Roger Porter scores a reservation and travels to New York's Momofuko Ko Restaurant My contributions to this website have so far been reviews of local restaurants, and I assume this will continue to be my main interest. But during a recent trip to New York, largely to eat and to expand my gastronomical horizons (at the cost of expanding my waistline as well), I thought it might … [Read more...] about Roger Porter Visits Momofuku Ko In New York City
Review: Ate-Oh-Ate Restaurant
Nostalgia can do odd things to people. It can turn strong men weepy, and make normally sensible folks act with puzzlingly sentimental yearnings. The word “nostalgia” literally means a sickness for home, and when Ben Dyer set out to re-create the food (no one ever accused it of being a “cuisine”) of his native Hawaii, that sickness caused him to do a curious thing: he opened a … [Read more...] about Review: Ate-Oh-Ate Restaurant
Review: Fin
NOTE: FIN HAS NOW CLOSED.If you’ve ever gazed longingly on the sumptuous food images in coffee table cook books, you may have thought the dishes came to the photographer straight from the stove; but no, they were doubtless doctored, sculpted, and re-assembled by a professional food stylist. Such people work not only with chanterelles, beef carpaccio, peppers, and rich … [Read more...] about Review: Fin
Review: June
NOTE: This restaurant is now closed.In every way June is the quintessential Portland restaurant--overstated understated. It boasts of having no sign in front, except for its obscurely etched name on an exterior piece of wood, looking like something a beaver might have carved if beavers lived on Burnside; only squinty-eyed pedestrians with 20-20 will spot it. What’s going on … [Read more...] about Review: June
Review: Thistle Restaurant in McMinnville
A Review of Eric Bechard's Thistle Restaurant in McMinnville By Roger PorterI promised myself I wouldn’t allude in this review to Eric Bechard’s incident this spring involving a defiant defense of local animals, a stance provoked by a rival chef who, in his eyes, had heretically championed a Midwest over an Oregon pig. The great porcine passion probably put Bechard’s name … [Read more...] about Review: Thistle Restaurant in McMinnville