Lucier (restaurant)

Lucier was a restaurant located at RiverPlace^[4] in South Portland's South Waterfront district. Martin Cizmar of Willamette Week described Lucier as "the most opulent restaurant space in Portland history".^[5] The Oregonian said the "ultra-contemporary showpiece" restaurant was named after French-Canadian fur trader Étienne Lucier.^[6]

The Oregonian's Michael Russell said Lucier was housed in a "prow-like building" with cantilevered windows and views of the Willamette River.^[7] The 7,600-square-foot (710 m²)^[8] interior had "one-of-a-kind features", including "a marble wall milled with abstract swimming designs", a "shimmering" canal that was also described as a lazy river and water channel^[2][9] lined with iridescent gold tiles, and "oversized chandeliers made from bronze tubes of varying heights".^[10] According to Christina Melander of The Oregonian, Lucier had African hardwoods, custom-leather furniture made in Italy, and a "brigade-style" kitchen.^[11] The restaurant had silver front doors, twenty glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly, leather-padded bathroom walls, and a bar "capped by a gold dome designed to resemble the sun".^[7]

The dining room accommodated approximately 100 people.^[12][13] Lucier offered free valet parking.^[14]

The menu included modern European cuisine^[15][16] and, according to The Oregonian, "[encouraged] diners to create their own three, four or five course tasting menus—mixing and matching entrees and starters at will".^[17] The newspaper said:

Menus comprise a la carte, bar and a seven-course chef's tasting menu that emphasizes a few ingredients—tomatoes and the red mullet fish rouget, for example—throughout the entire meal. To encourage diners to try luxury items like Kobe beef and live scallops in the shell, the kitchen will prepare them in tiny portions, coupling, say, an ounce of Wagyu beef with a New York steak to demonstrate the difference.^[11]

Lucier's executive chef said the food "[pulled] flavors from Morocco, Italy and Portugal as well as from France, and [borrowed] techniques from Japan".^[11] The foie gras had coconut foam, macadamia nut "glass" similar to brittle, and a piece of pineapple. The halibut was prepared sous vide. The striped bass carpaccio had yuzu, olives, and currants. A dish called The Egg was a "lightly scrambled duck egg served in its shell topped with sevruga caviar and accompanied by teardrop-shaped brioche toasts". The butter-poached lamb was served with sweetbreads, pea shoots and fingerling potatoes.^[17]

The wine list had 1,600 labels.^[18] Two-hundred Champagnes were available by the glass.^[11]

Lucier opened in May 2008^[19][20] in a building that was owned by Onder Development.^[8] Alvarez + Brock oversaw a $4 million design.^[10] Spouses^[21] Chris and Tyanne Dussin of the Dussin Group were co-owners of Lucier.^[22][23] Food writer Karen Brooks of The Oregonian said the duo "banked on a dramatic river view, a theatrical menu, a wine list with world-class aspirations and price tags bound to make value-loving Portlanders flinch".^[24]

Pascal Chureau was a co-owner and executive chef.^[18][25] Top Chef: Boston contestants Doug Adams and Jeremy Niehuss were chefs at Lucier.^[26][27][28] Kristen D. Murray, who later opened a restaurant named Maurice, was a pastry chef.^[29][30] Prior to opening Ox, Gregory and Gabrielle Quinonez were cooks at Lucier.^[31][32]

The Oregonian's Christina Melander said Lucier was Portland's most-expensive restaurant, as of September–October 2008.^[33][34]

Lucier closed in December 2008 after operating for seven months.^[8][35] Chris Dussin attributed the closure to the Great Recession.^[36]

Willamette Week called the restaurant's short lifespan "the most colossal faceplant in Portland dining history"^[2] and Portland Business Journal called the venture a "failure".^[37] Michael Russell of The Oregonian said Lucier was "Portland's greatest restaurant boondoggle",^[3] the city's "most spectacular restaurant failure" and "most notorious flop",^[7][38] and a "doomed extravagance".^[39] Ted Sickinger called the restaurant an "extravaganza that became the most spectacular flameout in the pantheon of Portland eateries",^[40] and David Sarasohn called Lucier a "super-expensive flop" and "a monument to odd thinking and worse timing".^[41] Gregory Denton said the closure was "a low point in [his] career" and "a considerable blow to the ego and a huge disappointment after all the work that we had put into" Lucier.^[32]

In early 2010, news outlets reported on a possible reopening of Lucier.^[42][43] Eater Portland's Eva Hagberg wrote; "Word is Dussin (perhaps having learned from his mistakes?) will, instead, be making the place 'little less high-end and a little more approachable' ".^[44] The Oregonian said "Changes in decor consistent with Lucier's downscaling will also be made".^[45] Eater Portland reported on Lucier's possible acquisition by San Francisco-based Lark Creek Restaurant Group.^[46] The Dussin Group put its lease on the venue on the market in October 2011.^[47] Keeler Hospitality Group signed a sublease in 2012 and the Dussin Group continued to pay "part of the original lease's five-figure monthly rent".^[7]

The space that had housed Lucier remained unoccupied until 2013.^[48] The restaurant was replaced by Quartet^[10] and later by Dough Zone.^[49][50]