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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Food Another Closure: Mercato

Posted by Patrick Alan Coleman on Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 1:03 PM

It seems the downturn in the economy is seperating the chaff from the wheat in the Portland food scene. The latest victim is Mercato.

It's sad to see so many people losing their jobs. Mercato was a fairly big place and had a good number of employees who must now wander the streets, looking for work in an over-saturated job market.

Still, I'm not surprised to see the place go: It was a mess. Not to mention that it seemed as if the owners of Mercato had no idea what the city was all about. Mercato was attempting to be all things to all people, which I think alienated patrons who wanted something more specific. It may have worked as just a gelato shop, or just an Italian date place, or deli, or lunch spot. But, all those things? Nope. It seems that focus is key. Portlanders have no problem offering loyalty to a business, just as long as that business is speaking directly to them.

At any rate, I feel for the workers who are left in the cold. Here's hoping you find a better paying gig, somewhere with heart, real soon.


 

Comments (7) RSS

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1
"the downturn in the economy is seperating the chaff from the wheat in the Portland food scene"

It would be pretty rad if this was happening. Unfortunately, it's not. The recent "closing of crap-to-closing of under appreciated gems" ratio is no better than it has been in the past several years. It would be lovely if you could connect strings-of-words to coherent ideas, Patrick.
Posted by A cat on October 29, 2008 at 5:36 PM · Report
2
What recent closures are you talking about, A cat? I'm curious to which ones you considered "under appreciated gems." And the wheat/chaff ratio I'm speaking of here is "closing of crappy/mediocre restaurants-to-excellent eateries with staying power."

And the chaff is chaff for any number of reasons, only a part of which is the taste of the food--lousy service and management play their part too.
Posted by Patrick A. Coleman on October 30, 2008 at 9:35 AM · Report
3
The last 3 restaurant closures I've read about on blogtown have been Mercato, Rocket and Chesterfield.

I've never been at the former (though Patrick's review depicts a restaurant with a lot of ambition and little substance), but his/Storrs' assertion that the Rocket's high-priced gastronomic ambitions were too much for this economy and food scene is mos' def 'chaff worthy'.

I've been to the Chesterfield several times and while I did like it, I always noticed I was one of maybe ten people there.

I would love to read a list of the unjust closings though, cat!
Posted by Michelle on October 30, 2008 at 10:24 AM · Report
4
Yawn... Michelle, if you actually read Leather's closing statement, you would notice that it was a mea culpa that any service worker wishes their owners could make. He miscalculated, there was a closure, and he took full responsibility for the consequences. Classy as fuck.

If you'd really like to do a comb-through of the past years' closings and evaluate the "wheat" and "chaff", just let me know. I'm game. As it stands, you're assertion that failure="chaff worthy" is tautology of the highest degree. Not sure how much anyone could get out of such a "discussion"...
Posted by A cat on October 30, 2008 at 7:17 PM · Report
5
Also, the tautology comment applies to you to Patrick. Just look at your statement:

"And the wheat/chaff ratio I'm speaking of here is "closing of crappy/mediocre restaurants-to-excellent eateries with staying power."

Fail=Fail. Huh, quite an argument.
Posted by A cat on October 30, 2008 at 7:19 PM · Report
6
Mercato served Italian food that you might get at the airport in Rome...I'm actually glad they closed.
Posted by monpetitloup on October 30, 2008 at 8:00 PM · Report
7
As a local food service 'insider' I can say that Mercato was serving SHIT food (as in, almost every ingredient was purchased from Cash & Carry - I saw Codrin Borlovan, the owner, shopping there ALL THE TIME); SHIT service; and were NOT paying their vendors. Nuvrei pastries dropped them because they never paid their bill - I heard from my friend who worked at Mercato that they owed more than $3000 to Nuvrei pastries. LAME!!! Also, the owners were morons.
Posted by jeffreylaine on November 18, 2008 at 4:37 PM · Report

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