Still, the spirit of Ned Ludd will hang over Cafe Olli: handmade and farm-fresh, with plenty of smoke and fire. Life and color will come from what we do.”Īll that remains is Ned Ludd’s signature-a massive wood-burning red brick oven, six feet deep. “The feel will come from the bottles and breads on the counter. “We wanted it to feel open,” says Cami Wong, formerly Tusk’s GM. In its place: fresh white paint and a cleaner, more minimal look. Gone is Ned Ludd’s cabin-gone-mad aesthetic, with its ceramic chickens and ancient cooking implements that looked like relics from Sherman’s March. The fresh start includes a new look for the former Ned Ludd space, opened in 2008 and once a poster child for Portland’s DIY food scene before quietly closing after a pandemic hiatus. I’m happy to see people taking the plunge, jumping into the unknown.” But there’s also people who took the fucking lemon and are making lemonade.… They have an incredible work ethic. “What the pandemic has done to the city is tragic. “It’s really part of Portland’s evolving food story,” says Dana Frank, whose east side gem Bar Norman was the scene of two gangbuster Cafe Olli pop-ups recently. “It took something powerful to bring us back.” “All of us had ideas of leaving the industry,” says Ryan Dirks, the group’s business manager and until recently, the brand director of Submarine Hospitality (Ava Gene’s, Tusk). Its founders say that “all employees will be partial owners through an employee-owned trust,” and that “50 percent of all net profits will go to all employees while they work at the restaurant,” everyone from line cooks to dishwashers. The goal is to create a place they believe in: less hierarchical and more worker-friendly, with open-book accounting a democratic economy. Importantly, Cafe Olli is led by a fired-up crew of five veterans who have recommitted to the industry, working as a team of equals without a star chef-a model gaining traction around town. The plan includes handmade pastas, house charcuterie, and a parade of wood oven dishes, smoked chickens to fire-roasted potatoes. Meanwhile, local farm goods will show up everywhere-in pizzas, market salads, and sandwiches on homemade bread (another house passion). Take note: the former pastry chef at Belmont’s acclaimed Coquine has a waiting list for custom cakes and cookies at her pandemic-born project, Saint Francis. (Even Coquine’s owners are customers).Īnother reason for excitement: Cafe Olli’s wood-fired pizzas are from the “holy shit, that’s tasty” school, based on my pies at a recent pop-up. Mornings will feature baked goods from co-owner Siobhan Speirits. One reason for optimism: Cafe Olli, an all-day “handmade everything” cafe coming soon to the former home of Ned Ludd.
Who’s going to carry the mantle to support local farmers? Who’s going to get ambitious? Hell, who even wants to work in the business? Been fretting over the future of Portland’s food scene? I know I have.
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