San Diego–based celebrity chef Brian Malarkey is once again expanding his ever-growing restaurant portfolio, this time planting a flag in another major West Coast city far from his home base. The longtime Food Network personality and Top Chef alum is preparing to open a new steakhouse and seafood grill later this year, adding yet another concept to a career defined as much by rapid expansion as by constant reinvention.
The upcoming restaurant, slated for a summer 2026 debut in Portland, will mark Malarkey’s first full-scale venture in the city and his second Oregon project overall, following the 2024 opening of Hawkeye & Huckleberry Lounge in Bend with his younger brother, James Malarkey. That Bend restaurant, styled as a modern cowboy steakhouse, has been a bright spot in Malarkey’s recent business record, reportedly generating strong revenue and encouraging the brothers to double down on the state.
The new concept, called The Malarkey, is positioned as a high-capacity steakhouse and seafood destination with a heavy emphasis on theatrical design and sensory overload, a familiar formula for the chef. Early details point to an aggressively maximalist interior featuring stripper poles in the bathrooms, a motorcycle mounted on the wall, themed event rooms, pop-culture references, and décor elements that lean hard into spectacle. Malarkey has openly described the concept as “kitschy,” a label he embraces rather than avoids…