Kachka is moving

The much-loved zakuski spot on SE Grand, which opened in 2014, will move to a new, 2,980-square-foot space at the Goat Blocks development at 960 SE 11^th Ave in the summer of 2017, the Portland Business Journal reports. Meanwhile, the old space will remain open as a sort of casual homage to the original, serving popular dishes like the dumplings, "Herring Under a Fur Coat,” and vodka infusions.

Co-owner Bonnie Morales tells Eat Beat that the bigger, better Kachka will be fundamentally the same, with a few upgrades: a focus on summer Soviet cooking, including an outdoor patio and a year-round mangal grill (a kind of Turkish/Middle Eastern barbecue). It will also house an Eastern European deli and specialty store, selling sandwiches for lunch, salads, smetana (sour cream), pickles, and Kachka’s horseradish vodka. 

Salt & Straw expands to San Fran 

The ice cream titans continue their march towards world domination. Next up: San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle breaks the news of two upcoming locations—one at 2201 Fillmore St, expected to open in spring 2017, with a second to follow in Hayes Valley. The Portland-born ice cream moguls already have four locations here and four in Los Angeles.

House Spirits sells Aviation Gin 

The 12-year-old distillery operation has sold its flagship gin brand, Aviation, to New York-based Davos Brands. Per CEO Tom Mooney: “We now realize that the brand we created—and will continue to distill at our home in Portland—can be something even bigger in someone else’s hands.” Meanwhile, it’ll be business as usual at House Spirits in industrial Southeast Portland (and at PDX Int’l!), with a focus on developing their Westward Oregon Single Malt Whiskey, and a new “cane to glass” rum from Guatemala, set to hit shelves spring of 2017.

Taylor Railworks does lunch

Southeast Industrial’s “borderless American” restaurant from former Le Pigeon chef Erik Van Kley is now open midday. The lunch menu offers smaller versions of dinner hits, like the citrus salad with whipped goat cheese, and marcona almonds or ricotta tortellini with smoked soy broth and matsutake mushroom, along with new plates like Dungeness crab curry and rotating lunch cocktail specials.