Adan Faust, a Southern California-born chef with experience in fine dining in California and New York, is bringing the Marisco menu, one of Portland's surprise pop-up hits of 2022, to Portland's psychedelic restaurant this summer. Plans are in place to bring it back to life at Southeastern bar The Houston Blacklight. .
Last month, Mr. Faust gave notice at Los Barros Supremos, a burrito joint backed by Submarine Hospitality and Sortis Holdings, which recently moved into the former Kenny & Zuke space downtown. Los Barros remains open, but plans for a more ambitious Mexican restaurant, La Legñadora, are on ice, Fausto said.
Faust, emailing from a Mariscos-mad research trip to Ensenada, wrote that the original plan was to open a Portland food cart with seafood in the summer and tacos in the winter. But when he learned that The Houston Black Light's owners, Thomas and Mariah Pisha Duffry, were shaking things up at the year-old bar, he went into pop-up mode. I returned to
Faust first caught Portland's attention in 2022 at Paradise Mariscos. We served brightly colored ceviche, black cod flautas, and Contramar-style tuna tostadas in a pop-up parking lot behind Güero in Northeast Portland. The following year, he launched his Tacos con Onda, his counter for Norteño-style carne asada tacos, at his old Woodsman Tavern, where he eventually opened Los Burros. (Meanwhile, Güero's owner Megan Sanchez reinvented Paradise as a Mexican burger cart the following year; rumor has it a new concept is in the works this year.)
The Houston Blacklight menu will be familiar to pop-up fans. Fausto will offer ceviche, seafood cocktails, shrimp flautas and fried oyster tortas. He's also experimenting with cheesy dechebrada tacos, using flour tortillas and black cod instead of beef. That's promising.
Tacos Con Onda will take over Houston Blacklight Kitchen starting in early June, 2100 SE Clinton St., 503-477-4738. houstonblacklight.com
— Michael Russell. mrussell@oregonian.com
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