TasteTwenty Chefs Siobhan Manning and Taylor Manning’s Portland Dining Guide
Ahead of the Taste America Portland event, the Cafe Olli chefs share their go-to spots for craft cocktails, delicious desserts, and the best burger in town.
The open kitchen at Cafe Olli. (Photo: Cassandra Petersen)
Fri, October 31, 2025
Editor’s Note: The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America® culinary series presented by Capital One brings together chefs, special guests, and diners from across the country to celebrate the local independent restaurants at the heart of our communities. The Taste America TasteTwenty cohort, comprised of 20 exceptional chefs and changemakers, will showcase their talents and represent their city’s independent restaurant community at walkaround tastings and dinners nationwide.
These chefs are not only creative dynamos in the kitchen, they're also avid diners, so we’re introducing a special city guide series where each TasteTwenty chef will share what they love about their city’s food scene.
Next up in our series are Portland chefs Siobhan Manning and Taylor Manning, whose ethos at Cafe Olli is to “make simple food from locally sourced, seasonal ingredients,” including vegetable-focused dishes, wood-fired pizzas, and pastas. Here, Siobhan shares the couple’s top Portland restaurants, including a cozy spot with Scottish pub vibes, an old-school steakhouse, and the specialty shop that makes her feel like Ina Garten.
Siobhan Manning and Taylor Manning. (Photo: Vivien Killilea)
What does it mean to be part of the JBF Taste America TasteTwenty cohort?
It’s such a huge honor and honestly feels surreal to even be in the conversation of anything to do with [the] James Beard [Foundation]. We feel really grateful to be a part of it and be in such good company!
What do you love about the food scene in your city?
There’s a really great sense of community and collaboration in this city—people in the industry really look out for and support each other! There’s also just so many incredible restaurants and people doing amazing things that are bringing their own cultures and experiences to the forefront.
Go-to spot to take visitors:
We really love Bellwether Bar; the food is so good, and the drinks are amazing. It reminds me of a pub in Scotland and it’s just so cozy and inviting. Their burger is one of the best in town, and you can’t skip out on the fries with the aïoli! They always have such a fun wine list as well that pairs so well with their food while still feeling approachable. And their graham cracker panna cotta is also such a fun and delicious summer dessert!
Must-try dish in your city:
The fried cheese curds with hot honey at Wonderly off of Fremont Street. They are little bites of crunchy, cheesy heaven.
Dough production at Cafe Olli. (Photo: Cassandra Petersen)
Best special occasion restaurant:
RingSide Steakhouse, hands down. RingSide is a truly old-school steakhouse, with white tablecloths and servers in tuxedos. There aren’t many places like it left, so we love going there and feeling like we get the whole experience. Taylor loves their martinis, and I am a sucker for their lobster mashed potatoes!
What does an ideal night out in your city look like?
For us, it involves an early start (we love a 5:30 p.m. reservation), a bottle of wine, and some delicious food, most likely talking about work (even though we try not to), and heading home to hang out with our cat, Toast. We love going to Expatriate if we are craving a cocktail and I absolutely love their curry fries; all the different dipping sauces are so delicious. We’re definitely creatures of habit though, so we are most likely heading to Bellwether for a burger or to Wonderly for some cheese curds!
What restaurant are you most looking forward to checking out?
We are really excited to check out L’Echelle [the late chef Naomi Pomeroy's final restaurant]. Naomi is someone we both deeply admired, and we can’t wait to see how beautifully they have honored her legacy.
Cafe Olli boasts a number of wood-fired menu items. (Photo: Cassandra Petersen)
Restaurant dish you’d cry over if they took it off the menu:
Taylor considers himself something of a sandwich expert so he said, “Life as he knows it would never be the same" if The Baker’s Mark stopped selling the TBLT (a hot sub sandwich with turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato with choice of cheese and red Italian dressing) on a Dutch crunch roll.
Favorite food/drink specialty shop:
We love Providore Fine Foods for their huge wine selection and variety of items from all over the world. Plus, shopping there makes me feel like Ina Garten in the Hamptons.
Who is another chef you admire in your city (and why)?
Naomi Pomeroy, Luna Contreras, and Mika Paredes. Naomi is someone who showed an incredible amount of kindness and support to us as new business owners in Portland and she was both a mentor and a friend to Taylor. We feel very grateful to have known her even just for a short time. Chef Luna is someone who is completely and unapologetically themself and the world needs more people like that. She is truly an inspiration and her food is incredible. The fact that Mika is both the chef of L’Echelle and owner of Cornet Custard is so amazing to me; truly someone who can do it all and is also one of the nicest people we know!