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Althea Grey Potter

@altheagp

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Chef @barnouveaupdx
Founder @theflavorsociety

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Before there was Bar Nouveau, there was a woman with a dream.

A main character with an unmistakably infectious laugh, fabulous style, an even more fabulous vocabulary, and a love of food so enormous that she simply couldn’t stay away from the kitchen.

That woman is Chef Althea Potter.

She dreamed of a restaurant where the china never matched, the flowers were always fresh, the food was extraordinary, and everyone felt like they belonged.

And a little more than a year ago, that dream became Bar Nouveau.

Today, on her birthday, we’re celebrating the woman who imagined it all.

Because for all her maximalism, her extraordinary talent, and her ability to make absolutely anything feel FABULOUS, the most beautiful thing about Althea is her heart.

The way she teaches. Her patience. The way she puts her crew first. Her kindness, even on the hardest days. And her extraordinary determination to keep going when giving up might have been easier.

This past year has been full of flowers, dinner parties, dance parties, laughs, new friendships, tears, very late nights, and more love than we could have imagined.

To our team, our neighbors, our farmers and makers, and every single person who has helped and ever pulled up a chair, thank you for giving this restaurant a life of its own.

Happy birthday, Chef. Look what your beautiful dream has become. 🥹

With all our love, 
Lavender & the entire Bar Nouveau family 💋

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❤️OUI CHEFFE!!❤️Happy birthday to my kitchen wife for life @altheagp Althea you are the bees knees, love you forever babe!!✨zucchini spice cake, chocolate fudge, spiced plum preserves, cappuccino whipped cream, brown butter frosting xo🍃dahlia, roses, pansies, geranium, borage, cosmos, feverfew, black currant foliage, purple sage

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It bears a certain resemblance to an old French flame.

But we wouldn’t dream of naming names.

Our chanterelle toast arrives on toasted Little T brioche, tucked beneath wild garlic raclette from our friends at Cowbell, with foraged mushrooms from Harvest Moon and Mijita Wines.

And underneath it all, a rich French onion jus made even more irresistible with a little of Matt’s housemade Worcestershire swirled in.

Familiar, perhaps. But she’s very much her own woman.

We suggest getting reacquainted. 💋

Reserve your table for a proper rendezvous.

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Autumn has entered the room. And she’s wearing red.

The evenings are getting cooler, the candles are burning a little longer, and Chef’s fall Grand Dames are beginning to make their entrance.

First to arrive, a red wine-braised lamb shank, draped in roasted Jimmy Nardello peppers from Sun Feast Farms, and accompanied by Carolina Gold rice pilaf with pickled raisins and Marcona almonds, a roasted pepper coulis, and crispy chickpeas from Sun Gold Farms.

Rich, romantic, and dressed rather extravagantly for dinner.

We wouldn’t have her any other way. 💋

Reserve your table for a proper rendezvous.

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Well, would you look at that. Our name in lights. (Sort of.)

We have always believed that a restaurant should belong to its neighborhood just as much as the people who dreamed it up.

And St. Johns, you’ve made us feel right at home.

A special little love note to the St. Johns Boosters, who made this marquee moment happen. Chef is proud to be part of a group so devoted to celebrating and supporting our neighborhood. Thank you for putting our name up in lights and for all the ways you champion this community.

From the familiar faces around our tables to the farmers, makers, and purveyors who fill our kitchen with beautiful things grown and made close to home, this little restaurant is made up of so much more than just us.

And every time you walk through our doors, you give us another reason to keep doing what we love.

We love you, St. Johns. Thank you for making room for us. 💋

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Happy birthday @barnouveaupdx 💕💕💕💕💕I’m ever in awe of my dear friend @altheagp ❤️Althea you have created something so special with Bar Nouveau, from building a team of delightful and insanely talented people, to executing your beautiful vision with the cuisine and crafting a totally unique space, your creativity, kindness and skill are unmatched🏆I’m just so happy to be along for the ride, to get to watch you do your thing and impress the heck outta everyone along the way, what a gift!👯‍♀️Happy first anniversary to our scrappy little jewel of a restaurant, proudly here making magik and mischief and delighting everyone who walks through the doors, xx
👩🏻‍🍳golden almond cake, orange blossom lemon curd, rhubarb rose petal preserves, candied ginger, fresh apple, plum and strawberry, cardamom whipped cream, vanilla bean frosting xo🍃roses, dahlias, cosmos, geraniums, marigolds, pansies, tea camellia, nasturtiums, feverfew, abutilon, black currant foliage, bronze fennel, green tomatoes

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You’ve seen the invitation. Now, may we tempt you with the menu?

