Speakers & Guests
Cathy Whims
Owner of Nostrana, Oven & Shaker, and Hamlet, Cathy Whims is one of the chefs who built Portland, with six James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef Northwest to prove it. Being raised with a mother who came “from the Julia Child-era school” certainly helped, and Whims’s sister also works in a restaurant today. Whims famously worked at and eventually became a co-owner of Genoa, the restaurant often credited for bringing fine-dining to Portland. Cathy opened Nostrana with her husband David West in 2005. A never-ending curiosity takes Cathy to Italy often, where she continues to make new friendships and enjoy the complex flavors evoked by simple cooking.