Hiro Ikegaya to open Mirakutei. (Portland Monthly)
Ikegaya says the focus is Sapporo-style ramen noodles, sushi rolls and “Japanese tapas with contemporary Southern California creativity,” a specialty of the chef that he is transporting to Portland from Los Angeles. Scheduled to open in late October or early November, Mirakutei will be open daily, until midnight, with prices $4-$10. Ikegaya plans to stay at his post at Hiroshi.
Small Bites: Q&A with John Gorham, galette des rois, vouvray brut and more. (OregonLive.com)
This guy is an inspiration.
Looks like Eater’s near-term expansion plans included our very own burg (Eater PDX). Must have been all those breathless articles written in the New York Times over the last few years.
Burgerville goes mobile with food truck. (Oregon Live)
Burgerville will introduce a mobile food truck on Thursday near Tom McCall Waterfront Park, inspired by the food carts that have blossomed on downtown Portland lots.
The 24-foot-long truck will sell a limited menu — burgers, fries, soft drinks and vanilla, chocolate and maybe seasonal shakes.
The truck will allow the Vancouver-based company to test a community’s interest in the restaurateur’s products before committing the money to building a permanent location, said Jeff Harvey, president and chief executive officer of The Holland Inc., Burgerville’s parent company.Burgerville is exploring possible sites for a permanent downtown Portland location as well as in the Seattle area, he said.
The truck also will allow Burgerville to have a presence at community events and could serve as a pinch hitter when any of the existing 39 restaurants undergo renovation, he said.
Via PDXPlate, Naomi Pomeroy of Portland’s own Beast has been nominated has been awarded for Food&Wine’s Best New Chef award a Food&Wine’s Best New Chef award.
I am a big fan, as are most Portlanders, of Pok Pok/Whiskey Soda Lounge on SE Division, which churns out some of the most delicious southeast Asian (primarily Thai) in this burg.
Ping–a new restaurant hatched by Mr. Pok Pok and cohorts, located in Chinatown–is opening today. The menu was recently posted on their website. It looks great, and I’m glad to see a doctored up Mama brand instant noodle dish has made the cut (in a similar proletariat nod, another version is/was served up at the Pok Pok to-go shack).
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Pretty cool.
Via Danta Amorphic at PortlandFoodandDrink.com, Five Guys Burger and Fries is opening a Beaverton location.
Pok-Pok owner and Weiden + Kennedy partner join forces for Chinatown eatery. (Oregon Live, hat tip to Food Dude)
Pok Pok owner Andy Ricker is teaming with John C. Jay, Weiden+Kennedy’s branding guru, and his fashion-designer wife Janet Jay to open Ping, a restaurant in Chinatown slated for winter 2008-2009.
Anyone who watched Pok Pok transform from take-out shack on Southeast Division to a popular restaurant at the top of Portland’s competitive food scene (watch video above) has wondered: What’s next for Ricker, a vision guy with impressive drive, business smarts and an uncanny feel for Asian street food.
Ping will be a casual hub for Asian snacking and drinking in the (now vacant) bottom floor of the Hung Far Low Building at 102-106 N.W. Fourth Ave. Unlike Pok Pok, Ricker says Ping will be a cross between a izakaya (Japanese pub) and a Southeast Asian cafe and coffeehouse.
The restaurant is part of the Jays’ vision to rejuvenate and modernize Chinatown. Blogging from Beijing on Saturday, Portland mayor-elect Sam Adams wrote: “Portland uber creative guy John C. Jay thinks Portland’s Old Town/Chinatown can be the North American hot spot for Asian contemporary culture and art, i.e. a modern Chinatown. To get a sense of what he was talking about, John suggested I check out Beijing’s 798 Art District.”
Peckish at PFD has posted that Hmart will be coming to Tigard (99W, south of the 217). They will open June 6th.
Think Uwajimaya, with a Korean focus.
LTH thread that discusses the HMart in Chicago.
Here’s a blog post about the food court at the Vancouver (B.C.) Hmart.
Tomorrow night is Willamette Week’s Food Cart Festival. Eat and drink, all for a good cause. For those who don’t work downtown (or near Mississippi Ave) 9–5/M–F, it’s a good opportunity to sample the fare.
Well, not PDX proper, but Beaverton. At lunch today at Hakatamon I spotted a notice (it was inserted into every menu) that starting April 1, they will be introducing hakata style tonkotsu ramen, in addition to champon and sara udon. The notice boasted of a 12-hour stewed broth.
I sure hope it’s not an April Fool’s joke.
Bullet Bounces Off Chef Paul Prudhomme. (Via Flynn @PF.org)
Chef Paul Prudhomme was grazed by a bullet Tuesday, but the bullet didn’t do any damage, according to Jefferson Parish deputies.
The chef was cooking at the TPC golf course in Avondale when, according to deputies, he felt something hit his arm. A .22 caliber bullet then fell from his sleeve. Prudhomme was attending The Zurich Classic, where he was preparing fish. Police said it could’ve been fired by a hunter in the rural area near the course.
Deputies said the bullet did not penetrate.
According to police, a .22 caliber bullet can travel up to a mile and a half, meaning it could’ve come from a very wide geographic area. Police said there is little chance of figuring out who fired the bullet that struck him.
Police originally classified the incident as a shooting, but later reclassified it as a simple complaint.
I think it’s safe to say a pilot for “CSI: New Orleans” is not in the works.
CBF@Portlandfoodanddrink.com is optimistic that Uwajimaya has a fighting chance to open a flagship location in Portland’s Chinatown.
