At 2 pm this afternoon, Deschutes Brewery released the 2009 edition of The Abyss, a pitch-black seasonal imperial stout that’s developed a cult following since it debuted in 2007. Over 100 drinkers lined up outside Deschutes’ Portland pub to get their hands on the much-coveted brew, which retails for $12 per 22-ounce bottle and resells for about $36 on Ebay. All but 18 were men. Steve, at the front of the line, had been waiting for an hour and 15 minutes to get his six bottles (the per-person maximum). He wasn’t alone in buying the legal limit—the first dozen customers all purchased the six-pack. Want a bottle for yourself? You’d better get there quickly. The Pub expects to sell out before 5 pm, and the brew won’t be available from other retailers until the end of the week.
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Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009Friday Food Roundup
Friday, October 30th, 2009
Saraveza
Nine businesses on North Killingsworth Street are throwing a Halloween crawl to benefit Ethos Music Center. Participants can buy tokens at Atomic Pizza, Saraveza or Hop & Vine (10 for $30) that can each be redeemed for the following:
Yorgos - Tater Tots, Well Drink or Draft Beer
Sagittarius – Chips & Salsa, Draft Beer or Well Drink
Atomic Pizza – Pepperoni/Cheese Slice, Salad or Beer
Hop & Vine – Mini Dessert, Small Bacon Wrapped Dates, Draft Beer or House wine
Eddie’s Pizza – Savory Pinwheel, Slice of Pizza or Draft Beer
Saraveza – Half pasty, Bowl of Soup, House wine or Draft Beer
Ducketts - Small Side Dish, Well Drink or Draft Beer
Red Fox – Cupcake or Spooky Vodka Drink served in a Pumpkin!
Chapel Pub – Cheese Burger, Gardenburger or Draft Beer
That’s a ton of food and booze for $3 a pop.
Looking for a fancier way to spend the weekend? There are still four seats left for Sunday night’s dinner with Cathy Whims at the Robert Reynolds Chef Studio. Whims rarely cooks for groups of fewer than 80 since she opened Nostrana, and this Venetian-themed four-course dinner, which includes pairings of Cameron Wines, is a chance to revisit the intimate meals she served at Genoa. Robert Reynolds Chefs Studio, 2818 SE Pine St., 544-1350. 6:30 pm Sunday, Nov. 1. $85.
The biggest day of autumn for lovers of hefty beer is coming: On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Deschutes Brewery releases the 2009 run of The Abyss, the Bend beer-maker’s extraordinary imperial stout. Thick, black and seriously high-proof, this is a special-occasion beer to be reckoned with. Deschutes celebrates with parties at both the Bend and Portland Public Houses. Enthusiasts line up down the block every year, and the Pub’s supply usually runs out within three hours. 210 NW 11th Ave. 2 pm Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Curtain Raiser: Go see August: Osage County
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
There are many, many shows on Portland stages this weekend, but there is only one you must see: August: Osage County, the sprawling family drama by Tracy Letts that won the Tony and Pulitzer for best drama in 2008. The touring production comes straight from Broadway, with its stellar cast and three-story set intact. Much praise has been justly given to Estelle Parsons, the 81-year-old Oscar-winning actress who plays Violet, the acid-tongued, pill-addicted matriarch of a screwed-up Oklahoma family. Her performance is an astonishing physical feat of stumbling and screaming and abiding resentment of life in general, but she is in good company. You just don’t see this kind of ensemble on Portland stages. Every member of the 13-person cast is exceptional, and the familial conflicts are explosive.
August is a story of substance abuse, disappointment and suicide, and Letts draws liberally from the great American playwrights of the 20th century: a little Williams here, a touch of Miller there, a smear of Albee over everything. After Beverly, Violet’s alcoholic poet husband, disappears, the whole dysfunctional extended family shows up—the unhappy daughters, the overbearing sister, the various hangers-on. It’s a three-act realist drama of the classic style, clocking in at what should be an intolerable two and a half hours; it feels like 90 minutes. The language is cruel and hilarious, and hearing audience members gasp and guffaw at the same lines is a treat. Letts sets up one dramatic cliche after another and knocks them down acidly.
There are five performances left in the show’s six-day run. Don’t miss this one. There are other shows this weekend, including a few really good ones. (Have you seen Ragtime? You should.) But none rival August.
Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 241-1802. 7:30 pm Friday, 2 and 7:30 pm Saturday, 1 and 6:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 20-25. $23.25-$68.25.
Woop! Woop! Theater Deals!
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Both Portland Center Stage and Opera Theater Oregon are offering great deals on tickets these days. PCS is selling tickets to both Ragtime and Ben Franklin: Unplugged for $20 on Halloween night (order online with the coupon code “SPOOKY”), with a post-show party featuring a costume contest and free beer. OTO is offering two-for-one tickets to the opening night of The Beggar’s Opera tonight (order online, use the code “1728″).
Some Thoughts On Our Restaurant Guide
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
Willamette Week’s 2009 Restaurant Guide is out today, inside every issue of this week’s paper. We had a blast, as always, putting the guide together, and noticed a few things along the way that didn’t make it into the guide.
First, turnover. The following restaurants that were in last year’s guide have either closed or undergone such drastic changes that they might as well have: 23Hoyt, Alberta Street Oyster Bar, Alu (since reopened under new ownership), Banh Cuon Tan Din, Cava, Encanto, Fife, Genoa (reopening in November), Nutshell, Roux. Between the 2007 and 2008 guides there were only four closures. Openings appear to be holding steady, with 17 restaurants in this year’s guide that opened in the last year versus 14 in 2008.
Some trends: Padrón peppers, already ascendant last year, are everywhere. I ate them at six of the 16 restaurants I reviewed. Poached eggs have also become ubiquitous, on salads, pasta, sandwiches and anywhere else cooks can stick them. Particularly frequent is arugula, lardon and poached egg salads. The best one I had was at Laurelhurst Market. Lots of panzanella. Plenty of venison and boar, too. Charcuterie plates are now ubiquitous. Everyone has a happy hour.
The most-mentioned ingredients in our reviews this year are, in order: pork, wine, chicken, cheese, tomatoes, lamb, bacon, potatoes, bread, beans, corn, sausage, salmon, beef, onion, pasta, egg, peppers, crab, garlic, fish, fries, chile, lamb, oil, butter, duck, arugula (all occurred more than 10 times in the guide). Want a visual illustration? Here’s a word cloud.
Finally, there are a great number of restaurants slated to open by the end of 2009: Grüner, Chris Israel’s “Alpine-themed” restaurant; American Flatbread, a Portland branch of an artisan pizza chain based in Vermont; Anju, a Japanese pub that opened a few weeks ago in the space that used to be Nutshell; Genoa, coming Nov. 22, with the addition of a lower-priced cafe; Lovely Fifty-Fifty, a pizza and ice cream parlor from the owners of Lovely Hula Hands; Olympic Provisions, the charcuterie-making facility and restaurant from Clyde Common’s Nate Tilden; a dive bar from Bunks Sandwiches’ Tommy Habetz and Nick Wood; Slappy Cakes, a grill-your-own pancake joint on Belmont; Soluna Grill, a new venture in the Fife building; Suzette, a new crêpe joint taking the place of two failed crêpe joints; Spints Alehouse, a gastropub in the space that was the doomed Cafe 401; A Pok Pok bar, across the street from the restaurant; Big-Ass Sandwiches (yes, really) downtown; and a new venture from the Caprials in inner Southeast.
Christ Requests Correction
Friday, October 9th, 2009
I was alarmed by this request for a correction to our Words listings, which at first glance appeared to be faxed from on high. Maybe it’s my background in religious studies, maybe lingering guilt over the near-blasphemy of this week’s Headout (curse you, Rusty Feathercap!), but I thought for a moment that Jesus was concerned about prices at this weekend’s book sale. And why not? Portland is “Jesus’ favorite city.”
The fax, of course, comes not from Jesus but Janet Christ, of the Friends of the Multnomah County Library. The mundane origin does not make her request any less legitimate. A correction has been made. Sorry, Janet.
Today’s Free Art With Oregon Day Of Culture
Thursday, October 8th, 2009
So far most of the events of the Oregon Cultural Trust’s Oregon “Day” of Culture campaign (the “day” actually started on Monday) have been either out of town or not particularly interesting, but today the good stuff happens: Admission to the Oregon History Museum, Architectural Heritage Center, Classical Chinese Garden, Washington County Museum and Pittock Mansion is free, all day. Third Angle ensemble will play a free concert at noon at the Old Church. There are open rehearsals at dance studios all over town, and a lot more. Here’s the day’s schedule.
