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PORTLAND MONTHLY—PoMo's Benjamin Tepler does not mince words. His recent B&T Oyster Bar evisceration, titled B&T Oyster Bar Is a Sinking Ship, declares B&T's hand rolls "flaccid," its seemingly indescribable concept "gallimaufry," the cooks and the servers "disconnected," a salad that fuses Southeast Asian and Pacific Northwest flavors a "Northwest marriage made in hell," and, ultimately—shudder—the Dan Dan noodles "cat food." All this, for a restaurant run by 2016 James Beard Award semifinalist Trent Pierce, the chef behind Roe, a restaurant Tepler calls one of Portland's top ten dining experiences. Unless Pierce revamps it, Tepler says, B&T is "a neglected child that covers its lack of inspiration and service in heavy doses of mayonnaise and fish sauce." Ouch.
PORTLAND MONTHLY—Just over a month after the Mercury ruthlessly reviewed The Feisty Lamb, PoMo's lead critic Karen Brooks offers her own take, which is broken down into five sections, each titled after the five stages of grief:
- Denial: "You're not in Portland anymore," when "you're eating a $35 plate of osso buco [...] while perched on a steamer trunk."
- Anger: Brooks says, "I could have taught my cat to paint," in the three hours spent at The Feisty Lamb.
- Bargaining: "Lamb is the favored meat in the houseâa nice break in Porkland."
- Depression: It should be "one of the city's most exciting new restaurants," but it's "hobbled" by long wait times and pricer-than-usual dishes.
- Acceptance: Brunch has "glimmers" of hope." Revelations include buttermilk-tarragon pancakes and curried waffles "sided by sticky, spicy, lacquered lamb."
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