A Fly on the Wall

300 SW 6th St
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 546-2666

There are a lot of reasons to go to The Original: they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner; they have shakes; it’s good for groups; it’s downtown; they have Stumptown coffee and local alcohol… need I go on? It’s also physically gorgeous, complete with a huge second floor balcony, hip fireplaces and an overall quintessential retro diner aesthetic. I’ll say it: it’s shiny. There are, also, a lot of reasons to be skeptical: Is the food good? Is it too loud? Is over hyped?

I’m not going to come to conclusions with all of those just yet, and I do want to go back. I know that’s a line I use all-too often, but especially with the new spots, it’s an honest one. I don’t want to write it off the list, but there are some concerns.

I went for brunch, with my partner and her mom. My partner is really the true critic in the family. The harder a business tries — especially with the interior design — the harder she’ll examine the package. It’s often a good idea to dine with other people, purely for this reason: they see things you might miss. Our lunch at The Original was no exception.

She ordered a a huge salad, complete with promise of nuts, fruit, eggs and cheese, although when it came — there was barely any of those above mentioned ingredients in the salad bowl. She made noise about it, which, again, I appreciate. I had the scrapple biscuit — something I’ve never heard of, and now that I have, I feel like I’m seeing it everywhere (i.e. Tracy Ullman was making it in the first scene of John Waters’s recent film, A Dirty Shame.) It was fine, and only fine. The biscuit wasn’t out of this world, but there wasn’t anything wrong with it either. And the scrapple? Well, it’s finely-shredded pork — almost a pate. It was fine.

Another bummer was the service was WAY too attentive. It was their second week, so again — disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer — I’m sure they’ve reduced the staffing, but I could barely swallow a sip of water without it being refilled. Finishing a sentance of conversation was a challenge because someone was always coming by to ask if we were ready, if things were okay, and if we needed more water.

On one hand, there’s the, “Well, this is Portland,” excuse for letting slackness or flaws go; but then again, there’s the “Well, this IS Portland,” and aren’t we trying to live up to our newly minted national food-scene kudos? Speaking of, yes, The New York Times has bitten into The Original by mentioning their Voodoo Doughnut burger.

If that doesn’t peak your curiosity, then maybe the foie gras poutine fries will, or the “hot dog flight” or any number of their other toxic, yet tempting sounding snacks.

Or maybe you’re like me and you have to go to anything with “new” attached to it just because you’re addicted to shiny things.