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It doesn't look like the Taylor Railworks space will go fallow for long. John and Renee Gorham (Toro Bravo, Tasty n Everything) have filed paperwork to open a grand new Israeli-focused restaurant in the central eastside.
Along with other partners, including Kasey Mills of their Pearl spot, MedEx, the pair just filed a liquor license for a new 2,100 square foot location of Shalom Y'all, the Israeli-focused small plates, cocktail and mezza spot Gorham first opened last spring as a little counter-service stall inside downtown's Pine Street Market.
In the meantime, two things happened. Gorham moved the original Shalom Y'all into a more comfortable home on Southwest 11th Avenue and Alder Street, opening Bless Your Heart burgers in its place. And Israeli food has blown up in a major way in Portland, with the opening of Jenn Louis' Ray on Williams and Tal Caspi's vegan Aviv on Southeast Division Street, one of the restaurants featured as part of the Year of the Vegetable, WW's Restaurant of the Year Runner-Up.
Alongside pita sandwiches and an array of six mezza and hummus plates, Shalom Y'all has in part become a compact greatest-hits compilation of Middle-Eastern-style dishes popular in Gorham's other restaurants, whether Tasty n Sons' shakshuka or the aleppo-honey fried chicken, pickles and kebabs of Mediterranean Exploration Company in the Pearl district.
But with this space next to Gorhams' Plaza del Toro, Gorham appears to be betting huge on Shalom Y'all. Including nine bar seats and four more at the chefs' counter, the liquor license application calls for 73 seats and opening hours planned for 11 am to 10 pm daily.
Eclectic, world-hopping restaurant Taylor Railworks closed this October in the space, with owners Erik van Kley and Gabriela Ramos moving to head up the kitchen and bar at Accanto.
We've reached out to the Gorhams for more information, and will fill in with more details as they become available.