First Bites: Black Cow — Portland gets its own taste of upscale fast-food

From a sociological standpoint, trends can often represent a deeper layer of the onion of popular culture. Whether in art, fashion, city planning or otherwise, trends reflect and are commonly born of the collective consciousness of any given point in time. Perceived values repeatedly stem from environmental circumstances throughout history — would the “tiny house” phenomenon have occurred if it weren’t for the early millennium real estate crisis?

No trend has had such a heavy hand in shaping the dining industry lately than what could be referred to as the “upscale fast-food” movement. Pioneered by the likes of Danny Meyer and David Chang, who with Shake Shack and Fuku respectively have turned fast-food staples like thin-patty cheeseburgers and fried chicken sandwiches into respectable culinary accomplishments, the movement is surely a conscious effort in both evoking nostalgia and lending merit to the guilty-pleasure foods many of us grew up eating — neon-yellow American cheese in tow.