The Wine Knows

Stu Stein, owner and chef of Terroir Restaurant & Wine Bar in Portland, announced Friday that he has shuttered its doors just about six months after opening.

Stein, who made his name as chef of The Peerless Restaurant in Ashland, also authored The Sustainable Kitchen in 2004.

With only a minor amount of searching, there is much more to this story than the failure of a restaurant by a chef with seemingly superior credentials. First is the hyper-competitiveness of opening a restaurant in Portland, a foodies' paradise where creativity and dedication to regional ingredients are keys to success.

Second - and more darkly - are the disturbing accusations against Stein that he plagiarizes others. The evidence of this has been mounting for at least a couple of years.

Examples:

-- Pacific Northwest Cheese Project

-- Portland Food and Wine

-- Willamette Week

-- The San Francisco Chronicle

Perhaps ironically, Stein attributes a quote he used on his own blog item about the restaurant's demise.

We did a feature on Stein many years ago when he was at The Peerless and also reviewed his book when it came out. One wonders where he can go now when his own reputation is damaged.