Restaurants close every year. Even great restaurants. Yet three closures at the tail end of 2019 felt particularly painful.

First was Little Bird Bistro, the first second location from Le Pigeon chef Gabriel Rucker and manager Andy Fortgang (the two also own Canard). Little Bird, which closed in October, had sometimes struggled to find its identity after a series of chef changes, but it had remained one of the city’s best restaurants for the better part of a decade. Its 2010 opening had signaled both a more mature era for Portland dining and a looming downtown renaissance.

November brought an even bigger shock: Ken Forkish, the baker behind Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza, announced plans to close his big-city tavern Trifecta at the end of the year. Among the superlatives offered about Trifecta even now: One of Portland’s best happy hours, best burgers, best oyster bars, best cocktails and -- in a survey that went live the week before the closure announcement -- the city’s best croissant.

The Trifecta bakery closure might end up stinging as much as the restaurant, given that the city just seemed to be discovering its quality now after six years in business. But it wasn’t the only bakery to go under in 2019. Pearl Bakery, which once supplied bread to Portland’s top restaurants, quietly closed without warning or explanation just before December. The closure would have been unthinkable in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when with bakers Greg Mistell, Tim Healea and Lee Posey under one roof, Pearl was the more important bakery in the Northwest.

That distressing fall capped a year of goodbyes to restaurants we’ll miss. Below, we’ve gathered the 15 restaurant closures that pained us the most in 2019.

After more than a decade in business, Autentica restaurant in Northeast Portland closes this month. Expect more restaurant closures, says food journalist Kevin Alexander: "There's too many restaurants."Randy L. Rasmussen/Oregonian file photo

Autentica

One of the city’s premiere Mexican restaurants, and the place that introduced many of the city’s residents to the pleasures of posole, Autentica closed its Northeast Portland location in June. Founding chef-owner Oswaldo Bibiano continues to operate two locations of his Uno Mas taqueria, one in Northeast, the other near Providence Park.

Beeswing

The sourdough waffles with seasonal fruit at this Cully neighborhood charmer were among my favorite breakfast dishes throughout its two-year run in Northeast Portland. A return has been promised for the Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood.

Chiang Mai

Though it never rose to the level of adulation of more famous spots such as Pok Pok or Hat Yai, this cozy Hawthorne district Thai restaurant made some of our favorite Northern Thai food in Portland, including the city’s best khao soi gai.

Dried Oregon blueberries garnish a cheese plate at Chizu, a new cheese bar from local cheese impresario Steve Jones at 1126 S.W. Alder St. in downtown Portland. The menu lists about 30 cheeses that customers can select among for a sushi-lie experience. Randy L. Rasmussen/Staff LC- The OregonianLC- The Oregonian

Chizu

Steve Jones, Portland’s foremost cheese monger, opened this omakase style cheese chef’s counter in 2015 in downtown’s West End neighborhood as a place where customers could name their price and be served a flight of fantastic cheese, as a one-of-a-kind passion project. It closed in June.

Cloudforest plans to close its magical cafe and chocolate production facility in Southeast Portland.The Oregonian/file

Cloudforest

Sebastian Cisneros, Portland’s premier best bean-to-bar chocolate maker, closed his magical chocolate showroom and cafe in August after just a year on Southeast Stark Street, though he’s still making chocolate.

The Country Cat

Another prominent Portland restaurant closure that caught many off guard, Adam and Jackie Sappington’s Montavilla institution served its last skillet-fried chicken in August. A location at Portland International Airport remains open.

Holiday

Stumptown Coffee founder Duane Sorenson’s popular plant-based restaurant first left its Southeast Portland digs in January, then never fully reopened downtown. The original location, once home to Roman Candle, will soon reopen as Cicoria, a pizzeria from the Ava Gene’s team.

Portland, Oregon--May 14, 2012-- The front windows at Little Bird Bistro at 219 SW Sixth in Portland offers views to Portland's mass transit and side walk traffic and a front row seat at one of Portland's best restaurants. Jamie Francis/The Oregonian LC- The OregonianLC- The Oregonian

Little Bird Bistro

The downtown sister restaurant to Le Pigeon — and The Oregonian/OregonLive’s 2012 Restaurant of the Year — closed in October. The handsome railcar space remains available.

Olympia Oyster Bar

Olympia Oyster Bar, the ambitious North Portland seafood restaurant and oyster bar, closed on Dec. 16, though owner Maylin Chavez plans to continue hosting events and coastal pop-ups.

Pearl Bakery

Once Portland’s signature bakery, Pearl closed its doors on Northwest Ninth Avenue without warning or explanation at the end of November.

Pollos a la Brasa El Inka

The beloved family-run rotisserie chicken spot, long our favorite reason to visit Gresham to eat, closed unexpectedly in January after nearly a decade serving Peruvian specialties.

Smallwares

The North Portland revival of Johanna Ware’s “inauthentic Asian” restaurant Smallwares and its counter-service sister Wares each closed this summer, the former after a year in its new home (the former Chalino), the latter after two years at The Ocean mini restaurant pod.

Tanuki

Southeast Portland’s sui generis, no-kids-allowed, two-days-a-week Okinawan/Korean omakase spot pulled the plug in January after nearly a decade at two locations, first in Northwest Portland, then Southeast Portland’s Montavilla neighborhood.

Tapalaya

Chef Anh Luu’s Vietnamese-influenced Cajun/Creole restaurant closed in December. The Northeast 28th Avenue space is now home to the relocated plant-based restaurant The Sudra.

Trifecta Tavern & Bakery

Baker Ken Forkish’s ambitious six-year-old effort to bring the cocktails, oysters and vibe of a big-city tavern to Southeast Portland — along with one fantastic workshop bakery — will close at the end of the year.

-- Michael Russell

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