Welcome to In the Weeds, a new publication covering the business of independent restaurants. If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here.
When I was in Portland, Oregon, back in March, I sat down with Gabriel Pascuzzi, chef and “Top Chef” alum who currently operates two restaurants in his hometown, Hey Luigi and Bistecca.
Gabe is refreshingly honest, and our conversation was wide-ranging. Resy had just pulled support of Noma’s Los Angeles residency the day before, so that was top of mind for the chef, who had done a stint in the Copenhagen restaurant. But the heart of our conversation was the Portland dining scene and his “I Heart Portland” dinner series, which is supported by another reservation platform — OpenTable.
I see dinner series, pop-ups, chef collabs, or whatever you want to call these time-limited events, as a way to remind diners of a spot they loved and maybe forgot about in the relentless pursuit of new. They’re a creative outlet for chefs, a chance to bring restaurants together, and a way to generate buzz. As a bonus, restaurants can get some support from reservation platforms that see these events as a way to compete for diners. So these events offer a rare opportunity for restaurants to be in a position of power in their relationship with restaurant tech.
Food writer Jamie Feldmar recently asked if we’ve reached peak pop-up in a post on The Angel Substack. I, for one, hope we haven’t.
As Nancy Silverton, chef and owner of Mozza Restaurant Group, told Jamie: “Strictly from a business perspective, all of us in the struggling restaurant world are constantly trying to figure out ways of bringing business or attention to our restaurants. Whether it’s just business or it’s just attention, pop-ups are something to talk about.”
Nancy also notes that these events can be an advantage to reservation platforms competing for diners. One they’re willing to pay for. Those platforms are “offering to support events … So we’re using those available dollars to help market our restaurant.”
Also in this edition: What the plummeting price of a liquor license says about San Francisco’s restaurant industry, regulars care more about recognition than perks, and a look at why and how cities pay for Michelin guides.
Gabriel Pascuzzi photographed by Carter Hiyama
Gabriel Pascuzzi's dinner series actually developed from a failed attempt to launch a Portland food festival after Feast Portland, a long-running culinary event, was canceled due to pandemic-related complications.
Gabe imagined an event that celebrated Oregon produce and the city he grew up in and importantly, paid the chefs who worked the event. (He takes “serious issue with food festivals that don’t pay chefs,” he said.) Ultimately, his dinner series, “I Heart Portland,” achieves those goals. And it helps alleviate what he believes is the biggest issue for restaurants today — getting “butts in seats.”
His hometown of Portland could use some celebrating, Gabe said. The city has had a rough go of it, at least in the news, with homelessness and ICE activity and protests in the headlines. His dinner series is “shining the light back on why everybody fell in love with Portland,” he told me when we spoke at his Italian restaurant, Hey Luigi, in March.
For his series, which started in April, Gabe’s been bringing out chef friends, many of them “Top Chef” alums like himself, for Sunday dinners at Hey Luigi. Among the guest chefs, Brittany Cochran, from the latest season of “Top Chef” and Stagioni in Charlotte, kicked things off, and Monique Feybesse, from season 19 and Oakland patisserie Tarts de Feybesse, will be serving dinner with Gabe later this month.
