Is Portland back?

That was the message of Oregon’s U.S. senators and several members of Congress pitched in trumpeting the city’s alleged back-ness at a recent event announcing the James Beard Public Market’s new location.

Their main evidence? The proposed market, an upcoming WNBA franchise and, most tangibly, the Portland International Airport’s ongoing $2.15 billion remodel, which hit a major milestone with the main terminal’s August reopening.

It’s not just the nine-acre timber roof, the spacious floor plan or the actual living trees that are new. As a recurring overhead announcement notes, PDX welcomed 20 retail and dining options this year, including wood-fired pizza, scratch-made pasta, hand-crafted leather goods and a bar with nearly 100 taps of Oregon beer, cider and wine.

And in case you forgot, the Port of Portland promises “street pricing” at PDX, meaning all that food and shopping comes without any eye-popping price hikes.

The timing of the expansion couldn’t be much better. The PDX remodel began in spring of 2021, one year after an April that saw a pandemic-time low of 77,000 passengers, including a single day with just 1,500 people passing through the airport. With holidays approaching, the airport is expecting around 1.4 million passengers this month, including nearly 60,000 people per day during the busy period before and after Thanksgiving.

To help guide you through the airport’s new concessions, five reporters from The Oregonian visited the airport this month, checking out restaurants, bars and shops both before and after security. PDX has dubbed its new pre-security areas The Garden and Market Hall. After security, you’ll wind up in either the North Concession Hall or South Concession Hall, linked by the Concourse Connector.

Those areas are not yet complete, with more dining and shopping options expected to open in 2026, when the next phase of expansion wraps up.