Wining and Dining in Style: Portello offers a taste of the continent in Northwest Crossing

Posted inFood & Drink

Wining and Dining in Style: Portello offers a taste of the continent in Northwest Crossing

Alice Finer

A little of this, a little of that all in Northwest Crossing.I had been meaning to pay a visit to Portello Winecafe since it reopened in January after a plumbing disaster forced a brief closure, but I don't get out to Northwest Crossing much, and it kind of just fell off my radar. But last weekend, since I was heading out there anyway to watch a friend compete in the NWX Criterium, a bike race being held at the second annual Hullabaloo festival (a.k.a., "The Whitest Block Party on Earth"), I figured it was the perfect opportunity. Granted, it is completely unfair to stage a review during a restaurant's busiest day of the year, but a couple of the tables on the patio have a perfect view of the racecourse, and my compulsive kill-two-birds-with-one-stone instinct made it impossible to resist.

In the end, besides an understandable amount of backup in the kitchen, there was nothing to forgive. Our server was attentive and cheerful, considering the circumstances, and kept us amply plied with wine until our food arrived. We succeeded in getting that plumb table outside, a lovely spot for a glass on a warm summer evening. But had weather not been permitting, the interior is equally attractive. The space is airy with high ceilings adorned with exposed heating ducts, walls made of brick taken from a 100-year-old Portland building and bar tables constructed with wood from Willamette Valley cherry barrels. Racks of wine and revolving art exhibits add to the Euro-industrial feel.

Posted inMusic

Bend to LA and Back: Local Franchot Tone shows off his Culver City Dub Collective

Mike Bookey

When Culver City Dub Collective heads onto what should be (hopefully) a sunshine-covered Les Schwab Amphitheater stage on Sunday, it will be a homecoming of sorts. This is confusing, obviously, given the band's explicitly Southern California name, but not once you realize that the dude on guitar is Franchot Tone.

That name probably sounds familiar to local music fans who know him as not only Reed Thomas Lawrence's collaborator and producer but also as a composer for Rage Films. Tone has a second life of sorts, however, down in Los Angeles where he's deeply immersed in the music industry and also captains Culver City Dub Collective, a reggae-infused jammy rock outfit, along with Adam Topol, best known for his work as Jack Johnson's drummer.
Tone, who lives in Bend with his wife and kids, is a busy guy, to put it mildly, but he's found time to place CCDC near the top of his priority list. Although the band is only able to tour in moderation given the other musical engagements if its members, CCDC has found time to, for example, open a tour last summer for Jack Johnson which put them in front of crowds numbering 20,000 or more. But this week, the band is on its own headlining jaunt, playing smaller venues in mountain towns, which is why when I catch up with Tone, he's eating at a taco truck in Twin Falls, Idaho. He and the rest of the band are there for the start of a weeklong tour that drops them in Bend on Sunday - something Tone is more than pumped about.

Posted inMusic

Stars, Stripes and Playlists: Listen to these songs or else you hate America

Mike Bookey

Illustration by Kristi SimmonsI assume I wasn't the only student who in the winter of 1991 sang along, sitting cross-legged on standard gray public school carpet, to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," belting out the "Proud to be an American…" chorus along with my third-grade classmates. Iraq had invaded Kuwait and President Bush The First, looking sternly through his Dwight Schrute-esque glasses said, "This aggression will not stand," and so I pinned a yellow ribbon on my backpack with no idea where exactly Kuwait could be found on a map, and belted along with Mr. Greenwood. And I liked that song, too.

With the Fourth of July this weekend, we're not only celebrating our right to ignite incendiary devices (Thank you, Bend City Council), but it's an annual chance to unleash upon collective ear of your neighborhood barbecue your favorite patriotic, nationalistic and/or songs that merely include "America" in the title, including but not limited to the aforemenionted Greenwood hit. If you need some help compiling your play list, here are a few pointers. Again, many of these cuts have little or no connection to the signing of the Declaration of Independence or the celebration thereof, but who cares, right? A real song about the Fourth of July would largely be centered on hot dogs, sun burns and paid vacation, so let's not get too carried away people.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week of 7/2-7/9

Mike Bookey

Empty Space Orchestra, Ruins of Ooah
saturday 4
For the second year in a row, Empty Space is playing the Moon on the 4th of July in the shadow of Pilot Butte as it erupts in fireworks. This time around, the band is teaming up with the weirdly danceable grooves of Ruins of Ooah, allowing you to celebrate your country's independence by shaking your ass off. 9pm. $5. Silver Moon Brewery, 24 NW Greenwood Ave.
Pet Parade
saturday 4
Start out the fourth right and prepare to say, "awwww," by heading to downtown Bend for this annual display of cute kids and their equally adorable pets. You'll be sure to see a variety of animals, including dogs, llamas, horses, lizards, goats, and at least a few stuffed animals at this annual tradition. Show up a bit early to snag a good viewing location. No registration is required; participants need only show up with their special pets. Just remember to leave the rabbits and cats at home…isn't it kind of sad that they have to even say that? 10am. Wall St, next to School Admin Building.

Posted inNews

Hit The Highway: Bend shelter on hold again and a bikeless Hwy 97

Eric Flowers

A plan for a transitional men's housing shelter just north of downtown Bend on Division Street has hit another legal snag. Neighbors are asking the city council to overturn a recent decision that would have allowed Shepherd's House to expand its operations from 32 to 60 beds.

