Meat Cheese Bread has opened at 1406 SE Stark street
It’s a sandwich shop by some of the guys that used to work at Park Kitchen, which is the namesake for one of their specialties. My experiences have been quite good. Try the breakfast burrito, or the Park Kitchen – flank steak with pickled onions, blue cheese, lettuce and vinaigrette. Great place for lunch in the area.
Chef Scott Shampine departs Bluehour
Despite reports to the contrary, several sources have confirmed that Scott Shampine has left Bluehour. There are rumblings of lawsuits. You may remember him from stints at Olea, Gracies, a Cena, and finally Bluehour. A commenter on the site also states that “he had a terrible accident two Saturday nights ago. On his way home from work, someone hit him in the head with a baseball bat and stole his bike. Scott received 40 plus stitches/staples to his head and lost three teeth from the impact of the blow to the head. I am sure with that much damage he also got a concussion. Good cook, but boy he has either bad luck, or no luck at all.”
Sous chef Mark Hosack from Lucier, is now the new chef at Gracie’s.
Let’s see if they’ll be able to lift that place off the ground. So far, it’s been less than successful since they opened. Talk about fizzling. Also, the new restaurant on top of Macy’s downtown is set to open soon, with a chef coming from NY’s Jean Georges restaurant. He has been described to me as “a big guy with a mohawk!” There will actually be two spaces: Departure Lounge on the top floor with a great view, and Urban Farmer, a steakhouse in the hotel lobby on the 4th floor.
Dwayne Beliakoff will be soon signing a lease on Viola
The tiny restaurant is set to open in a building being built on top of the (underground) parking garage located between the southwest Taylor and Yamhill (Fox Tower and the Guild movie theater). According to Dwayne, the cafe will have outdoor seating for several hundred. Martha Hubbard will be the executive chef; you might remember her from Zefiro and Paley’s, most recently she’s been cooking in Florida.
Starbucks re-engineers sandwiches so they don’t smell, rolls out Clover Coffee machines
For those that follow Starbucks news, there are two stories. First of all, the decision to pull their hot sandwiches that were fouling the air in the shops has been reversed. Instead, they have “re-engineered” the sandwiches so they don’t smell anymore. Hmm… don’t think I’ll be trying that one anytime soon. See more in a snarky NY Times article. Next comes an article on MSNBC.com (link is now dead), that Starbucks has started rolling out the Clover machines. You remember Clover – the highly vaunted brewers (costing $10K each), that were the darlings of the coffee world, until Starbucks bought the company. Now they all have vanished. I bet they are sitting in basements somewhere (not that I blame shops from dropping them). According to MSNBC,
Starbucks says the system is “one of the most significant innovations in coffee brewing since the introduction of the espresso machine” and says its introduction of the system with some small-batch beans is a “key initiative in transforming the company.”
Could Starbucks possibly make any more mistakes? Will a Clover machine make a bad roast taste any better? Will people wait longer (and pay the extra money) to get Starbucks coffee out of a Clover? Shudder. Will Starbucks still be using them in five years, or is this another coffee fad.
Por Que No has opened its second location
This is way up towards the new Albina Press, 4635 S.E. Hawthorne. It’s huge, and packed from opening day. The new restaurant is mostly made up of a large, covered patio area. Counter service. I was just about to publish a new review, now I’ll wait until I can get up to the new place a few times. It’s already packed.
Cafe Nell has opened in the old Hurley’s space
I’ve been walking past once a week for months, but now that they are serving, I haven’t had time to go back. Space is nice, and they are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It seems like a good fit for the neighborhood, though I haven’t seen the prices
sourpuss says
foodude, thanks for all the scoops.
I hope everyone realizes how easy it is to donate anything to your site.
If you post a press release drop a couple bucks.
Tanzanite says
Mark Hosack at Lucier was a magician in the kitchen. I was very upset when he left – glad to find out where he migrated to – thnaks!
Me says
Food Dude,
You got some info wrong. Scott didn’t lose any teeth. And from what he said doesn’t know what he was hit with.
Be careful with rumors
Gary Scott says
A quick look at the Five Guys Burger site shows that they will be opening in Walker Center, Cedar Hills & Walker Rd. Not Exactly Cedar Hills but close.
There have been several new eateries opened or opening soon in Beaverton, several Mexican eateries, Rib City, Best Baguette and a Pho place that escapes me at the moment.
The Pho Restaurant, located between Rib City and Best Baguette’s west side eatery are all located on Hall St in the same development as Hall Street Bar & Grill.
I’ve eaten at the Pho restaurant twice now and the food is OK with sketchy service. But its still quite new so its unfair to be too harsh as they are still trying to get their feet on the ground. One nice thing about the place is that if you are taking someone for Vietnamese for the first time their menu has photos of all the dishes and a decent description of the dish.
As for Rib City, they have one in Vancouver that is owned by the same person, it without a doubt the best rib place on the west side. Unfortunately, that doesn’t say a lot as the bar hasn’t been set very high. I like ribs and smoked meats so I’ve eaten there three or four times in the past month and the food has been good but not outstanding. Their timing still needs work though. If you order an appetizer don’t order your dinner at the same time or it will most likely come out while your still enjoying the appetizer and a beer.
They serve real turkey breast, unlike the pressed floor scraping that the pit stop serves, and it is lightly smoked. I can still do better on my Tragger but its a lot less work. Rib City does a decent job on their ribs, both baby back and St. Louis style, brisket and turkey but they don’t have beef ribs for those of use that like them. Try their “hot” BBQ sauce. I wouldn’t call it hot but it has a nice kick to it that doesn’t over power the flavor.
