Portland is closing out 2025 with a restaurant landscape defined by an Italian renaissance, French-leaning Pacific Northwest cuisine, chef-driven pop-ups and diners craving actual service again.

The big picture: To make sense of it, I sat down with longtime Portland Mercury food critic Andrea Damewood over brunch to talk about the trends shaping how we eat and where we go from here.

• This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What themes were hyper-present in Portland dining this year?

• "Red sauce Italian, that's a huge one. I don't know if a bunch of people just realized there was a gap in the market and all launched around the same time, but it's hard to ignore the success Gabbiano's has had."
• "It's a well-documented historical phenomenon of returning to comfort food in times of recession. That's why we loved bacon in 2009."
• "A lot of the successful restaurants right now are leaning back into the Pacific Northwest French thing and farm-to-table, like L'Echelle, Bar Nouveau and 82 Acres. It's interesting to see that return."

Do you feel like we've hit the peak on anything?

• "Everyone has a Caesar salad right now. If you're lucky, there's a seasonal salad that rotates, but half the time it's a bountiful entree and the other half it's tiny."
• "There's never been this much pizza. Who's eating all this pizza?"

What's something you ate that you can't stop thinking about?

• "Columbia Farms had a few rows of Oregon State University's test strawberries. It was juicy, citrusy and so unusual. Are they better than Hoods overall? Maybe not, but I'm still thinking about them."

Pop-ups were the "if you know, you know" craze this year. Why do you think that is?

• "It's appealing because chefs don't have to deal with all the overhead. They don't have to grind as many hours. But it's been a hindrance to me as a food critic because it might sell out before I get there."
• "I'm not a hype beast, I'm not going to stand in line for an hour and a half."

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Lighting up the night might not be the wisest decision.

Why it matters: Rising energy prices during the holidays have Americans second-guessing whether they should scale back on decorations.

By the numbers: It costs under $20 a month to power holiday decorations for most homes, if using LED lights, said Kristina Zagame, senior researcher of home electrification at Boston-based EnergySage.

• She said LED lights cut energy use by about 70% compared to incandescent bulbs.
• Electricity bills can jump well over $100 a month if homes use incandescent lights and/or larger displays like inflatables, she said.

What they're saying: "Shutting lights off overnight matters much more if you're using incandescent bulbs or inflatables, which use far more energy," Zagame said.

Pro tips: Switch to LED lights, use a timer to automatically turn lights off late at night and during the day, and ditch the inflatables to save money, Pittsburgh-based utility company Duquesne Light suggests.

The bottom line: If you use LED lights, you can leave the lights on all night with little guilt. But if you have older incandescent displays and go all out with inflatables, turn them off at night to save significant cash.

• And if you have the ability, switching to solar power allows you to enjoy it all without a second thought, said Zagame.

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🛢️ Environmental advocates are pushing the city to immediately begin drawing down the amount of fuel stored at the Critical Energy Infrastructure hub — a collection of chemical storage tanks in Northwest Portland — due to risks of a catastrophic spill in an earthquake.

• The city's plan calls for a 20% reduction by 2036. (The Oregonian)

🦌 The Thompson Elk statue, taken down due to damage during the downtown protests of 2020, could be back on its granite pedestal on Southwest Main Street by the spring. (OPB)

🔋 Oregon is among 17 states suing the Trump administration over funding to install electrical vehicle chargers along major highways that was frozen by the federal government. (KOIN)

🏟️ Portland's Providence Park didn't make the short list of venues that will host matches during the 2031 Women's World Cup because the stadium is too small and uses artificial turf, among other concerns. (Willamette Week)

Mt. Hood Meadows is flirting with an ominous record: the resort is staring down its latest opening day of the winter season in roughly three decades.

Why it matters: Local winter sports enthusiasts have been glued to mountain forecasts waiting for it to get cold enough to turn the rain into snow.

• Full disclosure: It's me. I am local winter sports enthusiasts.

By the numbers: The opening day usually comes around Nov. 25, with a yearly average of nearly 450 inches of snow.

• Since the 1994 season, the latest the lifts have started running was Dec. 22 during the dismal 2014-15 season.
• That stretch saw less than 200 inches of snow, among the lowest in the last 30 years, per a blog post from the resort.

Yes, but: All hope is not lost! The resort picked up 10 inches of fresh snow as of yesterday morning and forecasts are calling for snow everyday through at least the middle of next week.

• "We'd love to be open on the 21st," Meadows spokesperson Greg Pack told Axios. "If we get the storms as they're forecast, we could be open by the end of the weekend."

Peacock Lane — the most bedecked, festooned and bedazzled block in Portland this time of year — is shining as bright as ever.

• When I visited this week, the sidewalks were packed, the mood was festive and the decorations, as always, were over the top.
• Plus: There's free hot cocoa and cider to be had, though donations are encouraged.

If you go: Keep your eye out for Yoda and friends from Star Wars, the whole gang from Peanuts and Santa piloting a MAX train.

• The lights are on from 6pm to 11pm every night through the new year, but tonight and tomorrow the street will be closed to cars.