The new Mother’s Bistro restaurant location features a main dining area overlooking an open kitchen. (Josh Kulla/DJC)
When Lisa Schroeder opened Mother’s Bistro in 2000, she may not have imagined that the restaurant would become popular enough to outgrow its space in downtown Portland’s historic Concord Building.
Fast forward to 2018, however, and she and her eatery are expanding from one National Register of Historic Places building to another, located just blocks away. Mother’s will open early next year in an 8,000-square-foot ground-floor space in the Multnomah Hotel building, which now houses the Embassy Suites by Hilton. R&H Construction is building the Scott | Edwards Architecture-designed renovation in a space formerly occupied by Portland Prime restaurant.
“Now you can actually walk in the room,” Schroeder said. “Mother’s is just really cramped quarters, so I think the most exciting thing is when you walk inside the door you can walk in and get to the host stand and not be smashed around; so that’s exciting.”
Crews are currently busy with work including installing kitchen equipment, painting, refinishing, and refurbishing the electrical system.