Castagna is Launching a Whole New Tasting Menu Experience

Another week, another flurry of opening announcements to look forward to, as well as actual openings like the long-awaited H-Mart in SE Portland. Meanwhile, it would be really, really great if people would stop breaking into restaurants. Beyond the big stories there are a number of quick news updates to find below. Let’s get into it.

Bold New Menus — As of April, Castagna has wowed diners for 20 years with its ever-changing approach to fine dining. To celebrate, the team is mixing things up with a new, twice-weekly tasting menu that will be “short in length but big and intense in size, flavor, and concept,” according to executive chef Justin Woodward. The tasting menus will be around $75 and will run Wednesday and Thursday nights for two months each starting April 24. [PoMo]

Veggies Give Back — Imperfect Produce is already an important proponent of sustainability, delivering fruits and vegetables that lack supermarket-good-looks at a discount. In January of 2019, though, it got even better by donating returned, used boxes to the Oregon Food Bank; prior to the exchange, the OFB had been forced to buy all of its own boxes. Recently, Imperfect Produce hit 20,000 donated boxes. [EaterWire]

Portland is for Lovers — Portland is a city for lovers… beer lovers, that is. The travel site VacationRenter recently surveyed a thousand travelers to determine the best city for beer lovers, and discovered what Portlanders already knew: We’re number one. The site didn’t release its survey process, but the sample size is large enough that it’s easy to believe. Plus, it’s objectively true. [EaterWire]