All day — Oregon History Museum, Architectural Heritage Center, Classical Chinese Garden, Washington County Museum and Pittock Mansion – free
11:30 – 5 PM – OBT Open House @ Keller Auditorium, SW 3rd + Clay, rehearsing for the 20th anniversary season opening of Emeralds– free
Noon – 1 PM – Backstage Brownbag @ Miracle Theatre, 525 E Stark — free
Noon – 1 PM – Third Angle previewing its China Music Now concert, Old Church — free
12:45 – 1:15, Virginia Willard of NWBCA speaks about the value of culture to the East Portland Chamber of Commerce, Rose Room @ the Rose Garden
Noon – 5 PM, Kids artmaking and Halloween mask making, CHAP Art Factory, 1030 NW Marshall
2:30 – 3, Voices of Our Elders, a theatrical reading Hollywood Senior Center, 1820 NE 40th Avenue — free
5 – 5:30 PM, Rain or Shine open air dance and music in Pioneer Square, with 15 performers plus dance therapists, kids from Outside In and audience participation — free
5 – 7 PM, opening reception, exhibit of Dorothea Lange’s 1939 Farm Security Administration photos taken in Oregon, PSU’s Littman gallery — free
5 – 7 PM opening of Naito family exhibit, Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center – free
5:30 – 7 PM, State of Dance w/Andrea Snyder of Dance USA, BodyVox studio, 1201 NW 17th — free
6 PM, Agnieszka Laska Dance open rehearsal, Polish Hall, 3832 N Interstate Ave — free
6 – 7:30 PM , Linda Austin Dance open rehearsal, Performance Works NW, 4625 SE 67th Ave — free
6:30 – 7:30 – Polaris Dance open rehearsal, 1501 SW Taylor — free
8 PM – Wordstock opens with 2nd Story @, Bagdad Theatre
William Hurt Returning To Artists Rep
Friday, September 25th, 2009
Actor William Hurt, who is almost my third cousin (he is the grandson of Henry Luce, Jr., the founder of Time, from his second marriage; Luce’s first was to my great great aunt) is returning to Portland to play the male lead in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Artists Repertory Theatre next August. Hurt’s performed with Artists Rep twice before, in The Drawer Boy in 2004 and in Vanya in 2007. Journey will be a co-production with Australia’s Sydney Theatre Company. Andrew Upton, best known as Cate Blanchett’s husband, will direct. Hurt will play opposite Australian actress Robyn Nevin. Artists Rep’s press release makes no mention of Krista Vendy, the Australian soap star whose embarrassing performance sabotaged the company’s otherwise fine production of Vanya, so hopefully we won’t be seeing her again.
The show will open Aug. 13 2010 at the Newmark Theater.
LAIKA To Lay Off 52 Workers
Friday, September 18th, 2009
We have just received notice from the State Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development that LAIKA, the Philip Knight-owned, Portland-based animation studio behind Coraline, will lay off 52 employees by Nov. 17. The terminated positions include two animators, two administrative assistants and a number of managers. Click here to download the notice.
TBA Diaries: One last look at Small Metal Objects
Friday, September 11th, 2009
Photo by Kenneth Aaron
I have just returned from watching Back to Back Theatre’s Small Metal Objects, the last show I’ll be seeing at this year’s TBA Festival. Both Matthew Korfhage and Jonanna Widner have already reviewed the show, in which four actors deal with a drug deal stymied by an existential crisis, and I have nothing substantive to add to their critiques of the play itself. It’s well-written, -acted and -produced, and highly enjoyable.
I would like to share a bit of the experience of watching the show at noon on a hot Friday. I’ve never spent much time in Pioneer Courthouse Square at midday—usually just long enough to wolf a burrito—and so had little experience with the heat that rises off the bricks under the sun. Before the performance even started, we were all feeling uncomfortably moist. To the rescue came Pink Martini bandleader Thomas Lauderdale and his friend, whom I did not recognize, who instructed a number of us in the art of paper hat-making. These helped tremendously.
