Elbow’s has a new project for the new year called Tony’s. Here’s the inside of my brain on the matter right now. Tony’s is a warm place to share dinner with friends, outside of a restaurant setting. We are working as closely as possible with local farmers and producers. Our menus often include ingredients cultivated from our own garden. Subscribe to Elbow’s Substack to learn more about Tony’s and my daily discoveries with food.

Elbows Catering wrote a book, y’all! It’s been a dream in the making for years. Tangerine on the Sill is about feeding yourself — the poetry, mundanity, and delightfully beautiful surprise of it. This book is also my pandemic baby so it is heavily contextualized by that period of time. It is a collaboration between me and many of the heroes of my community.Thank you, as ever, for your unwavering support and encouragement. I’m so happy I can finally share this project with you ♥️

Published and illustrated by @goodsilence and edited by @niteturtle. Interviews from @eerieluna, @vincenguyen_, @keesloadedkitchen, @lulupoulou, @farm.dici, @k.e.gourley, @avantchard, @heavenlyanchovy, @pj___pj___, @abby_____gail_, and contributions from many other dear friends & family. Thank you to Atlas Stamp & Marking for making stamps for us to make the covers & spines.

I believe in relishing food for its own sake and sharing it with everyone around me.

It was this desire to build and grow a community that led me to Portland, OR in 2016, where I was inspired to make the leap from working in restaurants to starting my own catering project. The Pacific Northwest has a bounty and a palate all its own. My cooking thoughtfully engages with this palate and its seasonal variations. My commitment to honoring seasonality and fostering a sense of place in my work with food has led me to some of the most incredible farmers and producers I’ve ever met. It has also led me into the garden to grow things on my own. The closer our relationship is to the beautiful land around us, the more reverence we will have for it.

Empowering others is empowering to me. I prefer to work collaboratively whenever possible, and often host events with other local chefs and food enthusiasts. I have collaborated on a series of pop-ups and dinners with Olivia Starkie, a fellow chef who runs a dinner series called “Last Supper.” I’ve also worked with Peter Vergari, my former sous chef at Olympia Oyster Bar, on a zero-waste pop-up concept, “Waste Not”, to benefit local non-profit Growing Gardens. Investing in my community is an integral part of my work. I’ve dedicated my life to setting the table because it is the simplest way to bring people together. Check out our pandemic mutual aid project In The Weeds where we worked together to bring farm-direct produce to industry folks directly affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

community

Community is everything. Bounce over to see what some of my wonderful talented friends are up to in the Pacific Northwest.

• Sardine Head

  Natural wine weirdos with fish breath

• ENR Wine Shop

  Est. 1999, still trucking

• Mother Foucault’s Bookshop

  Old books, and stacks of ‘em

• La Terra Vita Farm

  Art & Lucy grow the greatest potatoes

• Square Peg Farm

  Chris & Amy and their tiny vegetables

• Groundwork Organics

  Beautiful, reliable produce in Junction City

• Farm D’ici

  French Canadian Femme Noémie grows electric produce on 1 acre in Canby

• Cowbell

  Wholesale cheese, close relationships with producers 

• Growing Gardens

  Green-thumbed, community-oriented cutie pies

• Birdhers

  Weekly feminist birding troupe 

In 2024, Elbow’s will not be taking on event clients. We will only be available to curate small, private dinner gatherings of less than 15 people. If that’s of interest, please reach out below to see if it's a good fit. Prefer to just send an email? Word. Drop us a line! Our email is elbow@elbowscatering.com.