The folks behind Urdaneta, Javier and Jael Canteras, are opening a second restaurant called Feli in a new space in Northwest Portland’s Slabtown neighborhood. A bit larger than Urdaneta, which celebrated 10 years in business last month, Feli will offer a cozy and upbeat atmosphere in which to enjoy food from the Andalusian region of southern Spain, as well as a full bar.
They look to open in September 2026. I had a really enjoyable conversation with Javier, and here are some of the things we talked about.
Feli: What’s in a Name?
Before going into this conversation, I figured “feli” was a derivative of “feliz,” which means “happy” in Spanish. A good guess, but a wrong one.
“It’s short for Feliciana, which was my [paternal] grandmother’s name,” explained Javier. “Everybody admired her a lot and called her ‘Feli,’ for short.”…