Our Story
Since 2003, Clarklewis has been the standard-bearer for the farm-to-table food movement in Portland. Hand-crafted Northwest cuisine with Italian and French influences, built one named farm at a time.
The Philosophy
We believe a Northwest restaurant should taste like the Northwest. Every menu starts with what's coming in from the farms — and gets written from there.
We create delicious hand-crafted Northwest cuisine with Italian and French influences, and proudly support local, organic farms.
The philosophy has been rigorously maintained by Bruce Carey since he took over the operation in 2007. What that means in practice: pasta dough cut by hand each afternoon from Shepherds Grain flour, wood-fired pizzas built on a base of roasted garlic tomato sauce, oysters shucked to order, and proteins from ranches we know by name.
The dining room sits on the east bank of the Willamette in a converted industrial building on SE Water Avenue. An open kitchen runs the length of the room. The bar pours cocktails built around regional spirits and seasonal fruit. It is, by design, a restaurant that wears its ingredients on its sleeve.
Twenty Years On Water Avenue
Clarklewis opens on the east side of the Willamette, named for the corner of Clark and Lewis streets in the industrial Central Eastside. From day one, the kitchen commits to a then-uncommon idea: build the menu around what local farmers are growing this week.
Restaurateur Bruce Carey takes over the operation and recommits the restaurant to its founding farm-to-table philosophy. The named-farm sourcing model that defines the dinner menu today is built out during these years.
Inside The Room
Owner / Operator
Bruce took over operation of Clarklewis in 2007 and has rigorously maintained the restaurant's farm-to-table philosophy ever since.
His approach is simple and stubborn: build a Portland restaurant that tastes unmistakably like Portland — sourced from named local farms, cooked with care, and served in a room that feels like the city it lives in.
Named Farm Partners
The ranchers, growers, and millers whose names appear next to dishes on our menu, not as marketing language but as accurate attribution.
Lamb for the pappardelle ragout and the wood-roasted lamb loin.
Glazed pork tenderloin with carrot puree and sherry-green garlic glaze.
Brined and roasted half chicken with braised cannellini beans and pancetta.
Garlic and herb crusted beef ribeye with whipped Kennebec potatoes.
Arugula salads with radish, fried cashew, mint, and lemongrass vinaigrette.
Sugar snap peas, blistered with Bellwether sheep milk yogurt and marcona almond.
Smoked beets with white grapefruit and sherry-orange blossom vinaigrette.
Radicchio salads with Stemilt cherries, banyuls vinaigrette, and calabrian chile.
All hand-cut pastas at Clarklewis are made from Shepherds Grain flour.
Sheep milk yogurt that anchors our spring snap pea preparation.
Garlic cheddar on the Clarklewis Burger, available during happy hour.
Red vein sorrel and seasonal microgreens, grown right here in the city.
From Our Guests
"Food is always fantastic, really great cocktails, and friendly service. Pasta is fresh and delicious, love their pork ragu. They also do an amazing steak, salmon, and venison when it's available! Keep coming back for more!"
"I stopped in for a solo happy hour and dinner experience before seeing a show this past Monday. My waiters were both incredible and I felt very taken care of. The ambience is just lovely. I love the open kitchen concept. The highlight was the Caesar salad — I highly recommend checking this place out for happy hour."
"We had dinner here for my wife's work Christmas dinner. Pete, our server, provided excellent service & drinks. He single-handedly took care of our party of 18 and didn't get anything wrong. Everything we ordered was correctly brought to us very swiftly!"
Private Events & Holiday Parties
Enjoy comfortable spaces where you can bring people together for special occasions, to conduct business, or to simply enjoy good friends and great food.
This is a draft about page for Clarklewis Restaurant — built by Glyph Sites.