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SE Bar Chapel Hill Has Closed Within Its First Year

A continually updated list of restaurant, bar, and cafe closures in Portland

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Nachos at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill/Facebook

Keep up with every shuttered restaurant, bar, and coffee shop in Portland by bookmarking this page — Eater will be continuously updating it with closure notices throughout all of 2018. Seen any bankruptcy notices or papered-over windows in your neighborhood? Tell us about it.

The Latest

CHAPELS FALLING DOWN — Chapel Hill, the bar from the team behind popular NE watering hole Church, has permanently closed for “circumstances beyond (its) control,” according to a Facebook post December 19. The bar had just opened in the spring of 2018, serving chorizo dumplings and coffee cocktails. [EaterWire]

BLESSED GOODBYE — The McMinnville location of Bless Your Heart Burgers, the burger brand from Portland restaurateur John Gorham, announced its closure December 16. The restaurant’s location in Pine Street Market remains open. [EPDX]

CHOPPED DOWN — The Woodsman Tavern, Stumptown founder Duane Sorenson’s Southern-ish restaurant in SE Portland, closed December 1. The restaurant was home to several high-profile Portland chefs over the years, including Top Chef finalist Doug Adams. Tasty n’ Daughters, a new restaurant from John Gorham’s popular restaurant group, will open in its place. [EPDX]

November 2018

NO MORE NECTAR — Vegan and gluten-free cafe A Little Nectar has closed in Lents. The cafe was known for its waffles, which came with toppings like mushroom gravy and spiced apples, as well as its intricate latte art. Its sister restaurant, Nectar Cafe, remains open. [EPDX]

SMOKE OUT — Smokehouse Tavern, the Buckman barbecue restaurant owned by Top Chef alum B.J. Smith, closed on November 11, making room for his new sorta-Polish restaurant Delores. Delores is set to open December 6. [EPDX]

FALLING STAR — Blue Star Donuts has closed its location on SE Hawthorne, moving its doughnut shop to SE Division. Popular breakfast sandwich cart Fried Egg I’m in Love will take its place. [EPDX]

CLOSED ON 31ST — Portland Brewing has shuttered its NW 31st restaurant, focusing on its beer distribution alone. The restaurant opened 24 years ago, eight years after the pioneering brewery opened. [EPDX]

PORTLAND PUB PASSES AWAY — Alameda Brewhouse, the restaurant for Alameda Brewing on Fremont, closed November 3, soon to be followed by the brewery. Alameda opened in 1996, known for its Black Bear XX Stout. [EPDX]

October 2018

ARRIVEDERCI, ACCANTO — The neighborhood Italian restaurant once sibling to Portland institution Genoa served its last bowl of pasta October 27. According to owner Trish Eiting, the restaurant didn’t close because of a lack of business; chef Erik Van Kley says “it was clear this wasn’t for (him)” by mid-2018, and it’s been hard for Eiting to hold down a chef since the restaurant opened almost 10 years ago. No news yet on what’s taking its place. [EPDX, The Oregonian]

NO CHEFS IN THE KITCHEN — High-end chef-maker restaurant Park Kitchen closed for public dinner service October 27, focusing on events and pop-ups starting this week. The restaurant still accommodates private parties of 6 to 30, according to a Facebook post, but don’t expect to walk in for a mid-week date. This closure comes weeks after the restaurant was slapped with a massive fine due to a class-action lawsuit. [EPDX]

FLOWN THE COOP — Contemporary Americana restaurant Roost has quietly shuttered on SE Belmont. The only news of the closure came from a new recorded message on the restaurant’s phone line, saying the lowkey breakfast mainstay was sold on October 16. The news slowly began to spread through user posts on Instagram and Yelp. No word as to why chef-owner Megan Henzel decided to sell. [Portland Food and Drink, The O]October 2018

BYE BYE BARBECUEClay’s Smokehouse has closed on SE Division, according to a Facebook post on the restaurant’s website. The smokehouse reopened last year in a new spot on that street, but according to the post, the neighborhood’s construction projects made the restaurant inaccessible to diners. Clay’s will try to reopen, so stay tuned. [Portland Mercury]

CLUCKING OUT — Fried chicken mainstay Dub’s St. Johns closed October 13. The restaurant had hopped around a number of locations before settling on its St. Johns restaurant space. A post on the restaurant’s Facebook page attributed the decision to close to insufficient profits and an unsustainable business model. [EPDX]

