For those who haven’t heard, the two Sungari Restaurants downtown are owned by different people. Sungari Pearl is opening a branch next to Roots in East Vancouver. Then there is Fatburger, also opening next to Roots. Ah, Fatburger; this reminds me of a story…
Many years ago, they were pretty darn good; at one time they were about as close as one could get to In-N-Out in the Northwest. I used to eat at one on La Cienega in Los Angeles on a weekly basis. It was a 24-hour dive, at the conflux of West Hollywood, Crenshaw, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood. Talk about a diverse crowd! Movie stars, drunks… I used to know half the drag queens and prostitutes in that area because we’d get into conversations while waiting for burgers at 3:00 am.
Anyway, a few years ago in the middle of a big rainstorm, I got a wild urge to try one of those new donut places: Krispy Creme. I drove to Bellevue Washington and stood in the pouring rain for a meh donut when like a beacon in the night, a Fatburger sign called to me from across the parking lot. So, on top of my four glazed donuts, I went in and strolled down memory lane. The burgers weren’t so great, just average, and the store was full of screaming kids. Still, it was an adventure, and it gave me a story to serenade you with now.
Chef Scott Shampine Opening a Cena in Sellwood
As we reported a month ago, the old Assaggio Restaurant is still on track to reopen with Scott Shampine, formerly of er, Gracies, formerly of Olea, formerly of… from what I hear a chef who keeps his bags packed. Let’s hope he gets it together. The Oregonian reported last week that the new place will be called a Cena. One of the owners is a psychiatrist. Hmm… from my experience with some chefs, that could be useful.
Chef Aaron Barnett Taking Over Olea Restaurant
Speaking of Olea restaurant, Aaron Barnett is the latest chef to walk through their revolving door. He put in some time at Lumiere, and “studied under esteemed Chef Gary Danko before working as a sous chef at San Francisco’s Myth Restaurant. He then moved on to an executive chef position at Desert Sage Restaurant in La Quinta, CA., Where he cemented his stellar reputation when the restaurant earned the Best New Restaurant award from Palm Springs Life Magazine.” Olea is a great space, and I hope he makes something of the restaurant.
Blackbird Wine Opening in the Beaumont area
From a reader:
“A wine shop (wine bar?) called Blackbird is opening at 3519 NE 44th, that’s right behind the Umpqua Bank on the corner of 44th & Fremont.
Greg, son of the owner of McPeet’s Bar, is opening a wine bar behind Parisi’s at 46th and Fremont. I don’t know Greg’s last name and a database search on McPeet’s didn’t turn up anything.
Vinideus is close to opening at 48th and Fremont, looks like a wine shop but maybe that is a bar they are building in there.
Speaking of tastings, did you know the liquor store on Hawthorne has tastings on Fridays? Not always, but they were tasting some local gin a couple of weeks ago.”
Liquor store tastings? I suddenly feel like I’m on a cruise ship! Where do I sign up?
More angry letters
Occasionally I get letters from angry readers that are so good I have to pass them around. Here’s a paragraph from a recent one that had me on the floor:
You know, as I was reading your review of Acadia just now, I recalled an episode of the old Star Trek series with William Shatner, where the transporter device fails and Captain Kirk ends up in an alternative universe where all the Enterprise crew are identical to those in his own universe, except that they are all evil. Since what you say about Acadia is so out of touch with the reality I’m familiar with, I wondered if I had not been suddenly transported into just such a dysfunctional universe, where the restaurant critics are all paranoid delusional psychotics running around pretending to know about food.
I came close to posting the entire letter, and then a response, but Nancy R wouldn’t let me. Probably just as well. I think someone is watching me.
Naomi Pomeroy’s newest venture, Beast Restaurant Opens
The menu is prix fixe. It’s BYOB BTW. The first menu sounds ambitious, and in the interest of being totally cool, uses no capital letters! This alone makes me want to go. From their website, “BEAST is loud and we have the infamous chairs from clarklewis- we think the food makes up for it, but you will decide that for yourself.” God, I hate those chairs.
- duo of soups: french heirloom squash and sweet corn, truffled pork cracklings
- smooth chicken and duck liver mousse, pork rillettes stuffed with poached pear
- whipped herb custard, trout roe, squid ink cracker
- oxtail galette, cauliflower, and sorrel gratin
- butter lettuce and radicchio salad, creamy
tarragon vinaigrette - french goat cheese, cauille blanc apple paste
- chocolate and plum soufflé, noyaux ice cream, dark caramel sauce
In an homage to Michael Hebb, anyone asking for substitutions will be physically thrown out of the restaurant, spat upon, and banned forever.
Kevin Allman says
Re Beast:
They’ve still got the first day’s menu up when you click “Today’s menu”; will it really be changing every day?
And, of course, “substitutions politely declined.”
portlad says
Wow, thanks for the warning about Beast. Similar thing with Simpatica dining, but at least they call themselves a “supper club”. As my parter is a vegitarian with a serious food allergy, we’re happier visiting establishments that are less magisterial about their vision.
Nancy Rommelmann says
Hmm. By this thinking, I should be able to order a steak in a vegetarian or vegan restaurant, and if the management politely tells me, they do not serve meat, I should get in a snit and declare I am taking my business elsewhere. Because Beast is polite about it. More, of the seven courses we ate last night, three were vegetarian, as were at least half the components in the other four courses. How is this being magisterial?
Kevin Allman says
Nancy – was the food good?
What was the room like?
portlad says
I won’t get into the text or the history I was reacting to, for reasons below, and I’m not seeking to order scallops at a kosher restaurant (just to keep the cilantro off my latkes). I’ll grant that the magisterial adjective was poorly choosen and overstates my thought.
I just discovered portlandfoodanddrink and it is a wonder! As I looked around, though, I saw a couple negative threads from a few grumpy people sometimes getting into long discussions of their grumpyness, others telling them they shouldn’t be that way, and so on. I don’t want to be one of those people (though I just was), or start one of those discussions (though maybe I did).
There are many, more pleasant, tales to read or tell here. A few warnings to share, but lets hold them lightly. I have to thank Food Dude for all the effort that goes into the timely news and informative reviews of the Portland food scene, and of folks finding the art, science, and delight therein.
Thanks for sharing your experience — and was the food good?
Nancy Rommelmann says
The food was good. The room is darling! Very intimate, very dinner party, maybe even more so than Family Supper, though no passed food. I enjoyed myself.
pam says
I’m frequently impressed by the quality of discourse on this site, and you, portlad, have just raised it up another notch. Truly an elegant apology!