82 Acres Will Open in the Old Quaintrelle Space in Portland

As you may be aware, a new restaurant called 82 Acres is opening soon in the space that used to be home to Quaintrelle, which closed at the end of last year. I had a chance to speak with Emily Everett, the General Manager, and Will Preisch, Executive Chef, to learn more.

Some Basics of 82 Acres

82 Acres is a new farm-to-table restaurant from Daniel and Sandi Wilkens, the same people who run Abbey Road Farm in Carlton, Oregon. The name of the restaurant has to do with the acreage of the farm: 82 of them. Will Preisch—formerly of Holdfast and Le Pigeon, among others—will be Executive Chef. Gregory Cantu, who led the wine program at Quaintrelle, will be the Front of House manager, as well as the wine director.

About Emily Everett

I wanted to get a little bit of an idea of her history in the food, drink, and hospitality business. She started as GM at Abbey Road Farm in 2016 but had a life before that. “Well, originally, way back in the day, I had a mac & cheese restaurant on Mississippi Avenue,” she revealed.

She continued, “And, when my lease was coming up, I know I needed to either move Mac into a space that fit the concept, or change the concept that fit the space. And that’s when, Sandy, Dan, and I decided to open Quaintrelle. That was kind of a little more of along lines of the type of dining I enjoyed.”

“And then about a year into that, they had the opportunity to purchase the Abbey Road Farm property, and they asked me if I would kind of take over as the general manager. We kind of took this underutilized farm and wanted to turn it into something more. We had to figure out how to build a winery, plant a vineyard, and run a bed and breakfast all while running a fine dining restaurant in the city.”

“So we managed to do that, pretty well! Abbey Road has has grown tremendously.”

Will Preisch

The Early Years

Will grew up in the restaurant business. His dad ran a 24-hour diner (four of them) in Cleveland, Ohio. He started before he was born and sold it when Will became an adult. ” It was like a “breakfast-served-all day” kind of place—eggs any style, burgers, buffalo wings, chicken fried steak, Reubens, corned beef hash” he explained.

Fun fact: When he was a kid, he did from-scratch desserts for the diner. A cheesecake—his own recipe—that he was pretty proud of was on the menu as “Will’s Famous Cheesecake.”

The Abbey Road Years

He was brought on as Abbey Road’s bed and breakfast chef in September 2020, He and his family lived on the farm for the first two years as staff. He elevated their breakfast program—which, by the way you can only get as a bed and breakfast guest. He also curates the farm’s tasting room menu, including their snacks—caviar and potato chips, paté, meats, and cheese.

At 82 Acres, they are looking forward to Will spreading his wings and bringing his creativity to food beyond a breakfast program. He also has been able to work with the farm’s gardener to plant what he wants to see and use, and be intentional about.”It’s also an opportunity for us to have an Abbey Road presence in the city and basically take over in this space that was kind of going away and, and bring Will back to the city,” Emily explained.

Emily continued, “I’ve gotten to see Will grow and evolve as not only a chef, but as a leader over the last few years. And his approach is so collaborative. He’s such a serious chef, but has so much empathy that it makes him just really great to work with. So I’m really excited for our back of the house staff to be able to learn and collaborate with him.”

The Origins of 82 Acres

When Quaintrelle was in process of closing they still had time on their lease. So Emily, Sandi, and Daniel met to figure out what was next. Since fine dining seemed like a non-starter for them, they looked at other options. And so in talking, they brought Will into the conversation and asked him if he was even interested in doing something like a farm-to-table restaurant.

It turned out that that he did. It fit with what he saw as the next steps in his career—a kind of a natural progression. The timing was right for him, too. (“Just sort of kismet the way things happened.”)

Will added, “I was super excited to kind of get back into the Portland scene and see what we could do with this neighborhood concept.”

Why Did Quaintrelle Close?

I was definitely curious to hear more insight into the closing of Quaintrelle, which for them was bittersweet. For me, it seemed to come out of the blue, but of course there is always more to a story than what it appears to be to an outsider. Basically, money and staffing—and the pandemic—were issues. And that fine dining has unique challenges on top of that these days. In Emily’s words, “For every up in the restaurant industry, there’s two downs.”

