Praise

And it just keeps coming. I can't speak for Graham, but I would think that having so much praise and excitement about the restaurant might justify the long hours (well a little).

I know that the food is amazing and that the staff is amazingly talented as well. I love to see and hear that the rest of the city does as well.

 Willamette Week Review

New Direction

As I told you a few weeks ago, there have been many changes with Graham's job. Aaron was let go and the focus of the restaurant has been drastically changed along with Lunch starting last Tuesday.

Graham is now the lunch Sous Chef and got to work last week at 7am. Most days he was home before 8 and one day even 6:30! That might all be changing this week as a Kitchen Manager was hired who also has a family. They will be getting together to decide who will be working when. It was so nice and great having him home early though it did throw a kink in our day to day schedule. It would be nice to be able to get used to the new schedule but I am not crossing my fingers.

I didn't mention much before so as to not ruffle any feathers or tell of Graham's real feelings of the situation so as to not put his job in jeopardy. He was really unhappy about how things went down and the direction the restaurant was going. The staff moped about for at least a week, some people even cried, many started looking for new work. Graham started to look for new work and even went on an interview but decided it was best to stay put. He is still keeping his eyes open and being prepared for the possibility of getting laid off, something that we think could be possible but not sure, there isn't the security feeling that he once had.

Aaron has been talking about opening his own place for awhile now and is taking this opportunity and advantage of the economy to start his own little place. Many people think "Really?! in this economy?" but in Portland, people flock to the new, now who knows if they will stay...but usually they become the darlings of the town. Another great thing is there is a lot of space available at better rates and labor costs are down since people need work. There are no set dates or location, but the idea is about and the planning getting under way. 

So we look to the future and keep our fingers crossed...

Crispy Striped Bass

Graham just got a Call from the Chef Man. There has been a new write up in the PDX Magazine that is worth taking a look at. Scroll down to Crispy Striped Bass for the review.

http://www.pdxmagazine.com/pdxpo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1295&Itemid=80

Or go pick up a copy of the January issue.

Hate to say "I Told you so"

Last Spring or Summer, Graham went through 5 interviews with multiple people for a position at Lucier and eventually decided that since he wasn't going to work there he didn't need to keep up the charade. They told him they were willing to offer him a position but still wanted another interview, plus a paper he had to write. Who makes you write a paper? Any way, they didn't want to pay much but also wanted to have an absurd amount of people in the kitchen, French Brigade style. We have heard reports of friends who ate there and counted more people in the kitchen than in the restaurant itself. Portland does need true fine dining, but now is not going to be the time. If a place like 23Hoyt that has amazing food and moderate prices is noticing the change in the economy, at high end Fine Dining place charging a minimum of $50 a person is going to do well...


We predicted it wouldn't do well and Graham actually told me this bit of news last night...


I hate to say it (well not really)
We told you so.