The Old Town Chinatown building that once housed the beloved Chen's Good Taste has a new owner and, potentially, a new restaurant on the way. City permit filings show plans taking shape at 18 NW 4th Avenue for a concept called Good Taste BBQ, nearly four years after a catastrophic pipe burst forced the original restaurant out of the space.
A Christmas Flood That Emptied the Building
The trouble started on Christmas night in 2022, when a fire suppression pipe burst on the building's second floor, according to Bridgetown Bites. The pipe released roughly 3,000 gallons of water per minute for about half an hour, causing property damage. Ground-floor neighbor Charlie's Deli relocated from 22 NW 4th Avenue and eventually reopened at 32 NW 5th Avenue in February 2023, according to a post on the sandwich shop's own blog.
Chen's Good Taste never returned to the address. The restaurant's original Oregon LLC was administratively dissolved in May 2025, and that same month Chen's Good Taste reopened under new ownership across the river at 14930 SE Mill Plain Blvd in Vancouver, Washington, per the same account from Bridgetown Bites.
Seventy Years of Ownership Ends
The Portland building itself carries deep roots in the neighborhood's Chinese American history. The Bow Leong Bing Kong Society, a Chinese benevolent association, had owned the 12,000-square-foot property since acquiring it on April 27, 1956 — a run of just under 70 years before selling it in April 2026 for $1.2 million, the outlet reports.
The sale comes amid a long history of Chinese community institutions in the district. Portland’s New Chinatown/Japantown Historic District is listed on the National Register, and the city describes it as significant for the Chinese community’s social, political, cultural and economic organizations. The neighborhood’s Chinese associations served practical community roles, including helping immigrants and organizing community activities, as documented by the National Park Service’s district history.
Before the sale, the building underwent roughly $1.2 million in renovation and repair work in 2025, including a new roof, upgraded electrical wiring and a modernized sprinkler system, the same report notes. That rehabilitation apparently helped position the water-damaged property for its next chapter as a working restaurant space rather than a vacant liability.
New Owner Has Sushi Roots, Files for Cantonese Concept
The buyer, Bruce Zhen, purchased the property through Four Seas Capital Holdings LLC. Zhen is associated with Momiji Management Group, which operates 14 Momiji Sushi locations across Oregon, and Ideal Sushi Supply Co., according to a company profile from OysterLink. On July 7, a tenant improvement permit application was filed with the City of Portland covering plans to reconfigure interior walls, install new kitchen equipment, build a walk-in cooler and upgrade restrooms for ADA compliance, per Bridgetown Bites' review of city records.
The entity tied to the filings, Good Taste BBQ LLC, points toward a Cantonese-style restaurant concept for the space, though an opening date has not been set.
The building permit application is only one step toward reopening the space as a restaurant. For a restaurant being built or remodeled in Multnomah County, plans must undergo county review before construction can begin; after construction, the business must pass a pre-opening inspection to receive its license. The county’s restaurant licensing requirements mean that a tenant-improvement filing alone does not establish an opening date.
A Building With Chinese American History
The building at 18 NW 4th Avenue also has a connection to Portland's Chinese American community. It once housed a quarterly Chinese bilingual newspaper founded in 1961 and sponsored by the Consolidated Chinese Benevolent Association, according to historical materials cataloged by Google Arts & Culture and detailed further by Bridgetown Bites. That layered history now sits alongside the building's newest identity as the site of a planned Cantonese barbecue venture, a reminder of how much change one address in Old Town Chinatown has absorbed since the 2022 flood.
The neighborhood’s Chinese community has adapted to changing conditions for generations. After an 1873 fire destroyed 20 blocks, rising property costs helped push Chinese merchants north toward New Chinatown; later, the city’s Chinese population dispersed beyond Old Town. Today, Portland’s Jade District in Southeast Portland is another hub for Asian-owned businesses and culture. The National Park Service’s history and Travel Portland’s overview of the Jade District place the planned restaurant within that wider history of movement and change.
