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In a secret garden tucked off of Southeast Division Street, the blue gingham-covered picnic tables are already filling up on the earliest edge of happy hour. Diners sit under strings of white lights for a first taste of what will be late chef Naomi Pomeroy’s last business venture, the rustic French bistro L’Échelle.
Opening weekend, Aug. 15–17, was a chance to attend a Pomeroy pop-up, not unlike the underground dinners that started her career about two decades ago, or the garden party series she had already begun this summer before she drowned in a tubing accident on the Willamette River near Corvallis on July 13. But dinner service just days after her Aug. 13 celebration of life in Cathedral Park had a more poignant flavor than just snagging a seat at a new buzzy spot. Many of the friends and foodies in attendance had come to pay their respects, in a way.
“Being here is almost bittersweet,” says Jessie Gransbury, who came to L’Échelle (“the ladder” in French) on its second night of service with two of her co-workers, all of them still in their nurses’ scrubs and sitting at an outdoor picnic table under the wispy purple plumes of a smoke tree. “It’s kind of emotional.”
L’Échelle is currently a backyard bistro with a limited dinner menu, served Thursday through Saturday, no reservations. (There are also indoor tables for rainy evenings.) This iteration will remain in place through the fall, according to its owner, with plans to set up shop in the former Woodsman Tavern a few doors down when the space is ready in early 2025.
On the menu: seven dishes that Pomeroy had been workshopping with executive chef Matt Mayer in the months before she died at age 49. It’s French country cooking with a playful edge: country rabbit and hazelnut pâté with big juicy plum mostarda wedges on top ($18). A mélange of mussels, cucumbers and Nicola potatoes ($18) make up one of two salad choices. Chicken schnitzel ($27) pounded thin and accompanied by a tidy tower of chickpea fries on the side, served on classic checkered deli paper as if this were all so casual—because it kind of is.
At the next table over from the nurses, Julian Ratcliffe reflects that L’Échelle in its current iteration—customers have to find the sign near a Stumptown Coffee that leads them down a corridor to the garden—reminds him of Pomeroy’s early career when it was “clandestine lists of places to go,” he says.
Ratcliffe, a longtime Portland foodie, was acquaintances with Pomeroy and her husband, Kyle Linden Webster. He dined at Pomeroy’s restaurants Beast and Ripe and, more recently, grabbed scoops of ice cream at Cornet Custard. Pomeroy opened the shop with Mika Paredes in June, located on the same block next door to Stumptown.
“What stands out for me about Naomi’s cooking was the elegant simplicity,” Ratcliffe says. “As if someone had picked up the Penguin Cordon Bleu Cookery book as a child and didn’t know that it was supposed to be difficult or fancy.”
Excellent food minus the snootiness is paramount to the L’Échelle concept, says the restaurant’s owner, Luke Dirks. Patrons wearing jeans and flip-flops while they grab a snack and a glass of Sancerre at the bar should feel just as comfortable as the couple going all out for their anniversary dinner, says Dirks, who previously co-owned Ava Gene’s and Tusk.
Dirks had been friends with Pomeroy for about 12 years when they decided to go in on the former Woodsman Tavern space together in January. They had already planned a renovation, designed the interior, assembled their team and named the bistro L’Échelle. It’s a nod to the 1985 Prince song “The Ladder,” a favorite of Pomeroy’s.
After her death, Dirks gave himself a few weeks to grieve and not think about business. But just two weeks ago—with the blessing of Pomeroy’s family—he sprang into action to get L’Échelle up and running months earlier than originally planned.
“It’s very cathartic, not just for me, but for the whole team,” Dirks says. “We decided to do this project partly because we all wanted to and also because we felt like it’s what she would have wanted us to do.” He recognized about a third of the guests on opening night; many others gave knowing nods or words of support.
Releasing the name and concept of the restaurant before it was fully baked went against all of Dirks’ hospitality instincts to save it for a splashy press release two months before a grand opening.
“But that’s not what this project is supposed to be,” he says. “This project is about being on a journey. It’s literally called the ladder. Let’s just let people go along with us.”
EAT: L’Échelle, 4537 SE Division St., lechellepdx.com. 4-9 pm, Thursday-Saturday.