A New Restaurant from an Ox Alum Has Opened in South Portland

Handmade fettuccine with chanterelles, heirloom melon salads with blistered padron peppers, and hulking lamb T-bones have hit SW Corbett. Cascade Fare, a new Pacific Northwestern restaurant, opened last week serving Oregon-grown produce and pastas in the former Paiche space.

While chef and owner Cory Rom started cooking as a childhood chore in California, the chef is known for his years with James Beard winners Greg and Gabi Denton, both at their celebrated Latin American steakhouse Ox and the short-lived, conceptual restaurant SuperBite. He left the latter restaurant before it closed, heading to Europe before eventually deciding to open his own spot.

Cascade Fare’s menu is reminiscent of Portland’s golden age of Pacific Northwestern restaurants, pulling heavily from Stoneboat Farms in Hillsboro — the farm supplies everything from the melons for his padron pepper appetizer to the heirloom tomatoes in his mussel tagliatelle. Beyond the produce, Rom also leans heavily on Pacific Northwestern wine, using Montinore Estate verjus for vinaigrettes and stacking his bottle list with Oregon wines. The wine list includes old-school favorites like Eyrie pinot gris, as well as natural wine nerd favorites like Minimus Kerner.

Rom is starting with dinner service, as well as a weeknight happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m.; down the line, the chef wants to get into the brunch game. Still, what’s mainly important for him is staying small. “It’s a neighborhood-y kind of spot,” Rom says. “I actually get to do all the cooking, I’m personally running out to guests, talking to customers... and that’s exactly what I wanted.” Cascade Fare is located at 4237 SW Corbett Avenue.

• Cascade Fare [Official]
• Previous Ox coverage [EPDX]
• Nikko Marquez IN at SuperBite [EPDX]