Breakfast in Bridgetown

I am headed out for breakfast the next three days, then out of town for three days, so stay tuned for some reviews. Meanwhile, you might enjoy a story on sorghum I did for the Memphis Flyer.

In book news, I am now at Powells — on their website and in the Burnside and Hawthorne stores, near as I can tell. So that’s a good thing, although they haven’t put up the cover image yet, and they list the wrong publisher. I’m working on that.

And you might be interested to keep tracking the Amazon sales rank for Breakfast in Bridgetown. I know I am. Then again, I don’t know if anybody is even reading this blog, and to find out, I’ll send a free copy of the book to the first two people who post a comment on this post.

So, sales ranks: last we saw, on Oct. 27, it was about 511,000. In the four days since, it’s gone to 668,000, 723,000, 775,000, and this morning 814,000 — although a half hour ago it was at 811,000. So I have to wonder: Is a finite number of titles on there, and I’m getting passed?

Just got word today that Delta Cafe, that palace of southern self-stuffing, is now serving a weekend brunch. The menu, a PDF doc, is right here. Serving weekends 9 to 2, and I’ll be reporting on them soon!

Fair warning: they are cash and check only.

UPDATE, now without the question mark: The Oregonian has some details, and Violet’s is, indeed, closed. Meanwhile, here’s my previous post, including a reminiscence of the “old” Violet’s.

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I am getting reports that Violets Cafe (5204 NE Sacramento) has closed. What a shame! It was such a fun, cheerful place, but last year it was sold, and by all accounts it went quickly downhill. And by “all accounts” I mean some word-of-mouth and a lot of CitySearch reviews; to see what I mean, click here and scroll back to October, 2007. Dang!

This June, there was a report that it was sold again … and now this. The phone line isn’t answering, the website is down, etc. A loss. And meanwhile, as an RIP, click below to write what I had written about the old Violet’s, for the book.

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I’ve gotten behind on posting my entries over at LivePDX.com. So here are the last few on the restaurant blog. Each of these, by the way, is a condensed version of book chapters:

Bridges Cafe was cool before MLK was cool.

Prescott Cafe offers cooking from the 1940s – literally.

Fuller’s Coffee Shop isn’t really in “The Pearl.”

And finally, if you’re looking for a nice fall hike — and you’d better hurry! — I suggest a trip to Ape Canyon, up by Mount Saint Helens.

The folks at Geek in the City posted today a nice review of Breakfast in Bridgetown. Again, it’s nice to get a positive review, but it’s particularly nice when people get what I was going for: “part guidebook, part entertaining travel narrative through the Portland breakfast scene.”

Also, I shipped out another three books to Amazon, meaning my total sales there are now, at most, a whopping eight books. And here’s the latest on my sales rank there. Since I haven’t sold a book in a week, it’s hard to understand how I dropped from where I was in that time.

10-22: 120,035

10-23: 331,519

10-24: 414,752

10-26: 526,866

10-27: 595,618

So, when they sell these latest three, look out! I might get into the five-digit range!

So I’ve always been fascinated by Amazon sales ranks. And here’s an example of why.

To date, I have sent Amazon exactly five books for them to sell. Five. On Oct. 7 they requested 2, then on Oct. 11, 2 more, and then on Oct. 19, they asked for one. This is more than annoying, because I have to pay for the shipping (about $3 for one book, $3.50 for two) and I’m only getting $7.63 for each book they sell — about six weeks later.

But I digress.

Apparently, shockingly, they’re all sold out again, because once again my book is listed as “out of stock.” And yes, next time I am thinking that no matter what they order, I’m sending about a dozen, so they’ll leave me alone for a while.

So.

Five books sold, total, right? Presumably, four of them before about Oct. 19. So what has my Amazon Sales Rank been?

10-22: #120,035

10-23: #331,519

10-24: #414,752

Now, you tell me: When I am selling a maximum of one book during these three days, how do I swing so wildly in Amazon sales rank? I am eternally fascinated by this, and I might have to track it daily.

By the way, my 60 Hikes book is today ranked #106,976 — although I don’t know how many it’s selling these days, so I can’t compare.

By the way again, if you want to get my book on Amazon, do us both a favor and use this page to buy it straight from me, signed. You’ll still pay a couple dollars more than on this site, but it isn’t PayPal, and you’ll get a signed book in a day or two, either way.

Ah, this felt good. I actually went to a new place — well, a place I hadn’t previously been to — and wrote it up for the second edition of the book, whenever that’s coming out. This is one that should have been in the book in the first place, and for the record my friend Leighanne tried to tell me such, but the day we went, they were closed.

Well, now I have been to Cafe Lili, and here’s what I think:

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Like any ego-driven animal, I am flattered by flattery. I also appreciate the value of a good review, or even a bad one with good points.

But when I read the glowing review that Worducopia gave Breakfast in Bridgetown, I was more than flattered and appreciative. I was downright stoked — and the reason is that when I set out to write the book, it was never supposed to be a book of ratings, or suggestions, or anything other than an entertaining book about Portland, through the lens of its breakfast places.

And Ali at Worducopia got that, completely. And she flattered me, which goes a long way. So please cruise on over and enjoy the review, and let your friends and neighbors know about it.

Thank you, Worducopia!

I’ve been really wrapped up lately in other projects — researching the camping book, selling and marketing the breakfast book — so there’s not much to report on from the eating and writing world.

Moxie Rx did announce their fall hours, and The Oregonian pitched in with a lot of breakfast-related stuff: How to build the perfect breakfast sandwich and the breakfast entry in their Best Bites series. My quick reactions to the latter are as follows:

• Sorry, but I just don’t get the Little Red Bike Cafe. Not impressed by anything about it.
• A “Best Biscuits” entry that doesn’t even mention Pine State is highly suspect. Maybe they’re just tired of writing (and reading) about that place? In that case, I can understand.
• I do enjoy the little video things they post on there. I might send out the link to the one from Little Red Bike Cafe so I can show my friends around the country what a hipster looks like in its natural habitat.

So I was at the Stepping Stone last night, and their new room is up and running. They’ve got six more tables now, but they’re still full on the weekends.

Meanwhile, I’ve been out of town working on my camping book, so I don’t have any new writings to share. But I do have another blog entry up at LivePDX.com, this one on Old Wives’ Tales. Anybody else have some feedback on that place?

And, since I like to give some love to other blogs, here’s a couple more links:

Stumptown Vegans goes to Bob’s Red Mill Cafe

and

PortlandFoodand Drink.com Interviews Ken Gordon of Kenny and Zuke’s