meliorapdx

Hi friends,

We are beyond grateful for the opportunity to have spent 6 weeks as Chefs in Residence at Coquine this summer! 

It’s fitting that our summer residency should happen at the place the seed for Meliora Pasta was planted almost two years ago, when Jim was making Sorpresine at the Coquine market side bread bench daydreaming of the awesome food cart scene we fell in love with since moving here.

Although 2023 was supposed to be the year both of us worked in the cart feeding the neighborhood, we were forced to pivot to pop-ups. But with pop-ups, we were able to do something we hadn’t done for five years. Cook together on the same line 💚💛

When approached about this opportunity, we immediately scrapped our summer schedule and started preparing for the chance to cook together once again.

It’s hard to think of a place where connections to the community are so thoughtfully and heartfully entwined as this space curated by Katy and Ksandek.

A morning cafe, a restaurant, a market chock full of local produce and meats, CSA pick-up, and then a summer pop-up? It was an honest pleasure to work in this storied kitchen we’re so lucky to have here in Portland.

In the middle of this whirlwind, we come to find out Coquine was named the #1 Restaurant in North America for neighborhood spots by OAD a couple weeks ago. INCREDIBLE 🤩!!

They’re only saying what many Portlanders seem to know: Coquine is a culinary paradise. 

Being surrounded by so many delicious things and food-minded people is a dream. Thank you to the whole staff for being so welcoming this summer; you made this happen.

Six weeks flies by. It was only 18 services, but the lessons we learned as chefs, cooks, stewards, business owners, and community members this summer are indelible. You (all 1,186 of you over the 6 weeks) gave us the chance to experience what we love most.

The pure joy of cooking dinner for you.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,
Jim & Breckin

Summer Gnudi

-Blistered Sungold Tomatoes
-Genovese Basil
-Habanada Walnut
-Rosemary Pickled Blueberry
-Mint

Last night for this dish is TONIGHT!

Meliora Pasta is now closed.

Thank you to every single one of you that visited our cart or came to our pop-ups. Cooking for you has always been the greatest reward 💙

We wanted to make a handmade pasta cart for our community featuring Oregon produce and meats. We did this and so much more! We only wish we could have done it a bit longer.

After months of pivots, discussions, negotiations, broken agreements, hope, patience, impatience, meetings, and confusion we've simply run out of time to find a new space for our big little cart that adheres to the new food cart regulations now in place.

We've spoken at length with the Multnomah County Health Department about the new regulations the past few months. Our county is supportive of the food carts stuck in this situation, but the only sure way to prevent our carts from being in violation is to go to the State and request an extension. Jim is drafting a document requesting a formal delay in enforcing penatlies for carts using grey water tanks, and will offer possible solutions for how the now enforced State laws can ensure safety as well as protect the rights of food cart owners. Specifically, in Multnomah County, where 100+ cart owners are now operating against these new State laws as of the first of this month. Our county is unique and deserves an extension. Help us with this. DM us if you're a food cart/restaurant owner and have any questions about the laws or want to help sign the petition!

(To the sad person who read the recent article we were interviewed in about these new regulations, and then saw the shoutout about us doing pop-ups at the former Hissfyit Space, and then told the County that a food cart was illegally popping up in a restaurant, thanks for making us the only spot on the west coast called out for doing pop-ups(???). We got inspected the hour before our New Years Eve dinners started, aced the food safety score, and then had our best nights of service all year, so nice try :)

Happy New Year, friends! We'll still be cooking for you here in , just in different places. Let's call this a fresh ending.

Meliora Never Says Die :)

Jim and Breckin