Suburbia
Downtown Portland is filled with a wide array of high-end, ethnic, and independent restaurants. If I ate at one different restaurant every single day, I wouldn’t be able to cover all of them in a year. The population, although a fraction of that of Seattle, is nevertheless fairly dense, which is able to support an abundance of restaurants. As dense as it already is, new sky-rises housing several hundred condo units continue to be built. This has a lot to do with the environmentally friendly land-use laws they have here in Portland, where there are strict boundaries of where land can be developed, forcing developers to build taller buildings instead of sprawling out.
Further out in the suburbs, the restaurant scene is much less interesting. Restaurants in the suburbs, catering mostly to families with kids, consist of mostly generic chain restaurants. The same is true with shopping.
However, there are some new interesting developments coming in the suburbs. Lately, there has been a demand for more unique boutique type of retail establishments in the suburbs. Several new shopping areas are being constructed, leasing to higher-end and specialized retailers you wouldn’t find in a typical mall. The ambience of these outdoor shopping area look like idealized vision of European streets, complete with background music played all along the alleys of boutique shops. I feel like I’m in a movie walking through an artificial French village that was setup by Hollywood. Fake but “nice”.
The place that we go to nearly every weekend, ‘cause it’s closer to where we live, is Bridgeport village. We're normally in the bookstore, because Phan is obsessed with their Manga selections and I like to checkout the health books and science and business magazines. On the weekends, they have live bands playing mostly acoustic music upstairs.
Below are a few photos that we took of parts of Bridgeport last week.
Below is P.F. Chang's at Bridgeport. Here's what I'm talking about when I refer to generic chain restaurants. The decor, both outside and inside, is impressive, but the food doesn't meet my standards (some of it, to me, is inedible). Who am I to complain though, people must like their food 'cause their average annual sales for each restaurant unit is $5.5 million USD.
posted by Dennis @ 12:21 PM
14 comments
14 Comments:
very nice..looks like major tourista area.
The beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. The yummies are in the tastebuds of the beholder. Tee hee hee... You are spoilt Dennis,by you-know-who, normal food cannot meet your line. ;)
letti,
I suppose it can be. Most of the people going there are residences in the surrounding area however.
fish fish,
Hehe, maybe you're right. Although, if you ever try Americanized Chinese food, you might agree with what my tastebuds are saying too. ;o)
suburbia. i have a lot hate relationship with such locales. at your discretion you may particpate in at http://www.bunnyfoot.blogspot.com/2005/08/childhood-food-memories-meme.htmlchildhood food memories...
rae.
pfchang's had these almost offensive, completely mockable radio adverts in los angeles with the tagline "authentic chinese cooking in a comfortable american setting". ! >snort< i shan't be visiting anytime soon.
rae,
Yeah, Phan and I had originally planned to look for a condo in downtown Portland, but we saw for the same price that we can get for a 1 bedroom condo in downtown, we were able to buy a 3 bedroom condo in the suburbs. So here we are in the suburbs.
We'll take part in your meme on the next post. :o)
santos,
I haven't seen their advertisement, but it's interesting to hear how they claim to have authentic Chinese food, 'cause nothing can be further from the truth.
I've always wondered why there aren't more Chinese chain restaurants with units nationwide. P.F. Chang's dominates the higher-end Chinese casual dining concept, and Panda Express dominates the quick-service concept (in terms of # of units and sales). Both of these companies have total annual revenues above $500 million. Other than these two, every place else are small independent operations.
i just got an email saying that *caledula cafe*, a vegan cafe in the portland neighborhood you mentioned before, has closed its doors for good. this saddens me very much and was wondering how this might change things for you.
Wow, really? I'll have to check it out. I know that Calendula Cafe have had labor problems in the past. They even closed for several months in the recent past due to labor disputes.
In any case, it doesn't really affect our plans. As always, we have to keep a close eye on the market and make adjustments to make sure that we'll be a viable business.
nice place and I agree that PF Chang sucks... I'm just glad to be living in SF where there're a lot of authentic asian food around as long as you know where to find it. Hell, even if you don't know where to find the best claypot rice, you'd still do ten times better eating at any restaurant here than at PF Chang =) It's no wonder they don't dare to open a branch here =D
these little shopping "villages" are popping up around cleveland suburbs too. i find them highly annoying because we have a REAL downtown, where people used to shop, that sits empty and unused. it's quite depressing! i do think that they have nice stores and shops (for example anthropologie), but i feel like i am being forced into shopping in the 'burbs. my only other option to get the products i want is the internet :)
I mostly agree with you about PF Changs. I find the majority of their food to be inedible. Even the food that is slightly edible leaves a rotten aftertaste and has a vile mouth feel. However, their cucumber salad is incredible (well, I love raw veggies with soy and rice wine vinegar so really , it would be hard for them to screw up a cucumber salad).
gracie,
Yeah, SF is certainly an Asian food mecca. You're pretty lucky!
By the way, how are the MBA classes going? From your textbooks, looks like you're taking some accounting courses. Can get pretty dry and boring sometimes, but it's important stuff...gotta know how to read those balance sheets and cashflow statements.
holly 44109,
I wonder why the retailers are avoiding your real downtown. Downtown Portland (not the suburbs) is pretty big on improving existing neighborhoods. The trendy, high-end neighborhood that we got, called the Pearl District, was only blocks of ugly warehouses just 10 years ago. It transformed dramatically over some short years. The suburbs, on the other hand, they keep finding new spots to build out and let the old parts fade away.
Holly,
I initially thought you were the other Holly, hehe. Talking about confuzled.
We ordered Ma Po Tofu, and what came to the table was definitely not Ma Po Tofu. Whoever cooked it most likely never had the dish before. The other dishes were exactly what you described, blaaah. Hehe
MBA classes going ok. =) just a lot of reading to do. And some pretty competitive classmates who help to make the environment more challenging. cos some of the stuff covered so far is pretty straightforward.
hello,
I think your right! I am not too much fanatic of the said restaurant but for some reason here in UT, people love it! Sometimes I would think about cooking of my own chinese dishes, I wouldn't pay that much as well!
xtine
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