Recently, I was given the opportunity to update the Eater article on pop ups, “The Hottest Portland Pop-Ups Right Now, Summer 2017”. It is not an exhaustive list of all the pop ups in Portland, though I think you know about a great majority of them if you reference that article and also look at the website Feastly (which I also wrote about for Eater) which also is a platform for local and visiting from other Feastly cities chefs to set up pop up events.
To make the list manageable, this time I tried to divide it into more subgroups based on type of cuisine in the world highlighted – and I was asked to keep it to a list of 21. So how did I curate it? And what stuff did I wish I could have included but couldn’t for the Eater PDX article – but can totally mention and loop you in on my blog since I control the space here? What else do I want you to know about Summer Pop Up Series Dining in Portland opportunities?
Well, first of all, since I know it can be disappointing to be recommended a place and then when you look it up there is no dinner available in the next 2 months, then it can be frustrating. So every pop up on that Eater PDX list I reviewed their schedule on their website or their social media to make sure they are active in the next few months. There are still pop ups that I continue to follow and may rotate in come September after their busy summer allows them to schedule more events you can attend: these include Basque Supper Club which I can’t wait to attend and also share the next one for now you can still get tastes of his bold flavors at Urdaneta, the brick and mortar restaurant), and Our Secret Supper for their next location and which is the only one I know of that always delivers on unusual locations. For beer and food pairing dinner, Imperial Session will also be back in session come fall.
I also defined pop up restaurants to be ones where the pop up actually has to actually “pop” into the space because they do not own it and have nothing permanent they can keep there. I have always used this definition for pop up restaurants – so as much as I enjoy them, Nodoguro and Langbaan definitely don’t count because they are established residents of the space they use. That also means Han Oak with their bo ssam Fri-Sat and Dumpling and Noodles Sun-Mon, Holdfast Dining with their walk-in Deadshot Mondays and prix fixe Fri-Sun, Nomad PDX with their modern farm to table, they have all graduated to more of a residency.
Nodoguro dinner with a Yayoi Kusuma theme
That also means if you do a temporary special offering for the summer, as many are doing right now, but you are a brick and mortar restaurant and so this is just an extra, I didn’t think it counted. But, I think you should still visit them while they last! These include
- Ox Box, which is a 11 AM – 2 PM lunch time pop up offering Argentinean choripán sandwiches (smoked chorizo or chorizo spiced fish or chorizo spiced eggplant) in the Ox’s restaurant parking lot, daily
- Big’s Chicken which is back to its origins from last year, smoked chicken in the parking lot of Laurelhurst Market from 11 AM – 4 PM daily
- Grab and go healthy breakfast and lunch items by Country Cat in their Calico Room, named Ferne and Holly, weekdays only 9 AM – 1 PM. I recommend in the morning the open faced sandwiches that they call “toast”, six minute egg bowl, though they also offer bowls of protein over brown rice or quinoa and smoothies and juices. Tip: this Montavilla spot is super far for me living in SW Portland, but you can also get your fix on via Caviar food delivery.
- Three Degrees on the Waterfront is offering a summer al fresco riverfront pop up experience with tacos and tequila: I shared all the details on this in a previous blog post you can check out here.
- Chesa may be closed as a restaurant, but it is about to be a hip happening pop up space for Paella Sundays on their patio (11 AM – 2 PM on the 2nd and last Sunday of each month, kids eat free, and dogs are welcome on the patio), Patria Presents: Barrio Block Party (a Puerto Rican block party complete with a domino tournament with prizes, vinyl salsa music along with the food), and a Chef Dinner Series. You can find more info and tickets to the Paella Sundays and Patria here.
Finally, there are a few summer series going on that I don’t quite know what to call.
Mian PDX is doing their Chinese-American food and drinks in an Asian Night Market they are calling Mama Huhu in the Renata parking five days a week, Wednesday- Sunday 5 PM – 10 PM till September 3rd. The menu changes but always has a dumpling option, a vegetarian or meat fried rice, and chow mein noodle option, and everything else is on the fly based on what is fresh from their producers. They often post their menu on their Instagram if you want to know before you go, and sometimes they offer char siu. They also may have guest collaborators visiting – including possible paletas desserts like ChuPaleta PDX locally sourced handcrafted paletas, Cocoa Banana Nut bar shown.
When I went I had a hard time stopping myself from eating all the Tomato Beef Chow Mein with flank steak and cherry tomatoes, reminding myself I had to eat half a dozen grilled oysters with chili garlic butter (a special that night working with Jaret of PDX Oyster Social – who I DID include on my Eater PDX summer round up) and a Grilled Oregon Albacore Tuna dish that I had to eat there, while the chow mein and a meat lover’s fried rice were supposed to be my planned hangover foods.
No reservations – just walk in! I was really torn on whether to include this on the pop up list because they are somewhat fixtures since they do it every week more then half the week – it’s really more of a summer series.
Also, every Sunday 1 – 7 PM at Teutonic Winery is a pop up of a different seafood offering to go with the wines for their Seafood Sunday until September. In this case, the common denominator is the winery, but then different chefs show up! They offer some of my favorite whites in all of PDX,
And did I mention that Scout Beer is collaborating to do beer and ice cream ice floats at their brewery and cart at Tidbit everyday they are open with vegan dairy producer Dreamboat Coconuts (I love that they do a push pop form too!)
Am I missing anything else exciting pop up wise or summer series wise – clue me in!! What else should be in the Summer Pop Up Series Dining in Portland list I have? Which of these would you want to try?
Great list, Pech! There are more & more wine pop-ups that I tend to go more to than the full dinner pop-ups, like the Woven Wineworks series (one more left next month!). I could totally dream about alternating between the Paella Sunday pop-ups and the Seafood Sunday pop-ups… both sound incredible!
SO much yummy food – summer is a great time in PDX
I am very impressed with your organization & all the effort you put into this! Thanks.
So many amazing pop-ups – I want to attend them ALL. I’m particularly interested in checking out Chesa for their paella on the patio!
Wow such a great post, so much useful information. I had no idea there were so many pop up’s. I’m totally inspired to go and check some out.