The homeless shelter has been trying for several years to grow its operation, but has been dealt several legal setbacks even as the economy worsens and the need for its services grows. Earlier this month, a Bend hearings officer ruled that the non-profit had met all the city's requirements in its most recent bid to expand, but neighbors maintain that the city has not adequately considered the impact it will have on their businesses.
"It should be noted that appellants recognize and appreciate the social utility of the Shepherd's House," the appeal states. "Such facilities serve an important need. However, this facility, in this location provides benefit to the community it serves at a disproportionate expense to the neighborhood, the district and the businesses and residences that are located there."

Posted inNews

You Have 1 Friend Request: Logoff Facebook – If You Can…

Intern

Illustration by dmitri jacksonSomething is afoul in cyberspace.

200 million members and growing every nanosecond, Facebook has become part of the global lexicon, and the envy of the high tech industry, politicians, and business leaders in only five years. Yet the "social networking" site is still struggling for a real business and revenue-generating model; moreover, it must cater to and retain its fickle, addicted, and/or disenchanted users (and advertisers) while fending off upstart competitors. Presently, the social networking site that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chris Hughes co-founded may be their downfall.
To fully grasp the phenomena and many issues surrounding Facebook, you have to follow the money. Start with $65 million: That's the settlement Facebook's co-founders had to pay three of their Harvard classmates in July 2008 for stealing their idea for a site called ConnectU. Add the $200 million cash infusion that Russia-based Digital Sky's partner Alexander Tamas pumped into Facebook last month for a 2% stake in the social networking site, then factor in the $240 million that Microsoft paid for a 1.6% stake in the site in October of 2007, and you will see the numbers simply don't add up.

Posted inOpinion

The Bizarre Breakfast Tax Break

Intern

Somehow, about six years ago somebody slipped a little loophole into the portion of the city code governing collection of Bend's transient room (hotel/motel) tax. The loophole might not be big enough to drive a truck through, but it could be big enough for more than $400,000 a year to leak through.

That's how much Visit Bend, the local tourism promotion agency, estimates the city could lose in revenue if it retains a bizarre $10-per-room exemption for hotels and motels that offer a complimentary breakfast to guests.
We call the exemption "bizarre" because, in the first place, it doesn't appear to exist anywhere but Bend. Deschutes County doesn't have it. The state doesn't have it. None of the cities in Oregon or even on the West Coast apparently have it.
The exemption also is bizarre because it absolutely defies logic. Its supposed purpose is to make Bend lodging "more competitive" with other places by reducing the room tax that guests must pay. But at an average per-night room rate of $102, the savings from the breakfast exemption is only 90 cents - hardly enough to persuade somebody to vacation in, say, Lincoln City instead of Bend.

Posted inOpinion

Rants, Raves and the Rapture: Michael outdies Farrah, White rights, and Bernie goes down

Intern

The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting while moonwalking, outside Bernie Madoff's sentencing, slinging Orange Glo while buying Farrah Fawcett posters, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.

sleeps with angels.That Hair, Smile,
That Anal Cancer
I loved her. The speckled stains on my childhood bedroom ceiling are proof enough. Farrah, a name like a fast sportscar; Fawcett, the way she turned us on with the jerk of a knob. Her swimsuit poster - red, clingy, yummy – sold 12 million copies, more than even Dale Earnhardt. The pride of Corpus Christi, TX, Farrah came to our TVs with Charlie's Angels in 1976 as Jill Munroe, a seductress spying and karate-kicking each week for her unseen sugar daddy. No man could treat her right, though; The Six Million Dollar Man, Lee Majors, who Farrah married from 1973-1982 couldn't hang, and then Ryan O'Neal, from 1982-1997, was revealed as the untalented piece of poop that he is. Gone at 62, she belongs to the ages. Take a look at the models today and know why she was different: Wasted on Letterman, convincingly playing an abused and vengeful wife in The Burning Bed, and offering herself to the cameras while suffering through anal cancer (not so sexy but, somehow, still arousing with her). She is why my right wrist is unusually strong.

Posted inOpinion

Deschutes County’s Economy: Nature, Equity and Growth

Intern

Monday, June 22, the Oregon House of Representatives passed legislation that would ban destination resorts in the Metolius Basin. It had already passed the Oregon Senate, and by the time you read this, Governor Kulongoski likely will have signed it. Opponents have branded supporters as, among other things, anti-growth. They're wrong. And their error stems in part from failing to see that the issue involves more than growth; it also involves equality, conservation and sustainability.

We three know enough economics and enough about Oregon and Deschutes County to know why they're wrong. Ward is a 4th-generation Oregonian, has a doctorate in economics, and just finished teaching a term of labor economics at the U of O. Whitelaw is a 13-year resident of Deschutes County and 40-plus-year resident of Oregon, also has a doctorate in economics, began teaching at the U of O in 1967, with classes focused on the economics of the Pacific Northwest, and in recent years on economic growth in Deschutes County. Kenny-will graduate soon in economics from the U of O, has fallen in love with Oregon, plans graduate school elsewhere, and sees himself returning to Oregon for many of the same reasons the other two of us are here.

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