i. Biography
Before Cathy Whims became Founding Chef and owner of Nostrana in Portland, Oregon, the work was already clear in her resume: bread, pastry, prep, service, and the long repetition of restaurant labor. She came to Portland in 1979 and started working at a restaurant the very next day. That kind of entry point matters in this trade. It says the practice started with the basics—flour, heat, timing, and the daily discipline of showing up.
The Path
Bread and pastry shaped the first part of Whims’s kitchen life, first as bread-and-pastry chef at local natural-food restaurant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, then as caterer of private dinners at private dinners in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Those roles put precision under pressure: texture, timing, and the close scrutiny that comes with cooking for a small room. The sequence is instructive. It shows craft moving upward through responsibility, with Whims’s name increasingly tied to the structure of the kitchen itself. After that, she became owner at Hamlet in Portland, Oregon (2015–2017), and Oregon Ambassador at James Beard Foundation Smart Catch program in Oregon (2017). Today, Cathy is owner of Nostrana (since 2005), owner of Oven and Shaker (since 2011), and owner of Enoteca Nostrana (since 2018). Across those roles, the constant is restaurant ownership as a working practice: pacing service, making decisions under pressure, and holding a dining room together night after night.
The Work Today
Since 2005, Whims has been Founding Chef and owner of Nostrana in Portland, Oregon, where her work centers on inventive regional Italian cuisine. At Nostrana, the cooking is tied to maintaining a restaurant’s standards over time, building an identity from the inside rather than from a distance. That is the practical weight of ownership: not just creating dishes, but sustaining a room, a staff rhythm, and a clear point of view through service after service.
Signature
Cathy's signature dishes include The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita.
Acclaim
Cathy's honors include James Beard Foundation Journalism Award nominee, Home Cooking and James Beard Foundation Award finalist, Best Chef: Northwest.
FAQ
Profile updated July 2026
