On my first—and only —visit to Lio, the third restaurant from the brainchild of Asian-fusion James Beard Award-semi-finalist chef, Cara Stadler, I tried in painstaking measure to figure out the niche that this ambitious restaurant was trying to fill, especially in our restaurant universe bulging with talent and innovation.
Lio is one of the most confounding restaurants in Portland. Without a road map or a big neon sign or billboard out front you’d be hard-pressed to find the front door. When I arrived for a late dinner to meet friends there who invited me at the last minute I assumed that the stairway that lead to the dining terrace was the front door. But there was a chain across it and people dining there. I felt like I was breaking in rather than making an inauspicious entrance. Was the restaurant closed? It was nearly 9:00 PM.
No it wasn’t. I lifted the chain and walked into the restaurant. I learned later that there’s a covered entry way recessed in the building on Spring Street that brings you to a doorway and stairs to the second-floor dining room.
House-made chips with caviar
