(but only on orders over 2,500 miles away).
What happens when a pizza from Apizza Scholls gets send by UPS to to New York? Those heathens put it in a refrigerator for three days before trying it! Let me get this right. I can’t get a pizza without waiting in line for hours, but the guys at SeriousEats.com get Brian to send them a pizza, and then they wait three days before they eat?! Grrr.
The piece on their blog is fun, and includes a video of the moment of truth: a-2900mile-pizza-delivery (note: link no longer valid and removed in 2010)
People have been asking what is going to happen with the old Lovely Hula Hands location. Your questions have been partially answered: it has reopened as, brace yourself, The Purple Tooth. It is a bar (I’m assuming with a focus on wine) in the old pink house at 938 N. Cook St., at Mississippi.
The Daily Breeze, a Los Angeles newspaper, ran an article last Sunday called “Portland’s Gleaming Pearl”. I thought they did a terrific job covering everything Pearl District, from history to retail, to restaurants. While they got a few facts wrong, the overall story is very well done. Restaurants covered include Bluehour, Daily Cafe, Fenouil, Pearl Bakery, Bridgeport Pub, and Rogue Ales. I looked for the story online, but, as seems to be the norm with newspapers, couldn’t find it. Will someone tell me why so many newspapers have such bad websites? Geeze!
I heard the other day that Alice Waters has decided to no longer serve bottled water in her restaurants, only filtered, because of the environmental impact. I see this as a coming trend in restaurants, as green is the trendy way to go right now. Of course, one thing many restaurants fail to mention, is that they use a method called reverse osmosis to filter that water themselves. What? You don’t know what that is? From Wikpedia “it is the process of forcing a solvent from a region of high solute concentration through a membrane to a region of low solute concentration by applying a pressure in excess of the osmotic pressure. This is the reverse of the normal osmosis process, which is the natural movement of solvent from an area of low solute concentration, through a membrane, to an area of high solute concentration when no external pressure is applied. The membrane here is semipermeable, meaning it allows the passage of solvent but not of solute.”
I’m glad you all understood that. Anyway, back to my point. I worked a bit with RO in a previous profession. Even the most efficient systems tend to waste 16-18% of the water that goes through them, sending it spiraling down the drain. Next time your server gushes that their water is filtered with RO, you’ll know the back story. Personally, I always thought good old Portland tap water tastes pretty good.
There are many reasons newspapers have terrible websites. Foremost, with a place as small as the Daily Breeze, is because it’s a small operation and where the setting up of a site is at first thought an unnecessary expense (do our readers really want or need this?), and then, if and when they realize they’ve missed the boat, they are simply at sea as to how to set it up. There are also a few stalwarts saying, “This web thing is never going to take off,” and so focus their resources on the printed page. Others, such as OregonLive (don’t get me started) set up a site so impossible to navigate, it gives the impression that there’s no point in putting the product online. Many city magazines, including Los Angeles Magazine, make only a little content available online because they want you to go spend your $3.50 at the newsstand. The reasoning being, the advertising dollars in print versus web are not commensurate, so why give away the content for free? Of course this is idiotic; the returns you’ll get by getting your product online create their own forms of currencies. Last, setting up an efficient, good-looking, smart, used-friendly site is not cheap; people put off making the investment, and keep thinking, is is really worth it? For some places, it never is. These, I suspect, will be the same places that go out of business altogether.
Almost all brands of bottled water go through reverse osmosis. It’s not only wasteful, but it makes you wonder about the source of the water in the first place – if they’re using such a strong method to purify it, it’s probably of poor quality to start with. There is a local brand that doesn’t – Earth2o. Their water is naturally filtered through layers of volcanic basalt – http://www.earth2o.com/FAQs/
RE: Purple Tooth, I am not certain if the focus is wine. I do know that Jim Parker, of Oaks Bottom Public House, has brewed a beer for them. Read more about it here: http://portlandfood.org/index.php?showtopic=2966&hl=
Speaking of Jim, keep on the lookout for a big new development coming from the publican. He wants to cater more to beer afficionados. I am just pleased that plans are in place to put a pub closer to the city center. I hope he brings the totchos and great bartenders!
The Pearl article is online here: http://tinyurl.com/2q53ez
I used to do research for a living.
To Paddy’s credit, it seems that health inspectors are a little inconsistent. What flies for some will get flagged for others.
RE: Paddy’s. My sources tell me that one of the cooks got into a brawl with the health inspector which contributed to their shut-down. Then again, you will often find my sources on the barstools at Paddy’s sampling many of the fine whiskeys, so take that for what it’s worth! Also, I was told that it had re-opened as of last night.
FD – I feel your pain re Apizza Scholls. Remind me again why this place is so great? After going there once or twice (admittedly a while back) and (a) being lectured for having the temerity to order my own pizza with “too many” toppings; (b) attempting to order several bottles of wine from the menu which, in turns out, they didn’t have; (c) receiving lacklustre service (this is being kind); (d) waiting a near eternity for my food, I was informed that this experience would be mandatory in future, i.e. no take out. Folks, this is PIZZA! This is not haute cuisine! I don’t see why good pizza needs to come with so much attitude and poor customer service. I’ve never been back.
My wife and I have tried their pizza twice and found it average and expensive. A pizza and two beers was $35 with a tip. The elitist attitude needs to too, but a lot of people here in Portland seem to enjoy being treated like crap by some “famous” restauranteer…
Dr Stu , Don’t sugar coat it !
Maybe if it was sugar coated, it would have been more caramelized and less burned on the bottom :p
Here’s the info on the new pub by publican Jim Parker:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/thebeerhere/2007/04/waiter_theres_a_dragon_in_my_a.html