The flood of interesting new restaurants and bars to hit Portland didn’t exactly slow down as summer began to fade. Newcomers for fall include a Michelin-starred barbecue joint from Texas, a homegrown vegan pasta lounge and another pair of Italian restaurants (in a city suddenly inundated with spaghetti and meatballs). Here are 11 new restaurants that opened in Portland this fall, including two Portland hotspots that recently expanded to the suburbs.
Adelleda at Vtopian
Vtopian Artisan Cheeses, Portland’s 12-year-old vegan cheese company, recently moved to a new Northeast Grand Avenue storefront with a counter-service cheese shop, deli and a “refined lounge and pasta residency” dubbed Adelleda, according to a news release. The new restaurant, from chef Riley Shepard (Spiaggia, Chicago), started life as a Southeast Portland food cart focused on fresh pasta with “local, organic, seasonal and wild-foraged ingredients.” Beyond the food, which builds on the former cart’s menu, the lounge is also a hi-fi bar, with records on the wall and a cocktail menu from Meg and Matt Hoang (White Chapel, San Francisco).
Details: Adelleda is open from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday-Monday at 103 N.E. Grand Ave., adelledapdx.com.
Bar Nouveau
Althea Grey Potter grew up in rural Massachusetts with “hippie parents who had a really incredible vegetable garden,” the former Oui Wine Bar chef said, and recipe development tends to start with vegetables. That could explain why at Bar Nouveau, Potter’s new St. Johns restaurant, an early menu star was the Savoy cabbage brushed with sweet pepper gastrique and served on a bed of charred aubergine with pickled habanada peppers, crunchy granola and “a grip of dill.” Bar Nouveau, which Potter describes as a “French inspired, farm-driven bistro,” features a wine list from sommelier Elizabeth Singer that leans toward balanced European imports picked to compliment Potter’s food. After a successful run of pop-ups at Gracie’s Apizza earlier this year, Potter and Singer reached out to Heather Wallberg, the former co-owner of Gabbiano’s, to help organize the restaurant’s front-of-house systems, including its text-based reservations system.
Details: Bar Nouveau is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday-Monday at 7425 N. Leavitt Ave. For reservations, text 503-849-3351; nouveaufoodandwine.com.
Bluto’s and Canard in Beaverton
Beaverton began luring new restaurants to its central core as far back as 2017, sweetening the pot with the promise of safe streets, storefront improvement grants and a local citizenry hungry for more dynamic places to eat. Not all lasted. But the occasional closure hasn’t stopped Portland restaurants from kicking the tires. The latest additions include Canard, Portland’s 2018 Restaurant of the Year, which opened its third location in the former Beaverton Bakery three weeks ago, and Bluto’s, the Greek-inspired restaurant from Lardo and Grassa chef Rick Gencarelli, which debuted its sophomore location in Afuri’s old brick building last Friday.
Details: Canard is open for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch at 12395 S.W. Broadway St., Suite 100; while Bluto’s is open for lunch and dinner daily at 12555 S.W. First St.
One of Coquelico’s monthly dessert offerings will be a cake inspired by artist Mark Rothko’s color field paintings.Courtesy of Kaie Wellman
Coquelico
Portland Art Museum’s soon-to-debut expansion honors artist Mark Rothko with a 22,000-square-foot walkway named for the artist, who spent his later childhood in Portland. But for those who prefer to eat their art — perhaps through a sugar-filled slice of Rothko-inspired cake — the museum has you covered in that arena, too. Ahead of its full reopening on Nov. 20, the museum has been slowly rolling out some of its revamped spaces, including Coquelico, a bistro-style museum café from Providore Fine Foods, the gourmet food market along Northeast Sandy Boulevard. The cafe’s menu pulls from a variety of European and Pacific Northwestern influences, but most of all, from the art itself, including a “Rothko cake” inspired by a piece from the artist’s signature color field series — starting with the vibrant 1956 painting “Orange and Yellow.”
Details: Coquelico is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 1219 S.W. Park Ave., though hours are set to expand once the Rothko Pavilion officially opens on Nov. 20; coquelicopdx.com.
Hey Luigi
Following up on Mama Bird’s transformation into Italian steakhouse Bistecca earlier this year, former “Top Chef” contestant Gabriel Pascuzzi has converted the space previously home to Tip Top Burger Shop and other concepts into this “lively new cocktail and pasta bar,” according to a press release. The menu at Hey Luigi includes house-made bread, burrata with confit tomatoes, fresh pesto pasta, bucatini all’Amatriciana, a hamburger al fromaggio, glazed pistachio doughnuts and adult ice cream floats for dessert.
