OK, it’s a fair question: Why would we print a guide to our favorite amazing eateries in the midst of an economic crisis? Haven’t we heard about the oncoming depression?
Oh, believe us, we know. When money’s tight, the last thing you want to do is spend big bucks on a mediocre meal. Luckily, the changes in the economy are a lot easier to swallow when you’ve got an incredible plate of house-cured meats or flourless chocolate cake in front of you. To make sure you get the most for your money in these trying times, we’ve spent the past two months eating our way across the city. We ditched a few restaurants that cost more than they should and replaced them with joints that deliver value over luxury. And, although our Restaurant of the Year,
We’ve made a few other changes, too. Here’s the rundown.
THE DIRECTORY We’ve done our best to make this year’s guide indispensable. We want you to find it handy enough to keep in your glove box and refer to all year—olive oil smears be damned. We’ve provided more ways than ever to find a great meal. In these first pages our favorite restaurants are indexed alphabetically, by the days they’re open and by the meals they serve.
THE MAP Every year readers write asking us to include a map of our favorite restaurants. Here you go.
RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR In addition to our favorite new restaurant, we honor the very best brunch, happy hour and dessert we tried this year.
LISTINGS We organized our reviews by cuisine this year, to make the guide more user-friendly. Restaurants that have opened since August 2007 are marked with a NEW icon.
HIGH FIVE Throughout the listings you’ll find our top picks in 25 different categories. A few of these restaurants aren’t in the top 100, but you can find their addresses on page 69.
RESERVATIONS Places that won’t take a reservation for a four-top might as well not take them at all. The ones we’ve listed as taking reservations will hold a table for four or fewer.
NO-SHOWS Don’t see your favorite restaurant here? Check our Cheap Eats guide next March (the 2008 guide is here) or our new Market Guide in April. If it’s not there, we probably haven’t heard of it. Send me your must-try tips at bwaterhouse@wweek.com. We’ll head on over.
THE MONEY THING Every restaurant here has a dollar rating:
$$ Moderate: most entrees under $20
$$$ Expensive: most entrees under $30
$$$$ Very expensive: most entrees more than $30
Happy eating,
— Ben Waterhouse, editor
"Restaurant Guide 2008 For People With Money To Burn".
Why do you even have a "single-dollar" Inexpensive Rating? Out of the 100 listed, only one had just a single-dollar rating. I threw it in the re-cycling bin after flipping through it.You'd think with the economy in the toilet, you'd have paid more attention to places that ordinary readers can afford.
http://wweek.com/editorial/3419/10524/
A single $ is for entrees averaging under $15. And even then those are few and far between in your guide. Plenty of $$ options, but that's still an $18 entree! I'm not against having a restaurant guide, but dear lord, it's like you're from another planet! Who is eating at these places? I feel weird enough spending $8 on a burrito-- I have a hard time buying into the idea that Portlanders can afford to drop $50 on dinner at the sort of places listed here with anything even resembling regularity. This is a useless, irresponsible guide, completely out of touch with your actual readership. If I want to read about stuff no honest working person can afford, I'll read Robb Report, not the ostensibly-liberal Willy Week. "The most for your money"? No, not even. You wasted our time, and yours. Glove compartment resource my fat red-blooded American rear end!
For shame, Willy Week, for shame. I know the advertising dollars these places are throwing your way help keep you afloat, but that shouldn't mean you have to make us feel bad for not making $100k a year, as though we, the huddled masses were some breed of degenerate for considering it an indulgence to spend $12 on a nice dinner, which is entirely possible at any number of really tasty restaurants around the city (not mentioned in your guide), restaurants who don't have the resources to shape the conversation the way your advertisers clearly have.
So remember! You're a cheap peasant if you don't spend at least $80 on dinner for two!
For the record, you're right: Few of us at WW can afford to visit these pricier places except on WW's dime (and sometimes not even then). But it's good to know where to go for a special meal. And for the rest of the time, there's Cheap Eats, or Trader Joe's, or Food 4 Less....