Portland Restaurateur Calls Going Tip-Free A 'Terrible' Decision

DOWNTOWN—Salt & Straw's soft serve ice cream concept, Wiz Bang Bar, is now open in the monumental new food hall, Pine Street Market. What should you order? Wiz Bang's house-made rhubarb sour straws must be what Sour Patch Kids dream of, and the Oregon Ham soft serve certainly pairs well with Oregon black raspberry dip. Then there are ice cream tacos with ancho chili ice cream — read about all the crazy new combinations here.

SOUTHEAST—One of Portland's most prominent restaurateurs, Kurt Huffman, has declared his experiment with eliminating tipping a failure. When he opened the Loyal Legion beer hall last year, he made waves by dropping tipping, paying employees higher wages, and slightly raising menu prices. Now, Huffman says he believes he took money away from his employees and that, after reinstating tipping, he witnessed a dramatic improvement in Yelp reviews and the speed of service.

NORTHEAST—After a break from the headlines, Mika Paredes is back, and she's teaming up with Bunk's Tommy Habetz to open Girls Club, a weekly pop-up held in the new garden behind Pizza Jerk, the punk-rock family pizzeria on NE 42nd Avenue. Paredes is best known as the attention-catching chef de cuisine at Naomi Pomeroy's Beast, and she tells Eater she's really missed the kitchen.