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Andrea Damewood

Andrea Damewood is a food writer and restaurant critic. Her interests include noodle soups, fried chicken, and sparkles.
Posted inFood and Drink

Comeback Kitchen, Portland Edition

How the chef-owners of LoRell’s Chicken Shack and Mama Chow’s Kitchen returned to the kitchen—and thrived—after suffering serious injuries.
Avatar photo Andrea Damewood

Coming back from life-threatening injuries is never part of anyone’s plans, but for two Portland chefs, that became their reality. A few years after both Darell Preston of LoRell’s Chicken Shack and Jeff Chow of Mama Chow’s Kitchen suffered major trauma, they not only lived to tell the tale, but are thriving. LoRell’s is back […]

Posted inMercury 2025 Recap

Best Bites of 2025: The Savory, the Sweet, and the Road Trips

Mercury food critic Andrea Damewood on the ten best things she tasted this year.
Avatar photo Andrea Damewood

I’m always conflicted about how to feel at the end of the year. Like, things were shitty (and for, like, at least the sixth year running). But within that, there are also moments of sweetness.  I think that’s where we owe Portland’s restaurants a big debt of gratitude. It’s tough out there, but our chefs […]

Posted inWinter Guide 2025

Let’s Play “Winter Soup Bingo”!

Twenty-four of Portland’s best cozy-weather soups—how many will you devour?
Avatar photo Andrea Damewood

[What follows is one of the many merry articles in the Mercury’s Winter Guide 2025. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous this holiday season, support us here.—eds.] Portland is a bountiful haven for delicious, cozy-weather soups. So we’ve gathered up 24 of […]

Posted inFood and Drink

Food Review: Sellwood Is Swimming in Red Sauce

Montelupo’s third venture goes full Italian American comfort food.
Avatar photo Andrea Damewood

We all have an idea of Italian American food, whether that’s from growing up eating genre-defining meals of piccata and eggplant parm in Newark, or from memories of our rushed mothers dumping a jar of Ragu onto boxed spaghetti.  But to pull off such comfort classics in a restaurant setting is more of an equation: […]

Posted inQueer Guide 2025

Chef Dani Morales Is Creating Some of the Most Exciting Food in Portland

Recently promoted to executive chef of República, she promises to bring along her visionary De Noche dishes.
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Dani Morales may not yet be a household name, but she’s already recognized at the place that matters the most to her—the Portland Farmers Market. Since becoming the executive chef of downtown’s De Noche in 2023, she’s been at the famed Portland State University farmers market bright and early every Saturday. It’s a habit she […]

Posted inFood Issue 2025

Breaking Bread

Portland-area bakers are flipping the script with bread subscriptions, pop-ups, and more.
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Just like a sourdough starter under a cloth, some of the best baked goods in Portland are bubbling away behind the scenes, out of the spotlight.  For many bakers, offering subscription or pop-up based carbs is the perfect way to balance work with having a life, and single-handedly reign over quality control.  Word spreads via […]

Posted inFood Issue 2025

The Farm Forward Appeal of 82 Acres

The new-ish bistro takes up residence in a well-loved space on SE Clinton.
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Sitting on the back patio at the new 82 Acres on a lovely warm evening, I couldn’t help but think of the four delightful restaurants that tried to make it work in this very same spot on Southeast Clinton. In 2011, Block’s Café opened, then closed; followed by the beloved Tuscan ristorante, Burrasca; and most […]

Posted inFood and Drink

We Stan This Surprisingly Good All You Can Eat Sushi Spot in Downtown Portland

Hamono Sushi’s unlimited omakase is unexpectedly delicious and won’t send you home hungry.
Avatar photo Andrea Damewood

Inside a very small sushi restaurant on an unremarkable downtown block, big things are happening.  Hamono Sushi has been tucked away on SW 9th, just around the corner from Nordstrom, since 2021. But until last fall, it was merely one of the many sushi-ramen-bento-yada-yada spots you find yourself at when you’re hungry and downtown. Now, […]

Posted inCity Guide 2025

Dinner and a Show!

Portland’s top places to get your grub (and entertainment) on.
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[Read all of the articles in our Portland Fun Guide HERE! Looking for a print copy? Look at this handy-dandy map!—eds.] Portland needs a Medieval Times. Like, what city would get MORE into the idea of swigging ale, chomping a turkey leg, and watching people joust in period specific costumes? Feels right up our alley. […]

Posted inFood and Drink

This Lunch Pop-Up Is Bringing Dry-Aged Fish to Portland

Chef Jeffrey Kim serves simple sashimi bowls with explosively delicate flavors.
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Jeffrey Kim’s sashimi bowls are perhaps the least flashy in town—but for good reason. The lunchtime bowls at his Aji Fish Butchery are composed of sliced, dry-aged sashimi topped with only maldon flake salt, simply dressed salad greens, and white rice. That’s it. And that’s all it needs to be. Thanks to dry aging—a relatively […]

Posted inLove/Sex 2025 ❤️🍆🍑

Food: Horny vs Not Horny

The ultimate list of horny and un-horny things to eat—and where to find them locally!
Avatar photo Andrea Damewood

[Read all of the articles in our Love/Sex issue HERE! Looking for a print copy? Look at this handy-dandy map!—eds.] Horniness (horny) is like Newton’s Third Law of Motion (not horny): For every thing that’s horny, there’s an equal and opposite thing that isn’t.  Food is not my kink—particularly after my fateful attendance at the 2006 […]

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