28-05-2025
Naomi Pomeroy's Legacy Looms Large Over the Opening of L'Echelle on SE Division
The late Naomi Pomeroy was such a beloved fixture in the Northwest culinary scene that excitement for her latest restaurant venture L'Echelle would be sun-hot regardless of outside circumstances. But circumstances there are: Pomeroy's tragic death last summer, a location that's seen several high-profile turnovers, and an acrimonious history between the current and former owners of what was not once but twice the Woodsman Tavern (and Tasty N Daughters in between). L'Echelle occupies a picturesque brick storefront on a sleepy stretch of Division, but behind the tranquil facade, there's a lot of potential drama swirling around.
Pomeroy and owner Luke Dirks were in the early stages of developing L'Échelle ('The Ladder' in French) at the time of Pomeroy's passing, leading to speculation regarding the ultimate fate of the venture. Pomeroy was a James Beard Award-winning chef, renowned cookbook author, a contestant on both Top Chef and Iron Chef , and one of the primary forces behind beloved Portland institutions Expatriate, Beast, and more recently Cornet Custard (the plucky gourmet custard shop that recently went toe to toe with the Trump administration over USDA grants). Dirks, meanwhile, was one of the co-founders of the Submarine Hospitality Group, overseeing Ava Gene's and launching Tusk during his time there. Dirks parted ways with the organization in 2020 under circumstances that can best be described as 'dramatic.'
The building has plenty of lore to go with it, too: Stumptown Coffee founder Duane Sorenson launched the first Woodsman Tavern in 2011 and lavished upon it all the resources the founder of a ubiquitous coffee chain had at his disposal. Like many a passion project, the passion eventually faded, and in 2019 it became Tasty N Daughters, a 'reboot' of the Tasty n Sons brunch-focused micro empire. In 2021, it became the Woodsman Tavern again, in a Succession -esque development, operated by Submarine.
Like Submarine's other post-lockdown acquisitions, the Woodsman 2.0 didn't lack house talent but never seemed to find its footing and closed 'for good' in August 2023. Dirks was long gone by then, but the significance of taking on a space that's seen so much turnover, including a tenure by former colleagues, isn't lost on him. 'The [original] Woodsman had a great run,' he says. 'My feeling is that the subsequent versions tried to 'run it back' a little bit.' He notes that, unlike previous incarnations, L'Echelle isn't one 'concept' in a portfolio of properties: 'This is a bunch of people showing up every day trying to make this place the best. [We're] undistracted by two or three or four other restaurants.'
So what else is different? For starters, the color palette. The Woodsman of old was dark and clubby, with a lot of walnut paneling and mottled olive walls. The new space is all blonde wood and white plaster, giving the dining area a casual, breezy ambiance. Gone are the gallery walls of gilt-framed oil paintings, replaced with long mirrors and shelves piled with decorous amounts of artful clutter — think French seaside rather than Eaton library.
The menu is also a whole new ballgame. Executive chef Mika Paredes, who co-founded neighboring Cornet Custard with Pomeroy last year, says her goal is to capture the casual elegance of the traditional French bistro — 'low brow meets high brow,' as she puts it — combined with 'all the farmers and producers and artisanal makers here in Portland.' Dirks notes that the goal for L'Echelle has always been accessibility above all: 'We feel really strongly that this needs to be a neighborhood spot. It has to be a neighborhood spot. Since day one.'
'I have always been a staunch believer that when the food is made from fear or ego, you can taste that'
The menu will feature a handful of year-round mainstays, as well as a rotating selection of dishes determined by what's in season: 'Simple, but excellent,' as Dirks puts it. On the debut menu, Paredes recommends the classics: potato frites and steak au poivre, with grass-fed New York strip sourced from Carman Ranch in Wallowa, Oregon. 'We're not trying to reinvent the wheel,' she says, 'we're just trying to make it really delicious.'
Dirks and Paredes say their goal is to run a neighborhood bistro, not a 'special occasion restaurant.' As such, there are no reservations at the moment: 'For us, it needs to be a place where you can just walk into any day, it can't be something that's booked out three months in advance.' They want the prices to reflect that too: The L'Échelle pop-up Dirks ran last summer featured an informal chalkboard menu with delicacies like duck confit and rabbit sausage for $30, with less-ornate offerings like marinated leeks and pork rillettes in the high teens and low twenties. Those certainly aren't fast-food prices, but they're competitive with chef-driven, farm-to-table establishments like Canard and Jacqueline that focus on agile European-inspired menus and premium ingredients.
Dirks admits that the summer pop-up was more of a preview of coming attractions than a restaurant proper. 'A line drawing of what would be a full painting at some point,' as he puts it. In the wake of Pomeroy's passing, Dirks says his team wanted to do something to show her work would live on: 'We [wanted] to show people what we're up to, and [do] something for people to rally around,' he says. 'It was really meaningful and cathartic and emotional and intense,' he says, but '[the space] was really limited in terms of how much of a 'restaurant' we could actually pull off.' That won't be the case at L'Echelle proper, which will feature a full menu and dinner service five days a week, with plans to expand to a seven-day schedule and a lunch menu as they staff up.
Their other commitment is to creating a non-toxic work environment, a cause that Pomeroy repeatedly championed. For Paredes, who worked closely with Pomeroy at Cornet, that's a core priority: 'I have always been a staunch believer that when the food is made from fear or ego, you can taste that,' she says. Dirks, whose time at Submarine ended alongside toxic workplace allegations directed at the organization, says he's committed to learning from past mistakes and wants to create a culture at L'Echelle that fosters transparency and respectful communication. 'I have my own experience… seeing where things can get off track,' he says. He and Paredes say they plan to foster an environment of 'fairness, transparency, and feedback,' and state they'll have regular 'low agenda' meetings to make sure the work-life balance is, well, balanced. 'We raise our hand when we need help,' Paredes says, 'we are not afraid to do that.'
Will L'Echelle outlast the two Woodsmans that came before it? Hard to say, but this is a promising start. The space is open and inviting, the mission statement stresses equity and accessibility, and the menu has steak and potatoes on it. Good intentions and fancy ingredients don't make a neighborhood fixture, but comfort, consistency, and a happy staff can go a long way in that direction. It's encouraging that Dirks and Paredes are prioritizing those values from day one. Their new neighbors will decide the rest.
L'Echelle (4537 SE Division Street) debuts Wednesday, May 28, and is open from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
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