You're reading our weekly Canteen newsletter, about the best in Portland restaurants, bars, dinners, and parties. Let’s dig in..
🍽️ Currently eating: Fish and chips from Ship Out in Astoria.
Kid-Friendly Restaurants
For many Oregon schools, next week is spring break. For kids, that means a week of freedom from classes, homework, and other obligations. But for parents that often means a suddenly busy and packed home. To help ease some of the challenges of a full house, we gathered a list of Portland’s best, most kid-friendly restaurants.
As the associate editor managing our restaurant coverage, it fell to me to write the list, which presented a particular challenge: I don’t have kids of any age, just a number of cats I get to spend time with. Luckily, that hurdle was quickly addressed by my fabulous colleagues at Portland Monthly, many of whom have children, from toddlers to teenagers. That means they have plenty of experience, and input, in the restaurants that are actually great places to take the whole family. Spots like Sushi Ichiban, Boke Bowl, and Slappy Cakes are regular stomping grounds for several of my colleagues when they have little ones in tow.
Working on the list evoked a bit of childhood nostalgia for me around Old Wives’ Tales, a piece of Old Portland that sat for more than three decades on the corner of 13th and E Burnside. When I was growing up, I would romp through the colorfully painted play area while my mom built a meal at the vegetarian-friendly salad and soup bar, a novelty at the time. Old Wives’ Tales closed in 2014–I believe its lot is now home to an apartment building.
2PM TO MIDNIGHT SAT, MAR 22 | 930 SE OAK ST, FREE or $20 - $25
The fabulous Bauman’s On Oak is reviving its Remystify party for an evening of dancing, dining, and imbibing. Going down at the spacious restaurant and cidery, the free party kicks off at 2pm with pizza by the slice from chef Daniel Green, cocktails from legendary bartender Jim Meehan, and beats from DJ Nature. At 8pm it switches to a ticketed affair with New York’s Chances With Wolves taking over the music until midnight. Presale tickets are $20, $25 at the door.
Speed Rack, the national, all-women bartending competition, is returning for its 13th year with a tour stop at the Evergreen in Portland. On Monday, 20 Pacific Northwest bartenders will compete for advancement to finals, held this summer in New Orleans. The Portland portion is always a rowdy, raucous, and good-natured event, with crowds cheering on their favorite contestants. The competition acts a fundraiser, with 100 percent of ticket sales going towards breast cancer research and prevention.
By night, Café Olli serves some of the best pizza in the city and an Italian-leaning dinner menu that takes full advantage of a world-class bread program. When the sun’s up, look for Portuguese pastéis de nata, little tarts with a pleasantly bitter, oven-burnished custard filling. The laminated pastries also delight, including a formidable chocolate croissant and a series of seasonal Danishes, but don’t leave without one of the city’s best chocolate chip cookies: salty, with a gooey middle and crisp, buttery edges.
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In other news...
McCormick & Schmick’s is closing its last Oregon restaurant. (OregonLive)
Newly opened Javelina is already on the move, changing to a Cully location in April. (Eater PDX)
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