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Nargila Garden hookah cart at Green Castle
By WW Culture Staff
  1. THE NEW IAN KARMEL: Shane Torres—who describes himself as looking like a “Native American Meatloaf impersonator”—was named Portland’s new funniest person over the weekend. The comedian took home the title and $1,000 at Helium Comedy Club’s annual contest, after placing second in 2012 and third in 2011. For the second year running, Gabe Dinger was runner-up. And, again, no women made the final 10.

  1. CASTLE CLOSING: For the second time in as many years, the Green Castle food-cart pod at 1930 NE Everett St. will be closing—this time for good. The carts will leave at the end of summer because developer Joe Westerman will be putting up a five-story apartment complex on the site. This seems to be a trend as the real-estate market rebounds. Both the popular D-Street Noshery at Southeast 32nd Avenue and Division Street and a small pod on Southeast 47th Avenue and Division have closed in the past year so their land could be redeveloped. According to Bryan Killoren, owner of the Plow cart, Green Castle’s carts were offered spots at Westerman’s Rose City Food Park on Northeast Sandy Boulevard.

  1. NEW MOVES: Oregon Ballet Theatre has chosen its new artistic director six months after the previous one, Christopher Stowell, abruptly resigned. The new director is Kevin Irving, a Long Island native who has danced under famed choreographers such as Alvin Ailey and Twyla Tharpe. His résumé is solid, and he has experience working with several international companies, including leading the Göteborg Ballet of Sweden for five years. No doubt OBT hopes Irving can bring some stability to the company, which has wobbly finances. In choosing Irving, the company somewhat surprisingly passed over former dancer Anne Mueller, who’d been serving as interim artistic director. Irving will begin his job in late July. “He’s not a choreographer,” says Paul King, co-founder of White Bird, which brought the Göteborg Ballet to Portland last year. “He’s an artistic director that doesn’t choreograph, and that’s kind of a rare bird in this field.”

  1. WESTSIDE STORY: Portland’s first combination commercial gallery/urban winery has popped up at 1439 NW Marshall St., pairing the newly opened White Space art gallery with Cerulean Skies’ new Portland tasting room. >> Bye and Bye/Sweet Hereafter co-owner John Janulis will be reuniting with an old bartender of his, but this time as a business partner. He filed for a liquor license last week to open a massive 174-capacity bar in the Governor Hotel called Jackknife with Jake Carey (current co-owner of Dig a Pony). >> Meanwhile, highly pedigreed chef Jose Chesa will open a much-anticipated tapas spot called Ataula in the defunct Patanegra space (1818 NW 23rd Place) that once served...tapas.

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