Gossip Should Have No Friends

[January 18th, 2006] BAL-BUSTED "She's dead." Choking back tears, Lisa Schroeder (chef-owner of Mother's Bistro & Bar and Mama Mia Trattoria) explained why she unexpectedly closed her six-month-old Balaboosta Delicatessen for good last Friday. "I had been planning to close it," Schroeder told Scoop. "I opened [Balaboosta] to give my best friend a forum for his furniture and an employee the opportunity to manage a coffee shop. When neither of them were involved in the business anymore, there was no reason for me to keep it going." She shuttered the joint just two days after Roger Porter 's WW Dish review ("Mama Knows Best?") skewered what he called her "ersatz Jewish deli." Schroeder will now turn her attention to Mother's Velvet Lounge & Cafe , a new daytime coffee shop and nighttime bar that she's opening next to Mother's (and where a few of Balaboosta's specialities may make a menu appearance) within the next two weeks.

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS Now here's a food trend we can get behind. The Gotham Bldg. Tavern has finally embraced the pub part of its "gastropub" name—and then some. At the suggestion of sous chef Gabriel Rucker , GBT has added new "vintages" to its drink menu. Alongside a '03 Cameron Clos Electrique, diners can sip on fortified wines like Mad Dog (a.k.a. MD 20/20), available in both a grape Red and Orange Jubilee flavor, as well as malt liquors like Mickey's grenades and 22-ouncers of Olde English 800 . Upstairs from Gotham, Scoop's heard word that the folks at Family Supper are awaiting the arrival of Rachael Ray , the Food Network's busiest chef-star hybrid. Supposedly sometime in late February, Ray will grace the space as part of her TV show, Tasty Travels.

WHERE'S THE FIRE? Although Queer Window told readers all about the Portland Firefighters' new calendar last week, the column didn't tell you how to get your mitts on 'em. Calendars are available at www.redcross-pdx.org/donation/firefighters.shtml or your local fire station for $12.95.