Fourth time's a charm?
I keep forgetting to mention that it appears there's a new restaurant going to go in where the old Nature's was, at NE 24th and Fremont in Portland, near blog headquarters. There's a liquor license notice on the door, with the applicant listed as something called Lucca LLC. That LLC appears to have been recently formed, and someone named Sue Davidson is listed on the state records as being its legal agent.
Ever since the venerable Marco's came to this location to establish an outpost of its Multnomah Village operations, it's been unsuccessful as a restaurant venue. Three operators have tried and failed there. The most recent attempt was something called Aja Pacific Kitchen, which underwhelmed us in our single visit shortly after it opened in March 2005. Before that it was the Dining Room.
When last we looked the building was owned by a company that appears to be linked to Stan Amy, the former Nature's guy who was instrumental in the founding of New Seasons. I'm sure those folks will be glad to have the rent coming in.
As for the new restaurateurs, we'll repeat what we said when Aja showed up: "We still miss the grocery store, but we welcome the newcomers and hope they can make it." It didn't help much last time, though.
| Posted at 9:52 AM | Permalink |
|
Comments (6)
Of course this location *was* the original Nature's location. After PP&L moved out of their customer service center at 15th and Fremont, Nature's moved in prior to the sale to Wild Oats.
Posted by PG | August 24, 2007 11:14 AM
"Of course this location *was* the original Nature's location."
Nope. This was the second Nature's location. The first was on SW Corbett near John's Landing.
Posted by Alan DeWitt | August 24, 2007 11:43 AM
Nope. This was the second Nature's location. The first was on SW Corbett near John's Landing.
Thanks, Alan. I remember that now. I have bad memories of that 24th and Fremont intersection - I used to live next door to Perry's on the Fremont side, where I was hit-and-run while unlocking my car in front of my house, later to find out that it was an uninsured neighbor around the corner...
Posted by PG | August 24, 2007 12:36 PM
Well, if you want to go back a few more years, that particular location at 24th and Fremont was a drug store. Next to the drug store on the 24th Ave side was a small grocery store "Pixie Foods". Remember the candy in a straw called "Pixie Stix"? When I was 6 years old I thought Pixie Foods was the only place you could get them! :) Oh, and where Perry's is now used to be a gas station!
Posted by Old Portlander | August 25, 2007 12:28 PM
This location has got bad restaurant karma! I wouldn't put a restaurant there even if I won (I mean when I win) Powerball!
Posted by Sarah Bott | August 25, 2007 6:05 PM
I work in the largely unknown 3-office suite above the restaurant space (old Natures offices).
The new restaurant is going to be a pizza place, I think a deep-dish pizza place. They're apparently going to be doing a major remodel (which I'm not looking forward to during office hours).
Posted by craig smith | August 31, 2007 4:32 PM