Rangoon Bistro cofounder Nick Sherbo is lying on his back, ratcheting loose a countertop at the N Mississippi Little Big Burger. Sherbo, along with partners and co-chefs Alex Saw and David Sai, took over the lease this month, and on March 10, two years to the day after opening their Burmese pop-up turned restaurant's Richmond neighborhood brick-and-mortar, the trio will open a second.

The new Rangoon Bistro sits next door to Blue Star Donuts and Broder Nord, and will function as a second outpost, the chefs explained while tearing out the former tenant’s counters, bringing the same menu of Pacific Northwest twists on tea leaf salads and Malaysian-style fried chicken across town. (Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar’s long history of conflict and outside rule has rendered Burmese cuisine largely an elegant jumble of the food of its neighboring Southeast Asian countries, as well as China and India.) The trio looks forward to the expansion. “Right now, we’re three chefs in an 800-square-foot restaurant,” says Sherbo, which limits their creative freedom and financial viability.

The new space will offer a new specials menu, too. Sherbo says they often overload their regular lineup at the Richmond location with specials, which he calls “a really stupid way to run a restaurant.” He says to look out for the crispy flatbread keema palata, Myanmar’s answer to Indian paratha and Thai and Indian roti. In the summer: a slew of satay skewers grilled on the patio, including myriad cuts of chicken similar to yakitori, to dip in peanut and sweet fermented soy sauce, and the Sichuan-like spicy Kayah sausage, named for its birthplace in the southeast corner of Myanmar. 

The group’s goals expand far beyond opening a second restaurant. They launched as a farmers market stall in 2017, giving many Portlanders their first taste of Burmese food and forging lasting relationships with local purveyors. (Saw and Sai were born in Myanmar; Sherbo is American.) They are eager to support and help grow the local farming ecosystem. For example, their fresh tea leaves for the infallibly delicious lahpet thoke—cabbage seasoned with fermented tea leaves and topped with crispy chickpeas—come directly from Minto Island in the Willamette Valley. Stewards Valley farm, in Oregon City, grows specific herbs and vegetables for the restaurant, including the tangy, herbaceous lemon basil that “goes in everything,” and the long, cylindrical Southeast Asian squash, snake gourd, which they serve traditionally, hollowed and stuffed with sausage.

Their strongest relationship is perhaps with Dreamfields Farm in Oregon City. “We buy pretty much everything they can produce,” Sherbo says, adding that the farm is in the process of doubling its production. “As we grow, they can grow,” he says.

Tossing a sheet of plywood into a scrap pile, Sherbo says that the second location will expand their impact. “Volume going up is gonna make it easier, not harder,” he says. Easier to support local farms. Easier to pay their staff and themselves. And easier for anyone strolling Mississippi to nab a teas leaf salad.