Your Daily Guide

A Portland Chef Returns — but in Troutdale

Today’s restaurant news is the culinary equivalent of a beloved, long-dormant band going back on tour. Once upon a time, Bill Wallender was a high-profile Portland chef. He worked the line at Ava Gene’s at the peak of its popularity, and helmed the range at the now-closed Quaintrelle up on North Mississippi. He was known for his prowess with produce, his relationships with Oregon farmers supporting bowls of sheep’s cheese dumplings buried in ribbons of zucchini and polenta-crusted halibut paired with fava beans and king oyster mushrooms. But for a while, around the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wallender went dark.

Now, he’s back — just a little farther east. He’s the man behind the kitchen at the Hotel Reynard, a boutique hotel from the folks behind Suttle Lodge and Pal’s on Hayden Island. Hotel Reynard houses eight rooms all featuring individually commissioned art from genuinely cool Portland painters, people like Jeremy Okai Davis and Tylor Rogers, and the restaurant is similarly stacked with talent. Anna-Lisa Chacón, formerly of Kachka, will serve as the general manager of the hotel’s tavern (as well as the hotel’s outdoor cabana bar and 40-seat patio) and Teardrop Lounge alum Sean Hoard is directing the beverage program. The hotel opens tomorrow, and at the moment, there’s nothing quite like it in the area. Let’s break down the details. [StarChefs / Hotel Reynard / Oregonian]

• The backstory: Hotel Reynard owner Donald Kenney, of the hospitality group The Mighty Union, has a long, storied history running buzzy hotels. He was the general manager of the late, great Ace Hotel Portland, and helped open the Carpenter Hotel in Austin, Texas. Those were two hotels with attention-grabbing food and beverage programs: At the Ace, hotel bar and restaurant Clyde Common attracted national acclaim thanks to star bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler. After the Kenney-led glow-up of the Suttle Lodge in Sisters, Ore., the lakeside lodge flew in chefs from around the country right before the pandemic — and hosted Portland culinary legends like Pok Pok founder Andy Ricker. The Reynard project, as well as the 2025 opening of Pal’s, seems to indicate Kenney is refocusing on the greater Portland area. [James Beard Foundation / Bend Source]
• About the restaurant: Those familiar with Wallender’s work won’t be surprised by the emphasis on local produce at Hotel Reynard. For a fall opening, you’ll see things like chanterelles and melted leeks on toast, or braised winter squash, or a mussel stew with seasonal vegetables. But the hotel’s tavern is also tapping into the latest culinary British invasion dominating the scene in New York, and will feature corn crumpets and a steak sandwich in the style of London’s famed gastropub The Eagle. House-made pastas, whole trout cooked over charcoal, and roast chicken with “plumped” currants all caught my eye as well. Drinks will hew toward riffs on bar standards — a martini garnished with a pickled green tomato, a Red Hook (kinda like a Manhattan with Maraschino liqueur), and a pineapple rum swizzle with mint and lime. [Bloomberg]
• Why Troutdale, though? Listen, Troutdale isn’t home to the most happenin’ food scene. But there’s value in sitting right at the “Gateway to the Gorge” — it appeals to tourists from the city craving a staycation, as well as vacationers hoping to get a jump on the morning waterfall corridor traffic. And the Reynard gang is not alone: Both Good Coffee and Wayfinder Beer opened Troutdale outposts within the last five years, and Sugarpine is nothing short of a summer blockbuster. To Wallender, it appeals to be closer to the farms he loves: “I would way rather drive three miles to a nearby farm than have to make a run to a New Seasons on the fly or try to make it to the Shemanski market before it closes,” he told the O. [Sprudge / New School Beer / Oregonian]