Cuiscene
Salmagundi Congress Street
As the top-secret Quimby Culinary Colony takes shape inside the former Roma Café, the whispers are growing: What are those people doing in there? By J u d i t h G a i n e s
all photos: Ariel martin
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or people who care about all that makes for a vibrant culinary culture, the Quimby Colony seemed like a dream. It would house Portland’s own food lab: an imaginative resource center with a big, high-tech kitchen and tastefully appointed rooms that could be used for workshops, cooking demonstrations, talks, special dinners, and wine tastings. Initially, the center was slated to begin operation last March. When that didn’t happen, observers worried that plans had been put on hold or even eliminated. But Dan O’Leary, CEO of the Colony and two other Quimby foundations, wants to make clear they have not. “We’re as open and interested in all that as we were when we started the Colony,” O’Leary says in an interview. “We’re just finding our way as we go along.” October
2011 53
