Scoop: Shaking Up the Spice Market

An imperial pint of icy-cold gossip.

  1. HUSTLIN’ SPICE: If you frequent cheapie pizza joints, you may have noticed new spices popping up like dandelions all over the east side. Wesley Milleman has really hustled his Radical Brand Company spices, which have names like Mucho Mucho and Magic Bronson. “I walk in and pitch to the owner or whoever is there, offering to put up a sample bottle, and if the customers seem to like it, they can buy more,” Milleman says. “I use this little toolbox I decorated with Radical stickers.” It’s not just pizza, Milleman says. “We do street fairs, when we can afford the booth rent. When we can’t, I bring my sales box with me and walk around and pitch my goods…. We also do those old lady holiday bazaars.”
  1. SK8R BOI: Activision released Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD last week, a high-def redo of “the best levels” from the first two Hawk games you might remember making your thumbs sore on PlayStation, Dreamcast and N64. Not making the cut in the game? Burnside Skatepark, which the man himself ranks as one of the best in the world. But Hawk, who is touring with Birdhouse’s Left Coast skate tour, still likes Portland enough to skate here on his off time. On Sunday, Hawk made an unscheduled stop at Burnside Skatepark. The only “official” Oregon stop had been Grants Pass Skatepark the day before.
  1. HEART TRANSPLANT: Corazon, chef Chris Israel’s stab at a Mexican restaurant in the West End’s Indigo building, stumbled badly out of the blocks. It’s now been rebooted, right up to the top. Former Tabla skillet boss Anthony Cafiero is now running the Corazon kitchen, which will expand from Mexican to “Latin.” Cafiero’s plan to open his own Spanish place are on hold.
  1. CHAPPELLE SHOWED: Dave Chappelle didn’t take the Newmark Theatre stage until after 11:30 pm on July 21, but his Portland performance went smoothly compared to the Pioneer Square show he attempted three years ago. This gig was announced at 4 pm the day before and promptly sold out in the under-the-radar manner Chappelle has used since ditching Chappelle’s Show in 2006, which was also discussed in a fascinating, free-associative monologue that lasted until 2:10 am. Chappelle promised a long-overdue letter of apology for the 2009 fiasco. Don’t look for it in these pages—the comedian seemed swayed by the suggestion he submit it to Street Roots.
  1. HATCHING QUICKLY: Roe, a new restaurant planned for the back room of Southeast Division Street fave Wafu, originally wasn’t going to open until late September. But now it seems the restaurant-within-a-restaurant, which Michael C. Zusman first wrote about for Portland Monthly, will be here sooner. Wafu chef Trent Pierce now says the construction work is “on a freight train” and an opening is set for early August.

WWeek 2015

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