Our Best Schools

Compare notes on more than 600 of the region's schools in our education grids. <p>Compare notes on more than 600 of the region’s schools in our education grids. Across the country, high schools are becoming small and specialized, adhering to the theory that intimacy, focus, and a family’s ability to choose their child’s school will cultivate more effective learning. But Portland Public Schools is taking the opposite approach. Why? Because the old-fashioned model—large, generalized, and right down the street—seems to be the better fit for our city’s ever-expanding array of revitalized inner-city neighborhoods.</p>

In this issue:

Arts & Culture

Now Hear This

Music Review: American Gong by Quasi

After a four year layoff from their previous album, Quasi returns with a new bassist and a more studied sound.

01/19/2010 By Robert Runyon

High Note

Guided by Voices

The Cappella Romana is the world's preeminent early-music vocal group, brought together by a mutual love of ancient music, shaping notes with more nuances than a fine wine.

01/19/2010 By Bart Blasengame

Mudroom

Off Hours: February 2010

How to spend your free time this month

01/19/2010

Eat & Drink

INTRODUCING…

Red Onion Thai Cuisine

Even as Thai joints spread across the city like Starbucks, Red Onion stands out from the pack with an adventurous menu.

01/19/2010 By Kaitlyn Evans

INTRODUCING

Fats

The newest member of Micah Camden's culinary empire, Fats, gives Portland the taste of a British gastropub. And poutine.

01/19/2010 By Rachel Ritchie

Nebb-ulous

Cellar Notes: February 2010

The nebbiolos of the Piedmont region of Italy are some of the most food-friendly wines out there. Here are a few of our favorites.

01/19/2010 By Condé Cox

Pour

Hive Minded

The ancient drink of the vikings gets reinvented as a sharp, fiery elixir.

01/19/2010 By Hannah Feldman

SAVOR

A Rustic Crostata Makes the Perfect Home for Your Leftover Preserves

Take advantage of the multitude of mason jars filled with local fruit by making heritage deserts such as Julie Richardson's jam crostata.

01/19/2010 By Deena Prichep

Portland Plated

Bold World Cuisine

After a tour of duty through world-renowned kitchens in Spain and France, Matt Lightner brings those European flavors back to Portland as head chef of Castagna.

01/19/2010 By Mike Thelin

Editor's Note

City of Schools

After years of cloudiness and uncertainty for Portland Public Schools, the skies are beginning to clear as enrollment increases due to the influx of children from the 20- and 30- somethings that have migrated here for years.

01/19/2010 By Randy Gragg

Home & Real Estate

EXTRA CREDIT

Class Notes

With special features such as music program makeovers to the tune of $40,000 and tech-savvy schools' Facebook pages, Portland-area schools go for the extra credit.

01/25/2010 Edited by Martha Calhoon

Wordplay

Definitions for School Statistics

Pop quiz time: What's the difference between a Magnet School and a Charter School? Learn more about how we graded Portland-area schools with this cheat sheet of definitions.

01/25/2010 Edited by Martha Calhoon

Backpage

Hybrid High

Out of Portland’s nine comprehensive high schools, only eight are likely to survive Portland Public Schools’ proposed redesign. Here, we’ve married a few of our favorite hoary mascots with a dose of modern-day swagger to create our own Dr. Moreau–style ch

01/19/2010

Learning Curve

Retro Grades

Portland Public Schools has a simple solution to their rich school/poor school dilemma: having kids go to their neighborhood high school. Maybe it's not as simple as it sounds.

01/19/2010 By Zach Dundas

News & City Life

Best Lawyers 2010

This list is compiled from _The Best Lawyers in America_, the preeminent referral guide to the legal profession in the United States. _Best Lawyers_ lists attorneys in 80 specialties, representing all 50 states, who have been chosen through an exhaustive

05/03/2010

Nothing But the Truth

Call of Duty

Anna Sachse went into jury duty with visions of Law and Order, excited to be a part of the judicial system. She left with a much different vision: our system needs help.

01/19/2010 By Anna Sachse

Mudroom

Eco-Erotica

Love yourself the Portland way: by going green with sustainable sex toys.

01/19/2010 By Meghan Hilliard

Guv Watch

Old Dems, New Tricks

The Democratic race heats up as Kitzhaber stays ahead in Facebook friends and Twitter followers while Bradbury gets some help from above.

01/19/2010 By Randy Gragg

Currency

Solid Grounds

Local youth mentoring program P:ear helps kids get off the street and behind the counter with a barista program.

01/19/2010 By Martin Patail

Mudroom

Chasing the Wind

Renewable Energy Composite Solutions and Oregon Wind battle in a war for wind.

01/19/2010 By Rachel Ritchie

Mudroom

The Perfect Party: February 2010

Art, journalism, crime, math, and sacks: it must be the people we want at our dinner table this month.

01/19/2010

Mudroom

Upward Bound

It's been 20 years since Barbara Roberts became Oregon's first female governor, and five years since Vera Katz was mayor, and since then, no woman has even been a major candidate for their offices. Emerge America, a Democratic women's boot camp, aims to

01/19/2010 By Rachel Ritchie

Style & Shopping

Cornershop

Breaking the Mold

Rachel Gorenstein takes inspiration from France in her boutique, Moulé.

01/19/2010 By Megan Udow