Scoop: Currying Favor and Tender Loving Expectations

1. LIKE A THAI-GER: Thai restaurant tycoon Andy Ricker (Pok Pok, Ping, Whiskey Soda Lounge) has announced he will be opening a third eatery on Southeast Division Street. Ricker has scored the building soon to be vacated by Kappaya Restaurant at Southeast 33rd Avenue, where he plans to open a restaurant based on a Thai “khao kaeng” (rice and curry) stall. Baby palates who cry about the lack of familiar curries at Ricker’s other locales will be pleased to hear the proposed menu includes “kaeng kiaw waan kai” (green chicken curry) and “kaeng phet pet yaang” (red duck curry), alongside lesser-known dishes, including “khanom jiin,” the less-famous cousin of khao soi: fermented rice vermicelli served with various soupy curries and a variety of accoutrements, including, sometimes, blood cakes.

1. 24-HOUR PARTY PEOPLE: PICA’s Time-Based Art Festival wrapped up on the weekend, coming to a late but powerful climax with this year’s most-talked-about show, All the Hours in the Day: a 24-hour monologue by solo performer Mike Daisey. Enduring the show for WW was Mead Hunter, who reported ending up “in my own private magical mystery tour, going in and out of consciousness,” but ultimately declared: “I feel like I’ve lived through an extraordinary moment with hundreds of Portlanders...that will never be repeated.”

1. NOT EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: Todd Haynes and Jonathan Raymond were robbed! The Portland filmmaking duo, nominated for HBO’s Mildred Pierce, was shut out at Sunday’s Emmys—they lost the best writing, best directing and best miniseries categories to a bunch of Britishers who made the markedly inferior PBS miniseries Downton Abbey. Actually, we haven’t seen Downton Abbey, but we are told it is seven hours long and contains multiple scenes about pudding. The silver lining on this farce of justice: Kate Winslet’s performance as Mildred won, and Haynes and Raymond will be irate enough to move forward on making their tea party movie.

1. AN HEIR TO THE THRONE: Cute alert! Jared and Brianne Mees, the couple behind the adorable downtown shop Tender Loving Empire and the hotshit record label of the same name (see page 27 to read about TLE’s latest signing, Radiation City), are expecting a baby. WW music editor Casey Jarman has taken the liberty of pre-emptively awarding the couple’s debut child first place in WW’s 2030 Best New Band poll (ugh, it’s all about who you know). He also suggests the following baby names: Casey (if it’s a boy) or Casey (if it’s a girl). 

WWeek 2015