It’s the cycle of Life in the Portland food scene. This week is your last chance to dine at two neighborhood restaurants (sob), and we’ve got two new pop-ups to check out, both offering takes on Mexican street food dishes rarely seen in Portland.

Giant Quesadillas Arrive in Portland

Machetes, 4–10 p.m. Mon, July 31, 916 SE 34th Ave. Last week, husband-and-wife team Diego Palacios and McKenna Trout’s pop-up sold out within hours. So show up early for their next one, hosted at wine bar Company. The stars of the show are machetes, a favorite Mexico City street food that are like giant quesadillas, named for their blade-like shape. Clocking in at up to 20 inches wide, they feature handmade corn tortillas with swirls of masa, stuffed with gooey queso Oaxaca and your choice of guisados (stews). The beauty of the machete is that since it’s so long, you can fit up to four guisados in one, nestled side by side (choose from braised beef, pressed chicharron, chorizo with potatoes, or huitlacoche). There’s also vegan cheese available. You might recognize Palacios and Trout from their day jobs at OK Omens and Gado Gado, respectively. 

Four Takes on the Mexican Burger 

Paradise Hamburguesas, 4–10 p.m. Thu–Fri, noon–10 p.m. Sat–Sun, 2821 NE Davis St. A pop-up serving four different Mexican hamburgers has taken root on Güero’s covered, misted patio for the summer. It’s the latest from Megan Sanchez, owner and chef at Güero, whose signature hamburguesa has a loyal following, including yours truly: it's stacked with two patties, avocado, jalapeños, ham, American cheese, and queso botanero. Now, Sanchez is expanding the concept to include a vegetarian burger with grilled poblano, queso Oaxaca, and American cheese (it falls somewhere between a chile relleno and a grilled cheese sandwich). There’s also a camarones burger, which combines Valentina-tossed shrimp with crisp cheese and cucumbers, and a maximalist Joy Royale burger with hot dog, ham, pineapple, avocado, onions, and jalapeños. Round out your meal with Paradise's own cocktails, grapefruit curd shortbread sandwiches, killer elotes or gelato. 

Gone…for now?

Goodbye, Yui

This Thai restaurant run by a mother-daughter team—Chalunthorn “Yui” Schaeffer and her mother, “Mama Ta”—will have its last service on Saturday, July 29. Yui opened in the fall of 2020 in the bustling restaurant corridor at NE Killingsworth Street and 30th Avenue, and became known for signature dishes like sakoo (chewy tapioca dumplings stuffed with peanut and radish) and pad kee mao (made with squid ink pasta), plus imaginative cocktails (yuzu vodka, butterfly pea syrup, and lemongrass bitters, anyone?). Schaeffer told Portland Monthly that she’s closing because its space was too small to serve enough food to thrive. She and Mama Ta plan to run pop-ups in the future. 

La Moule Closes July 31

Seafood-focused, French-inspired restaurant La Moule opened in 2015 on SE Clinton Street, a sister to the higher-end French restaurant St. Jack. La Moule’s closure marks the second of three related restaurants to call it quits from restaurant group Chefstable, following the October 2022 closure of Lac St. Jack, St. Jack’s Lake Oswego outpost. La Moule did not directly cite reasons for the shuttering in its Instagram farewell, but a year of pandemic shutdown certainly didn’t help. In an interview with OPB in January 2022, chef Aaron Barnett (also of St. Jack) said that amid successive waves of COVID-19, business “was hot and heavy for a while, and then it started petering off … it’s challenging.” Stop by for a last order of its mussels, which also adorn the restaurant’s wallpaper.