Mika Paredes Named as Head Chef at French Bistro L’Échelle

The long-awaited news of who will take over the kitchen of Portland French bistro L’Échelle, the late Naomi Pomeroy’s last restaurant, has finally been announced: Mika Paredes, a longtime friend and associate of chef Pomeroy, was named executive chef as of Wednesday, February 19.

While the restaurant has not shared an official opening date, the announcement does settle the question of who will lead the L’Échelle kitchen in the wake of Pomeroy’s tragic death in an inner tubing accident on July 13, 2024. Pomeroy’s friends and family pressed on with opening the restaurant “to follow through on the vision she was so instrumental in creating,” friend and business partner Luke Dirks told Eater in a statement when L’Échelle opened in August 2024. L’Échelle launched first as an experimental pop-up in the restaurant’s previously announced location — notably set in the same building as Paredes’s popular Cornet Custard, the dessert shop that Paredes partnered on with Pomeroy — with plans to open as a full-blown restaurant in 2025. The restaurant is currently in “brief hibernation” as of December 28, 2024, as the team readies for opening.

Now with the appointment of Paredes, L’Échelle seems one step closer to realizing the dream of the restaurant’s founding staff. The Instagram announcement went on to further detail Paredes’s ties to Pomeroy and their shared professional history in Portland’s restaurant scene, from meeting at Clarklewis — where Paredes started as a line cook — to opening Beast together with Paredes as chef de cuisine before its closure in 2020. Paredes and Pomeroy first developed the custard as a dessert at Beast, eventually evolving into a pop-up staple of Pomeroy’s flower shop Colibri before it launched into its own standalone business in June 2024, earning an Eater Portland award for Best Desserts in December 2024.

“There is truly no one more qualified to carry forward the culinary legacy that Naomi began with this project,” the announcement reads in part. “Mika’s involvement is deeply meaningful to all of us here at L’Échelle. Her leadership, passion, and culinary vision will be instrumental in guiding us into the next chapter of this community-driven French bistro.”