At Cache Cache, an upcoming raw seafood bar hidden behind new food cart pod Lil’ America, only one piece of equipment is fixed in place: a huge fridge originally imported from an old Manhattan steakhouse for short-lived Portland prosciutto bar Hamlet.
Everything else — the display case, the tables, even the counters — will be pushed aside each morning to make way for deliveries from Dos Hermanos, the busy North Portland bakery expanding to the corner of Southeast 10th Avenue and Stark Street this spring.
“Figuring out how to share space in these communal projects is always the most fun part,” chef John Denison said of the daily furniture Tetris-ing. Besides straddling a side entrance to Dos Hermanos, Cache Cache will share bathrooms with a Fracture Brewing taproom and indoor seating with new food cart pod Lil’ America, all part of a sprawling new ChefStable-backed food complex.
[Related: Meet Lil’ America, Portland’s new BIPOC/LGBTQ-focused food cart pod]
Denison, who has worked in Portland (primarily at St. Jack) and in France (notably at Paris’ celebrated Verjus), plans to keep the Cache Cache menu simple and fun: Think raw oysters, a few crudos (raw seafood plates) and some lightly poached seafood with house aioli.
“My favorite raw bars such as Eventide in Maine and Found Oyster in Los Angeles always shine in their simplicity by having high end products and not messing around too much with them,” Denison said.
A glance at a draft of Cache Cache’s menu reveals raw oysters, shrimp (poached, like much of the seafood, atop a portable induction burner) with aioli, raw scallops with chamomile oil and celery and sliced hamachi with jalapeño and green apple. Once Dos Hermanos is up and running, Cache Cache plans to add a bagel topped with uni, citrus and lardo, plus other dishes, including a lobster roll, that utilize the bakery’s pastries and bread.
The main entrance to the upcoming raw seafood bar Cache Cache is tucked between these two food carts at the LIl' America pod. Chef John Denison plans to eventually keep the restaurant open from 5 to 10 p.m. (or later) seven days a week.Vickie Connor/The Oregonian
Cache Cache, the French term for hide and seek, is pronounced “cash cash,” which, funnily enough, the restaurant won’t accept. Beyond the disappearing dining room, the raw bar plans to experiment with ditching front-of-house service almost entirely, asking customers to scan QR codes to place orders that feed directly to a small team of cooks, who prepare each dish then place it on a counter for pickup (table bussing will be done by staff).
According to ChefStable founder Kurt Huffman, this model — along with a low-cost $16,000 buildout that included $4,000 for a pebble ice maker — will allow more tips to flow to cooks while keeping costs relatively low for diners. Prices are still in flux, but most raw and poached seafood dishes should land between $13-$17, with a lobster roll priced at $25, a half Dungeness crab $26 and a dozen raw oysters $30, more than $.50 less per oyster than most neighboring restaurants.
The raw bar also provides backup in case all of Lil’ America’s carts unexpectedly close early, as the Fracture taproom’s liquor license requires food to be served on premises. In addition to that bar’s draft beer and cocktails, Cache Cache will pour a few wines — probably a white, a bubbly and a chillable red — picked out by Heavenly Creatures owner Joel Gunderson.
Cache Cache hopes to open before the end of April at 1015 S.E. Stark St., behind the Fracture Taproom and LIl’ America food cart pod. Initial hours will be 5 to 10 p.m. (or later), Wednesday-Saturday, but Denison hopes to expand to seven days a week later this year.
Read more:
Fracture Brewing near opening SE Portland taproom
Meet Lil’ America, Portland’s new BIPOC/LGBTQ-focused food cart pod
— Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com
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