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Insanely popular Mississippi Avenue breakfast and lunch spot Gravy—known for lines running out the door for its brunch time pancakes and biscuits—will open a second location this spring, in the location of former Sandy Boulevard vegan restaurant Harvest at the Bindery.
Harvest closed suddenly on Jan. 1, after the tragic death of its owner, Jon Steuer, a child TV star and musician better known in the Portland music community as Jonny P. Jewels.
Gravy owner Mark Greco had not been actively looking for a second location, he says, though over the past five years he's casually looked at new spaces. But after a broker insisted he check out Harvest's space, the sale happened with uncommon speed.
"I was planning my spring and summer three weeks ago," says Greco. "I walked in at 11 am, [made] an offer at 11:30 am and it was accepted. "
He will take over the lease from Steuer's family, who opted not to continue the restaurant after his death.
"I feel bad for his folks," Greco says. "They wanted to be done with it. Just being there was hard for them."
Greco says he'll take his restaurant concept largely unchanged into the new space, serving up his trademark scrambles, hashes, egg sandwiches and especially those big fluffy biscuits slathered in gravy.
"I am planning on doing a second Gravy," he says. "It's my intention to replicate it as closely as possible, with maybe a few subtle changes on the menu. Once I get things rolling, the neighborhood is obviously different—I'd expect in summer to do a happy hour in the early evenings."
Greco says the Harvest space was designed beautifully, and he's looking forward to serving his food to a new neighborhood before the end of March.
"I've been very fortunate on Mississippi," he says. "And there's a lot happening on Sandy right now, on that stretch from about 20th to 28th [Avenues]—a lot of new buildings. We're gonna be there ready for them. As of March, I'm paying rent—my goal is to be open on St. Patrick's Day."