Dick’s Primal Burger Opens in Woodstock; Smith Teamaker’s New Buckman Digs

WOODSTOCK—Richard Satnick, the man behind SE Belmont and NW 21st’s Dick’s Kitchen, has just welcomed a new restaurant to his stable. Dick’s Primal Burger will still offer diners the grass-fed beef burgers that both Dick’s Kitchen outlets offer, only this time he’s abandoning his paleo-or-nothing approach by improving his French fries: The fries used to be baked, now they’ll be deep-fried in rice bran oil.

BUCKMAN—Not only did the world-famous Smith Teamaker operation recently name a new company president (Tom Clemente), it’s also ready to open its new production facility—a 13,000-square-foot-space that also features its first-ever tasting room. The new venture in Portland’s inner-SE industrial sector will keep bankers’ hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday), but it will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays for those workaday folks looking to be initiated into the world of fine teas. The official opening date is December 2.

DIVISION/CLINTON—Portland may have reached peak pizza, as evidenced with the shuttering of Pizza Maria last week. The critics’ darling was known for putting out wood-fired Neapolitan-inspired pies, but found itself competing for marketshare with the recent openings of Red Sauce Pizza, Handsome Pizza and Scottie’s Pizza Parlor, and Tastebud. The shuttering comes on the heels of several other high-profile closures, including Son of a Biscuit (which closed its doors in October), and Grüner and Cocotte, which are both slated to serve their last diners by year’s end.