by Michael Charles Portland teems with healthy eaters and special needs diners, but carnivores have yet to be banished altogether and there are restaurants that still exist to serve them. Enter newcomer Fogo De Chão. Sure, the new Portland branch has not yet actually opened to the public, but there was a media dinner and – Read more…
Review: American Local
As the Pythons used to say, “…and now for something completely different.” There is traditional American cuisine – featuring the usual roll call of comfort food classics – and Modern American, blending hyperlocal and global ingredients with whiz-bang tricks from the 21st century world of food science and technology. The American Local has a foot – Read more…
Review: Pok Pok – Another View
If you have never heard Lou Reed sing “Heroin” (“Heroin, it’s my wife and it’s my life”) on Velvet Undergound’s first album, “Velvet Underground and Nico,” you should have a listen. In protopunk style, Reed nails the junkie insanity of anticipating his fix then rushing through his run and falling back to earth again–pathetically and – Read more…
Michael Talks Cheese
Dear Diary: Today I went to a cheese festival. It was sort of like Disneyland for cheese lovers, and I left feeling a lot like I do after a visit to the Magic Kingdom–exhilarated and slightly sick to my stomach. The annual conference of the American Cheese Society-yes, the one and only, accept no substitutes-hit – Read more…
Review: Bamboo Grove Hawaiian Grille
Down in blue Hawaii. So far away from blue Hawaii. Aloha nui means goodbye. “In Blue Hawaii” Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks On yet another daylight-challenged, Oregon grey winter day, we puzzle over where to eat. It is a frequent noon time ritual at my office. My business partner–a social worker masquerading as a divorce lawyer–disdains – Read more…
Review: Fire On The Mountain Buffalo Wings
Almost ablaze, still you don’t feel the heat. Takes all you got just to stay on the beat. You say it’s a living, we all gotta eat. But you’re here alone, there’s no one to compete. If mercy’s in business, I wish it for you. More than just ashes when your dreams come true. “Fire – Read more…
Monday Interview: Reinventing The Meal
Crack interview journalist, Charlie Michaels, checks in from the trenches of the Portland food world. This is, of course, a spoof. Her report: Ever since Edward Chumleigh-Jensen-Smythe-Haskell and his wife, Tanya, exploded on the Portland dining scene a few months ago, the cognoscenti in our fair burg have been all atwitter. The reason: an exciting – Read more…
Review: Simpatica Dining Hall
As the nation roiled in torment over the Vietnam War, Vortex, the only state-sponsored rock concert ever, was envisioned in an old Portland building at the corner of Southeast 9th and Pine. After the war and Richard Nixon’s subsequent Watergate Waterloo–the time when later baby boomers were coming of age–the same building hosted the Pine – Read more…