I still think that Logan’s in L.O. is better but Rib City does a good job and they have a nice large eating area. Plus as an extra advantage they try and separate families with little kids and groups without kids. It should be noted that they do this on purpose as they have a play area for little kids and try and seat families so that they can watch their children play and still enjoy their friends at the table.
gary
djonn says
Walker Center — that’s where the Blockbuster just folded, right? Interesting.
I think the pho place is called Pho Wah; have not been in as yet, however.
I did stop in at Best Baguette and was very favorably impressed; also, I’m trying to persuade the family to check out Rib City. The other recent arrival in west-side BBQ is the mostly take-out/catering operation “Delicious Texas Pit BBQ”, on Beaverton-Hillsdale in Raleigh Hills (roughly across from Safeway, out front of Club 503); I’m still hoping someone with more BBQ expertise than I have will check them out and report here, as I’ve liked what I found there.
tiegkopf says
Five Guys! Sweet! One of the very few things I missed about Charlottesville, VA was the Five Guys – the only place on the downtown mall where lunch could be had for $5 or less, besides the hot dog stand. I had NO IDEA they’d expanded so far, so fast. The cajun fries are where it’s at. Hope the quality holds…
mike thelin says
Meat Cheese Bread is great. Now if only someone would open a sandwich shop on the West Side…
blake says
The new seasons rumor is not true. I just spoke to a friend who works there and she told me this got started because they moved some customer service people into a building there and it has the new seasons logo on the building. That would not make sense since there is one less than two miles away.
HansBrinker64 says
The former Three Lions space at SW 12th and Alder would be a choice space for a sandwich shop. Close proximity to offices, cool independant retail in the so-called “west end”, downtown hotels, and the new ZGF office tower and apartments going up two blocks away. Please do it someone–I work in the area and don’t care for deli food (sorry Kenny and Zukes). No panini either please, make it German-Scandinavian style sandwiches preferably open-faced with fish and shrimp options…sausage would be nice too…and beer and wine.
pdx_yogi says
True, that area needs something.
On the other hand, the carts on Alder are a three minute walk.
Btw: 3 Lions was on Morrison.
DinahDavis says
Yeah, the food at Los Baez really went downhill. It started out as a decent Gringo/Mexican joint, with good drinks and service.
The last time we went (several months ago) we could tell something was wrong. The service was AWOL, the drinks watered, and the food was truly, horribly bad.
When the bizarre organ/guitar/vaguely bluesy band started playing at 8pm, we fled the establishment, never to return…
Terrible news about Scott. This sort of thing makes despise my own species.
Heather says
Been to Spice Road Market.. had their chai, brewed in a pot on one of those single little electric stove eyes. They also have the best Early Grey tea ever.
nancy says
I hope the New Seasons rumor is true, as that would put it a stone’s throw from my house. We’ve been hearing this for months, most recently from the head of construction at The Hub, which is two blocks north at N. Williams and Failing. He seemed pretty sure…
BF says
Here’s a list of all current New Seasons markets: http://www.newseasonsmarket.com/dynamicContent.aspx?mc=OS . Many or most of these were significant remodels of existing structures, not new construction from the ground up. I’d love to see a NS on Williams and Fremont, but building from scratch is more expensive and has different codes and requirements. It’s also perceived as less “green” overall. So I’d be surprised if this rumor pans out.
djonn says
It really isn’t accurate to characterize New Seasons as unwilling to open built-from-scratch stores. While their newest announced location (Hawthorne, in the former Daily Grind space) fits this profile, several of their more recent stores anchor brand new retail developments in which they are original tenants. These include the Happy Valley, Orenco Station, and upcoming Progress Ridge (SW Beaverton/Tigard) stores. [That said, it’s almost certainly true that building a new free-standing store from scratch would present greater financial and logistical challenges than signing on as an anchor tenant in a larger development.]
As to further new locations, Blake above seems to pretty well scotch the Williams/Fremont rumor, and with both the Hawthorne and Progress Ridge builds currently going forward, I don’t know that I’d count on seeing any further new-store announcements from New Seasons for awhile yet.
Lora says
BF: djonn’s right–six of those nine stores were built from the ground up, and the new ones on Hawthorne and Progress Ridge will be, too. I agree, it must be a lot easier to build in a strip mall than freestanding, but I’d love to see a great big New Seasons on that corner!
RoboPickle says
That’s Phillipe BOULOT consulting at Gracies. Is he so cool that he can go by one name only?
Also, previous Chef at Gracies, Chris Carrikker, is now at Caprials. I feel very sorry for their employees.
Frank, Robin says
I hope the New Seasons rumor is true, as that would put it a stone’s throw from my house. We’ve been hearing this for months, most recently from the head of construction at The Hub, which is two blocks north at N. Williams and Failing.
NYC-PDX says
Djonn, I did check out the BBQ place on B-H Highway – twice. We really liked the pork butt – very tender and a good smoky flavor – probably the best meat on the menu and it was consistently good both times. The ribs were tough and the brisket was on the dry side. You don’t get much choice in the way of the BBQ sauce that comes on the side — it’s fairly sweet and not much different than what you can purchase bottled in the store.
I would go back for the pork butt any time, though.
nathaniel says
Psst, wanna buy a ladder?