What's new in Portland, OR?
November 20, 2019 1:20 PM Subscribe
I had a great time in Portland last November and am about to return. What's new that wasn't there before?
This will be my fourth time in PDX, so I already have a few favorite spots and have a sense of what's around. Are there any interesting new spots that have popped up in the last year or so? I like art, shopping (I like shops like Backtalk, Canoe, and North of West), tasty food (vegan options, please!), bars, coffee, animals, weird stuff, handmade things, music, and things like that.
Thanks in advance, and please feel free to also mention things that aren't new if you love them! I certainly haven't been or heard of everything there.
This will be my fourth time in PDX, so I already have a few favorite spots and have a sense of what's around. Are there any interesting new spots that have popped up in the last year or so? I like art, shopping (I like shops like Backtalk, Canoe, and North of West), tasty food (vegan options, please!), bars, coffee, animals, weird stuff, handmade things, music, and things like that.
Thanks in advance, and please feel free to also mention things that aren't new if you love them! I certainly haven't been or heard of everything there.
Backtalk is gone or moved, but Frances May is great. Also recommend West End Select Shop for that similar vibe.
Prasad is great vegan food but a super fucking weird location - it’s literally in a yoga studio, so there are sometimes shirtless sweaty people walking around. Sweet Hereafter and Bye and Bye are both great vegan bars, in cool (and different) parts of the city. If near Sweet Hereafter make sure to check out Aalto Lounge and Stumptown nearby too. Oh and then go to Wonderland because that place is super weird too. It’s a nickel arcade.
posted by chuntered inelegantly from a sedentary position at 4:28 PM on November 20, 2019
Prasad is great vegan food but a super fucking weird location - it’s literally in a yoga studio, so there are sometimes shirtless sweaty people walking around. Sweet Hereafter and Bye and Bye are both great vegan bars, in cool (and different) parts of the city. If near Sweet Hereafter make sure to check out Aalto Lounge and Stumptown nearby too. Oh and then go to Wonderland because that place is super weird too. It’s a nickel arcade.
posted by chuntered inelegantly from a sedentary position at 4:28 PM on November 20, 2019
On the east side of town, Radius Annex opened up in May— lots of handmade goodies from local artists. (Full disclosure I work out of their studio space but it’s a seriously underrated shop!)
Not far from there are a few newer vegan options- Paterson is a new bar, and Epif serves vegan South American food.
There’s a new Kinokuniya bookstore in town too!
Khora Coffeehouse is very cozy. Coffee Beer is great and vegan to boot (full disclosure I painted their bathroom mural). There’s a great plant shop called Citrine Bloom next door too.
Also since you mentioned animals you need to go to OMSI, their new Exquisite Creatures exhibit is one of the most breathtaking experiences I’ve ever had.
posted by actionpact at 8:29 AM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Not far from there are a few newer vegan options- Paterson is a new bar, and Epif serves vegan South American food.
There’s a new Kinokuniya bookstore in town too!
Khora Coffeehouse is very cozy. Coffee Beer is great and vegan to boot (full disclosure I painted their bathroom mural). There’s a great plant shop called Citrine Bloom next door too.
Also since you mentioned animals you need to go to OMSI, their new Exquisite Creatures exhibit is one of the most breathtaking experiences I’ve ever had.
posted by actionpact at 8:29 AM on November 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Cargo moved from the Pearl to SE Industrial. Larger space and a little Japanese deli with tasty tonkatsu and egg salad sandwiches. Free parking in a lot behind the store.
The previously mentioned chickpea ice cream place is really good. There’s also a burger place in the same block, Super Deluxe - burgers are similar to In-n-Out, but the crinkly fries are much much better. They have a vegan burger but I haven’t tried it yet.
There are fewer unique places downtown and in the Pearl than there were a couple years ago, so if you’ll be staying downtown, plan on taking public transit or getting around via rental car/taxi/Lyft/etc.
posted by ortoLANparty at 6:45 PM on November 22, 2019
The previously mentioned chickpea ice cream place is really good. There’s also a burger place in the same block, Super Deluxe - burgers are similar to In-n-Out, but the crinkly fries are much much better. They have a vegan burger but I haven’t tried it yet.
There are fewer unique places downtown and in the Pearl than there were a couple years ago, so if you’ll be staying downtown, plan on taking public transit or getting around via rental car/taxi/Lyft/etc.
posted by ortoLANparty at 6:45 PM on November 22, 2019
Also on the same street as Epif and Paterson (NE 28th Ave., north of Burnside) is the newly relocated vegan Indian place The Sudra. They’re great.
Art-wise there’s a new museum on the PSU campus (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art). And nearby, the current big exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, by Hank Willis Thomas, is terrific.
posted by lisa g at 7:26 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Art-wise there’s a new museum on the PSU campus (Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art). And nearby, the current big exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, by Hank Willis Thomas, is terrific.
posted by lisa g at 7:26 AM on November 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
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As for food, I have yet to go, but there's a pretty well-regarded vegan ice cream place in the Pearl, at NW 12th and Johnson (up until a day or so ago, it was called Little Bean, but had to rename after a threatened lawsuit, so if you see "little bean" instead of "little chickpea" when you're looking around online for it, fear not, it's the same place).
posted by pdb at 3:02 PM on November 20, 2019