New Chicken Shop Mama Bird Will Close Temporarily to Address Smoke Complaints

It’s Friday, which means it’s time for the weekly EaterWire round up of all those news items we didn’t quite cover. This week’s food news cycle was dominated by the sex discrimination complaint against Eastside Distilling and the now-canceled A.I. surveillance test at a local Outback Steakhouse, but a few stories did fall through the cracks. Read on for more:

GHOSTS OF SATURDAY NIGHT — Southeast Grind, Portland’s only 24-hour coffee shop, closes Saturday night after 10 years on SE Powell. The coffee shop has been a respite for everyone from college students to dancers at local strip clubs, as well as homeless residents around Portland. [Willamette Week]

SMOKED OUT — Mama Bird, the Northwest Portland grilled chicken shack from the man behind Stacked Sandwich Shop, will temporarily close Sunday because of a wave of smoke-related complaints in the neighborhood. The restaurant plans to install a $100,000 smoke “scrubber,” which should help mitigate the smoke from the restaurant’s necessary grills. The restaurant is expected to close for three weeks. [Oregonian]

LUNCH RUSH — Chef Naoko Tamura, the Japanese chef behind Eater-Award-winning restaurant Shizuku, will begin selling bentos at the Japanese department store Muji next Monday, October 28. The bentos will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. (or until sold out) Monday through Friday, at 621 SW 5th Avenue. [EaterWire]

DUMPLING HOUR — While its less-expensive sister restaurant remains closed for repairs, Russian destination Kachka is offering a late-night happy hour inspired by the temporarily shuttered Kachinka. From 10 p.m. to midnight Thursdays through Saturdays, visitors can eat $9 bowls of dumplings, drink $6 Moscow Mules, or choose from a number of shot-and-a-beer specials involving Kachka’s famous infused vodkas. Plus, the restaurant is offering some of the more inventive Kachinka snacks, like its “Vladimir Poutine” and its Red October meatball sub. [EaterWire]

Clarification: October 25, 2019, at 10:45 am.
This story has been changed to clarify that the restaurant Mama Bird is closing voluntarily.