Portland News to Chew

Image: Allison Jones
Southeast
• Southeast Belmont Italian cafe Accanto is launching weekday lunch and happy hour service on Wednesday, October 30. For lunch, look out for radicchio salads with bacon vinaigrette and fried egg, smoked chicken Caesar, meatball and eggplant heros, pasta, and gnocchi. At happy hour, expect deviled eggs and house charcuterie. Lunch hours: Wednesday through Friday, 11 am-3 pm; Happy hours: 3-5 pm. 2838 SE Belmont St
• Sake-infused vodka, intricately painted murals created by artist Souther Salazar, and open-beamed ceilings...what else could be necessary for Voicebox Southeast's grand opening on November 14? Oh wait, two huge screens in every private room—allowing us all to come together and relish the funny, surprising, and sometimes flat-out terrible renditions sung by friends feeling the delectable liquid courage this karaoke venue and bar provides. We'll see you there. 726 SE 6th Ave
• Despite losing chef Kevin Gibson on November 2, SE Hawthorne's Evoe offers its curious patrons some good news: the restaurant will move forward without him. Meanwhile, Gibson will soon open his new eatery Davenport in the former June space on E Burnside. 3735 SE Hawthorne
• Dedicated gluten-free brewery Harvester Brewing has lead the charge to include the gluten-averse among us in Portland’s celebrated beer culture, so it should be no surprise that they’re opening the city’s first entirely gluten-free gastropub. It’s fortunate that gluten free cooking is presumably easier than gluten-free brewing, as the Harvester crew are currently working out of a seriously MacGyver’ed kitchen: they have only a few hot plates, a sandwich press, and a convection oven at their disposal. Plans are in the works to expand a full kitchen, but in the meantime the limited resources aren’t keeping former French Laundry and Ad Hoc kitchenman Neil Davidson from offering menu items like a burger on a gluten-free bun and braised short ribs with kale and polenta. 2030 SE 7th Ave
• Want to take the edge off without having to venture off the streetcar line? Portlanders will soon have another outlet to satisfy their thirst for locally sourced bottles with a new urban winery set to open in February. Robert Karmin and Phil Kramer, the vintners behind Mollalla-based AlexEli, are teaming up with restaurateur Kurt Huffman and developers Dave Schrott and Robert Sacks to make their first foray into PDX as they unveil Coopers Hall, an 8,000-square-foot taproom in Southeast Portland that will feature 40 different wines available by the glass or growler—a tap selection that outpaces any in the country. 404 SE Sixth Ave
North
• Peter Bro's Broder Nord is now softly open on North Interstate, offering the eatery's signature brunch and lunch dishes and a market offering grab-and-go dishes and home goods from 9 am to 3 pm. The Scandinavian eatery and marketplace will celebrate its grand opening on November 12—11/12/13, for the numerically amused—with a seafood-focused dinner menu and extended hours. Stay tuned for more details and opening week photos on Eat Beat! 2240 N Interstate Ave
Oregon
• Olive oil might not be the first Willamette Valley-grown liquid luxury that comes to mind, but now that we've got it, it's some of the best in the country. The Wall Street Journal recently included Oregon Olive Mill's Tuscan Extra Virgin Olive Oil in its list of the top five best US produced olive oils. With its spicy, earthy flavors, the oil can be a substitute for black pepper in classic, homey dishes. $18.95/375ml
National (aka Pok Pok Wire)
• On Saturday, October 26 Pok Pok’s Andy Ricker got the NPR spotlight treatment to celebrate the release of the Pok Pok cookbook—and a familiar voice joined him on Weekend Edition: Portland Monthly’s own food critic Karen Brooks gave her two cents about the chef’s daring Thai empire (Sample Brooksism: "It marched into your mouth like sour bombs, and fire, and like more funk than a James Brown record. It was infectious, and there was no cure. There was no going back."). Listen in here!
• In other Pok Pok news, the empire's NYC location has been so successful that people are scared to brave the seemingly ever-present line. To combat this issue, a new “line cam” has been installed so would-be diners can see how long their wait might be. We’d ask why we don’t have such a thing in Portland, but considering that we’re a city of people willing to wait 90 minutes for a scoop of ice cream, it really doesn’t seem necessary.
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