Bravo Mountain

By Nancy Tannler

960 SE Madison St.

(503) 238-5915

Mon – Sat 8 am – 6 pm Sunday 1 am – 4 pm

Food Delivery Services

Two long time hiking friends, Timothy McGill and Eric De La Sienna, decided to become business partners too. They recently opened Bravo Mountain restaurant that features what they term the new American cuisine. Their decision to spontaneously go for this opportunity was helped along by finding a space with a great kitchen, some seating both indoors and out and parking.

After years of hiking the great hikes of Oregon together–the PCT trail, Bachelor to Bridge, Mt. Jefferson–they had plenty of time to discuss what type of restaurant they would open, the menu and what the theme would be. Two months ago they decided to go ahead with the endeavor and they’ve been in motion non-stop ever since.

Timothy and Eric come from opposite career paths but their expertise on the different aspects of the business makes a good balance. Eric is from Mexico City where he learned to cook at five years old. As a growing boy he was always hungry so his mother told him the best remedy for that was to learn to cook. (Obviously their larder didn’t contain bags of chip, crackers and cookies.) Fortunately Eric found that he enjoyed cooking and what he made his family liked too. He eventually became the main family meal planner.

Even with this knowledge, when it was time to begin a formal career Eric started at the bottom working for the Francis Cruise Lines as a bus boy, server, sous chef and eventually chef. Cooking for hundreds of people is way different than a family. “I did an internship at Merriweather’s Restaurant and Skyline Farm. And I trained with Edward Tippel, a famous chef, at the Bonneville Hot Springs,” he said.

Timothy is a self-made entrepreneur and currently runs his own business, Portland Home Inspect, as well as managing the business of Bravo Mountain. “This is all new to me and I am out of my comfort zone but I believe in the quality, quantity and satisfying food we are serving,” he said.

The menu is thoughtfully created to bring the very best of the Pacific Northwest to diners. “The food is not simple but slow-cooked, haute cuisine of generous portions and reasonably priced,” Eric said. They called it the new American cuisine/comfort food with emphasis on all natural ingredients, free range chickens, grass fed beef, lamb and pork, wild caught fish and organic whenever possible. The names of the menu include such famous outdoor experiences as: Wahtum Cobb Salad, PCT Salmon Hash, Bonneville Halibut Fish and Chips, Home Valley Carlton Farms Pork Chops, Trail head, Grotto Bread Pudding (the best in Portland they say) and Springfield Migas are a few of the locally themed recipes.  The menu items are labor intensive and flavorful so the menu is short and succinct with offerings for almost every dietary proclivity needed.

Eric De La Sienna and Timothy McGill

Bravo Mountain offers the popular beverages of the day and will soon serve beer and wine. In the dessert category they’ve taken into consideration the non-dairy people too with North Sister, non-dairy ice cream and Crater Lake Flourless Cake.

The ambiance is just starting to evolve with lovely photographs that Eric has taken on the wall, maps–don’t hikers love those–and using the technology of rotating photos of some of the delicious-looking menu items to tempt you. Timothy and Eric want to capture the essence of the northwest and their hiking experiences through the depth of flavors in the menu. Their idea of soul food.

Bravo Mountain also delivers.

Bravo Mountain

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top