By Norah Dobrot
Wearing a pointed, knit red hat, Shay Hosseinion sits at a table in a warm yellow room of a Victorian home-turned-restaurant, sipping kombucha. Co-founded with his wife, Eva Hosseinion, Gnome & Faerie botanical taproom and restaurant opened in April and is located in an ornate house on the bustling corner of SE Hawthorne Blvd. and 32nd Pl. “Just last night someone came in and said, ‘We heard things here are brewed by gnomes,’” he recalls. “Yes, yes they are.”
The Hosseinions, who have resided in the Hawthorne area for 20 years now, were in search of a location for their holistic medicine practice. When two spaces in the Victorian home—which Hosseinion speculates to be one of the oldest structures on SE Hawthorne Blvd.—became available, it presented an opportunity for Elderflower Medicine and a progression of Hosseinion’s longstanding brewing project, Brewed by Gnomes, to be situated together. “It was a dream that we could be here,” he says.
Gnome & Faerie is part of the evolution of Hosseinion’s Brewed by Gnomes brewery, which has been featured at pop-up events in the past, but finds its first brick-and-mortar location on SE Hawthorne Blvd. “I started brewing beer in 2011, and I was attracted to using botanicals because I’ve always had a huge interest in natural medicine,” explains Hosseinion about his background, which eventually took him to brewing school. “It’s always been the dream to have a little space that the gnomes can share their wares in. This is it.”
Gnome & Faerie is an old-world restaurant and botanical taproom, meaning, as Hosseinion describes it, an influence of “the old medieval world of Europe, the old medieval world of Persia and even the old mythical world where gnomes, fairies and mythology were…more intertwined with [people’s everyday lives].”
Since it opened on April 9, the whimsical premise of both the restaurant and the brewery behind it has created a welcoming space for patrons. “When we had our grand opening event…it was really encouraging, that spirit of people being able to sort of say, ‘Oh, I get to be myself here. I wear my elf ears or fairy ears, and I don’t feel like I’m out of place. I feel like I’m at home,’” narrates Hosseinion. “It’s been really fun to create a space where people’s wild selves can be at home.”
The drink menu, offering both alcoholic and nonalcoholic options, is inspired by herbs and fruits. The GnomeBucha—a caffeine-free honey, rose and hops house-brew—is among the “extensive nonalcoholic collection of beverages,” says Hosseinion. The beer is partially brewed at Leikam Brewery and partially brewed in-house.
Throughout his brewing career, Hosseinion says he’s developed an appreciation for more simplistic flavors. “While I was initially interested in using all kinds of crazy botanicals, I’ve found that with time, less is more to highlight different flavors instead of just being really complex,” he says. How does Hosseinion select which flavors to include? “The gnomes tell me what to do. That’s a way of describing my creative inspiration, like I’ll get an idea and also listen to the rhythms of nature,” he says. Gnome & Faerie uses local fruits—like the now-in-season Italian plums Hosseinion has found “growing on a tree wild in the neighborhood”—to add unique flavors to the beer.
Food at Gnome & Faerie is an assortment of small plates made to complement beverages. In the past, the menu has taken a few distinctive directions. “The first restaurant group [we were with] was Japanese, so we had a Japanese menu. Then we had for a short time a vegan menu, and then we had sort of a Western European vibe with chef José Sabas, who was previously at Portland restaurant G-Love,” explains Hosseinion.
Now, he describes the menu as European- and Persian-influenced, drawing on both founders’ heritage and dishes each of them has “fallen in love with.” “My wife is from the Czech Republic, and I’m half Persian, so between the two of us, we have our little pieces that inspired the menu.” Hosseinion’s favorites are the Loukaniko Kabob, made with Greek sausage from Olympia Provisions, and Pa Ambh Tomàquet, “a Central European twist on a Spanish plate that’s tomato on bread. I’m always impressed with how tasty it is,” he says.
The restaurant is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday 4-9 pm, and Hosseinion invites all to visit. “There’s a type of person who sees elixirs brewed by gnomes and thinks, ‘That’s what I’ve been waiting for all these years,’” he comments. “There’s another person is a little confusing. I would say to them, come in and have a taste of what we’ve created. Even though it sounds wild, the flavors are very approachable and very delicious.”
Gnome & Faerie
3257 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Friday-Sunday, 4-9 pm
gnomeandfaerie.com
Shay and Eva Hosseinion, co-founders of Gnome & Faerie. Photo by Michael Floyd.
