EastBurn.JPG
EastBurn is located at 1800 E. Burnside St.
(J. David Santen Jr.)
A crass review left on an East Portland restaurant's Yelp page about abortion and grilled cheese sandwiches has spurred hundreds of responses from the Portland subReddit page and an unlikely one from the owner.
EastBurn, a public house on East Burnside, responded to the (now-deleted) five-star review retelling an abortion story and mentioning the restaurant's $5 grilled cheese sandwiches with a benefit in support of the Portland Women's Crisis Line (PWCL).
Through the month of August, the restaurant will be donating all the proceeds from their grilled cheese sandwiches to the 24-hour resource and support organization for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
"It just seemed like a good thing to do," owner Mike Bender said. "We do a lot of benefits here and thought it was a good opportunity to give back...It's especially pervasive in the restaurant industry [disrespect towards women] and it's not cool."
"More than anything I was really impressed with the owner's response,"Rebecca Nickels, Executive Director of the PWCL said. "We're very flattered they thought of us in their response."
The review wrote:
"My friend and I picked up some hot girls here, but he got his pregnant. But she was Canadian so she went home and got a free abortion so it's all cool now. You can get grilled cheeses here for $5."
In response to the review, Bender replied, saying:
A screenshot of the now-deleted review on Yelp.
"5 stars to you Lee M. for making an example of how this kind of disrespect towards women is shameful and not at all funny. Yes, our grilled cheese is only $5 and was kindly listed as one of the top 25 in the country by Food and Wine Magazine. As a thank you for spotlighting this kind of behavior, all proceeds through August from the sale of EastBurn's Grilled Cheeses will go to the Portland's Women's Crisis Line. - Cheers!"
EastBurn is located at 1800 E. Burnside St.
-- Samantha Bakall Follow @sambakall