Details: Hey Luigi is open from 3 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 3 p.m. to midnight Friday-Saturday at 2175 N.W. Raleigh St., 971-279-2731, hey-luigi.com
A tray of meat from the Michelin-starred Austin, Texas barbecue restaurant La Barbecue. The restaurant’s former GM and pitmaster, Ben Vaughan, is moving to Portland to open a “sister restaurant” with brisket, ribs and sausages all smoked the same way.Courtesy of Ben Vaughan
Lil’ Barbecue
This “far west outpost” to Michelin-starred Texas barbecue joint La Barbecue opened last month at Northeast Portland’s Tough Luck bar. As first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, the weather, James Beard and the Portland Pickles all played a role in bringing Lil’ Barbecue to town. But mostly, we can thank Ben Vaughan, whom La Barbecue owner Ali Clem has called her “right and left hand” man, and who needed a change of scenery after a dozen years in Texas, most of them spent working at La Barbecue as a pitmaster and general manager. Portland’s barbecue scene is in pretty good shape these days, but Lil’ Barbecue brings a Lone Star lineage and additional level of credibility to town as one of the four barbecue restaurants to earn a Michelin star from the French food guide’s first foray into Texas last year.
Details: Lil’ Barbecue is open from 3 to 11 p.m Monday-Friday, noon to midnight Saturday and noon to 11 p.m. Sunday inside Tough Luck bar at 1771 N.E. Dekum St., 971-754-4188, toughluckbar.com/lil-barbecue.
Madrina Cocina Mexicana
This new downtown restaurant blends the energy of owner Lucy De Leon’s eastside hotspot La Patroncita with recipes familiar to fans of Salsas Locas, the relocated restaurant previously known as Tortilleria y Tienda De Leon’s. Found across from the Consulate General of Mexico and a few blocks from Portland State University, Madrina Cocina Mexicana serves Mexican food that feels both trendy and comforting, with branded limes, blue corn tortillas, shrimp ceviche and, of course, tacos. A vibrant blue interior with gold accents and hanging wooden screens — a nod to the space’s former life as Japanese restaurant Chef Naoko — give Madrina a cozy, distinctive look. Outside, murals by Mario De Leon Jr. celebrate women’s empowerment, a tribute to the “madrina,” or godmother, who uplifts her community.
Details: Madrina Cocina serves dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 1235 S.W. Jefferson St., 971-339-3816, madrinapdx.com. Next door, El Mercadito is Madrina’s daytime concept, with tacos, burritos and other casual Mexican fare from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Pamana serves a ube pancakes in Portland on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, as part of the brunch menu.Vickie Connor | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Pamana
Geri and Ethan Leung, the duo behind our 2021 Cart of the Year, Baon Kainan, have officially made the jump from food cart to brick-and-mortar. At Pamana, the duo serve their beloved Filipino dishes in the lobby of the hip London-based hotel chain The Hoxton’s Chinatown location. Just past the hotel front desk is an expansive dining room with plenty of space to eat, lounge or set up a laptop to work. On the menu are favorites such as bouncy pancakes draped with eye-catchingly purple ube creme anglaise ($17), adobo-marinated mushrooms tucked snugly inside delicious omelets ($18), a pork belly tocino silog ($18) and crisp lumpia ($10). But it’s not just brunch and lunch — over the past few weeks, Pamana has begun dabbling in dinner service as well.
Details: Pamana serves brunch, lunch and dinner from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and brunch only from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday in the lobby of The Hoxton hotel, 15 N.W. Fourth Ave., pamanapdx.com
Rhinestone
This Southwestern-themed bar took over the former Night Light Lounge last month with “elevated Tex-Mex fast food” from chef Graham Chaney (Stammtisch) and complex cocktails from bartender Trevor Thorpe (Interurban), aiming to “deliver bold flavors and high quality” to the Clinton neighborhood, according to a press release. Rhinestone’s food menu looks positively bonkers: Consider the SPAM slammers, aka sliders built around SPAM crusted in Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, with barbecue sauce, cabbage slaw and pineapple on sweet Hawaiian rolls. Or the Dr Pepper-braised pulled pork and jack cheese flautas. Or the smoked and chicken-fried baby back ribs (what?).
Details: Rhinestone is open from 3 to 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 3 p.m. to midnight Friday-Saturday at 2100 S.E. Clinton St., 971-383-2144, rhinestonepdx.com.
Sunday Sauce
This new Italian-American comfort food restaurant draws inspiration from co-owner Amanda Cannon Winquist’s childhood in New Jersey, offering “a heartfelt homage to the large Sunday meals she experienced growing up in an Italian-American family,” according to a news release. Started as a 2024 pop-up at Normandie, the restaurant Cannon Winquist owns with Judson Winquist, the new 45-seat brick-and-mortar leans deep into the nostalgia of an old school East Coast Italian joint, down to the red-and-white checked placemats. The menu includes cheesy garlic bread, a tasty Caesar salad and the namesake Sunday Sauce, a blate of rigatoni mingling with an impressively meaty beef-pork “sauce.”
Details: Sunday Sauce is open from 4 to 10 p.m Wednesday-Sunday, with plans to eventually expand with counter-service lunch, at 902 N. Killingsworth St., sundaysaucepdx.com
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Dining and Cooking