How the Dame Owners Decorated Their New Restaurant, Lord’s Tavern, at The Green in Portland
Share
Since the start, The Green in Portland has been a restaurant that has helped define Portland. As its namesake points out, this restaurant has grown from humble beginnings as a diner, to the first microbrewery, to an open-air hot dog cart, to even a restaurant with live chickens in an alley. The Green in Portland is now more than just dinner.
The Green in Portland used to be an open-air hot dog cart.
When the restaurant first opened in 1978, it was a place to eat and hang out — that’s what the Portlandia TV show referred to it as. But in the 1980s, The Green changed hands. This was during a time when the restaurant was struggling to become the first microbrewery in Oregon, and even a pioneer for the regional craft beer movement. But in 2006, then executive chef Mike Hensley bought The Green from the current owners, a man named Brian Viglione.
It was with this new owner that Hensley saw a much-needed renovation. And that change would lead to his first decision: to make The Green a restaurant that is a little different.
“In the early years, I saw that we were becoming a dinner place,” said Hensley.
That was because they were still making sandwiches from their hot dog cart, they began cooking brunch, and they began to do a lot of the traditional diner food.
At the same time, they were doing a lot of the more modern food, and they were changing their menu more towards the craft beer revolution.
“I knew we were getting into a place where we wanted it to be different, where we wanted a better product, where we wanted to be a little stronger in terms of our style of food,” said Hensley. “And we wanted to be a little more upscale.”
So the renovation became a huge part of the redesign of the restaurant.
“Our restaurant has always been known for its hospitality,” said Hensley. “And a lot of the people who come to our
