New Opening Dates for Fire & Stone, Le Vieux, Purringtons Cat Lounge

Fire and Stone: The bakery and restaurant moving into the old Wilshire Market & Deli space on NE Fremont is still finishing the massive renovation on the space and won't be opening this month. Owner/baker Jeff Smalley says he's aiming to open the week before Christmas. Excitement is definitely building about the prospect of wood-fired pizza and Italian-focused salads and entrees from the crew that includes alums from Grand Central Baking, Ken's Artisan Pizza, and Little Bird Bistro. "People are already calling trying to make reservations and we're still probably three or so weeks out," Smalley told Eater last week.

Le Vieux: Brian Leitner and Annette Yang, the former Bay Area chefs transforming the Noisette space into a more casual neighborhood restaurant serving Old World Mediterranean cuisine, say their build-out has been delayed a bit. Like Smalley, they're also aiming to open by the third week of December.

Purringtons Cat Lounge: Portland's first cat cafe at 3529 NE MLK Blvd. was hoping to be open by December, but now they're looking at early January. Menu details are still TBD, but one thing seems certain: The health department won't allow the cats to be in the cafe, so you'll have to go into the adjacent cat lounge/adoption center to get your feline fix.