Harding Smith’s restaurant kingdom is an empire built in fits and starts. Each one comes out of the gate magnificently, spirals to a declivitous edge momentarily — like catching one’s breath — only to return to glorious heights, which is where, more or less, his three establishments have remained.

Figa belongs to a breed of restaurant that used to dominate the Portland dining scene: Owner-chefs performing like culinary alchemists from their closet-sized kitchens and 20-seat restaurants.

The new Walter’s (www.waltersportland.com) is without exception the most expensively designed restaurant in the city of Portland. Which is to also say it’s like so many other upscale urban dining rooms that you find in second-tier cities across the country/ They’re located off hotel lobbies or in downtown office towers. They’re hardly family dining halls but rather crisply designed environments that howl Metropolitan cool.

On December 1, the US Defense Department released a study on the effects of repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Doug Anderson looks back on an afternoon when a park in Portland became center stage for this national debate.

Vox pop by Doug Anderson

The Salt institute of Documentary Studies: At Salt, we train aspiring writers, radio producers, and photographers in the art of documentary storytelling — creating thought-provoking, richly worded stories. In the process, our students struggle to find their own voice, learn to sit comfortably with discomfort, and to ask hard questions not only of the people they document, but also of themselves. After 15 weeks, we graduate working professionals who recognize the complexity and subjectivity of truth.