Gino’s Italian Restaurant Is the Perfect Neighborhood Spot

When Carey Caldwell headed west from Massachusetts in a 1976 VW bus more than 30 years ago, he was looking for a place to go to school, eventually landing in Eugene at the University of Oregon. But his ultimate destination, in a sense, was a little farther north, in Sellwood. A college buddy was from there, and on trips to Portland the two would stay in the neighborhood and eat at Gino’s, Marc Accuardi’s then-new Italian restaurant and bar on SE 13th Avenue.

How it started: When Caldwell moved to Portland in the mid-’00s, he didn’t intend to land right by Gino’s. But Lewis & Clark, where he was going to law school, had a shuttle that stopped at the Sellwood New Seasons. It just made sense that he and wife Katrina Caldwell, an immigration attorney, would live two blocks away and be regulars. “We started going earnestly in ’06,” says Carey, now a civil litigation attorney, “and ‘earnestly’ being multiple days a week. Dinner, mostly. A lot of happy hours.” And a lot of leftovers of Grandma Jean’s, penne in a Sunday gravy with pork ribs, beef, and pepperoni.

Next gen: Marc Accuardi, whose family started Old Town Pizza in the 1970s, and wife Deb named Gino’s after their son (who now owns the place). The Caldwells didn’t name their son after the restaurant, but they do say Aidan Caldwell “kind of grew up there.” Aidan, now 12 and a big fan of Gino’s cherry-studded Shirley Temples, doesn’t remember his first trip there, as he was only six weeks old. “They fawned over him,” his dad remembers. A server took the baby for a walk, and the new parents got to savor a meal on their own.

Major moments: The couple left Aidan home with a sitter and went to Gino’s for his first birthday “to celebrate keeping him alive,” Katrina says. Her own 40th birthday took over most of the dining room. They bumped into then-Gov. Kate Brown having dinner in March 2020 right before everything switched to takeout. They’ve also spotted former Ducks coaches Ernie Kent and Mike Bellotti, and then–Speaker of the House John Boehner, and brought Aidan’s Little League team there.

B-mine: They sit in the dining room (a onetime movie theater) when they have a group, but on their own the Caldwells prefer the bar side (the former Leipzig Tavern), especially the little tables at the end in the front window. “They used to be B5 or B6,” Carey says. “Then they changed the numbering and now it’s B6 and B7.”

Gluten begone: You might think a pasta-focused place wouldn’t stay a draw after someone learns they can’t eat gluten, but Katrina found plenty else at Gino’s: steak, pork chops, sausage and polenta, mussels and clams in a sumptuous white wine butter sauce. “When I could eat gluten we’d order an extra loaf of bread,” she says, just to soak it up. Aidan’s supposed to avoid gluten, too, but he sometimes strays when the white wine butter sauce is on the table. His pro tip: “I just put the bread in the broth and leave it there for like two minutes.”

Over the line: The Caldwell family moved from Sellwood to Milwaukie two years ago—it might be a different city and county, technically, but they’re still within walking or biking distance to Gino’s. “It’s wicked close,” Carey says.