{"id":5477,"date":"2013-04-08T00:01:45","date_gmt":"2013-04-08T04:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/?p=5477"},"modified":"2016-12-03T10:12:29","modified_gmt":"2016-12-03T14:12:29","slug":"the-mighty-metaphor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wyliecomm.com\/2013\/04\/the-mighty-metaphor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mighty Metaphor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karen Brooks brings the Portland dining scene to life<\/h2>\n

The rumor that I moved to Portland, Ore., solely because of the restaurants is only slightly exaggerated. But boy, do these people know how to eat.<\/p>\n

So I found Karen Brooks’ new book, The Mighty Gastropolis,<\/i> delicious on several counts: Not only did I gobble up the juicy back story on Portland’s restaurant scene, but I also devoured Brooks’ delectable metaphors.<\/p>\n

Here are some highlights to amuse your brain as well as your bouche:<\/p>\n

On butchery at Simpatica Dining Hall:<\/p>\n

“It began with the sudden appearance
\nof an outsized leg of prosciutto
\nswinging from a ceiling pipe
\nlike a shout-out from a Francis Bacon painting.”<\/h5>\n

On Portland’s dining scene:<\/p>\n

“For years, Portland was a backwater,
\nits food scene relegated to the kids\u2019 table
\nwhile rival sister Seattle sat with the big boys.”<\/h5>\n

On the 2011 James Beard Award nominations, held in Portland:<\/p>\n

“Inside the Oregon Culinary Institute,
\nthe air was tighter than the stock market floor
\nduring President Obama’s
\n‘let’s get tough on Wall Street’ speech.”<\/h5>\n

On dining at Evoe:<\/p>\n

“Scan the wall-size blackboard menu,
\nevery inch crammed with possibility,
\ncall out your order, and Kevin Gibson begins performing
\nlike a biology professor on Restaurant: Impossible.”<\/h5>\n

On Oregon’s natural bounty:<\/p>\n

“Enterprising pickers and pluckers
\nwheel up to the back doors of restaurants,
\nscales in hand, to peddle wild porcini
\nthe size of small purses
\nor twenty kinds of heirloom tomatoes.”<\/h5>\n

On Xocolatl de David Raleigh Bars:<\/p>\n

“\u2026 the thinking person\u2019s Snickers:
\none bite, and there\u2019s no going back.”<\/h5>\n

On Laurelhurst Market:<\/p>\n

“Dyer calls it ‘a reaction
\nto where the meat industry failed itself,
\na response to cutlets on foam trays
\nwrapped in plastic with a diaper underneath.'”<\/h5>\n

On a dish at Castagna:<\/p>\n

“No one seems to notice
\nthat the famed steak and haystack fries
\nhave been replaced by halibut
\ncloaked like a Christo installation
\nin an outsized cabbage leaf.”<\/h5>\n

On pizzas at Tastebud:<\/p>\n

“The pizzas are back, and, on Saturdays,
\nthe oven spits out the original flatbread
\nin salty flaps as big as a queen-size pillow.”<\/h5>\n

How can you cook up metaphors like Brooks does
\nto make your readers devour your messages?<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t