Don't Like - Anecdotal Recession Indicators

An empty restaurant somewhere in the world courtesy of Wikipedia…

The other weekend my girlfriend’s parents took us and her brother plus his girlfriend out to a nice restaurant. We didn’t have firm plans as to where we would be eating but the idea was somewhere nice on a Friday night. So, my girlfriend’s brother opened his phone, scrolled Resy, and found a reservation at 6:45pm at Kann and booked it. That may not seem noteworthy, but a year ago this reservation would’ve been impossible. In fact, it would’ve been unfathomable to even look. For awhile now, Kann has been the most celebrated restaurant in Portland. The restaurant has a celebrity chef owner in Gregory Gourdet and won many awards, including a James Beard Foundation award. The first time I went, my girlfriend took me and she had to log on at a specific time early in the morning to get her reservation for the following month before they all sold out within the hour. This was not the case this time. When we got there at 6:45pm, the time dining room was full and the restaurant was buzzing. When we left at 8:30pm, the restaurant was mostly empty despite there being an hour and a half left of service. We had a delicious meal and our service was good. It might have just been the case that the restaurant was slow that particular Friday. Or maybe, it isn’t the hot ticket in town anymore. Then again, it could indicative of something else.