If you’ve been looking around Portland for some Cajun flavor, look no further than the Pearl District. Ethan Powell and Tobias Hogan, owners of Portland’s EaT: An Oyster Bar, plan to open a New Orleans themed restaurant on NW 11th and Everett. The restaurant will replace the present In Good Taste Cooking School, which will still offer classes at various venues throughout Portland and Lake Oswego. Powell and Hogan plan to open their restaurant, The Parish, this summer. The menu will feature Cajun and Creole style cuisine and cocktails that will make you feel like you’re living it up in good ol’ New Orleans.
In an interview with Hogan and Powell, they divulge some of the items they plan to display on their menu. “Our Duck Confit Gumbo (served with a crispy Confit Leg on top) is really good, we’re also going to be doing some great hot apps and oysters off the grill that will be visible up front by the oyster bar,” says Liz Crain’s blog.
The Pearl District is about to get a little more colorful this summer when the Parish opens its doors to the public. The food will also be sourced locally because the owners have strong connections with oyster farmers in Oregon, California, and Washington. Some other items on the menu will include BBQ shrimp, po’boy sandwiches, and seafood gumbo.
The restaurant will feature classic Jazz music for Saturday and Sunday brunch, and there will be a wide display of oysters and other seafood available for wholesale and retail. You’ll be able to get buy your fresh oysters and other seafood there or have it prepared Creole-style, paired with a local beer, wine, or New Orleans cocktail. The bar will be called Bar Vieux Carre, or “The Old Quarter,” in reference to the French Quarter in New Orleans. The cocktails will be influenced by the pre-prohibition era.
The restaurant will seat 80 people with extra room for retail and wholesale. The name was inspired by the name for counties in Louisiana and other Southern, Gulf States, but designer Mark Annen has made the interior based more on the religious use of the term. According to Portland Monthly, “The Parish features cathedral-esque arches above the bar in crisp and proper hues of pewter and grey, and an ornate salvaged pulpit is currently being renovated for use as the host stand at the restaurant’s main entrance.”
So if you’ve been craving some delicious oysters, jambalaya, or shrimp gumbo, stay tuned for the Parish, set to open this summer, in the Pearl District.