Danielle Weathers, Tamera Lyn, Alissa Jessup, Chris Murray, Beth Thompson, Jane Geesman in In the Wake DAVID KINDER Ellen—the protagonist of In the Wake, Lisa Kron’s play about the early ’00s and the accompanying George W. Bush presidency—is a common type of white idealist American.
Thomas Alexander Ross
Thomas Ross writes about art and booze, and edits fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for Tin House.
Posted inArts
Lisa Kron’s In the Wake: A Little Too Self-Congratulatory for Our Tastes
Lisa Kron’s In the Wake—about the George W. Bush years and the year 2000—flirts with self-examination, lands on self-congratulation.
Posted inFood and Drink
The Spirits of Giving: A Liquor Gift Guide for the Whole Family
The holiday season is a time of generosity. A good giver of gifts finds something that speaks to their relationship with the recipient in a delightful, fulfilling way. A great gift-giver finds something they can also enjoy, like tickets to a play they love, clothes they know they’ll inherit and look amazing in, or—best of […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Sayonara, Summer: Keeping Sunny Vibes Alive with Four New Portland Bars
Just a few weeks ago, it was almost 80 degrees in Portland—leaves were barely falling and sunshine was pouring in through open windows all around town. It felt as though the sun had decided to take a tiny amount of pity on us following the last few months of national news, allowing just a few […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Psychic is the Bar that Only Psychic Knew You Needed
Every year when Halloween rolls around, I’m reminded how Portland lacks a solid lineup of themed bars. Luckily, last month, seemingly overnight, an old Victorian house on North Mississippi (recently home to a short-lived sandwich shop) got all dressed up in black and neon red and took the name Psychic. Luckily for us, the new […]
Posted inEat and Drink
Raising the Salad Bar
Searching for a Reasonably Priced Salad Should Not Be This Hard
In the lull between discussable TV shows, there are two topics of conversation between 9 am and noon in my office: 1) What a bad President we have, and 2) What we are doing for lunch? Both are depressing. The nearby co-op’s salad bar is tiny and wildly inconsistent, often just half a dozen ingredients […]
Posted inEat and Drink
Welcome to the Neighborhood, Cafés!
Four New Coffee Joints Worth Settling Into
The first half of this year saw a raft of new cafés open all across town. Like any good citizen consumer, I decided to try a few of them. It’s very strange, bouncing from café to café—as dumb as it always sounded in my long-ago stint as a Starbucks employee, the café is truly unlike […]
Posted inEat and Drink
Palomar: Now with Food That Lives Up to the Cocktails
Being pleasantly surprised on a second or third visit to a place might be more satisfying than being pleasantly surprised from the get-go. Last week, with a small group of friends, I had dinner at Palomar, award-winning bartender Ricky Gomez’s slick Cuban cocktail factory on Southeast Division. Most of us had been before, so we […]
Posted inEat and Drink
Brilliant: Bright Colors and Brighter Flavors at Casa Zoraya
After an ill-fated pizza spot appeared and disappeared next to the Eagle on North Lombard, if you’d have asked me what could survive in that largely residential no-man’s-land between I-5 and MLK Boulevard, I would not have said, “$24 ceviche and $14 pisco sours.” If a recent Saturday night at Casa Zoraya is any indicator, […]
Posted inEat and Drink
Blackheart’s Punk Brunch: Three Eggs and the Truth
Here’s some O. Henry-level classic irony for you: I love breakfast, but I’m not a morning person. I know, I know—it’s a tragedy. I’m not asking for your pity, though. Two months ago, you bet I’d want you to cry for me. But now, Blackheart exists: a punk rock bar where it’s always brunch. “Brunch” […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Bar Crawling (and Time Traveling) in the Lloyd District
Malls are dying, or so they tell us. But from the ashes of malls, apparently, rise malls. Not long ago, it was announced that in addition to a fancy new Regal Cinemas in the old Sears space in Lloyd Center Mall, the now-vacant third floor of Nordstrom would be turned into a music venue by […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Blackheart’s Punk Brunch: Three Eggs and the Truth
Here’s some O. Henry-level classic irony for you: I love breakfast, but I’m not a morning person. I know, I know—it’s a tragedy. I’m not asking for your pity, though. Two months ago, you bet I’d want you to cry for me. But now, Blackheart exists: a punk and rock bar where it’s always brunch. […]