Here's the deal with Renata, in case you've been living under a Himalayan pink salt rock: On June 17, at the ripe old age of two weeks, The Oregonian named this Pacific-Northwest-ingredients-meets-high-end-Italian hotspot its 2015 Restaurant of the Year.
For this baby restaurant to get the nod sent shockwaves through the food community—anonymous chefs griped about politics while local food writers were positively apoplectic. To name it the best new outing of the year, after a short soft opening and two weeks of actual service, was... well, too soon.
However, I also think The O's critic, Michael Russell, had few choices in what has been a dismal year for high-end ambitious openings (although he could have easily picked Doug Adams' turn as exec chef at Imperial, or the new NW 21st location for St. Jack).
The hullaballoo puts me, a fellow critic, in a tough place—it's now impossible to review this Inner Eastside venture on its own merits. When the biggest print game in town swoops in and names Renata the "it" spot, proprietors Sandra and Nick Arnerich and chef Matthew Sigler have more than a lot to live up to—especially taking into account their backgrounds at Northern California icons The French Laundry (the Arneriches) and Flour + Water (Sigler), and the expansive remodel of a former creamery. In short, Renata is marked.
I visited once on June 16, the night before Renata earned its title, and again on August 6, to see how things were settling for Portland's new darling. It's clear that Renata is still evolving and tweaking menu flaws—as it should, because even today it's just over three months old.
