Zefiro menus and ephemera, 1990-1995

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Zefiro (Restaurant : Portland, Or.)
Title
Zefiro menus and ephemera
Dates
1990-1995 (inclusive)
Quantity
0.1 cubic feet, (1 folder in shared box)
Collection Number
Coll 922
Summary
Menus, business cards, and a poster for Zefiro, a restaurant that operated in northwest Portland, Oregon, in the 1990s.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Languages
English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Zefiro was a Mediterranean restaurant located at N.W. 21st and Glisan in Portland, Oregon. Bruce Carey and chef Christopher Israel founded the restaurant in 1990, inspired by their dining experiences while traveling in Europe; Monique Siu was the restaurant's co-owner. Zefiro featured midnight performance sets by the band Pink Martini. Zefiro closed in 2000. Even after its closure, food critics argued that the restaurant had been influential in shaping Portland's food culture.

Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, 1990-2012; "Hail Caesar: How Zefiro Changed Everything for Portland's Food Scene," by Karen Brooks, Portland Monthly, September 2016, https://www.pdxmonthly.com/eat-and-drink/2016/08/how-zefiro-changed-everything-for-portland-s-food-scene.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The collection consists of seven menus, three business cards, and a poster from the Portland, Oregon, restaurant Zefiro. The menus include a dessert and dessert drinks menu, wine lists, and lunch and dinner menus. The poster, which has the words "Il Primo Anno" on it, was made for the restaurant's first anniversary.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Preferred Citation

Zefiro menus and ephemera, Coll 922, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Gift of Zefiro, June 1995 (Lib. Acc. 22282).

Processing Note

During processing, four menus and one business card that had initally been separated to the Menu collection, Mss 2942, were moved to this collection.

Separated Materials

T-shirts and matchbooks were separated to Museum Collections, Oregon Historical Society.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Restaurants--Oregon--Portland

Corporate Names

  • Zefiro (Restaurant : Portland, Or.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • menus