Critic-Adored Peruvian Spot Paiche Has Closed in SW Portland

While restaurants like taco bar Tope took New Year’s Eve as an opportunity to open, some decided to call it quits in the final days of 2018. Paiche, the Peruvian restaurant known for its exceptional causas and ceviche, has closed, according to the Oregonian. The restaurant space is now for sale, and chef Jose Luis de Cossio is moving to the new Farm Spirit location on SE Belmont.

Although the restaurant was highly celebrated by press and Portlanders alike, Paiche’s closure doesn’t come as the biggest surprise: After Willamette Week named Paiche Restaurant of the Year in 2016, Andina alum de Cossio decided to ditch dinner service and revamp the restaurant significantly, becoming a casual lunch cafe. It’s also worth noting that the restaurant’s location, in a corner of Corbett with little foot traffic, isn’t exactly the business-heavy neighborhood in which lunch counters thrive.

The final closure of 2018 was one of many right-in-the-gut painful goodbyes in a year packed with them: Park Kitchen, Woodsman Tavern, Dub’s, Beaverton Bakery, Old Salt Marketplace, Biwa, and Pazzo all closed this year, not to mention another beloved Peruvian restaurant, La Leña.

• Paiche [Official]
• Paiche [Yelp]
• R.I.P. Paiche: Portland’s one-of-a-kind Peruvian restaurant is for sale [The O]
• Paiche Is The Finest Peruvian Food Portland Has Ever Known, And Our 2016 Restaurant of the Year [WWeek]
• Is Breakout Peruvian Restaurant Paiche ‘Crazy’ to Eliminate Dinner? [EPDX]
• All previous Paiche coverage [EPDX]