Last month, a liquor license application showed the former home of Wildwood, a pioneering Portland farm-to-table restaurant, was slated to become a Rite Aid.

Turns out, it will stay vacant for at least a little longer.

Wildwood, which opened in Northwest Portland in 1994, was one of a handful of restaurants, including nearby Zefiro, to help shift Portland's culinary reputation from restaurant backwater to dining destination. In 1995, Wildwood was named The Oregonian's Restaurant of the Year. Three years later, Schreiber took home the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest.

Meanwhile, the restaurant helped kick-start the careers of a half dozen well-known Portland chefs and general managers, including Nancy Hunt and Randy Goodman of Bar Avignon, Adam and Jackie Sappington of the Country Cat and Jenn Louis and David Welch of Lincoln.

In the end, the drug store chain -- which was recently purchased by Walgreens -- decided not to move forward on the lease, according to a Rite Aid spokesman.

-- Michael Russell