September 2018

CAKEWALKED AWAY — Beaverton Bakery permanently closed in late September, following an announcement on its now-deleted Facebook page. The bakery was open for almost 100 years, a no-brainer for wedding cakes across the Portland Metro Area. Whether the bakery actually completed their last orders — or paid people back — is up for debate. [EPDX, FOX 12]

LOSING LOUIS — Ray, the Israeli restaurant by chef Jenn Louis, closed September 29 after dinner service, according to a tweet she posted Sunday morning. The chef says she’s taking a sabbatical from the restaurant world, after years of owning restaurants like Ray, Sunshine Tavern, and Lincoln. [EPDX]

CLOSING TIME — Lompoc Tavern, the first Lompoc location in Portland, will close for service Wednesday, September 26. The brewery still has locations open on North Williams and SE Bybee. [EPDX]

EMPTY CUPS — Cup & Saucer has closed two of its three locations in Kenton and on Killingsworth. A new cafe has opened in the Kenton location, and a new bistro called Jinx will open in the Northeast Portland location. The remaining Cup & Saucer on Hawthorne has been open for almost 30 years. [EaterWire]

CRUSHED — SE 7th winemakers Urban Crush closed its shared winery space at the beginning of the month, the company announced on Facebook. Urban Crush’s wine brand, Angel Vine, will still produce zinfandels without that location, which will turn into a cider house. [EaterWire]

IRISH GOODBYE — Fremont Irish pub County Cork closed unexpectedly September 18 with no real explanation for the closure; Eater PDX has reached out for more information. “Our hearts are breaking a little, and that has everything to do with who you all are and what you’ve meant to us over the many years,” the Facebook post reads. “We sure will miss this and you.” [EaterWire]

HEARTBREAK — Casual pizza chainlet Sweet Heart Pizza closed its NE 7th location, opening its first restaurant just last year. The SW Gaines shop remains open, and a new restaurant from the same owners should open in the former location. [EPDX]

LAST RITES — NW 23rd Belgian beer bar The Abbey closed without announcement, just days before neighboring brewpub Lompoc Tavern announced its plans to close. Its sibling location on NW 21st is still serving witbier and Belgian waffles. [WWeek]

ADIOS, ALMA — Beloved candy shop Alma Chocolate shuttered its SE 7th location September 7, though the chocolate company still has a shop open on NE 28th. It should be noted, however, that the company has been sold to larger Portland chocolate outfit Moonstruck. [EPDX, PoMo]

WEI WEI WANES — Sellwood Taiwanese cafe Wei Wei ladled its last bowl of beef noodle soup September 2. According to a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page, the restaurant closed because of the owner’s heath. [EPDX]

August 2018

CARTED OFF — Nong’s Khao Man Gai closed its very first cart downtown August 31 as construction looms in the Alder street food cart pod. Owner Nong Poonsukwattana opened the original cart in 2009; she now owns two restaurants and a line of retail sauces. [EPDX]

PHO-GET ABOUT IT — SE Hawthorne Vietnamese restaurant Pho Dalat closed without announcement earlier this year. The restaurant of the same name on NE Sandy remains open. [EPDX]

RINGSIDE SETS SAIL — RingSide has reeled in its seafood restaurant, RingSide Fish House. That leaves only the steakhouse, after the east side location closed last year. [EPDX]

SUBE ROLLS OUT — Old town sushi spot and sake bar Sube closed August 12, while hinting at a new concept for the team. It had been open for four years. [EPDX]

July 2018

SO LONG, OLD SALT — Beloved butchery and restaurant Old Salt Marketplace has shut its doors, after announcing its decision to close on July 31 in a newsletter. Some of the restaurant’s favorites will arrive at the sister restaurant, Grain & Gristle, but those cocktails and cuts of meat are no more. [EPDX]

ARRIVADERCI, BEPPE — Pearl District trattoria Nicoletta + Beppe’s stopped tossing pastas July 18 due to “lease negotiations,” according to a press release. The restaurant had been two other Italian restaurants beforehand. The restaurant’s sister businesses, Nicoletta’s Table and Nicoletta’s Caffe, remain open. [EPDX]

THAI GOODBYE — Portland State University favorite Baan Thai closed earlier this year, after more than 15 years serving famously spicy classics in that neighborhood. A new restaurant called Spice Thai Kitchen will fill that restaurant space. [EPDX]

June 2018

BYE BYE BIWA — Arguably Portland’s most famous izakaya, Biwa closed on June 9 after 11 years serving fried kimchi and kara age to Portlanders. Biwa spent years on the local Eater 38, and was often celebrated nationally. Its sister restaurant, Noraneko, remains open. [EPDX]

