-19.

A New England-Inspired Sandwich Shop Has Moved Into the Former Toro Bravo Space, and It’s Serving Portuguese Muffins

In the Azores Islands of Portugal, they’re bolo levedos. In the fishing and beach towns of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, “Portuguese muffins.” Whatever you call the sweetish, griddled breadstuff, John-Fletcher Halyburton knew he had to have them for Lottie & Zula’s, the New England-inspired sandwich joint he and his sister Emily Peterson recently opened in the former Toro Bravo spot on Northeast Russell.

With Aybendito, Chef Cristina Baez Brings Puerto Rican Home Cooking Home to Portland—Including the Snack That Divides Her Own Home

Pastelillos are folded pockets of pastry, stuffed to the edges with sweet or savory filling then fried. Across Puerto Rico, three primary brands fight to gain allegiance with their signature pastelillo dough—Titan, Mayagüezanas, and Kikuet—and one’s plantilla preference can fuel familial rifts.

Andy Ricker Is Closing Pok Pok’s Last Remaining Restaurants, Bringing an End to One of Portland’s Preeminent Food Empires

The phrase “end of an era” has been perhaps overused the last few months, but in this case, it’s especially appropriate: Pok Pok is no more.

Micah Camden Goes Fishing With Ndamukong Suh and a Portland Dining Veteran

Rock Paper Fish is yet another fast-casual Micah Camden restaurant, and yet another quick pandemic pivot. Open since mid-August, it’s a pickup- and delivery-only seafood window, operating out of what used to be Boxer Ramen in the Burnside 26 building—aka the place where “Luke and Jess” lived.

Late Shake Makes Milkshakes With Craftsmanlike Precision—and a Sprinkle of Cereal

For their milkshake-based pop-up Late Shake, London and Doughty put a lot of time and thought into technique, ingredients, temperature and milk-to-ice cream ratio, resulting in a product that is solid enough for funky toppings but also thin enough for slurpability.

Sunshine Noodles Brings Unheralded Cambodian Street Food Into the Daylight on Mississippi Avenue

In the middle of it all is Sunshine Noodles, an avowedly irreverent, none too serious take on contemporary Cambodian food by chef and founder Diane Lam.

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