PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The pandemic has changed many things, including Portland’s restaurant scene. From closures to take-out only, a lot of places look very different.
Many restaurants had to make adjustments and others closed permanently. On Wednesday Le Bistro Montage announced they were closing their doors after 27 years.
Other restaurants say they’re barely skating by and have had to make changes to keep going.
Chef Gabriel Rucker with Le Pigeon and Canard, said they opened a few weeks ago for take-out and delivery. They’ve changed their menu at Canard and now offer what they call Bird Boxes at Le Pigeon. They’re looking at opening for dine-in customers in mid-July.
They and other said surviving this pandemic as a business has not been easy.
“I like to think that my partner Andrew Fortgang and I run pretty solid operations and we are skating by,” Rucker said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like if you had just opened, or you were just trying to get open.”
Restaurants like Gado Gado in Northeast Portland have switched to take-out only to survive. It’s a model that’s worked well and they’ll continue doing it.
Gado Gado is among the many restaurants that aren’t quite ready to go back to indoor seating just yet. The eatery is currently offering take-out and delivery and will start offering outdoor seating in the coming weeks.
“We’ve been thinking a lot about how we can sustain our business. Hopefully in an ideal world restaurants come out on the other side a little bit more secure than they were before,” said Mariah Pisha-Duffy with Gado Gado.
They also made changes to their menu and added an outside pick-up stand complete with music, a disco ball and plants. Even though they can’t interact with customers inside, they still want it to be a fun experience.
They’re also building 2 outdoor patios and plan to do outdoor service only in the next couple of weeks.
