Skip to main contentChef Naomi Pomeroy is believed to have drowned in a floating accident on the Willamette River near Corvallis this weekend. She was 49.
As Portland Monthly reported this afternoon, Pomeroy was inner tubing on the river with her husband, Kyle Linden Webster, when they flipped over in fast-moving currents. Webster made it to shore. But despite efforts by search-and-rescue crews, Pomeroy’s body has not been recovered.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office told Eugene television station KEZI 9 that the woman who went underwater Saturday evening was not wearing a life jacket.
Reactions from the Portland dining scene and beyond are popping up on social media.
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) released the following statement: “What a loss. Naomi was not just a fabulous chef and entrepreneur, but an amazing human being. Her impact went far beyond Portland, helping establish our leadership and reputation for food excellence. She will be greatly missed.”
“This is awful,” said Courtney Taylor-Taylor of the Dandy Warhols on X.
“She asked me about nocino for an ice cream flavor last month and I was about to tell her my walnuts were ready when I found out this morning,” said Jim Dixon, WW contributor and owner of Wellspent Market, on X.
Pomeroy, who is from Corvallis, started an underground supper club in her Northeast Portland bungalow called “Family Supper” in the early 2000s. She was best known for Beast, a 24-seat restaurant with communal tables that offered six-course, prix fixe meals that was open from 2007 to 2020. In 2011, she appeared as a contestant on Top Chef Masters.
Pomeroy won the James Beard Award in 2014 for Best Chef in the Pacific Northwest.
“I got to watch Naomi grow from a scrappy, self-taught cook to an award-winning chef, restaurateur, and author,” Dixon says. “I loved eating her food, but my favorite times with her were in the early afternoons when I delivered olive oil to Beast. We’d talk about cooking, eating, and our latest farmers market finds, and she never hesitated to share a recipe or technique.”
This spring, Pomeroy opened Cornet Custard, a scoop shop on Southeast Division Street, with her longtime pastry chef Mika Paredes. She planned to open a new restaurant this fall in the adjoining space, the former Woodsman Tavern.