I spent my young adulthood in Arizona making the rounds in fine (and not so fine) dining restaurants, going to Culinary School and then University, being mentored by EMP Alums, doing pop ups out of my apartment, staging in New York and running a kitchen at a summer camp. Eventually, I ended up in Portland, OR and worked my way through the revered kitchens of this culinary hot spot.

My pop-ups took many forms after moving to Oregon. The highly themed and curated ones, the weekly hyper local Monday pop-up “Ingrained” at the now closed, Olympia Oyster Bar and the more recent sandwich pop up “Okay Sandwiches”. All while spending some time as Executive Chef at restaurants in the Olympia Provisions family.

Since 2024 I have been working on a farm and building up to whatever Deadripe will become.

All along I’ve really been trying to find my voice. Asking myself, ‘What’s the point? Why am I doing this? Who gives a shit?’. And honestly? I don’t know.
There has always been a through line, though.
My core values if you will.

• A devotion to whole, in season, local foods

• Unbelievable hospitality that makes the folks we work with feel seen and cared for

• Running a business that pays people a reasonable wage

• Creating a working environment that’s safe, professional and enjoyable

• Caring for and building my community

• Sourcing from local businesses that do the same

Of course, this is a global economic system and not everything is perfect.
At Deadripe, we make a lot of choices to do things right even if it’s not always the cheapest or easiest option, but sometimes there’s not a choice.
To be human is to be fallible.