Chef Nick Ford is Leaving Associated For Something New

Nick Ford, chef and co-founder of Southeast neighborhood bar and pizzeria Associated, is leaving the restaurant just one year, three months after it opened its doors on 11th Avenue.

The good news is that it’s an amicable split between Ford and remaining owners John Janulis and Liam Duffy, as Ford tells Eater.

“There’s no bad blood, there’s nothing that caused me to want to leave, it’s just that I set it up and something else came along.”

“I was offered to take on a new project so it was something I couldn’t pass up.”

Ford had just a few tiny morsels of information about the upcoming project — it’ll be focused on wood-fired pizza (good news for fans of Ford’s previous hip-hop and pizza combination at now-closed P.R.E.A.M.), and it’ll be in Lake Oswego.

Ford also says he’ll be more hands on with the project.

“This is something for me to sink my teeth into and get more involved on a day to day aspect.”

There should be more details on the mystery project later in the month — meanwhile, Associated will keep on slinging pizza and tacos as regular, for both lunch and dinner.

• See P.R.E.A.M. Transformed; Associated Opens October 10 [EPDX]
• P.R.E.A.M. to Close July 23 [EPDX]
• All Associated coverage [EPDX]