Saturday, March 3, 2012

And I thought a bookstore was hard!

Posting the last "Comings and Goings" and noticing how many high end restaurants have come and gone in the last three years, got me curious.

I made a couple of loops around downtown and counted the eateries that have survived.

If you take out bars (D & D, Corey's, JC's, Summit, Seven, Sidelines, etc.) and coffee shops (Starbucks, Bellatazza, etc) it's a pretty short list.

Alpineglow
Cafe Sintra
Taj Palace
Pizza Mondo
New York Sub
Super Burrito
El Jimador
High Tides
Soba
Blacksmith
Pine Tavern
Bend Brew
Deschutes Brewery
Toomies

So what I notice is: either there is Brew involved, or most of these survivors are what I would term "regular" or "casual" dining. (If I've overlooked anyone, I apologize.)

What's left of "fine" dining, I measure, without the Brew is:

Toomies
Cafe Sintra
Taj Palace
Blacksmith
Pine Tavern
High Tides

I know that the Blacksmith has been going through it's drama, and the Pine Tavern has changed hands.

Then look at the list of "fine" dining that has left:

Volo
Bluefish Bistro
Merenda's
Deep
Little Italy
Bistro Corlese
Ciao Mambo
Cork
Staccato
Giussepe's
Decoy
Bourbon St.
Bond Street Grill
Gatsby's
Tyhpoon!
Bo Restobar

And that is leaving out dozens of bars and casual dining establishments.

And I thought a bookstore was hard!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Be curious to know why Tart was out of business.

Anonymous said...

Love that you have worked almost literally within sight of the Taj Palace sign for - what, 10 years? 15? More? - and have them listed as Tai Palace. Look around, Dunc!

Also, you need to add High Tides to your "fine dining survivors, minus the brew" list. It is "finer" than Taj Palace for sure, and maybe Toomie's and Sintra, too. In fact, I wouldn't have Taj on that list at all, but that's just me.

The "fine dining goners" list is pretty amazing to read. Some of those - Volo, Corlise, Mambo - lasted such a short time I can barely even remember them.

Duncan McGeary said...

I've added High Tides to fine dining.

I frankly forget about Taj Palace.