Remembering Portland Chef Naomi Pomeroy

Portland has lost a chef who transformed the city’s food scene. Naomi Pomeroy, age 49, drowned in a tragic tubing accident on July 13.

The fond remembrances poured in, particularly from her official critics — the restaurant reporters from whom she earned complete respect.

They recalled her high standards, her trend-setting approach to food, her mentoring of other chefs, and her advocacy for independent restaurants.

• “Now that she is gone, the lifeblood of this town feels thinner,” says Andrea Damewood, who writes restaurant reviews for the Portland Mercury.
• “Countless Portland culinary legends made their way through [Pomeroy’s] restaurants, people like Le Pigeon’s Gabriel Rucker, Bollywood Theater’s Troy MacLarty, and Pizza Jerk’s Tommy Habetz,” writes Brooke Jackson-Glidden, editor-in-chief of Portland Monthly.
• “Naomi was the real deal, a force of nature and never afraid to tell it how it is,” writes Oregonian restaurant reporter and critic Michael Russell to City Cast Portland. “During the pandemic I interviewed her a half dozen times about her advocacy work on behalf of independent restaurants. That work is over now, but it’s something I imagine she would have continued for years if not decades had she lived.”

🍴To honor her and show support for the people who worked with her, Jackson-Glidden suggests buying some of her ice cream. Pay a visit to Cornet Custard. She was a chef, after all.