To begin this short week, I thought I'd give you some local food news!

This will make sense later... keep reading...

Nick's Coney Island has re-opened on Hawthorne. Info gleaned from portlandfood.org suggests that the place has become cleaner and tastier over their relatively short hiatus. This re-opening may prompt a review for Last Supper. Keep your eye on the food section!

Matchbox Lounge on Division has started serving brunch. It's a fairly simple affair with a seasonally shifting menu. Right now they have a twist on an eggs benedict that includes a potato nest rather than English muffin and fresh wild mushrooms along with the poached eggs and hollandaise. They also have three versions of the bloody mary. All mixes are made fresh on site to better soothe your hung over head.

The Maiden on Morrison has some new owners and a new summer menu with lighter fare--Tapas anyone? I went in for a bloody mary this last Saturday (look for a new, regular "bloody mary of the week" post here every Monday) and the Maiden was a lovely refuge from the hot hot day. Dim, cool, and a very friendly staff helped that bloody mary go down nicely.

Word in the Portland Foodie Blogoverse (I like blogoverse better than blogosphere) is that Chef Eric Bechard is going to leave Alberta Street Oyster Bar. Not sure why this might be, but his food was highly celebrated there. Could be he's moving to a place where he won't be targeted by animal rights activist for cooking with foie gras. That's pure conjecture.

Bikini Coffee will be moving to Downtown Portland, somewhere on Stark I believe (see how the bikini model pic makes sense now?). I'm not sure why we need bikini coffee in Portland. I mean, why not just man up and go get a cup of joe in one of our many strip clubs? Drop the pretense already! I know that many strip clubs don't open until around 10 or 11 am, but 7 am is just too early to be titillated.

Alright, that's good enough for now... carry on.