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Michael Hebberoy – Ultimate Showman

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As promised, more Michael Hemorrhoid news. An article in the NY Times called “Rebel, Disgraced, Tries to Pull Off Rebound” finally hit the newsstands Wednesday. Though the piece barely skims the story, it is good reading. Some choice clips:

“What’s most despicable is that Michael just left,” said Tommy Habetz, the chef and a partner at Mr. Hebberoy’s Gotham Building Tavern in Portland, which closed after the crackup. “It was so immature. I had put my heart and soul into the restaurant, and to have my partner leave without a warning or a conversation about how we could fix things — it was pretty heartbreaking.”

In Seattle, over simmering Le Creuset pots, Mr. Hebberoy acknowledged that he feels “profoundly humbled” by what he calls “the crash and burn.”

“The biggest mistake for me was not recognizing sooner the type of work I’m meant to be doing,” he said. “I got lost in the dream of running a mega-restaurant group when I should have stuck to stimulating conversation around food.”

Speaking of the events surrounding Ripe’s crash, Mr. Hebberoy said: “I decided to live differently and create differently with the hope that people would see that. But I became the distinct scapegoat for the fall of Ripe, even though I had been the one who spent the most energy and time trying to save the company.”

Given the space available, I think the author did a good job. However, I don’t think his claim that “The Oregonian named clarklewis the 2004 restaurant of the year before it even opened” is correct. I had told him the story of The Portland Mercury writing a rave review before Gotham opened, and that The Oregonian gave CL “Restaurant of the Year” after it had only been open for three months. Maybe the facts got entangled.  You can read the entire story here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. eatsfood says

    The print version of today’s (11/07/07) NYTimes article about Hebberoy has a different headline for this article – “Outrageous? He’s Heard That Before.”

  2. pdxyogi says

    Perhaps someone cares to chime in on this thread. Take care, as Chowhound deletes posts at the drop of a hat.
    Enjoy.

  3. Dave J. says

    In Seattle, over simmering Le Creuset pots, Mr. Hebberoy acknowledged that he feels “profoundly humbled” by what he calls “the crash and burn.”

    Ugh. It’s always about him, isn’t it? He really threw a lot of people onto the rocks, but, no, not a word of sympathy for their plight — what’s important is that he feels humbled.

    As my mom used to say, “Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

  4. Papaki says

    Nancy Rommelman hit the nail on the head with her comment that “a lot of people were really dazzled by him, because he’s good-looking and he told people what they wanted to hear.” It’s the classic, time-tested technique of the con man: You sell yourself by telling folks exactly what they want to hear, you relieve them of their money, and, just as they’re starting to catch on, you high-tail it out of town and repeat the whole process with a new set of victims somewhere else.

    I’m certain that as soon as Seattle starts to figure him out, we’ll be reading about Hebberoy and his revolutionary ideas in Vancouver or somewhere similar.

    Still, Portlanders shouldn’t be too hard on him, because he did leave Gabriel Rucker, Jason Barwikowski and Tommy Habetz, et al, behind in his wake. Portland got the better end of that deal.

  7. Food Dude says

    Thanks Steve. What is interesting is the precise wording:

    An article in the Dining section yesterday about Michael Hebberoy, who runs public dinners in clandestine locations around Seattle and was a popular restaurateur in Portland, Ore., before his businesses went bankrupt last year, referred incorrectly to the decision by The Oregonian to name Mr. Hebberoy’s restaurant Clarklewis the city’s restaurant of the year in 2004.

    From that, it appears to me that Michael, once again believing his own PR, told them that story.

  9. Cuisine Bonne Femme says

    The Heb speaks in his own defense. Is anyone following the lively discussion over at the Seattle Stranger where Dan Savage writes about the NY Times article and wonders why the Stranger hasn’t caught onto the scammer himself earlier, a bunch of comments follow, and Heb himself jumps in to defend himself. It’s amusing stuff. You can read it here.