Celebrity chef Brian Malarkey is preparing to open a restaurant in Downtown Portland, first reported by The Oregonian.
The Malarkey would be the 24th restaurant for Malarkey, who is the head of Puffer Malarkey Collective, a restaurant group that primarily operates in San Diego. The new restaurant falls under Malarkey’s other restaurant group, The Brothers Malarkey, which he operates alongside his brother James Malarkey. The Brothers Malarkey (both the group and the people) opened Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge last year in Bend, Oregon, the brothers’ hometown.
The menu at The Malarkey will feature ingredients supplied from the area, from its seafood to its meats, similar to how Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge operates.
The new restaurant, set to open in July 2026, will move into the space on 555 NW 12th St. that formerly housed Oba, which closed back in 2017. The fairly large space, spanning 10,000 square feet, will be capable of seating 250 people, plenty of wall space for a menagerie of decorations that reference Portland, like the motorcycle that references cult classic “My Own Private Idaho,” which partially takes place in Portland.
Malarkey told The Oregonian that the new restaurant is meant to draw people from the suburbs back to Downtown Portland, which has experienced a consistent, albeit slow recovery since the pandemic. A summer 2025 report found that Downtown Portland’s foot traffic is the highest it’s been since the beginning of the pandemic, roughly 21.5 million. However, those numbers are still a far cry from the foot traffic in 2019, an estimated 42.8 million.
When a restaurant fully devotes itself to its city, the restaurant’s success is, in part, a reflection of the city it’s in. And one can’t help but cheer for that. “We love you Portland,” Malarkey wrote in a Facebook post announcing the restaurant. “We are going to throw you the greatest Party Ever!”
