Located in Edgefield's main lodge, the Black Rabbit is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner with an innovative menu of Northwest cuisine and traditional favorites, as well as an expansive list of regional and local wines. Fantastic murals tracing the history of Edgefield and the Columbia River Gorge line the walls, and intimate booths encourage you to linger.
Black Rabbit Executive Chef Jaime Schultz and his kitchen staff use seasonal ingredients from Edgefield's own garden – herbs, vegetables, fruits and flowers – grown using organic methods. Additional local, organic and sustainable ingredients are sourced whenever possible. Be sure to ask your server about daily specials, and save room for dessert, house made by Pastry Chef Chuck Dugo and his team.
In the adjacent Black Rabbit Bar, tables for two line walls of rich mahogany, and the 30-foot bar reaches around the corner. Courtyard seating is available seasonally as well. Take your pick from a selection of McMenamins' own handcrafted ales brewed onsite. Edgefield wines and spirits add to your choices, along with a hearty bar menu.
Please call (503) 492-3086 for dining reservations.
Black Rabbit Chefs
Executive Chef Jaime Shultz
After a stint at the University Club of Boston and other hot spots, native Midwesterner Jaime Shultz came to Oregon with the goal of balancing his culinary experience from coast to coast, and he has embraced Northwest style, tinged with East Coast flair and his Wisconsin roots – although, the closest you’ll come to that Midwestern staple the hotdish (casserole to us West Coasters) is a holiday special: his exquisite rabbit confit with white bean cassoulet and Hammerhead sausage.
The specials at Black Rabbit are a celebration of the seasons and this special region, showcasing Jaime’s belief that eating out should be delicious entertainment with food that is approachable, yet not something you’d make at home.
Jaime grew up on the banks of the Mississippi, fishing with his brothers. They’d reel in sunfish and catfish, gutting and fileting then pan frying them over an open fire on the beach under the tutelage of his dad. This was the beginning of Jaime’s love affair with food. He says, “Pulling those fish out of the same water that we swam in every day, then learning to prepare them right there on the beach over a fire… It was pretty magical.”
So he grew up to practice that magic every day. Now Jaime is passing his passion and knowledge on to the next generation. At home, most of his cooking centers around his 4-year old daughter who dons her chef’s toque and apron to help her dad in the kitchen. These days, she’s especially into baking, which is just fine with Jaime.
Executive Pastry Chef Chuck Dugo
Pastry Chef Chuck Dugo’s ever-changing dessert menus are a nod to tradition and comfort – with a sophisticated, modern twist. Dugo wants to expand people’s ideas of what dessert can be, and he does exactly that in a winter special, his pear-ginger trifle: The crisp snap of ginger cookies punctuates velvety layers of ginger cream and sweet-meets-tart pear chutney, while the heat of ginger and Fresno chiles adds just the spiciness you never knew could make a dessert so perfect. This dessert isn’t around all year, but you’re sure to find something just as creative and delicious in any season.
Before coming to the Black Rabbit, Dugo was pastry chef at San Francisco’s Slanted Door, and there he learned to go to the origin of foods and build from there – which is exactly what he does with the Black Rabbit’s seasonal dessert menus and breakfast pastries.
Growing up in an exuberant half-Italian family, much of Dugo’s young life revolved around meals as celebration, and a seed was planted in him that food and entertaining are all rooted in the same playfulness, fun and sharing.
He employs that same spirit of sharing in the Black Rabbit Bakery; he is quick to credit his team and emphasizes the importance of collaboration. At the same time, he values his own creative process, saying, “I'm excited to be here. It's really a fun place with a lot of great people. And for me, creative freedom is not only important for my soul, it's important because I get to showcase exactly what I do, and the patience for allowing my process to unfold is a rare thing!”
