Food News: To-Go Cocktails, Dungeness Crab, and Food Cart Break-Ins
To-go cocktails could be legal in Oregon as of Monday.
To-go cocktails could arrive soon
After months of restaurant, food cart, and bar owners, workers, and supporters lobbying for relief, Gov. Kate Brown has called an in-person legislative special session Monday, December 21. One draft bill includes the legalization of to-go cocktails, which many bar owners, restaurant owners, and bartenders, have said could mean the difference between their businesses staying open or closing forever, between workers having jobs and being unemployed. Customers would be allowed to purchase up to two mixed drinks per “substantial food item,” and drinks must be served in sealed containers. The draft also includes a statewide cap on third-party food platform fees—5 percent for pickup and 10 percent for delivery, similar to the Portland citywide cap that was enacted this summer. The to-go cocktails provision and delivery fee caps would both expire 60 days after the statewide emergency order is lifted.
Commercial Dungeness crab season kicks off today
Get your crab crackers ready: Oregon’s commercial Dungeness crab season officially starts today, with commercial crabbing permitted from Port Falcon southward to the Oregon-California border. (According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the opening date for the northern portion of the coast has been delayed in order to coordinate with the Washington crab season, which has been delayed due to domoic acid levels.)
Recent restaurant and food cart break-ins
The playful, inventive Indonesian restaurant Gado Gado posted on its Instagram story over the weekend that the restaurant had been burglarized. Several food carts also reported break-ins in recent days, including vegan taco cart La Taquiza Vegana at the Rose City Food Park pod and plant-based diner cart Dingers Deli at the Bite on Belmont pod.
