Even those deeply enmeshed in Portland’s food and wine ecosystem might not know of the city’s significant relationship with Italian food. From the founding of the family-friendly Italian-American restaurant chain, The Old Spaghetti Factory, in Southwest Portland in 1969 to the establishment of Pastaworks, a purveyor of fresh pasta, cheese, and meat, on Southeast Hawthorne in the 1980s, Portland has strong Italian cuisine roots. Italian restaurants popped up in the city throughout the latter half of the 20th century, including the beloved Genoa on Southeast Stark and the charming Gino’s in Sellwood. Fine Italian wine flowed thanks to the now-closed Lemma Wine Co. and the still-thriving Casa Bruno Wines.
Founders of Pastaworks, Peter DeGarmo and Don Oman, made it their goal to share authentic Italian ingredients with Portlanders. Though their Hawthorne location is no longer active, DeGarmo’s son and wife have continued this tradition at European grocer Providore Fine Foods.
Long-running Italian food mainstay Nostrana and its next-door wine bar, Enoteca Nostrana, are hosting a dinner series that leans into Italian tradition and brings culinary snapshots of 1970s Italian food to their guests. The dinners are inspired by In Bocca cookbooks—if you haven’t heard of these, prepare to lust after them for years to come, as they only become more valuable and hard to find.
In the late ‘70s, a Palermo-based publisher, Il Vespro, printed a series of cookbooks, each dedicated to a specific Italian food region. The books (the full collection on display in the Nostrana Dining Room) provide quirky illustrations and handwritten recipes for classic dishes. If you’re eager to try some of these vintage recipes but don’t want to get stuck in an eBay bidding war, this dinner series is your chance.
In Bocca dinners seat guests together at a beautifully arranged 24-person table set beneath an art installation, “Fettuccine Alle Stelle,” (which translates to “Fettuccine in the Stars”) created by artist Ellio Zamora in collaboration with Nostrana. Dinner includes a balance of shared family-style dishes and individually plated courses.
The curated meals focus on lost recipes and lore and feature a four-course communal dinner, with wine paired by Nostrana’s Wine Director, Austin Bridges. This month, their sold-out dinner, “Liguria: In Bocca,” focuses on the Northern coastal region of Italy, which borders Monaco. The meal begins with oysters, served with a clementine basil mignonette, and “Insalata di Mare de la Spezia,” comprised of tuna, olives, thyme, anchovies, capers, eggs, and grilled focaccia. The menu continues with ravioli (“Ravioli di Magro al Pesto,”) braised rabbit with pine nuts & olives (“Coniglio in Umido”) and a side of roasted potatoes and onions. For dessert, there’s “Canestrelletto,” a lemon cookie with lemon-caramel gelato.
The next In Bocca dinner is Friday, March 7th, and will showcase recipes from Calabria, a Southern Italian region northeast of Sicily. The remaining meals in the series occur in March, April, May, October, November, and January; see below.
In Portland’s dynamic and ever-evolving Italian food scene, this dinner series introduces a sense of whimsy, nostalgia, and community. As Bryan Donaldson, Executive Chef at Nostrana, says, “Many come as strangers, and leave as friends.”
1401 SE Morrison St. Ste. 105, Portland, OR 97214
$69 – The cost of dinner includes a 4-course communal dinner plus a 22% service fee.
Cocktails and supplemental wine pairings are available at an additional cost and are highly recommended.
Liguria in Bocca
Friday, Feb 7, 2025Calabria in Bocca
Friday, Mar 7, 2025Abruzzo in Bocca
Friday, Apr 4, 2025Marche in Bocca
Friday, May 2, 2025
Emilia-Romagna in Bocca
Friday, Oct 3, 2025Tuscany in Bocca
Friday, Nov 7, 2025In Bocca with Cathy Whims
Friday, Jan 9, 2026
