Italian restaurant Pastificio d'Oro to close in July

The latest: In an Instagram post this week, Dopson and Irwin said they've chosen not to renew their lease, which would've required them "to be open twice as many hours and to not ever sell out, terms we cannot feasibl[y] make work."

• Yes, but: The two are not done cooking in Portland. They said while the restaurant will close July 20, they have other projects in the works.

Best bites: I stopped by a few weeks ago with my mom, where we ordered everything on the tightly curated, seven-item menu.

• Maggie's salad is a work of art. It featured hyper-fresh greens and was layered with breadcrumbs, pumpkin honey dressing and grana padano. Every bite was sharp and sweet.
• The rigatoni carbonara with crispy pork was super rich, while the malfatti (spinach and ricotta dumplings) were light and sat in a beautiful bowl of brown butter and sage.

• Plus: The vanilla bean panna cotta had such a wonderful underline of nutty olive oil that was complemented by tart strawberry preserves.

The bottom line: You have nine weeks to get to St. Johns to experience some of Portland's most incredible, and intentional, Italian cooking in an unpretentious and inviting atmosphere.