“It’s a hard business, and it’s really hard to make money,” explained Emily. “The cost of goods has skyrocketed post-pandemic. And I think everyone knows that inflation is a problem—but I don’t think that they realize that the price of scallops have gone up 300%.” So when that’s reflected in the menu price, it’s often sticker shock to the average diner.

And while they didn’t want fine dining to die after the pandemic, in the end, they found that it was hard to get “enough butts in seats,” as they say (also a common challenge in the classical music world, where I spent many years) and charge enough to make it financially viable.

Despite all that, Emily expressed a lot of pride in the work they did as Quaintrelle. “I think the the food was really something that you weren’t really getting in in Portland at the time. And our service, which we feel is just as important as the food, was, better than most in the in the city. I can say I’m so incredibly proud of the experience that we were able to give to our guests.”

Using the Bounty of Abbey Road Farm at 82 Acres

While Quaintrelle did use some of the organically-grown produce from Abbey Road Farm, 82 Acres will use far more. “We did plant some things specifically for what the Quaintrelle chefs were requesting, but it wasn’t anywhere near the volume that we’ll be using with 82 Acres,” said Emily. “Will has carte blanche to create, plant, and harvest whatever he wants. Everything from just your normal vegetables to edible flowers as garnishes. The farm is his oyster.”

And not only will the restaurant have access to this produce, it will be food that they have more quality control over. I also wondered if this will encourage people to come and visit Abbey Road Farm, to see where their food comes from. That is definitely a perk they hope will come to be.

I asked Will about some of the things they are growing that will make it into the restaurant “We just booked our seed meeting last week, with myself, our culinary farmer out here, the chef cuisine from 82 Acres, and the chef de cuisine from farm. We’re going to grow all kinds of stuff!” Some of that stuff includes:

• Four different types of tomatoes, including Sungolds (“Sungolds are absolutely my favorite tomato,” said Will).
• Jimmy Nardello and Aji Dulce peppers (“Aji Dulce is one of my absolute favorite chilies. I first worked with them at Park Kitchen, and they were grown by Sheldon Berkowitz from Your Kitchen Garden, and they blew my mind,” said Will.)
• Three types of cucumbers
• Chicories
• Badger Flame beets
• Caraflex cabbage (a conical shaped cabbage)
• Sweet garlic, which is a cross between garlic and a leek
• Soybeans for their housemade miso
• A number of things for seed: cilantro, but specifically to get, green unripe, coriander seeds; fennel, star anise
• Flowers for garnishes
• Look also for some garums—but not made with fish

Because they will be so keyed into the seasonality of the farm, they will be nimble in setting their menus. “If we have 10 bunches of x or y that week, we’re going make sure that they go onto the menu,” explained Will. “And that we utilize absolutely everything that we can out of the garden. We’ll either put it fresh onto a plate or preserve it in some way for later in the season.”

The Wine Program

And along with produce and animal products grown on the farm, there’s also the wine. The farm’s wine program is led by winemaker Blair Traithen. “It would be a wonderful outcome that we would love to see, to have more people be introduced to Abbey Road—not only our food program and the bed and breakfast, but our wine program, too” remarked Emily. You’ll be able to bring home a bottle of Abbey Road wine with you if you like.

But they also want to support other local winemakers as part of the Oregon winemaking community. As well as wine from all over the world, and they are looking to offer wines that they think would pair well with whatever Will is creating.

Food and Drink

The Kind of Food You’ll Eat at 82 Acres

Emily describes the cuisine at 82 Acres as “elevated takes on classics.” They want to avoid the term “bistro” because it evokes something French, which it is not. They see it as a casual, cozy neighborhood restaurant.

Will will lend his own own takes on these classics. And they encourage him him to use his creative freedom to supplement those classics with fun takes on what he’s interested in doing.

“We’ll take a lot of the things that we learned in high end restaurants—the same kind of attention to detail and techniques and things like that—and apply them in the context of the neighborhood restaurant. There will be a lot of work that goes into the dishes, but with far fewer components than you would see at like a tasting menu restaurant around town.”

