Relish Gastropub on Thrillist!

Thank you Thrillist for the great feature on Relish Gastropub... and all those wonderful pictures you took! Read the Thrillist post. We were extremely busy trying to get our doors open and didn’t really take many “before & after” photos. We definitely like the “after” shots in the post. You make Relish Gastropub look warm and inviting, and of course we appreciate the kind words, too. Thank you, Andy Kryza. We’ll even forgive starting off the article with “Ugh” ;-)

Reading about us in the feature, witnessing the neighborhood support and having old friends come in to say, “Hi!” definitely feels like we’re off to a great start!

Image courtesy of Thrillist
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Relish Gastropub Menus Now Online

Wow, what a first opening week! Thank you to everyone who came to check out our modern public house in Sellwood-Moreland [PDX]. For those of you who haven’t made it in, please take a peek at our opening menus here. We’re sure you’ll find plenty of enticements on these pages. If you enjoy a happy hour snack as part of your “culinary reconnaissance” before committing to the full dining experience, we invite you to our social hour Tuesday through Sunday 3-6pm.

We couldn’t be happier with our first week. We appreciate the neighbors who came by to support our endeavor and the folks who dined with us from neighborhoods further afield. Thank you, Portland!


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Relish Gastropub Opens Today in Sellwood-Moreland!

The waiting is finally over, and our official opening is today for dinner service at 5 pm! We look forward to seeing you in Sellwood-Moreland.

We are closed Mondays. We reopen on Tuesday, February 12th for “social hour” from 3 – 6 pm and begin regular dinner service at 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday. Lunch service is coming, please stay posted via twitter or our blog for the commencement date.

Chef Valoff, Marla and Akhil look forward to feeding you!


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Relish Gastropub Introduces Our Bar Manager,Andrew Stearns

Portland native Andrew Stearns is our Bar Manager. He met Chef Valoff when they worked together at Bluehour and most recently worked for Lapellah in Vancouver. We know you’ll be as excited as we are to share in his vision for the bar program at Relish Gastropub. Here’s what to expect in his own words:

“It’s a gastropub, so we’re going to have an exceptional selection of beers on draft and wine as well. Portland is a craft cocktail town and that’s what we’ll be doing here, but one thing I feel has kind of gone by the wayside is that old-school style of bartending, ‘the personable bartender.’ Although I love everything in the Portland cocktail scene right now, I just want to make sure what we are doing at Relish Gastropub is providing a place where people know they’re going to get a great product, but they also might come here for a particular person. I want good bartenders, but what I really want is great people on staff. Basically, I just want to make everyone feel like it’s their home. I know everybody tries to, but it’s something that we are going to be very focused on.”

We are moments away from officially opening the doors. We’ll see you soon in Sellwood-Moreland!

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Relish Gastropub - a sneak peek at our wine program

Neighborhoods are the sum total of the emotions, experiences, occasions, and coincidences of the folks who live in them. Sometimes the occasion for going out is a solitary moment to enjoy a quick snack, a brew and your favorite book. Other times, it might be a simple dinner with friends or maybe family visiting from out of town. And then there are the special occasions, the celebrations, and milestone moments when the simple must be transcended.

We’re curating our wine list to fit the needs of the community for all occasions. For the daily rhythm of Portland neighborhood life, Relish Gastropub will present a 150+ label list, highlighting affordability with 60+ labels under $39, and 27 by the glass selections. In addition, we will offer a selection of rarities such as 1998 Gaja [Barbaresco], 1975 Château Palmer [Margaux], and 1999 Dominus Estate [Napa Valley]. These wines are for special nights when you are treating yourself or toasting with loved ones.  We’re not planning to hang the proverbial hat on a prestigious list by any means.  It’s not an everyday occurrence when wines such as these sell, but one of the gems found in our modern public house is a wine cellar at the ready. Our rare wines will be nestled in it, poised to meet any occasion which calls for their uncorking.

We’re opening soon and looking forward to toasting our own milestone moment with you!


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Relish Gastropub “The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting”

Hello Portland! We’ve pushed back our opening date to early February.  The delay is necessary for Relish Gastropub to have an excellent opening launch in Sellwood-Moreland [PDX]. We are very excited to open our doors, but at the same time, everything has to be perfect or as close to perfect as can be.

Andy Warhol once said, “The idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting.” Maybe that’s true, but we promise we’re not trying to heighten the suspense!  We’ll see you in February.


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Relish Gastropub: Casual-Upscale vs. Upscale-Casual

Our owners and chef have been working toward opening Relish Gastropub all of their lives. This endeavor is the culmination of their lives’ work and experience. As rich and complex as their careers have been up to this point, their pursuits are still quite simple: for Chef Valoff, to cook really good food; for Marla and Akhil, to take really good care of people. To say the team is eager to open the doors is an understatement.

In Portland, as a brand new opening restaurant, the top questions we’re asked are: what’s it going to be like and of course, what type of food will we serve? We all have backgrounds in fine dining, working at places that have great food, attention to detail and guest focus, and the prices of some of our previous employers might be considered upmarket. Keep in mind, places that execute food, drinks, atmosphere and service at a very high level, even with a high ticket price, still provide excellent value. As it is said, when quality comes first, value follows. This is the philosophy with luxury goods: the handbag is pricey, but the quality superior; and so, a great value. This is in contrast to the idea of affordability.  Affordable things fit into the very day to day of our lives. They provide comfort such as an ice cold IPA or a perfectly seasoned burger.

So while our working backgrounds are upmarket-fine dining, the place we are creating in Sellwood-Moreland [PDX] is a neighborhood restaurant. We think of Relish Gastropub as casual-upscale. The prices will be affordable [casual], the food will be exceptional [upscale].  We couldn’t consider ourselves a neighborhood spot and be pricey at the same time. They don’t go hand in hand. Then you become an upscale-casual place that happens to be located in a Portland neighborhood. This is not our intention. Instead, our raison d'être is to create a casual and warm gastronomic experience within the walls of a true neighborhood restaurant, even if the gastronomic experience is an ice cold IPA and a perfectly seasoned burger! :-)

We’ll see you soon!


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