Osakan Comfort Food Restaurant Tanaka Is Coming to the Suburbs

We can’t get enough of the company’s panko-coated proteins, like a tender, walnut-brown slab of twice-cooked pork loin in milk bread sandwiches.

Tanaka Milk bread. Photo courtesy of Tanaka.
By Andi Prewitt

Tanaka, the Portland spinoff of Japanese-based chain Kushikatsu Tanaka, is expanding yet again by bringing its Osakan comfort food to the suburbs.

Today, the company announced it is opening its second Oregon location in Tigard’s Bridgeport Village on Tuesday, Aug. 22. The outdoor shopping mall, which will turn 20 years old(!) in 2025, is currently undergoing a $35 million upgrade and getting plenty of new shops and eateries, like this one.

Tanaka’s downtown Portland restaurant at 678 SW 12th Ave. opened in June 2022 in what’s become something of an international culinary hub for the area with neighbors that include Dolly Olive (Italian), Toki (Korean) and Lil’ Shalom (Mediterranean).

The original Kushikatsu Tanaka specializes in skewers (kushi) of bite-sized, breaded cutlets (katsu) served with a dipping sauce whose recipe has remained a well-guarded family secret for 70 years. While our Tanaka doesn’t serve meat on a stick, you will find panko-coated proteins, like a tender, walnut-brown slab of twice-cooked pork loin, along with that highly classified condiment in sandwiches, which we couldn’t get enough of while researching last fall’s Restaurant Issue. In addition to that, an in-house bakery produces all of the bread and sweets.

The official Bridgeport grand opening will last through Aug. 23. And there are still plans for more growth: Tanaka is launching a restaurant at the Alta Civic Station apartment complex this winter. The Tigard business will be open 10 am to 8 pm daily.

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