It’s the end of the year and a start of a new era for me and the Portland Mercury. I served as this fine publication’s food critic from 2014 to 2020, when the pandemic made us all step back a bit from writing about food consumed mostly in indoor public spaces. Everything is different now: Challenges to the restaurant industry are more harsh than ever thanks to inflation, staffing shortages, and ongoing effects of COVID-19..
Best friends through basketball, they develop each wine for Chosen Family. Through August, you can taste them paired with delicious food at Cafe Rowan.
by Mercury EverOut Staff
To put it mildly, Portland’s restaurant industry has been through the wringer in the past year. We’ve lamented the closures of many beloved eateries, said goodbye to some food titans (for the best, in some cases), and wondered where the hell government assistance was. In March the United States Senate finally passed the American Rescue Plan, which includes $28.6 billion in funding to support independent restaurants and bars.
It might be too soon to say the industry is in recovery mode, but for the most part it appears that we’ve made it past the worst of the pandemic. As restaurants gear up for a busy outdoor dining season, eased restrictions are on the horizon, and more frontline industry workers get vaccinated, things are on the up and up.