BJ’s Restaurant and Brewery on NE Weidler St has shut its doors. Add to this Odessa’s Cafe on NE Broadway (now for sale), and Venue on MLK in the old Billy Reed’s Place.
You remember Venue. It moved in after the restaurant Spice: we made lots of fun over the Spice website. According to The Hollywood Star News, the Standard Dairy space will be replaced by offices.
Wonder what will be next? Feel free to send tips pdxfoodpress@gmail.com
Speaking of restaurant issues, Lucier seems to be having a bit of trouble with their opening. RUMOR has it that they let their sommelier go on the first day. On top of that, they’ve postponed their press opening. I hope this isn’t a sign of things to come. I’m looking forward to checking Lucier out.
Oh, that’s sad that Odessa’s closed. Am I the only person who feels guilty when a place closes? I wish I had gone there. I passed it by a couple times for Blind Onion, thinking “next time…”, now I won’t get a chance to try it out. I eat out about once a week, often going back to the same places, but then feeling bad when other places end up closing. I know it’s incredibly arrogant to assume the guilt for a place closing, but I do still feel bad.
A couple more notes:
There are the Chili’s closures reported earlier this week (I saw a story on KATU Tuesday, and the Oregonian business page had more Wednesday). There’s something odd going on there, if the Big O report is to be believed — the franchise owner may have had his hand in the salsa jar, apparently. I’d have thought there’d be a chance of Chili’s parent corporation stepping in to pick up the operations, but so far that hasn’t been mentioned as a possibility.
And in the Pioneer Place food court, Kento Bento and Booya Juice have folded; I went by one afternoon and they’d gone dark, and by the next day they had a wooden cover-wall up as if they’d never been there.
So the Chili’s debacle was caused by bad (read larcenous) management? I thought it had something to do with the fact they charged ridiculous prices for what you got. I went years ago and vowed never to return after being charged $6 for a small basket of chips and salsa.
Chalk up another southern-themed restaurant failure in the Odessa’s location. Lagniappe got a good start, moved to trendier digs, and then folded.
I’ve always noted that some restaurant spaces seem to have “curses”; especially those who were once occupied by a successful restaurant to then become a series of ill-conceived and/or poorly operated establishments.
Think of the current Tony Starlight’s (still doing OK after more than a year, so maybe the “curse” is broken). It started life as Champagne Claudia’s, a very successful luncheon spot, and after Claudia decamped it became a series of increasingly weird restaurants (with a slight hiatus for Galway’s Pub).
It was everything from a lesbian bar to a low-carb cafeteria. My “favorite” incarnation was the all-black-interior, all-tofu menu, punk bar Blackbird. I never had the courage to go in.
Note that Odessa also expanded beyond the space that Lagniappe used in that location; I think there was a second-hand clothing store in half that building until a year or so ago. Lagniappe was also in its new space on Alberta for quite a while before closing.
Blackbird was a fun place. That location seems sub-optimal, though, as there’s not a lot of parking very close, and you kind of have to know the neighborhood to drive around there as it’s filled with one-way streets and no left turns.
Heh. You and I both had our first Chili’s experiences pretty early, then. I never went often, but I do know that the last time I was there (relatively recently), they’d changed the policy such that the chips and salsa were on the free-refill program.
At least those of us on the west side still have Big Red’s (both of them) for our faux Tex-Mex fix….
That’s too bad about Venue. Although, not because of the food so much but because they were the only place in town that regularly booked Cuban/Caribbean music.
Regarding guilt when a restaurant closes: I used to feel this way, but so many places have opened in the last few years it seems really unrealistic that they would all (or even half) be able to make it.
Dinah – the Blackbird was great. Saw many bands there, including an epic Les Savy Fav show the very first night I moved to Portland some 6 years ago. It was a great venue, and I was sad to see it go. I never knew they even served food.
I went to Lucier last night and had a very good meal. It is a beautiful location and you can tell that they did spend the rumored $5 million on the buildout. I thought the food was great, but there were a few service issues, but nothing one wouldn’t expect on opening week. I will be back.
I went to Odessa’s once. I had the toughest, nastiest beef brisket in my life.
I think its really weird that Lucier woould fire a 100 K a year manager so soon. I wonder if this poor guy was hired in reality to just set up this huge endeavor, and once its was built and up and running they let him go due to the huge salary commitment? Thats my question of this place. Everyone in town knows that Lucier hired a huge and well paid staff. Between Executive Chef, Sous Chefs and well advertised 50k a year pastry chef, assistant pastry chef, Sommeilier, General manager, Assistant manager, Bar manager, Banquet Chef, Banquet salesperson, and I heard they have 12 guys on theline not including dishwashers, captains, bussers, servers, their payroll must be HUGE! This does not include workmans comp, taxes, benefits rent, overhead, what is the monthly nut???
I want a nice 4 star experience, but this is a huge endeavor to start during atough economy.
Too much crying ’bout Lucier!
Portland is growing! Accept it!!!!!
igor,
i love the fact portland is growing!!! in fact i am all for $5 a trip toll booths, $10 a gallon gas, and sell all the timber land for golf courses, shopping malls and all that good stuff. i am all about the stronger surviving! but look at most of these bloggers, they complain of prices and portion sizes ( or lack of ) at Luciers’ price point one coul eat at Paleys three times a week. will you go to Lucier 8-12 times a month? i will if its good. but how many of me ( or you ) are there in portland ? BTW, i eat out 4 nights a week and cook in my gourmet kitchen ( in the Pearl ) three. i only shop at City Market, Farmers market and Zupans for the basics.
There seems to be movement behind the brown paper at the old Terroir premises on Fremont/MLK. The “for lease” signs have come down and the “Terroir” imprint on the windows are being chipped away. Any rumors ?
Bad location!
Did anyone else notice that Bar Convivium closed down too? Maybe not. It apparently happened in mid-April according to the sign on the door. Talk about a horrible location.
–mcz
Yup, I talked about that a few posts back.
never mind, then. I keep falling behind on my reading.
–mcz
I was sorry to notice Lungta Tibetan on NE Sandy just closed. A sign mentions a Peruvian restaurant coming in the same location.