Are Portland's restaurants in a recession?

If Saturdays at Caiola's, Fridays at Happy Teriyaki, and Wednesdays at Hugo's (where three-courses weeknight dinners Tues-Thurs are now $25) are any indication, restaurants worth a damn are hopping despite any so-called recession. Same thing's happening in SFO. Icing on the cake for the no-frills scene, flannel-wearing set:

"The predictions are that we are over the era of pretension," [Bonny Wolf] says. "What we're going to see is a lot more bistros and osterias, which are the Italian form of the bistro. They'll be less expensive, more casual, simple kind of restaurants," via NPR.