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Indulge me a moment. It was 1990, and I was reviewing Zefiro for the paper. My first line was: "This may be THE place." I meant not only that this restaurant heralded something novel in town, but that it could just make something utterly new of Portland itself. That was a prescient gamble, for I realized at the time that while it might turn out to be true, it might not.
Looking back now, it's fair to say that before Zefiro there was no culinary "scene" in Portland. And, in hindsight, I'd also venture that Zefiro was also a catalyst for the radical transformation of the city and not just its gastronomical centerpiece. Portland's transcendence into an increasingly sophisticated urban food experience dates from both the establishment of a particular urbane kitchen—wine-poached pears in a cornmeal crust, risotto of the day, and the first truly excellent Caesar salad the city had seen—and the cosmopolitanism it brought with it, at first a bit self-consciously and tentatively, then gradually becoming natural and comfortable in its own skin.
When Zefiro closed a decade later, some life breath whooshed out of the city. And yet not entirely so, because Zefiro started a whole catalog of restaurant legacies and more vitally so, a spirit, a way of being that has indelibly marked Portland and its gastronomy.
By that phrase, I don't mean the fancy cars parked out front on Northwest 21st, the occasional celebrities in the dining room, nor the Danny Meyer-like polish of Bruce Carey's suave hosting. I mean the spirit of seasonality, freshness and locavorism (though that word hardly existed during Zefiro's heyday), inspired by Carey but more crucially by the great cooking of chef Chris Israel and dessert maven Monique Sui—each of whom has gone on to other wonderful restaurants including Grüner and Castagna.
Though Zefiro's
cuisine was Mediterranean—French, Italian, Spanish, Moroccan—and it
tried hard to render the dishes from those sea-girt regions as
faithfully and authentically as possible, the main ingredients were
sourced from local growers, fishermen and other purveyors. It wasn't
quite time for menus to pay tribute to those suppliers of field and
forest and nearby waters, but that would come. We didn't yet see Israel
cooking dishes over camp stoves at a nearby farm for Plate &
Pitchfork, but that too would come for other restaurants that inherited
Zefiro's heart, soul and marrow.
Roger Porter teaches English at Reed College. After leaving Willamette Week, he was a restaurant reviewer for The Oregonian for five years. He has co-edited, with Sandra Gilbert, The Norton Anthology of Food Writing, due out next year.
Life After Zefiro, Review of 23Hoyt, February 28, 2007
Zefiro Review, 1990
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1978: Bill Walton Sits Down
1979: Busing Ends in Portland Schools | Oregon Wine Gets Famous
1982: Courts Pave Way for Nudie Bars | The Other Daily Paper Folds
1984: Satyricon's First Show | A Bartender Becomes Mayor | The Air Jordan Saves Nike
1985: First Female Police Chief Ousted | Wieden+Kennedy's Most Important Ad
1986: Dark Horse Comics' First Issue
1988: Inaugural Oregon Brewers' Fest | Rise of Hate Groups
1989: NW Rowhouses Burn | Gus Van Sant's Portland Hits Screen
1990: Our First Great Restaurant | Oregon's Longest Tax Revolt
1991: Cleaning up the Willamette
1995: Bicyclists Sue Portland
1996: Vera Katz Builds a Wall | March to Save City Nightclub | Powell's Rebuffs Amazon
1997: Path Cleared for Pearl District
1999: Stumptown Coffee Opens | Fight Club Hits DVD
2000: Largest Union Pension Fraud Ever
2003: Fred Meets Carrie | Suicide of Elliott Smith
2004: Gay Marriage Legalized (Briefly) | Goldschmidt Exposed | Eastside Portland Rises
2006: The Death of James Chasse Jr.
2008: Our Fanciest Restaurant Ever Bombs
2009: Sam Adams Admits Lying
2011: Occupy Portland
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