Roger Porter Comes to Portland Food and Drink – And More!

You may have read around town that I have taken the leap and added Roger Porter to write reviews for the site. Roger’s extensive background in reviewing for both Willamette Week and The Oregonian, make him uniquely qualified to contribute to this site, and I’m happy to have him aboard. His first review, of Thistle in McMinville, will be out towards the end of this week.

Though I have not met Roger in person, we have communicated back and forth via email, and along with liking him I trust his ethics, and the way he sets out to do reviews. His approach will be the same as mine; in most cases making at least 3 visits until he feels he has a good grasp of the restaurant. Roger will also be following the Association of Food Critics review guidelines. I think he will bring a slightly different demographic of followers to the site, and look forward to his contributions.

Part of the reason for this change is to bring more reviews to the site – traffic statistics show that reviews are why readers come here. They are the core reason I began writing back in 2004, but due to my declining health, I have been unable to write nearly as easily as I used to. I have a difficult time using the keyboard am dealing with some cognitive issues. Though I will keep trying to do one review a month, Roger’s contributions will allow Portland Food and Drink to get back to what we do best.

Some may be under the impression that I’m making piles of money from the site, but alas, not true. The server costs have tripled over the past year as I’ve moved to a faster host, and I’m going to have to upgrade again, because I’m blowing through the bandwidth allocation in the first three weeks of each month.

With the site approaching its six-year anniversary on September 14th, I took a look at traffic from the beginning:

When I first started PFD, I was thrilled to have 100 readers. That, I thought, was all the folks I could imagine coming to the site. In spite of my tendency towards long, over-detailed reviews, traffic has increased far more quickly than I imagined, blowing past six million page views this summer, with about 40% of those being unique visitors. For 2010, we’ll have over two million people stopping by.

More reviews, which require three to five visits to each restaurant, mean this site will operate at a loss. Roger has graciously offered to write as long as I can cover his expenses, so I’ll be rejiggering the advertisements on the review pages, with the revenue going directly towards his contributions. Of course I will continue to save one space to allow benefits to advertise for no charge. I’m also bringing back the “donate” button in a slightly different form. By clicking on it, folks will have a choice of making a one-time donation, or “subscribing”, with a small amount being debited each month for six months. Even $3 will make a big difference, and any donations, no matter how small, will go a long way towards keeping the site going, and earn you double karma points for 2010. Those of you who send in press releases, please consider that it takes me quite a bit of time to post them each month.

I’d eventually like to add a few more people who would like to write general, broad interest articles about cooking techniques, ingredients, recipes, interviews, etc. We’ll see how the finances go.

Finally, a few thank you’s. I feel honored and humbled that many of you have followed the site for so long; I wish I could take you all to dinner. To the many excellent writers who have contributed articles over the years, Portland Food and Drink wouldn’t be the success it is without you: Catherine Cole, “Cuisine Bonne Femme”, David Jenkins, Elizabeth Lopeman, Jonathan Jenkins, Joanna Miller, Ken Collura, Kevin Allman, “KMazz”,  Lucy Burningham, Marshall Manning, Michael Charles, Nancy Rommelmann (who encouraged me, and talked me into keeping the site going), Nino Marchetti, “Pappy”, Paul Gerald, “Schlockstar”, “Sonia”, “Salty Cod”, “Suds Sister” and Tami Parr among other guest authors. You can see their stories and links to their personal websites here.

Finally, a thank you to the advertisers. I resisted adding ads until the last few years, but there came a point where I couldn’t afford not to have them. Their support is greatly appreciated:

• Andina Restaurant – long-time supporter
• Artisanal Wine Cellars
• Beaverton Farmer’s Market – long-time supporter
• Boedecker Cellars
• Carafe Bistro – long-time supporter
• Dining Month Portland
• Downtown Portland
• Food-Hub
• Forktown Food Tours
• Gilt Club
• The Hop & Vine – long-time supporter
• Laughing Planet Cafe
• Montinore Estate Vineyards
• Marlin Group – Restaurant Sales and Acquisitions – long-time supporter
• Morris Fenton
• Mobons
• Northwest Palate – long-time supporter
• Organic Valley Farmer-Owned Local Organic Milk
• Paul Gerald – long-time supporter
• Portland Eats Out
• Portland Indie Wine Festival
• Random Order Coffeehouse – long-time supporter
• Ristretto Roasters – long-time supporter
• Robert Reynold’s Chefs Studio
• Sagebrush Classic – long-time supporter
• Sapori Fine Flavors
• StoryTeller Wine
• Taste of the Nation
• Two Tarts Bakery – long-time supporter
• Vino Buys – long-time supporter