Now that it's been taken over by Landry's, the Portland-based restaurant chain isn't so Portland-based any more:
Landry’s closed a $131 million deal to acquire the Portland restaurant chain Tuesday and quickly moved to terminate executives including CEO Bill Freeman, co-founder William McCormick and others.
It also closed at least nine restaurants, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Landry’s retained employees in the human resources and accounting departments at McCormick & Schmick’s corporate headquarters in the Pearl District.
It isn't too much of a surprise, but the loss of more high-end executive jobs is not good news for the tax bases of Portland and Oregon. "These jobs are goin', boys, and they ain't comin' back."
Adding injury to insult is that the new owner is a Bush look-alike from Houston. Ewwww, just ewwww.
Comments (4)
I can't blame the heads of the various local companies that have "taken the money and run". If someone came along and offered me that kind of money for my business I have to admit I would sell out too.
But what is troubling to me is that this area doesn't seem for the most part to attract or keep the businesses that originally incubate here. And the city of Portland practically evicts any successful business (Columbia sportswear).
I guess the Portlandia types who make nothing anyone needs will keep the city afloat? But I think not.
Welcome to Pothole, Oregon, the city of thorns.
Bogdanski silently blogs in the dead of the night
Although he should be sound asleep, he feels quiet rage inside
Was it something they did, or something they said?
Portland's vanishing from our sight
Though we try not to worry, though we try
I guess that's why they say
Every rose has a thorn
Just like every project has grown
An iconic business sings a sad, sad song
Every rose has a thorn
I listen to the politicians talking on the radio
I hear them say Portland is okay, just let it go
But I wonder do they know, have they ever told the truth
And I know we're going broke right now,
And we have to change our ways somehow
I always laugh when I read that the only people remaining after a big corporate will be in human resources and accounting. I've watched this game over and over, and I've seen what's happened to the companies that got rid of those two facets first. These are the ones that desperately beg those people to come back, pro bono, to help the conquerors find the information they need in order to flip the company to someone else. (And let's face it: we're talking Landry's. This is a company that cultivates classic Dallas and Houston greedheads more interested in the ostentatious price of the meal than in its actual edibility. I give this new merger six months before the CEO decides he's raped enough value from it and tosses the cast-off shell to someone with more money than brains.)
I'm fearful that whatshisname will kick 90-something Ms. Spenger out of her long-time home upstairs at the Berkeley fish house. (lt was a great eatery back in her day.)
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
Comments (4)
I can't blame the heads of the various local companies that have "taken the money and run". If someone came along and offered me that kind of money for my business I have to admit I would sell out too.
But what is troubling to me is that this area doesn't seem for the most part to attract or keep the businesses that originally incubate here. And the city of Portland practically evicts any successful business (Columbia sportswear).
I guess the Portlandia types who make nothing anyone needs will keep the city afloat? But I think not.
Welcome to Pothole, Oregon, the city of thorns.
Posted by Portland Native | January 5, 2012 8:02 AM
Bogdanski silently blogs in the dead of the night
Although he should be sound asleep, he feels quiet rage inside
Was it something they did, or something they said?
Portland's vanishing from our sight
Though we try not to worry, though we try
I guess that's why they say
Every rose has a thorn
Just like every project has grown
An iconic business sings a sad, sad song
Every rose has a thorn
I listen to the politicians talking on the radio
I hear them say Portland is okay, just let it go
But I wonder do they know, have they ever told the truth
And I know we're going broke right now,
And we have to change our ways somehow
I guess every rose has a thorn.
Posted by Bill McDonald | January 5, 2012 8:28 AM
I always laugh when I read that the only people remaining after a big corporate will be in human resources and accounting. I've watched this game over and over, and I've seen what's happened to the companies that got rid of those two facets first. These are the ones that desperately beg those people to come back, pro bono, to help the conquerors find the information they need in order to flip the company to someone else. (And let's face it: we're talking Landry's. This is a company that cultivates classic Dallas and Houston greedheads more interested in the ostentatious price of the meal than in its actual edibility. I give this new merger six months before the CEO decides he's raped enough value from it and tosses the cast-off shell to someone with more money than brains.)
Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | January 5, 2012 9:22 AM
I'm fearful that whatshisname will kick 90-something Ms. Spenger out of her long-time home upstairs at the Berkeley fish house. (lt was a great eatery back in her day.)
Posted by RickN | January 5, 2012 10:20 AM