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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on November 3, 2008 6:01 PM. The previous post in this blog was Call the winner: Smith or Merkley?. The next post in this blog is Make up your own joke. Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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« Call the winner: Smith or Merkley? | Main | Make up your own joke »

Monday, November 3, 2008

Sign o' the times

A great Portland restaurant, Genoa, will be closing its doors in less than three weeks.

Posted at 6:01 PM | Permalink

Comments (14)

Never thought the rich folk felt the pain...so sad.

Posted by KISS | November 3, 2008 6:31 PM

Restaurants in Portland are really a zero-sum game. If a new one opens, an old one has to go . . . . Fortunately, our favorite neighborhood café seems still to draw a crowd, even early on Mondays.

Posted by Allan L. | November 3, 2008 7:29 PM

The food racket is a tough game. Spent 4 years in AZ in the biz and got out. When you don't know from day to day what your food costs are going to be, it makes for some sleepless nights.

The increases in food prices, fuel prices and now a significant decrease in customers spells death for many. If you have a favorite spot, I suggest you support it to the best of you ability as it may not be there next week if you don't.

Posted by mp97303 | November 3, 2008 8:05 PM

Perhaps we can look forward to a dining guide that lists only average and those in the dirty dining category?

Posted by Abe | November 3, 2008 8:16 PM

Wow, that's a shame. Thirty-eight years in business and killed by the Bush Administration.

The restaurant is about a block from my business (which is still doing okay) but alas, I haven't eaten there in ten years. It was a memorable meal, though.

Posted by Gil Johnson | November 3, 2008 8:26 PM

Nooooo! Dang. Never got to try it.

Posted by Alan DeWitt | November 3, 2008 10:15 PM

I made it a few times, but not in the last decade. Great stuff. No wonder Mick Jagger used to eat there.

The best part was that it was in a real Old Portland building in a neighborhood on the east side -- not some particle board junk structure in a fake New York inflicted on us by City Hall.

Posted by Jack Bog | November 3, 2008 10:22 PM

Sad but inevitable, I suppose.

Genoa and the old L'Auberge on Burnside were the first "real" French and Italian restaurants I knew in Portland, and they made an indelible impression, though that was too many years ago--30 or 40?

Since then I've had many fine meals in Italy, France, and Portland, but I'll always remember those two places fondly as the beginning of my love of those cuisines.

Bagna cauda or mushroom souffle, anyone?

TomR

Posted by Tom Reese | November 3, 2008 10:38 PM

L'Auberge on Burnside

Thought this was located on NW Thurman at 26th - where Meriwether's is presently located.

But I agree, it was genuinely French.

Posted by john rettig | November 4, 2008 12:12 AM

L'Auberge was in this funky building on Burnside a block or two west of Powell's but on the south side of the street until it moved to the nicer place on Thurman in the early 90s.

Indigine was another fine restaurant from that era when Portland started getting serious about food.

Posted by Gil Johnson | November 4, 2008 1:01 AM

I think that, before it was l'Auberge, it was called the Wood Stove, butt there are also lots of good ones now.

Posted by Allan L. | November 4, 2008 10:05 AM

Oops. We can be nostalgic about the old places, but there are lots of good ones now.

Posted by Allan L. | November 4, 2008 10:06 AM

Hopefully they put up a super cool condo on the spot!

Posted by Z | November 4, 2008 2:32 PM

Ate at Genoa twice, was underwhelmed both times. The second time, I didn't think it was better than what I could have made myself.

That French restaurant on Burnside was Le Cuisinier and it was terrific...

Posted by Mike Austin | November 7, 2008 3:24 PM

In Vino Veritas

Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007

The Occasional Book

Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269