Chef has been plotting. And apparently she woke up feeling saucy.

Fried chicken tenders with four very saucy companions: Dijon maple mustard, dill pickle remoulade, fine herbes ranch, and fermented chile hot honey.

Then come the sides. Liptauer pimento cheese with celery and potato chips. Spätzle mac & cheese with caramelized onions. Charred cabbage slaw with caraway vinaigrette.

In other words, we took a birthday party and gave it very good snacks.

And because fried chicken deserves bubbles, our inimitable Wine Director Dana Frank will be pouring a lineup of Austrian wines from High Five Selections throughout the evening.

~POULET VOUS~ 
October 5 · 6–9pm

Come hungry. Stay for the bubbles. Dancing queens encouraged. 💋💃🏻🪩

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This is your sign to make plans for brunch.

Preferably the kind involving housemade Canadian bacon, tarragon hollandaise, a Sungold Farms cornmeal gaufrette, frisée salad, and an farm fresh egg with very little intention of behaving itself.

And then there’s the yolk.

We’ll leave you two alone. 💋

Brunch, Saturdays + Sundays from 10–2
 Reservations + walk-ins welcome

P.S. Thank you @goldenhour_social for catching our Benedict in such a compromising position.🤭

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MEET LAUREN. She keeps a spotless station, climbs volcanoes, and occasionally remembers to clock out.

Lauren has been behind the line at Bar Nouveau since nearly the beginning, which means for almost a year now, Chef has had the pleasure of working beside the cleanest, most organized line cook she’s ever met.

And we do mean organized. Her station? Immaculate. Her sweeping skills? Frankly unmatched. Her ability to remember to clock out at the end of a shift? We all have our gifts.

She’s a Gemini through and through, with wildly varied taste in music, a killer dirty sense of humor, and a collection of whimsical earrings that may or may not match on any given night.

Outside the kitchen, Lauren is happiest among growing things. She planted her first garden this year, loves people and nature in equal measure, and recently summited Mount St. Helens with her sister, because apparently working the line wasn’t enough cardio.

Lauren has been part of this little restaurant almost as long as there has been a little restaurant to be part of. And as we creep toward our first birthday, we’re feeling particularly lucky about the people who have been here helping us build it from the beginning.

We love you, Lauren. Please clock out. 💋

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A table for one, please.

There is something beautifully intimate about dining alone.

No conversation to disappear into. No one else’s plate to taste. No deciding together what comes next. Just you, the room around you, and whatever happens when you turn your attention inward for a little while.

We loved that Meg Cotner of Bridgetown Bites chose to spend an evening with us this way. Even more, we loved her honesty about the experience: the awkwardness that can come with dining alone, the decision to become curious about it, and ultimately, the pleasure she found on the other side.

Because a table for one should never feel like less of an occasion.

We want you in the pretty seat. We want to pour the little welcome drink. We want you to linger over the menu, order one deviled egg simply because you can, and feel every bit as cared for as the table celebrating something beside you.

Thank you, Meg, for trusting us with your evening, and for writing about it so beautifully.

Here’s to taking yourself to dinner. 💋

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One year ago, we opened the doors and invited you in.

There have been dinner parties and love affairs. Romance novels passed across tables. Too many deviled eggs to count. New friends who became regulars, and regulars who began to feel like old friends. And, somehow, an entire year of Bar Nouveau.

So naturally, we’re celebrating with fried chicken and bubbles, ABBA style.

On October 5th, Lavender Winfrey and Chervil Panache cordially invite you to POULET VOUS, a one-night-only birthday affair featuring fried chicken nuggets, fancy little dipping sauces, Austrian-inspired sides, and our lovely Wine Director Dana Frank pouring Austrian bubbles all evening long.

Because if we’ve learned anything in our first year, it’s that birthdays deserve whimsy, and fun. And that for us means fried chicken, bubbles, ABBA, and friends to share it with. And of course, a few fabulous disco balls.

POULET VOUS
October 5 | 6–9pm
One night only. No reservations needed. Come raise a glass to our first trip around the sun. ✨

Thank you for loving this romantic little affair right along with us.

With love (and bubbles),
Lavender & Chervil 💋

P.S. Dancing queens are strongly encouraged.

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Come see this dream team for brunch @barnouveaupdx this weekend! Now open on Saturdays AND Sundays!

No reservations needed, but they are available if you’re like me and waiting in line makes you anxious.

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