CALLING A FOUL Pearl Tavern, the bar owned by ex-professional quarterback Joey Harrington, closed after a year and a half of business on June 5. The high-end sports bar is transforming into a local outpost of a family-friendly Washington brewery. [EPDX, New School]

May 2018

VILLAGE HISTORY — Multnomah Village institution O’Connor’s closed its doors after 30 years in the area and 70 years open. The Southern-ish tavern closed May 31st, serving its final bowls of jambalaya and gumbo. [EPDX]

ADIOS ON FREMONT — High-end Mexican restaurant Chalino closed May 29, scrapping its whole concept to start over with a familiar face. Johanna Ware, the celebrated chef behind buzzy “inauthentic Asian” restaurant Smallwares, is reopening her beloved restaurant in the same space, keeping most of the Chalino staff on board. [The O]

EURO FAVORITE — Castagna’s more casual counterpart, Café Castagna, closed on May 19 after 18 years of doing European-tinged bistro dishes on SE Hawthorne. But don’t worry: owner Monique Siu is planning to open a neo-bistrot wine bar in the same location. [PoMo]

THE FINAL EXPEDITION — Quintessential Mom’s-in-town restaurant Meriwether’s closed on May 13 — Mother’s Day — as it prepares to reopen as a rooftop-only restaurant in a new construction. The building will become an event space. [The O]

PASSING THE WURST — Brat-happy sausage spot OP Wurst is switching things up, closing all its current restaurants in Portland to become Olympia Provisions Public House. The new spots will stick to Alpine-style dishes, ditching outrageous OP Wurst dogs like the Frito Pie dog and the mac and cheese dog. [EaterWire]

April 2018

SCHOOL’S OUT — Cafeteria-chic Buckman Public House, the massive restaurant in the renovated Washington High School building, closed without announcement in April, shutting down the website and reporting the restaurant as “permanently closed” on Yelp. The building’s other restaurants, Marthas and the sunny Roof Deck patio, remain open. [EaterWire]

ANOTHER SE HAWTHORNE SHUTTER — Homey Peruvian spot La Leña closed in early April after less than a year in business, with the co-owners stating that they’re moving “on to new adventures.” [EaterWire]

HISTORIC COFFEE — Texas company Farmer Brothers has decided to shut down Portland’s 118-year-old Boyd Coffee Company later this year (Boyd’s was bought out in 2016). All Boyd’s storefronts are set to be closed by October 1, leaving 230 employees without jobs. [Oregon Public Broadcasting]

BURGER NO MORE — The American Local checked out of Portland’s dining scene in early April, taking its juicy sirloin-brisket-short rib with it. Owners Chris Whaley and Jenny Nickolaus cited a slowdown in business after the 2016 election as the reason for the shutter. [Portland Mercury]

March 2018

ROLL WITH THE CHANGESChopsticks III, the beloved karaoke bar’s NoPo location, announced on Facebook that the building has been sold. The bar closed its Burnside outpost in 2014, leaving only NE Sandy as a holdout for honest, drunken-belting revelry. March 17 is the last night, so now’s the time to prepare that REO Speedwagon cover. [WWeek]

GOODBYE, SPIKE Spike’s Hot Dogs announced its impending closure on Facebook after only two years open. Founder Spike Friedman passed away in February, and current owner Robert Parsons said that the loss of Friedman, combined with the “financial and physical challenges” of running Spike’s, is forcing him to retire the hot dog spot. [EaterWire]

CRACKED EGGS — Gail and Elizabeth Buchanan, owners of The Big Egg, hung up aprons and spatulas and shut their doors at the end of February. The Big Egg wasn’t the only breakfast spot to shutter; Sweet Jam closed both of its locations this month, saying goodbye to jazz brunch and catfish waffles. [EaterWire]

SUSHI UNCHAINED — An Eater tipster reports that the Hollywood location for Portland-based sushi mini chain Sushi Mio has shuttered — the location has been nixed from the company’s website, and nobody is answering the phone, so that seems fairly definitive. There’s still several locations around Portland and beyond, though. A restaurant named Bi Bim Bap House is set to take its place on NE Halsey — it’s an import from Salem, a Korean restaurant that seems to be both charitable and well-liked in that city. [EaterWire]

Supplied

PHO X BACON AND EGGS — The Mercury reports that pho and American-breakfast restaurant Toast and Pho closed up for good on West Burnside at some stage in January. [Portland Mercury]

February 2018

RESTAURANT TURNED BAR — Portland Mercury’s weekly food round-up reveals that longstanding Montavilla Chinese restaurant Chinese Village has closed its kitchen for good, although the bar on site is still open. That also means that the towering neon sign that marks the decades-old restaurant is safe (for now), too. [Portland Mercury]

