Food & Drink Chefs can be great food writers: They certainly know the product, the players and the trade. If they’ve got a way with words, they can be a joy to read. But chefs don’t—can’t—have objectivity. They have allies and enemies. They owe favors. They too often see things through the lens of their own career.Or so it seems to me.Which is why something in a Portland Mercury blog post caught ...   More

Food Reviews & Stories Why was my beer coming in bottles? Tap handles hang behind the bar at Ava Gene’s, the new Italian restaurant from coffee kingpin Duane Sorenson, and the tables   More

Food & Drink Our weekly reading of the bureaucratic tarot cards that are OLCC liquor license applications:Stumptown don Duane Sorenson has purchased the former Lauro Kitchen at 3377 SE Division St., where he will open a new restaurant called Ava Gene's. The application offers little else in the way of information—the old license forms used to make you write a bit about your menu, but the newer ones don't—except ...   More