Breaking Bread, Family Style: Eat Organic, Local Dinners at Ripe Catering's Family Suppers
Dine at these invitation-only Family Suppers in Portland, Oregon.
By Maura Conlon-McIvor
November/December 2003
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Diners share good food and conversation at Ripe’s Family Suppers.
Photo By Basil Childers
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Six nights a week in the eclectic, industrial northeast side of Portland, Oregon, forty or fifty diners come to an invitation-only Family Supper for a repast featuring organic and local foods.
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You’re invited: Come sip a glass of Merlot and join other guests at a long, communal table aglow with candles. You’ll make the acquaintance of fellow diners—an actor, an architectural engineer, a physician, a pet sitter—as you pass bowls of innovative cuisine served family style.
Gather ‘round: “We knew right away the idea of gathering for supper would catch on,” says chef Michael Hebb, who runs Ripe with his wife, executive chef Naomi Pomeroy. “These dinners bring out the best in everybody.”
First course: In 1999, Hebb and Pomeroy launched Ripe, a catering business featuring organic Pacific Northwest cuisine. It’s since bloomed into their popular Gotham Bldg. Coffee Shop.
Come again: Portlanders who have savored the Family Supper may email reservations for the next open date and invite new guests to the simple-chic setting where the menu is never disclosed in advance. Plus, you never know who else will show up. “It’s nice having that element of mystery,” says one guest. “It makes for a magical evening.”
RSVP: Family Suppers cost $20 per person. Midnight Supper and Public Supper are also offered. Ripe catering: (503) 493-9500.