VEGETARIAN CARTS — Sandwich-makers DC Vegetarian opened up a permanent location on SE 50th and Division, but that means that the downtown DC food cart’s future is in jeopardy, according to Portland Monthly. It remains open for now, but the owners said they’d “love to sell it”. [PoMo]

CARTED AWAY — Fancy French-inspired food cart Le Pantry seems to have shuttered at its SE 28th location near Burnside. The Oregonian declared that chef Adam Merlin’s food made it one of the top ten carts in the city for 2017, but at present there have been no social media updates for months, the phone is disconnected, Facebook messages haven’t been returned, and an Eater tipster notes that the cart’s signage has come down — which seems fairly ominous, all up. (A second Eater tipster reports that Merlin has moved to Los Angeles, hence the closure.) [EaterWire]

DISSOCIATED — Pizza and taco spot Associated is set to close, with restaurant Holdfast Dining and pop-up bar Deadshot to split its space. [The Oregonian]

January 2018

BACK TO VEGAS — Las Vegas burger and shake import Holsteins shut its doors in the Pearl District at the end of January. [EaterWire]

DIVE DEATH — Old-school dive Blackwell’s Grub Steak Grill checked out of Hollywood after longtime owner Jan DeLorme died — it had been around for 35 years. [WWeek]

LAST OF ITS KIND — The dim sum scene in Chinatown is officially deceased, as the Oregonian reports that 30-year-old dim sum restaurant House of Louie shut its doors. According to the owner (via the newspaper), the restaurant’s lease was up, and it also sustained damage from a fire that a homeless couple sleeping next to the restaurant started. Owner James Leong also pointed out that downtown rents were simply too steep to operate, to boot. [The Oregonian]

CLOSURES ON TOP OF CLOSURES — In a whopping pile of late-January shutters, wine spot Tesoaria, bakery Philippe’s Bread, sweethearts Flapjak Creperie, and Japanese comfort food spot Kalé all closed their doors, while the Portland Soup Company announced that it would vacate the PSU food cart pod in May. Read the full report here. [EaterWire]

BROKEN HEART — One of Heart Pizza’s three locations shuttered sometime around the new year in the West End. [EaterWire]

NO MORE CHEAP LUNCH — House of Louie wasn’t the only Chinese restaurant to vanish in the new year, as downtown affordable lunch staple Mandarin Cove also drew the curtains on its spacious dining room, as per the same story in the Oregonian.

RUE-NED — After a year and a half, chef Jason Roberts’ Rue called it quits in early January, with the chef noting to Eater that he had other projects in the works. [EaterWire]

DEBUNKED — Meat-in-between-bread chain Bunk Sandwiches closed down its very first location on SE Morrison, with Pizza Jerk set to move in. [EaterWire]

ROCK IS DEAD — It’s not exactly a surprise, but it finally happened: Ankeny Alley-adjacent bar and music venue Ash Street Saloon closed for good on New Year’s Eve after 23 years in business. The boisterous downtown bar had been on death row since at least early 2017, partly due to a development, The Ankeny Blocks, which also looked like it might push out some downtown food cart pods.

MIXED BAG — Wholesome Blends, Amadeus Manor, and Tina’s Corner all shut their doors in early January, while Sellwood’s Penguin Pub and Eatery announced that its days were numbered and that it likely wouldn’t open beyond early summer — read the full report. [EaterWire]

A TRAGIC DEATH — Top vegan restaurant Harvest at the Bindery is closed after owner Jon Steuer dies — read the full story. [EaterWire]

HOTEL DINING — Kimpton Hotel Vintage’s Italian restaurant Pazzo closed at the start of January after 25 years, but the hotel is set to bring in a replacement, which will also be Italian. [The Oregonian]

IT’S OVER — Overlook’s eponymous Greek diner, the Overlook Restaurant, is closing January 21. All the details are here. [WWeek]

YE OLDE TACOS — The city’s oldest Mexican restaurant(s), The Original Taco House, closed the doors of its two remaining locations for good on December 31 — the full explanation is here. [EaterWire]

INDEFINITELY — Russell Street music venue Local Celebrity closed down at the beginning of the year with a statement on Facebook: “I’m sorry to say that, as of 1/1/18, the Local Celebrity is closed indefinitely. I’d like to thank all the people that believed in us and supported us, came out to shows and played them, and generally made this a really enjoyable place to be over the last four months.” [Facebook]

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