When it comes to the menu at Lilia Comedor, Juan Gomez doesn’t like to sit still. Whether it’s citrus-cured Columbia River chinook scattered with borage flowers, tender fava beans in strawberry sofrito, or the show-stopping tlacoyo — a pre-Hispanic oval of blue corn stuffed with pommes aligot — chances are what you see one week will be gone the next.
And now the restaurant itself is on the move. Nearly three years after debuting as one of the city’s best new restaurants, and one year after Lilia appeared on our ranked guide to Portland’s 40 best restaurants, period, Gomez & Co. are taking their talents from the South Waterfront to the North Park Blocks. There they will replace De Noche, another restaurant in the República hospitality group, which is closing.
As sometimes happens in the República extended universe, the Lilia news comes amid a flurry of activity for the group. Last week, Portland Monthly reported that chef Jose “Lalo” Camarena had left República to open Metlapíl, a promising new project blending Sinaloan seafood and hand-ground masa. Then, Eater PDX announced that De Noche chef Dani Morales would take over at República, trimming the prix fixe menu from 10 courses down to seven and adding an a la carte option for the first time in years.
(The move marks the second high-profile Portland restaurant to relocate downtown this year, following Nodoguro’s upcoming relocation from Northeast Portland to a new mezzanine dining room hidden above Morgan’s Alley, which is set to open next week.)
Lilia will leave its original South Waterfront home and reopen in the former De Noche and Park Kitchen space on the North Park Blocks, just across from the bocce ball courts.Michael Russell | The Oregonian
At Lilia’s new headquarters across from the park blocks’ bocce ball courts, expect the same careful sourcing of local and seasonal produce, fish and meat, including edible flowers grown by Gomez’ wife, Samantha Cameron, in their own garden. Gomez will also take over the food at Comala, the cocktail bar next door, adding quesadillas, an aguachile and pork confit tacos.
“The menu will change by the season, at most,” Gomez writes in a text.
We’ll believe it when we see it.
Lilia will close at its original South Waterfront home on June 8, then reopen in the former De Noche, 422 N.W. Eighth Ave., by June 17; 503-984-0828; liliapdx.com
— Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com
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