Updated: Vitaly Paley Replaces Portland Penny Diner with New Pizza Bar

Updated, 10:48 a.m., 5/26/17: The Crown at Imperial will indeed replace Portland Penny Diner, the restaurant confirms in an email to Eater. Get inside for your final Reuben croissant by May 26. When The Crown at Imperial opens — likely mid-June — it’ll serve lunch, happy hour, and dinner seven days a week.

Original coverage: Portland’s pizza scene is off the hook right now, and the development hasn’t gone unnoticed by Portland culinary godfather Vitaly Paley: This June, he plans to open The Crown by Imperial inside the Hotel Lucia, according to the O. Located at 410 SW Broadway, the downtown hotel is currently home to two Paley restaurants, Imperial and Portland Penny Diner, and the latter will close May 26 to undergo a remodel. The remodel will include adding a pizza oven and replacing the diner’s large, spinning-penny sign with a spinning crown.

What does this mean for Portland Penny Diner exactly? Eater has reached out to the restaurant and will publish an update as soon as more specifics emerge.

Other details are still sparse regarding The Crown at Imperial, but the O does say the pizzas will be globally influenced and could center on “12-inch, New York-inspired pies” topped with ingredients made in-house at Paley’s other restaurants, like charcuterie from Headwaters. Also developing the menu are Vinny Manna, the sous chef at Headwaters, and Matthew Jarrell, chef at Imperial.

And behind the stick? Imperial bar manager Lindsay Baker and bartender Nick Cifuni are running the cocktail show.

• Vitaly Paley takes on pizza at upcoming downtown Portland bar [Oregonian]