The article is from 2016, and when it came out I remember a ton of industry folks griefing the owner for basically failing to understand the market and understand what people were willing to pay for. Weird to see this on HN...
I realize now that most of what I was remembering was in the comments of the article. I had some other fb friends who run restaurants echo similar notions. But it all boiled down to
"But then, of course, there are the people who complain that your $29 chicken dish is "amazing… but it's too expensive for chicken."
"people complaining" means the owner didn't understand the market. At all. If you don't have enough people willing to pay 40$ for a dish that is only profitable at that price point, then you really shouldn't keep trying to sell a dish like that.
I'm guessing you just don't follow local restaurant news (Renard's opening got quite of coverage because it was in St. Jack's old space) or live in that neighborhood.
Portland's a pretty local place. I walk by where Renard used to be almost every day, and can tell you about every restaurant along all of Clinton Street (on that stretch, Burrasca is clearly the standout). But apart from a few very well-known places I've got no idea what's up on, say, Alberta.
Yeah I don't really follow restaurant news. I am just a terrible cook, so I am always looking for new restaurants to eat at, and while I live in SE, I will drive anywhere for the food I want.
