A Farewell to Pok Pok [from Andy Ricker] From Facebook: It’s Loi Krathong in Thailand, a festival where one floats a small boat made of a slice of banana trunk and decorated with folded banana leaves with a candle on it and other offerings down the river, carrying away your negative thoughts and…

After 13 incredible years (thank you, we love you!), we’re transitioning the space formerly known as BEAST into something totally new: We’re excited to reconnect home cooks with the joy of cooking and redefine what a sustainable community marketplace looks like today. We make food in the spirit of dining out— with the best ingredients,…

If you’ve spent any time at farmers markets over the years, you have most likely seen Matt Choi, co-founder of Choi’s Kimchi. He was found dead early Sunday, the victim of a stranger who had broken into his apartment while he was sleeping. Jim Dixon at Real Good Food posted a memorial on…

The news came today that Cecilia Chiang of The Mandarin restaurant has died at the age of 100. All of this brought back a flood of memories from my childhood. My father organized family vacations around two possible itineraries. One was hiking and backpacking in the most isolated places he could find. The…

The pandemic claims popular Cacao Drink Chocolate store. When Cacao first opened in 2006, it was a game-changer for Portland, a shop that focused on selling nothing but chocolate, manned by owners who are some of the most knowledgeable about the product in the Northwest. Aubrey Lindley and Jesse Mannis lived and breathed…

With everything going on, I haven’t been updating local news as much lately. Here is a roundup of closures I’ve seen around the Portland restaurant scene. Darryl Joannides of Viola Wine Cellars has decided to close the winery. Darryl has been a fixture in the Portland food scene for years. Remember Assaggio restaurant…