This week, the Mercury rounded-up all the cool things to do (and the bars to do them in) for this week’s Pride Weekend. We recounted the agony and the ecstasy—but mainly the agony—of popping the cork on and praying that your old expensive bottle of wine still has any life in it. We visited Canard, Gabe Rucker’s new casual French joint and we liked it! And lastly, we have descriptions of the many different style of wings you could try for the return of Wing Week on June 25.
Willamette Week had the honor of reporting the dumbest story of the week. The report itself wasn’t dumb, but rather the people who showed up to protest the food cart owner who last week called an African-American woman the n-word and then threw a Gatorade bottle at her before splashing her with hot sauce (for wanting to pay for her lunch in mostly quarters), because they protested the wrong cart, which has the same name as that of the alleged assaulter. Not a very good look.
The Oregonian had the most interesting news this week when it jumped down a Reddit hole to find that Super Deluxe, an upcoming fast food gourmet burger shop that’s taking over the old Taco Time on SE Foster, is very likely, probably, might be a new concept from former Little Big Burger burger king Micah Camden and his business partner, Matt Lynch. It also had some chef switcheroo news when it reported that Chris DiMinno is leaving Jackrabbit to work the burners and the wood-fired grill at Trifecta Tavern. He replaces former Higgins chef Rich Meyer, who hasn’t spilled the beans on where he’ll end up yet.
The New School has what might be the biggest scoop this week when it reported that Backwoods Brewing, the Carson, Washington-based brewery popular with Columbia River Gorge hikers, will be taking up new digs in the recently shuttered Pearl Tavern space. And it looks like it’s aiming to open in just a couple of weeks.
And last but never least, Eater had the news that Pink Taco, the LA-based brosteraunt, appears to have pulled the plug on its plans to open a Pearl District outpost, and from what it sounds like, Portland is saying goodbye with a big collective yawn. The website also reported that the SE Morrison location of Pizza Jerk is officially and finally open, as is Casa Zoraya, the new Peruvian restaurant with Andina street cred over on N Lombard. Lastly, it reported that Alaska Airline’s going to start serving Salt & Straw ice cream on their flights—but only to their first-class flyers. [Insert your eye-roll here.]
