Kornblatt’s Delicatessen is the latest Portland restaurant to call it quits

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A cherished Portland deli will shut down after 32 years of serving New-York-style freshly-baked bagels, hot pastrami, traditional reuben sandwiches and more in the Rose City.

In a Facebook post shared on Sunday afternoon, Kornblatt’s Delicatessen announced that it’d be closing at the end of March.

“We truly appreciate all of our customers and we are sad about closing,” the restaurant said in its statement. “Please come visit us before our last day.”

Since opening in 1991, the Jewish deli had become a Northwest Portland treasure with its all-day breakfast and lunch offerings. The matzo ball soup, latke and East-Coast-nova-style lox sandwiches were among the customer favorites.

And 20 years after opening in Portland, Kornblatt’s received national acclaim with a review in The New York Times — which named the deli the “Best in the (North)West.”

“The gourmet coffee and thriving food cart cultures of Portland, Ore., are hardly starving for attention, but the city is also quietly home to Kornblatt’s Delicatessen, one of the truly great New York delis outside the five boroughs,” food writer Jordan Michelman said in 2011.

In more recent years, Kornblatt’s isn’t the only restaurant or even the only deli to announce that it's closing its doors for good.

In February, family-friendly sports bar and restaurant Holler shut down after just three years, citing the challenges that came from opening a business during COVID-19. Last December, Kenny & Zuke’s Delicatessen revealed that it was closing its downtown location and downsizing to a new location in East Portland due to economic reasons.

Portlanders have just a few weeks to dine with Kornblatt’s Delicatessen before it closes this month. Visit the restaurant at 628 NW 23rd Ave., from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.

The deli declined to comment further on the closing when reached out by KOIN 6 News for more information.