Earlier this year I visited my aunt at her exclusive community
residence in Princeton, N.J., and she took me to lunch at
the clubhouse. We were seated and the waitress was poised
to divulge the day's specials when she noticed that I was
wearing jeans. The offending dungarees were perfectly respectable,
hip, dark-rinse Levi's, but jeans are just not allowed in
the club dining room--never mind that dear Auntie had just
laid out megabucks for a new house. We were asked to leave.
Dressing accordingly may seem a quaint notion in these
days of extreme office-casual, particularly in Portland,
a city that does not reflect metropolitan style or international
influences. Getting decked out is, for many, akin to preparing
for Halloween. When we slump around in jeans, T-shirts and
cardigans (albeit dark denim, DKNY and cashmere) every day,
dressing for a wedding, bar mitzvah, graduation or charity
gala equals donning a costume. It seems that events such
as these are the only remaining ones that have a code.
Portland restaurants don't seem to have extra jackets and
ties on hand for the unaware. To make sure, we looked into
the dress criteria of local eateries--including the priciest
in town--with a series of undercover calls. We asked one
simple question: Do you have any sort of a dress code?
Atwater's: "For dinner, what we choose is business
casual--no shorts or jeans--but a jacket and tie is not
required. Lunch is always business attire." (During the
day, Atwater's is the private Founder's Club.)
Bima: "Not at all, come however you like."
Brasserie Montmartre: "No."
Cafe Azul: "No, we don't. It's fine dining, and
people dress in everything from evening attire to just-finished-their-bicycle-ride
attire. You're welcome however you are."
Cafe des Amis: "It's casual; you probably wouldn't
want to wear real ratty clothes, but shorts and jeans are
fine."
Couvron: "Not specifically; people dress mostly
in business attire, but I don't have a specific dress code."
Bugatti's: "No, it's casual."
Esplanade: "It's a fine-dining restaurant with casual
attire. Jacket and tie is not required, and jeans are OK."
Genoa: "Comfortable casual; jeans will do."
Higgins: "No, we have everything from nice slacks
up to tuxedos. Jeans are OK if they're nice. We're not going
to kick you out unless you look like a homeless person or
something."
The Heathman: "No, casual is fine."
Il Fornaio: "No we don't, not at all."
L'Auberge: "No."
Morton's of Chicago: "No baseball caps or tank tops--other
than that, it's just casual so you can enjoy yourself."
Paley's Place: "No, not really; it can be casual,
but I wouldn't say flip-flops or shorts--Bermuda shorts
are OK, and a sport shirt. Jeans are OK."
Paragon: "Shoes and shirt required; it's just casual."
Pavillion Grill: "Shoes and a shirt. Walking shorts,
jeans, casual is fine."
Plainfield's Mayur: "No, anything that makes you
feel comfortable."
Portland Steak and Chop House: "Business casual,
wear whatever you want."
Red Star Tavern and Roast House: "We prefer that
you'd be dressed, though it depends on what you look like."
Ringside: "Yes, we do--upper casual. A nice pair
of slacks and a polo for a gentleman. You can wear jeans
with a real nice top and get away with it."
Ruth's Chris Steakhouse: "Business casual; we do
prefer to see the men in a collared shirt, but it's summer
so we're real lenient. Jeans are fine, we're not picky."
Tapeo: "It's very casual, but if you want to dress
up, that's fine."
Three Doors Down: "No, we're casual."
Veritable Quandary: "Not at all. You can wear pretty
much anything you want, from nice to casual."
Wildwood: "Not really; casual to formal, any way
you want to come."
Wild Abandon: "No, we don't. We insist that you
wear something."
Winterborne: "Yeah, casual."
Zefiro: "Not one that we uphold. Whatever feels
good for you--there's no strict code."
So, yes, you can leave the kid gloves at home, buried deep
in grandma's cedar chest, because as the hostess at Pazzo
explained, "There's no specific dress code. It is fine
dining, but fine dining Portland style, which tends to be
on the more casual side."
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Willamette Week | originally
published October 13,
1999
|
