Lean Cuisine. (Willamette Week)
Portland’s alt-weekly (the one with less female escort ads) explores the economic ennui that has seeped into our burg’s sprawling restaurant scene. Choice bits:
Just in the past few months, a number of what looked like solid dining hot spots have closed, including expense account-friendly Tondero, the eco-focused Terroir, downhome Lagniappe, chi-chi Hurley’s and the offal-obsessed Alberta Street Oyster House (which found a new owner and has since reopened).
…
“January was not a good month for the restaurant business in Portland,” says David Machado, the owner-chef of Southeast’s Vindalho and Lauro, WW Restaurant of the Year 2004. “If anyone says it was, they’re in la-la land.”
…
“I raised prices for the first time in a long time,” says Lisa Schroeder, owner-chef of Mother’s Bistro. “I basically give away my lox platter. At $14 I am not even covering my costs. The bagel alone is two bucks. But people in this town are only willing to pay so much for a dish. People in this town are too frugal.”
…
To give but one example of the importance of Portland’s dining scene, consider what Brian Ramsay, a broker for Realty Trust Group, has to say about the role great restaurants have in his business. “People who move to the Pearl District are focused on surrounding businesses, especially restaurants,” he says. “These people eat out every night and want quality food options to go with their condo.”
The short-term solution lies with us. If we want to keep up our town’s foodie rep, we have to step up to the plate, literally, and eat out.
You hear that? It’s your fault. You need to eat out more, you inconsiderate fuckers.
1 belch
Belches RSS
March 24th, 2008 at 12:13 am
tommy
You know, I found this article to be more than a little ironic. It wasn’t that long ago that WW had this to say about the PDX restaurant scene: “Think 2007 tasted good? Wait until you get a nibble of 2008.” From that sub-head they then went on to gush about Biwa, Clyde Common, Toro Bravo, the comeback of Ten 01, etc, etc, etc, they then shouted, loud as they could, from their Pearl District rooftop, about coming developments such as Lucier, Beaker and Flask, and myriad artisanal coffee and chocolate projects.
Is it really any surprise that a place like Tondero folds in a town with culinary expectations as high as ours? And I think we could all see the fate of Stu Stien coming from miles away. And hey, January’s really not a very good month for much of the service economy to begin with. These guys sing the praises of our food scene in the wake of a glowing NYT article, then weeks later attempt to pre-emptively scoop the competition by declaring the fall of the Portland restaurant? What kind of journalism is that?
I’ve spent the last eight years watching the Mercury and local bloggers take a bigger and bigger bite of WW’s lunch, and I have to say, the Willamette Week has done a piss poor job of rising to the challenge. This paper is dangerously off its game…