Classic Portland restaurant calls for help — ‘We’re on the brink’

Higgins,

the award-winning downtown Portland restaurant

that celebrated its 30th anniversary last year, will be forced to close absent a miraculous turnaround,

the restaurant announced on social media

Saturday.

“We’ve never written a message like this before. But the truth is: our beloved restaurant is on the brink,” chef Greg Higgins and co-owner Paul Mallory wrote. “If you have ever regretted not visiting a recently closed restaurant more, prior to closing, now is your chance.”

Since opening in 1994, Higgins has been synonymous with its deep commitment to Oregon produce, emphasizing locally grown vegetables in a meat-and-potatoes town. The bar side — previously home to

topless dance club the Broadway Inn

— boasts one of the deepest craft beer lists in the state, highlighting both Portland brewing pioneers and notable Belgian imports.

At the 2002 James Beard Awards, Greg Higgins was named the best chef in the Northwest/Hawaii region, an acknowledgment of his trail-blazing work connecting Portland restaurants to area farms, and training a new generation of local chefs. The following year, The Oregonian picked Higgins as its 2003 Restaurant of the Year.

“If there’s one person that Portland wouldn’t be Portland without, it’s Greg,” former Park Kitchen chef Scott Dolich told The Oregonian/OregonLive

for a 20th anniversary story on the restaurant

. “Cooks who move here from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, almost all apply to Higgins. It’s got that national reputation.”

But despite fun experiments like the restaurant’s

Piggins food cart

, the pandemic years haven’t always been kind to Higgins, or its surrounding neighborhood. The classic restaurant still has a spot in this newspaper’s guide to

Portland’s 40 best restaurants

.

“While our menu is still the same James Beard quality, downtown Portland has changed,” Higgins and Mallory wrote. “Recovery has been slow.

Office vacancies are at historic highs

— among the worst in the nation. Business travel is down. Arts and culture events are in their summer lull.

“For independent restaurants like ours, who’ve poured everything into this city for decades, it’s become nearly impossible to keep going.”

The social media message did not list a timeline for closing, but sources tell The Oregonian/OregonLive that unless — and perhaps even if — business turns around, the end could come in less than two months, around the end of August.

“If you remember what it feels like to gather at a table and share stories over Oregon’s summer bounty — razor clams, troll King salmon, sun-ripened tomatoes — now is the time to come back,” Higgins and Mallory wrote. “If you love this city and want to see it thrive again, we invite you to help.

“Every visit counts. Every night matters. We’re hanging on by a thread.”

Higgins serves lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and dinner from 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and from 4 p.m. on Sundays with a bistro menu available in the bar in between and all evening long at 1239 S.W. Broadway, 503-222-9070,

higginsportland.com

— Michael Russell;

mrussell@oregonian.com

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