Inside Brian Malarkey's playful Portland debut
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Brian Malarkey with chef Jose "Lalo" Camarena. Photo: Courtesy of Tyler Valzania
Hometown celebrity chef Brian Malarkey's name is on the front door of his new Pearl District restaurant, but it's less about his family or legacy and more about its "cartoonist nature."
- Step inside The Malarkey, which opens Friday, and you can see why.
The big picture: Bubblegum-pink paint coats the walls and ceiling, stuffed fowl line the hallway, a golden stag is perched on the bar, and the low hum of an old, neon Jantzen Beach sign buzzes above — each detail a small nod to Portland.
- "It's a time capsule of things that resonated with me in my history," Malarkey tells Axios. "It's a celebration of not taking ourselves so seriously."
It's the food that's serious … kind of.
- Billed as a steakhouse and seafood grill, The Malarkey will offer all the classics — baked potatoes, crab cakes, Caesars, thick-cut steaks and a raw bar — but with a flair only the Food Network star can bring.
- "How do you make extraordinary food? You just treat it a little extra," Malarkey says.
Best bites: Malarkey tapped Jose "Lalo" Camarena, the former República chef also known for his pop-up Metlapíl, to lead the kitchen and find fun ways to riff on dishes diners expect from a steakhouse.
- Camarena's menu also subtly reflects his Mexican heritage. Wood-fire steak is served with salsa verde and horseradish cream, and a steelhead aguachile is bathed in strawberries and cucumbers.
- Even the Caesar salad gets special attention — a nod to the dish's Tijuana origins — and the maximalist seafood tower includes a halibut ceviche alongside salmon crudo, oysters and cubed albacore tuna.
- The baked potato, meanwhile, is salt roasted, its flesh whipped and piped back into a deep-fried, crispy skin, then piled high with bacon and green onion.
Between the lines: Despite opening two dozen restaurant concepts over his three-decade career, mostly in Southern California, this is the Bend-born chef's first Portland venture.
- "It's time to put the spotlight back on Portland and throw away all that news we hear nationally about the chaos and craziness," Malarkey says. "I want to try to offer those memories that are so fond to me growing up here to the people. We have to salvage it."
If you go: The Malarkey (1210 NW Hoyt St.) opens Friday and will be open daily at 4:30pm.