B Reviews for Lovely's 50-50, Gruner, Soluna Grill

Agreeing with the user consensus, the Portland Mercury's Patrick Alan Coleman thinks the new Lovely Hula Hands ladies' pizza venture Lovely's 50-50 on Mississippi lives up to its name, though he does delve into the pizza by hands or by fork divide.

"Though it was of the floppy, thin-crust, artisanal variety, I dove in with both hands anyway, hefting the small slice for a bite. As it rose from the table, the fantastic aroma of onion, garlic, and bacon, with a hint of pleasant goat cheese sourness, enveloped my face. The scent was beautiful and insistent, wafting from the wide end of the slice and lingering as I took a bite.
The olfactory experience melded with the taste and texture on my palate—strong salt of bacony pancetta and blunt creaminess of fromage blanc. Simply: a perfect bite, and one I wouldn't have experienced had I left the slice on the plate and employed fork and knife. Aha!"

In the Oregonian, Roger Porter hates Gruner's Weiner schnitzel but is enthusiastic about the bulk of the high-end "Mitteleuropa" cooking, while giving chef/owner Chris Israel credit as the man "who almost single-handedly started the Portland food revolution at Zefiro" (soon to become the second Blue Olive Mediterranean restaurant). Awesome headline, by the way: "Oomph, minus the oom-pah-pah. " Is that good, bad, what? In Willamette Week, Liz Crain reviews Soluna Grill. She's semi-sweet on this family-friendly resident of the former Fife location in Beaumont. Also in the "O," five (sort-of) Cheap Eats and Sara Perry interviews Kurt Fritzler who's been the bartender of Serratto since it was Delphina's during the Reagan administration.
· Previous Patrick Alan Coleman coverage [Eater PDX]
· Previous Lovely 50-50 coverage [Eater PDX]
· Previous Gruner Coverage [Eater PDX]
image of Gruner restaurant