A hanger steak wrap and spinach salad served at Cafe Ohno is pictured in this archive photo. John Patriquin/Staff photographer
After 20 years in business, the popular West End neighborhood restaurant Ohno Café announced Monday on social media that it will close for good just before Thanksgiving.
According to the Instagram post from owners Chris Beth and Lori Eschholz, “Years of caring for ill and aging parents while trying to cobble together a staff in the post-pandemic world have left us tapped out. For our own well-being and our family’s, we plan to close just before Thanksgiving.”
Ohno’s owners, who could not immediately be reached by phone for an interview, solicited offers from anyone interested in taking over the business. “If any of you love the Ohno as much as we do and think you’d like to take it on, we are open to proposals,” they wrote.
Ohno first opened at 87 Brackett St. in February 2004. The casual café is known, and loved, for its creative breakfast sandwiches. Portland Press Herald dining critic Andrew Ross wrote in 2021 that Ohno’s bialy with Dijon, egg, cheddar and Spam is “the best $6 you’ll spend all weekend.” The cafe also sells wine and beer.
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