Press & Accolades.
Ava Gene’s #35 on Oregonian List
The Oregonian, 2025-08-02 Particularly impressive was Ava Gene’s Monday Night Supper, a mutli-course menu with an array of petite starters — spicy radishes; a zippy salad; mozzarella and garlic scape salsa verde with paper-thin carta di musica crackers — plus a woodsy and wonderful pappardelle toasted with rabbit, maitake mushroom and a potent garlic sofrito, and a warm zucchini bread and lemon-lavender ice under a milk chocolate lean-to, all for $45.
Wilamette Week Best of Portland Sushi
Wilamette Week, 2025-07-23 2025 Best of Portland Readers’ Poll: Food Best Sushi Winner: Bamboo Sushi
ASC and Bamboo Sushi partner to promote farmed seafood
Seafood Source, 2025-06-05 The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Bamboo Sushi, a restaurant chain with 10 locations across four U.S. states, are partnering to promote responsibly farmed seafood in honor of World Ocean Month in June.
Our Top Green-Living Picks for Where to Eat and Drink
Wilamette Week, 2025-04-23 With locations in the Portland metro area and beyond, Bamboo Sushi, the world’s first certified sustainable seafood restaurant, has been leading the charge in ethically sourced seafood practices since its inception in 2008. Almost two decades later, its continued mission to change the seafood industry is part and parcel to what keeps Bamboo Sushi thriving. It does this partly by maintaining transparency in its sourcing practices to donating 1% of its sales of sushi boards and its popular Green Machine Roll (tempura-fried green bean, green onion, avocado, cilantro sweet chili aioli) to environmental nonprofits focused on restoring fisheries, watersheds and ecosystems.
Frigid Weather? Rising Inflation? Restaurants Are Having a Big Winter Anyway.
NYT, 2025-03-08 Several restaurants, including Che Fico in San Francisco, Raf’s and Musket Room in Manhattan and Ava Gene’s in Portland, Ore., said that a dramatic uptick in private events — most of them corporate gatherings or belated holiday parties — added to their winter gains. At Ava Gene’s, event sales in January were up 450 percent from the previous January, and even beat December numbers, said John Bissell, the executive chef.
Mr. West Cafe Bar, University Village
The Infatuation, 2024-12-11 Since the shops open at 10am (and 11am on Sundays), early mornings at U-Village aren’t really a thing. Even if they were, most of your coffee options involve a green two-tailed siren. Skip that noise and head to Mr. West instead. This brunch-forward palace of marble and natural light opens at 8am, so it’s perfect if you’re an employee on the opening shift, have a crack-of-dawn appointment at Virginia Mason, or just require a sit-down latte and warm pastry before attending a tween birthday party at Froglegs against your will.
Sushi Returns to Congress Park January 18
Westword, 2025-01-16 Portland-based Bamboo Sushi, which also has a location in LoHi, is taking over the former Sushi Ronin space.
5 Delicious Sushi Spots In Colorado
Forbes, 2024-04-17 The Denver sushi restaurant sources fish from around the world, with each option selected sustainability. The menu’s seasonal nature means one night, a diner may get kanpachi from Hawaii, uni from Santa Barbara and scallops from Nova Scotia. Pair the meal with premium sake or a glass of light white wine. The shifting menu’s tides ensure there’s always a reason to return to Bamboo Sushi.
Aquaculture Stewardship Council Teams Up With Bamboo Sushi for Earth Month Celebration
Perishable News, 2023-03-24 Throughout Earth Month, Bamboo Sushi will continue spotlighting the benefits of ASC-certified and labeled seafood with in-restaurant signage and messaging linking to online details about responsible aquaculture, along with ASC and Bamboo’s mutual commitment to people, place and planet.
Mr. West 8th & Olive
The Infatuation, 2025-12-11 It’s happened to the best of us—you need a place to sit with your laptop and work all day, but you don’t want to starve. You’re entitled to good food, so set up camp at Mr. West. It’s a very attractive space with a lot of plants, marble, gold accents, and monochrome wall art, which goes pretty naturally with a matcha latte and some curried avocado toast. There are a ton of pastries to choose from if you're in the mood for something sweet, and they do classy panini and salads at lunchtime. And when Happy Hour strikes, they break out cheese boards, kettle chips, and frozen wine slushies that don't taste like Sprite. We’d gladly live here.
Everyone Wants Sushi to Go, and It’s Saving Some Restaurants
Wall Street Journal, 2021-02-06 Eateries and grocers are selling more takeaway sushi during the pandemic, while supermarkets rush to train chefs
Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year 2017
Food & Wine, 2017-05-03 When we arrived in Portland, it seemed like the city had collectively gone fishin'. The streets were encased in a fat layer of ice, and they were eerily empty. And so while PDX took a civic snow day, we tried our best to get around, even resorting to crawling on all fours when walking was too treacherous. Lucky for us, we found a beacon of life lighting up this frozen tundra: Tusk.was a packed house of undeterred eaters.
In Portland, Middle Eastern Flavors Meet a California Vibe
NYT, 2017-03-03 Tusk also happens to be a Middle Eastern restaurant, or more specifically a showcase for local ingredients viewed through a Middle Eastern lens. The flatbread that emerges soft and fragrant from the oven, for example, is made from wheat and spelt grown and milled in the Willamette Valley, while the inventive, lustily flavored salads and grain dishes that form the heart of Tusk’s menu are tweaked daily according to what’s available.
In Portland, Ore., Dining Gets Fine Without Losing Flair
NYT, 2017-07-03 Pastas are surefire: we dug into paccheri — think Paul Bunyan-scale ziti — jacketed in a velvety lamb ragù, and earthy-delicate ravioli stuffed with beets and ricotta. Our shared secondi, wood-grilled lamb leg and sausage, was capable, but less distinctive. By then, however, we were well into the evening, drinking fresh country wines — like a slightly effervescent freisa from Piemonte — and thus untroubled. More than anything, we discovered, Ava Gene’s is a place to linger, well cared for, and so we prolonged our evening with dessert, including a perfect gelato meditation on salted peanuts. We didn’t clock out until just shy of midnight.