Are You interested, horrified, curious, or dismissive? A friend recently posed these possible responses to the news that Mexican chef Lauro Romero, mastermind of Northeast underground restaurant Clandestino, will soon have a new address: the 35-story Ritz Carlton Portland, slated to open late summer in downtown. The subtext: our DIY food hero will soon be cheffing from a loftier perch—the Bellpine restaurant on the 20^th floor, cooking alongside executive chef Pedro Almeida, fresh from the Ritz’s outpost in Sintra, Portugal, which holds one Michelin star.

Confession: all four words crossed my mind. So much could go wrong in a town that has willfully rejected fine dining. Might posh and scrappy-DIY Portland crash catastrophically? (Remember Lucier, that Titanic disaster of luxury restaurants on the South Waterfront?)

Time will tell. But for now, call me hopeful. A recent Q&A interview with Romero and Almeida revealed two smart, passionate food thinkers ready to surprise us with fresh modern cooking and local ingredients. While everyone I know is eyeing a move to Portugal, Almeida just moved here—permanently. Before Clandestino, Romero helmed Portland’s Mexican-forward restaurant República. At the Ritz-Carlton's Sintra outpost, Almeida oversaw three separate restaurants that earned a Michelin star.   

At Bellpine, you should leave the tuxedoes at home. “I’m a serious chef, but we want to have fun,” says Romero. “We don’t want a snob restaurant. We want to build community. We’re setting the tone, cooking from our hearts.” Adds Almeida: “We want to welcome you in. We’re not uptight. We’re not these capitalist cooks trying to drain your money.”

Their plan is not the usual, corporate hierarchical kitchen, but an equal collaboration of two temperamental opposites: Romero is calm and reserved, while Almeida is outwardly expressive. But both are keen to innovate.  Their menus are not yet set, and they only recently started to play in the kitchen. But if life is fair, we might find Romero’s cult carnitas, wildly candied over Almeida’s mushroom ice cream–capped brownie. We asked them for the philosophies driving their careers and Bellpine.

Fake it til you make it. “I have no Michelin stars! I have no training in Mexican cooking,” says Romero, who was born near Hilgado, Mexico, where farm-to-table was a matter of survival. He came to the US at age 14. “When I worked at República, we just acted like we were the best in the city. We acted like a Michelin star restaurant. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but we were going for it.” 

Think big. “Here we are tasked with creating a New American menu,” says Almeida. “The concept is hard to grasp because there is no old American. We’re talking about something that has been evolving for over 300 years and is still evolving every day. What is new in food is based on the old. In French cooking, a good new meat sauce must understand a classic French sauce. Does that make it new or old? We’re trying to find some answers with Northwest ingredients, and some modern visuals and techniques.”

Follow the money. “Clandestino is still my baby,” says Romero. “I own it. The concept is mine. Chef Poncho [Alfonso Torres] is running it, but the food still goes through me. Poncho is taking some ownership of the menus and ideas. When the Ritz opens, it will absorb more of my time, and we’re figuring that out. It’s a learning process. Financial stability is a big reason I took this job. I went through a lot last year. It’s also a great opportunity, an ambitious project, a chance to learn and grow, and do great things together.” 

Nosh at Okta and Berlu. “Matt Lighter’s Okta is an easy two Michelin stars,” says Almeida, on where he's eating out. “The service is incredible. Nothing is not well-executed. The staff makes you feel like you’re having a meal at home with friends, but with out-of-this-world food. Honestly, it was a big surprise to see a restaurant like this in McMinnville. And in Portland at Berlu, chef Vince Nguyen is one of the kindest humans. The place is as spare as a surgery room, but the service is super relaxed, and the tasting menu is so on point.”

Love Portland. “I love how everyone here is doing their thing,” Almeida says. “No one cares about what others think. Chefs I know here are doing amazing food and don’t get a Michelin star, but they should. It’s quite cool. I was surprised by the social problems here. It kind of got me down at first. Then you go and eat in Portland. All these people doing what they love. All these small carts, incredibly flavorful. The abundance of local ingredients. Everywhere you stop someone is doing something amazing with food. It has made me fall in love with cooking all over again.”