What’s Great on the Menu?

So one thing I like to ask in these interviews is if is there anything on the menu right now that they’re particularly excited about eating? Emily responded: “The [pork] schnitzel. It is so good. It’s the best version of schnitzel I’ve ever had, and I could eat it every day.”

Will listed off some things he’s particularly excited about:

• Mussels Escabeche Toast. Griddled sourdough bread topped with pickled/preserved mussels, saffron aioli, pickled fennel, and then herbs and flowers from the garden.
• Oeufs Mayonnaise. Their take on this classic French dish will involve jammy soft boiled eggs with a tomato aioli, crispy chicken skin on top with smoked trout roe. “The eggs will come from the farm. The tomatoes are from tomatoes we grew on the farm last year,” said Will.
• Desserts. Their take on french toast. The other dessert will be largely based off of a sticky toffee pudding, made with raisins from the farm instead of dates, and a yeasted caramel sauce instead of a toffee sauce.
• Cheese plate. They processed a lot of table grapes last year and are considering possibly making a little condiment with them to go on the side of the cheese plates they have planned.

Vegetarians and NA Bevs

And even though the schnitzel pops out as awesome, vegetarians will be find some good things to eat, and some dishes can be adjusted for ovo-lacto vegetarians. Vegans might find it more difficult.

They will have NA options and are currently working on a mocktail menu.

Interior Design

As for the interior, they are doing what Emily calls “lipstick changes.” Quaintrelle is a lovely space but they want to separate themselves from it. They have painted the walls a different color, changed the wallpaper in the bathroom—in fact, it’s the same peacock wallpaper in the lobby of the bed and breakfast at the farm, so that serves as a visual tie between 82 Acres and Abbey Road.

Also look for some updated decor elements, like blown up black and white pictures of the farm and the vineyard, to be more Abbey Road-centric. All to say they want this to support their concept of the restaurant being a cozy neighborhood spot.

The Target Audience

It’s helpful to know what kinds of diners are a restaurant’s target audience. (Families? Couples? Friend groups?) Turns out, they want to welcome everyone! They want it to be the kind of place that feels accessible and within reach of anyone.

“So, you could stop in and grab some oysters and some bubbles, and then head on to rest of your evening,” explained Emily. “If you just want a a quick little bite and head on out, come on in. We’re ready for you!” Come and have a long drawn out dinner with your friend you haven’t seen in a while and catch up over some dinner and a few glasses of wine, then come on in.”

Their three-seat bar is perfect for solo dining. And it’ll be a great date night spot. “Basically just kind of a go to spot for anyone,” remarked Emily.

As for kids, they are welcome but those who have a more elevated palate will probably have a better time.

Hours and Opening

At the start they are looking at being open Wednesdays to Sundays, 5pm to close, which could mean 9pm or 10pm.

They are planning to open for February 14, offering two special Valentine’s Day dinners on Valentine’s Day. The V-Day dinner will be a 5-course tasting menu; their first day of a la carte service will be on Sunday the 16th.

Why 82 Acres is Special

Emily told me that one of the things that sets 82 Acres apart is that they are a restaurant with a farm. There are restaurants dedicated to using products from certain farms, but the connection is not as close.

Will also has a lot of control over what goes in the garden, which allows him to make very intentional menus surrounding that produce. And he can do plenty of preserving, allowing the use of produce at the height of its season to be available throughout the year. As Will says, “We’ll be at the whim of the garden.”

They are also excited about expanding their meat program. They have chickens who produce eggs, and this past year they raised two hogs successfully. “The meat was amazing and it was just so satisfying having so much control over the the product and the outcome of it. You know, when you’re raising spoiled rotten pigs that are eating the best food, they’re gonna be happy pigs. And happy pigs make happy meat.”

“I’m super excited for the for the project,” said Will. “I think it’s gonna fill a fun little void in Portland and in the neighborhood.”

Wishing the 82 Acres all the best as they prepare to open later this month.

82 Acres [opening February 14, 2025]
2032 SE Clinton Street, Portland
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