Our Farms
We buy vegetables from more than 24 small, family-owned farms throughout the year. Some of our farmers have been selling us food since we opened others are amazing new additions. All of them are unique, and we work with each individual farm for unique reasons. Some are certified organic. Some are too small to make it worth their time. We don't rely on third-party certification to tell us whether a farm is treating their land right. We try to visit every single farm every year to see what is growing and how they are working their special piece of earth.
Our values are simple:
Let the farmer grow what they grow well- Even though we run a whole-animal butcher shop, it is the vegetables that drive our seasonal menus. Great meat is a given for us. The ever-changing variety of fresh veg that walks through our doors daily is what inspires us to create our dishes.
Quality=flavor- If we get the absolute best vegetables from the best farmers in our region, the best thing we can do is stay out of their way. We treat our vegetables as gently as possible, to let them speak for themselves. Getting the best ingredients means the best flavor...the flavor of that magic moment when the carrot is first pulled from the soil, or the bean is first snapped from the vine.
Relationship=mutual benefit- By buying direct from our farmers, we have the chance to work with them on how they grow, pack, and deliver the goods. We also get to make sure that the full cost of the food goes directly to them. This helps ensure that they can earn a living wage for themselves and their employees.
Locality is key. One of the best benefits in buying direct from our farmers is that we get our vegetables delivered within a day of their harvest...this means you get the freshest, most delicious vegetables on your plate.
We don't plaster our farms' names across our menus, because we don't want to make them a sales point. We hope you enjoy the food because it is delicious. If you'd like to know where any ingredient on your plate came from, please ask. We try to make sure that everyone knows exactly who brought us each ingredient. And we are proud to offer each and every bite on behalf of our farms.
Our Meats
We get 100% of our Pork, and Beef from local ranches and all of our seafood from local sources. We break down and process all of our meat in house. That means each piece of meat has been carefully processed and created specifically for each dish we serve. That includes grinding our own beef, making our own charcuterie, sausage, hams and so much more!
100% of our beef comes from Hawley Ranch Natural Meats, in Cottage Grove, OR.
Our beef is:
100% pasture-raised. No grain in their feed whatsoever.
No hormones, steroids or antibiotics
Bred and raised on-ranch for their whole lives
Raised on a fifth-generation family-owned ranch, continuously raising beef since 1852 (that was 7 years before Oregon became a state)!
100% of our Pork comes from Rieben Family Farms, in Banks, OR.
Our pork is:
Raised without hormones, steroids or antibiotics
All-natural
Bred on-farm, raised their whole life on-farm
Fed grain that is raised on their farm, stored and milled weekly on-farm.
Raised on a third-generation family-owned farm which has been operating since 1894!
We make things the right way -the hard way- the slow way. An we think you can taste the difference. We fully believe the reason our Hamburger won the title of best burger in Portland was because of the beef. We don't add anything to the patty except salt, when it hits the grill. We let it stand for itself, because the meat is so rich and delicious.
If you have more questions about our meats, please ask. We love to talk about what we do, and we are very proud of how we do it!
Our Guild
We are partnered with a wide network of syndicated producers in our region who are all dedicated to craft production and mutual benefit of local producers. Access is our key tenant -helping you get the great things we use and make. Some are grain farmers, some are ranches, a meat processing facility, Portland's best brewery, our butcher shop, on and on.
We all work together to help process and distribute the bounty of our region. Our ultimate goal is to make sure that you know about all of the amazing things that we are using, and to make sure you know where to get it.
Some of our main Partners:
Red Truck Farm
We work with these folks because they do things the right way as well. We know where they buy (or grow!) their grain, how they handle their cattle, how the source their hops, and why they work so hard to do things the right way. We stand behind our partnerships because we stand for common goals -access, quality, and mutual benefit of everyone in our community!