Irving Street Tapas

The Pearl Permanently Loses Casual Southern Restaurant Irving Street Kitchen | Eater Portland

"After ten years in the Pearl District, this sprawling industrial restaurant that focused on casual Southern food and community events has permanently closed during the coronavirus pandemic. In an emailed statement chef Sarah Schafer and partner Anna Caporael attributed the closure to both the pandemic and an impasse with their landlord, saying discussions reached an impasse and COVID-19 made the restaurant no longer viable. Irving Street Kitchen opened in 2010 modeled on the Pearl’s fine-dining style with multi-course dinners and cocktail and wine programs, then restructured in 2019 toward more casual dining—focusing on fried-chicken bucket dinners and events like pop-ups and kitchen takeovers. It closed in March 2020 under the governor’s orders and the partners opted against takeout or delivery; after more than two months they decided reopening wasn’t feasible. The statement was largely positive, expressing pride in a ten-year run serving the community and hope that the fried chicken might reappear in a new form elsewhere, while confirming the butterscotch pudding will appear at their forthcoming Cooperativa even though the fried chicken will not." - Alex Frane