Portland Food and Drink

Restaurant News and Information For Portland Oregon Area Restaurants and Bars

Josh Blythe to Leave Roux, John Gorham Leaves Simpatica Catering

By Last Update January 16, 2014

The Gossip Star of Portland

Not lots of real news to speak of, so let’s just throw some rumors out there. I just sit around after a few cocktails, and make them up, so just take them with a grain of salt.

Josh Blythe, of Roux is thinking about moving on. He wants to leave and focus on starting his own place, which begs the question, who is going to take the helm at Roux? UPDATE: More on this here

John Gorham of Simpatica isn’t happy with the whole catering thing, and is also moving on. Hmm… two down from Simpatica.

That’s it at the moment.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Food Dude says

    JDG: RE: Pinocchio, I haven’t heard a word about it. RE RSS Feed: Still here. Link
    RE Hollywood Star, okay, I changed it ;)

  2. JDG says

    What’s the latest word with Pinocchio downtown? It’s a week from winter so I think they missed their summer opening…

    http://www.pinocchiorestaurant.com/

    And what happened to the RSS feed for comments?

    BTW, there already is an actual Hollywood Star of Portland, it’s the neighborhood newspaper for Hollywood/Beaumont/Alameda.

  4. PestoGal says

    Hey FD,
    Do you have any gossip on Harrison? I heard a few months ago that there was a spat over rent during construction. I think they pretty much up and left: one day here, the next day gone.
    Know anything?

  5. Hunter says

    Pestogal, that’s pretty much what happened a few months ago. There was a dispute over rent because of the construction outside the front door. They reached an impasse and the owners boogied that next Friday.

  6. SeanD says

    chefpimp:

    The “two down” comment about Simpatica refers to the departure of John Gorham (above) and Gabriel Rosen. GR is leaving to open a Japanese place by the name of Biwa–it’ll be located right down the hall from Simpatica.

  7. Restaurant Girl says

    All right Portland bi-otches, remember the review on my blog (http:/restaurantgirlspeaks.blogspot.com) that y’all trashed a few weeks back, saying it was a joke review of an elitist bar? Well, MSN and Citysearch just named Bourbon and Branch the NUMBER ONE NEW BAR IN AMERICA for 2006. And they named the restaurant I worked in the #2 top new restaurant in America. And I think Vogue and Vanity Fair must have mentioned in their January issues that San Franciscans are both better-looking and smarter than Portlanders, holla!
    http://cityguides.msn.com/specials/default.aspx?cp-documentid=1372691

  8. Food Dude says

    Restaurant Girl, I hate to tell you this, but CitySearch has zero respect here, as it is incredibly easy to manipulate their top restaurants. One blogger in Portland actually wrote a script to change the outcome of their ratings.

  10. pdxeater says

    Bringing up citysearch is an unbelievably stupid way to try and win any credibility.

    You know, you’re not the first one who bought the hype that the charming, if you like them slightly skeevy, Mr. Hebberoy dished out. But really, you’re not going to win this one…he did and said a LOT of really stupid things, so that when he did fall, and fall big, people who didn’t like him (there were a lot by then) felt vindicated. Plus, he f*cked over a lot of very talented, hard-working people when he fled the scene of the crime. Still breaking up with the city, my ass.

    As for SF vs. pdx, that’s another silly fight to pick. It’s comparing apples and oranges.

  17. Suds Sister says

    Pi-Rem is a fantastic place with a really nice selection. It bothers me, however, that a place that is only open on the weekends get such a great rating.

  18. the mick says

    Most of those comments about the bourbon and branch review were not so much trashing the bar itself, as the review. It may well be “the best bar in the US”, but I doubt restaurant girl will be winning any accolades for “best reviewer”. It wasn’t so much a joke review of an elitist bar as much as an elitist review of what may well be a joke bar!

  19. Ellie says

    Having lived in SF for a good (and fat) spell, I feel comfortable in saying that I sincerely doubt that “restaurant girl” is an SF native. I’m guessing another “SF” may have been her place of origin, namely San Fernando.

  20. FoodGroupie says

    Yeah,

    I skated on by to her blog and is there any entry that doesn’t have the word “hip” in it?

    Noticed several Perez Hilton references. Perez is so LA.

  22. foodrebel says

    Here’s the dish about Pinocchio:
    It’s being opened by Michael, a former manager of the Heathman, who hired one of the sous chef of the Heathman as Exec.
    They are planning to open in January, delayed as they had to fire their contractor and hire a new one.
    It’s located in the building right acroos Salmon from Southpark Restaurant. They are planning to do New York style Italian food.

  23. foodrebel says

    Nope, sir. Pinnochio, as the puppet with the 10 inch…nose!
    I heard they’ll decorate the joint with hand puppets.

    You’re gonna be busy, next year. Lots of new places coming up:
    Pinnochio, one from “Chef” – give me a break – Stu Stein, one from Adam, former chef at Wildwood. Another one, I guess, from Josh from Roux, one each from the 2 guys at Simpatica, maybe one from Brownlow (if he can control his costs…) You should do a round up of all the planned new places!
    Has anyone been to Merriwhether to check on Tommy Habetz? I’ll be there as soon as I can! I love that guy.

  24. Suds Sister says

    “Has anyone been to Merriwhether to check on Tommy Habetz? I’ll be there as soon as I can! I love that guy. ”

    I’m having lunch there this afternoon, I’ll report back.

  25. Chambolle says

    “Here’s the dish about Pinocchio:”

    I’m still in disbelief that Disney hasn’t (or maybe in the future will) come down like a rain of litigious hatred on anybody who would attempt to profit on one of their creations. Not like I like Disney, but that’s like telling Mike Tyson his face tattoo is stupid.

  28. foodie princess says

    hello everyone. vanessa bazzani here, daughter of michael bazzani (heathman manager) and sommelier/manager of Pinocchio. my father and i are opening a restaurant named Pinocchio across from southpark. nelia, the senior sous at the heathman will be our executive chef. foodrebel was correct and yes it has been incredibly delayed in opening. we were going to open this summer but i guess construction is out of our control and instead we will be opening in the beginning of february. our focus is italian with an emphasis on New York style italian, where we are from. our family has worked at the the heathman for many years and most recently i have been at carafe. now we focus on our own project and work towards opening Pinocchio. i cannot wait to share our family food with all of you and hope to see you dining with us soon. also we are going to have an awesome bar so think about us for your after work watering hole. for your additional information we will be sending out some press releases soon.

    a word on the website, yes it is pinocchiorestaurant.com but we have a new look coming soon with more details. right now that site doesnt really have anything going for it or us.

  29. R.G. says

    Was not Finocchio one of the first ,if not the first,of the trans-sexual nightclubs in San Francisco ? On Columbus as I remember.

  30. Doug says

    Has anyone heard about the new restaurant opening in Vancouver? I just did a bit of flooring there this week but from what I can tell; this place looks like it could give the Downtown Portland Foodies something to head north for. They are off Mill Plain (near Hearthwood – Between I-205 and 164th across from the old airport). I have just heard bit and pieces, but it sounds like they have some top chefs here. Could anybody give a little more insight? By the way, the name of the place is Vespa and I think they open on Thursday.