OpenTable, an online restaurant reservation service, has never had that many Portland area restaurants to choose from on their site. That’s now starting to change. Bar Lola, Bull Feeney’s, Cinque Terre, David’s, Five Fifty-Five, Fore Street, Street & Co, The Frog and Turtle and Vignola are now all listed on the site. I hope they continue the expansion. It’s a very useful service, especially when looking for last minute reservations or trying to get a table for a larger group.
Restaurants are charged a fee for every reservation made through the site but the fee is less if you link to the OpenTable reservation page from the restaurant’s own website. So if you want to cut your favorite place a break go to their site first and click on their reservation link. Fore Street, Street & Co and Bull Feeney’s are the only ones that don’t have a reservations link on their own site.
Month: July 2009
Street & Co Review
Where is Jenner’s Mind has reviewed Street & Co.
when it came i was sort of disappointed that it was really just lobster, pasta, butter, and garlic. but once i dug in i realized that there was really nothing else this dish needed. the soft shelled lobster was split right down the middle which allows for removing all of the tender morsels of meat with ease. the juices of the lobster mingled into the garlicky butter to elevate each bite of pasta to so much more than just noodles and butter.
Street & Co Review
Where is Jenner’s Mind has reviewed Street & Co.
when it came i was sort of disappointed that it was really just lobster, pasta, butter, and garlic. but once i dug in i realized that there was really nothing else this dish needed. the soft shelled lobster was split right down the middle which allows for removing all of the tender morsels of meat with ease. the juices of the lobster mingled into the garlicky butter to elevate each bite of pasta to so much more than just noodles and butter.
12 Seats Releases
Erik and Krista Desjarlais, owners of Evangeline and Bresca, have posted information on their blogs (here and here) about their new venture, 12 Seats.
12 Seats is a collaboration between Krista and I. 12 Seats is just what the title says. 12 seats, 12 courses, 12 times in one year. The last Sunday of each month, Krista and I will transform bresca in to an amalgamation of our culinary and hospitality passions. 12 Seats will take over the bresca dining room and kitchen, and she and I will transform ourselves into one chef with the mind of two cooks.
This Week's Events
The weekly Food and Drink Trivia Contest is at Bull Feeney’s tonight, and on Tuesday the next Wine Flight 5k Training run is taking place. There are wine events at both The Salt Exchange and Jones Landing on Wednesday. There are wine tastings at the Public Market House and Leavitt and Sons on Thursday and Rosemont on Brighton on Friday. Also on Thursday is a Bray’s Brew Pub showcase at The Great Lost Bear. The 5th Annual Vegetarian and Vegan Food Festival is this Saturday. Farmers’ Markets are being held in Monument Square on Wednesday and at Deering Oaks Park on Saturday. The most interesting item on this week’s calendar comes on Sunday when Rabelais and Duckfat are teaming up on a combined book signing/milkshake demo with Adam Reid author of Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes. For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
This Week’s Events
The weekly Food and Drink Trivia Contest is at Bull Feeney’s tonight, and on Tuesday the next Wine Flight 5k Training run is taking place. There are wine events at both The Salt Exchange and Jones Landing on Wednesday. There are wine tastings at the Public Market House and Leavitt and Sons on Thursday and Rosemont on Brighton on Friday. Also on Thursday is a Bray’s Brew Pub showcase at The Great Lost Bear. The 5th Annual Vegetarian and Vegan Food Festival is this Saturday. Farmers’ Markets are being held in Monument Square on Wednesday and at Deering Oaks Park on Saturday. The most interesting item on this week’s calendar comes on Sunday when Rabelais and Duckfat are teaming up on a combined book signing/milkshake demo with Adam Reid author of Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes. For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.
Beans, Brown Bread and Water
Columnist Margo Mallar has written about B&M Beans history and her tour of the facility here in Portland in her weekly food column in this weekend’s Portland Daily Sun.
From the sluice where navy pea beans are first winnowed to the conveyor belt where labeled cans are wrapped for warehousing, we walked the canning process from start to finish. Salt pork before and after soaking, molasses tanks, spice totes, train cars that bring in 200,000 pounds of beans at a time from Canada and the Dakotas: Don explained each step of the eight-hour process, referring to workers by name, many of whom had been there for decades.
Also in the weekend edition is an article from Editor Curtis Robinson on how he’s “Staying hip to the city’s ongoing water debate” between Take Back the Tap and FLOW.
More on O'Naturals Closing
The Press Herald interviewed O’Naturals CEO Mac McCabe about the closure of the eatery’s Old Port location.
McCabe said the business fell victim to changing eating habits because of the economic recession, bad weather and the closing of The Movies on Exchange and other Old Port businesses that would draw diners into his restaurant at night.
Also quoted in the article is Jeff Buerhaus, Chef/Owner of Walter’s, who pointed out that “competition is growing fierce in the Old Port”.
More on O’Naturals Closing
The Press Herald interviewed O’Naturals CEO Mac McCabe about the closure of the eatery’s Old Port location.
McCabe said the business fell victim to changing eating habits because of the economic recession, bad weather and the closing of The Movies on Exchange and other Old Port businesses that would draw diners into his restaurant at night.
Also quoted in the article is Jeff Buerhaus, Chef/Owner of Walter’s, who pointed out that “competition is growing fierce in the Old Port”.
New Krista/Erik Collaboration
Type A has a report on 12 Seats, a new monthly cooking collaboration between Krista and Erik Desjarlais. It will be a highly customized event for 12 people and will be held at Bresca’s Middle Street location.
The goal is to create a highly personalized experience. For example there will be dialogue with every guest about dietary restrictions. The dinner will be $120pp, excluding wine.
Erik and Krista plan to secure a phone number over the weekend and will start taking reservations shortly. The first meal will be served on Sunday, October 25th. I’ll update this post when the phone number is available.