Eddie Dong, the owner of the now-closed Pho Gabo restaurant in northeast Portland, is set to take on City Hall with a lawsuit following a bitter feud over what he says are subjective and discriminatory odor complaints. Dong, who had operated Pho Gabo for over six years, claims multiple odor complaints led to a series of city-imposed fines culminating in the shutdown of his establishment in February. According to a legal document expressing intent to sue filed on April 9, Dong is seeking redress for economic and non-economic damages, as reported by KPTV.
The dispute began after an unidentified individual lodged a complaint about the smell of grilled meat coming from Pho Gabo back in September 2022. After being hit with a $900 fine for alleged violations of the city's odor code, Dong's lawyer, Julie Parrish, asserted that the code enforcement has been uneven and subjective, with one inspector able to make or break a restaurant's fate after merely "smelling around." Parrish contended in a statement obtained by KGW that the code "disproportionately affected restaurants serving ethnically diverse foods, such as Vietnamese cuisine."
According to Parrish, the tort claim outlined by Dong includes allegations of "subjective, selective and disproportionate enforcement of city codes" that have caused him significant personal and financial harm. As cities often find themselves at the nexus of culture and regulatory enforcement, Portland is no exception, with Dong's case spotlighting the struggles of minority-owned businesses in face of contradictory regulations and community expectations. Besieged with inspections, Dong ultimately made the decision to close Pho Gabo, a choice described by Parrish in a KATU interview as resulting from "the loss of income."
This legal swirl happens as the city's odor ordinance comes under fire, with Portland Commissioner Carmen Rubio putting food-related odor complaints on hold in March, calling for a reevaluation. The odor code has been branded "discriminatory" by a statement released by five Vietnamese American state legislators, further adding to the controversy surrounding the regulatory framework. In the meantime, Dong, who is also the proprietor of two other Pho Gabo locations in Hillsboro and Happy Valley, is eager to serve the community again. "He'd love to be able to be out from under everything he has going on and consider where he could set back up," Parrish told KPTV, encapsulating Dong's hope to continue fostering the ties with the Portland community he spent years nurturing.
