Michael Russell

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

Did your mom ever make you shrimp omelets growing up? If she did, I hope they tasted like the ones at Mémoire Cà Phê. Blended with a little coconut milk, splashed with fish sauce and sprinkled with fried garlic crisps, the eggs — which have that silky texture you can usually only get by mixing in a little corn starch — float like a fluffy blanket around juicy shrimp and cherry tomatoes. Served over rice with ribbons of scallion, it’s about as delicious a shrimp omelet as you can imagine.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

Long-running Indian street food restaurant Bollywood Theater will close its flagship location on Southeast Division Street next week, owner Troy MacLarty told The Oregonian/OregonLive. In its place, MacLarty plans to open Maglia Rosa, a counter-service Italian restaurant and market with pasta, wines by the glass or bottle and more. “We’re closing up shop here in 10 days,” MacLarty said by phone Thursday. “It hasn’t hit me in any real way yet. As of now, I don’t feel nostalgic or sad.

1 week ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

“Don’t call it a comeback” reads the sign taped to the glass door on Northeast Glisan Street. But that’s exactly what appears to be happening behind the butcher paper at what was, until recently, one of Portland’s oldest pizzerias, before it closed unexpectedly last year. The original American Dream Pizza, which served its first pies in Northeast Portland nearly 40 years ago, closed unexpectedly last July.

2 weeks ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

The fire that closed Portland’s oldest steakhouse Saturday damaged a “significant” portion of the restaurant’s dining room and kitchen, its owners say. The fire, which started behind the stainless steel lining of the sauté and south grill stations in the kitchen at Northwest Portland’s RingSide Steakhouse, was contained quickly by a Portland Fire & Rescue crew. No one was injured. An investigation into the cause is underway.

2 weeks ago | oregonlive.com | Michael Russell

The last time I reviewed Tastebud, I wrote about getting lost. Now, this wasn’t that long ago. I had a smartphone, I just chose not to use it that day. And so, while navigating by sight through what is now known as South Portland, I took a wrong turn and ended up eastbound on the Ross Island Bridge. Visit today, and it would seem little has changed in the ensuing decade. A wood-burning oven still warms the dining room inside the former antique store.