How old is caprial pence

As The Oregonian reported earlier this week , Caprial and John Pence, owners of Caprial's Westmoreland Kitchen, spent the past few years struggling against the numbers, trying -- and failing -- to maintain their payments on a bankruptcy in a collapsing economy.

But the Pences say the sudden closing of their year-old restaurant last Saturday was not all about the numbers. In order to be a restaurateur, you have to be stupidly optimistic. You have to get up every day and think today will be better.

After seven years, the Pences doubled the size of the restaurant. They produced nine cookbooks. Davis says "they were ahead of their time," relying on local produce and seeing cooking as a social activity. At their peak on PBS, their show appeared on stations covering 60 to 70 percent of the country -- with ratings, Davis says, beyond the Food Network sensations.

But notes Davis, "We were never able to find quite enough private underwriting to maintain it. Then there was the time in when the Pences went to Boston as part of the cooking team for Julia Child's birthday -- and the time Child came to dinner at the bistro. The restaurant was widely expected to contend with the top restaurants in Portland. But as the citywide track became faster, its identity emerged as a neighborhood restaurant with a loyal following but peaks and valleys, becoming an on-and-off presence in Diner, The Oregonian's annual restaurant guide.

Mark Dowers, not Pence, was the dominant presence in the kitchen. Still, Caprial's made considerable contributions to the local scene. From its beginning, the bistro emphasized Northwest ingredients and Asian flavors, invoking lemon-grass aioli and chile-coconut sauce to permeate Pacific Northwest fish and local venison.

The bistro was one of the early Portland restaurants to offer counter seating overlooking the kitchen, helping to turn dining out into a spectator sport. And she thinks the restaurant stayed open for lunch way too long, after business lunches had collapsed.

They were already downsizing and selling their house. They still had enough friends in Seattle, and visited often enough, that it felt familiar and welcoming — as did the Bookstore space, and a chance to put her own creative stamp on another restaurant.

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Rebekah Denn : rebekahdenn gmail. Denn, a two-time winner of the James Beard Award, writes about food for several local and national publications.