‘Top Chef’ finalist Doug Adams to open new Portland supper club Friday

Doug Adams stands in the street outside Grand Fir Brewing, lifting the lid on a mid-sized smoker. Inside, a slab of deeply bronzed pork belly emerges from a cloud of white smoke.

That pork isn’t destined for a burger at the brewpub he co-owns with his wife, brewmaster Whitney Burnside. Instead, it will top a blue cheese baked potato at Bitterroot, a new steak-focused supper club coming to a former office around back.

That’s right. Move over pop-ups, residencies, all-day cafes and even

snack bars

. The hottest Portland restaurant trend in 2025 is supper clubs from guys named Doug. One week after Dimo’s Apizza chef Doug Miriello

discussed his new Dimo’s Italian Specialties

, Adams is ready to unveil a new supper club of his own, one with its own unique business model (and bottomless beer).

According to Adams, Bitterroot began as a separate restaurant concept, before he “came to my senses” and embraced a more flexible, one-day-a-week model.

“When we opened up Grand Fir, we wanted to do a supper club,” Adams said. “But it became really clear that the back area and the size of the kitchen just weren’t going to work for it, especially when you’re doing 34 cheeseburgers at the same time.”

So when a room opened up behind the brewpub, the “Top Chef” finalist snapped it up.

Here’s how it works: Though open to the public, Bitterroot is launching with a membership program that grants both discounts and early access to club dinners and collaborations. For $500 a year, members get six tickets to use as they see fit — a large group meal for six, three date nights for couples, etc. — for an average price of $83 per ticket (compared to $150 for non-members).

Members also get first crack at a series of collaboration dinners between Adams and chefs such as Adán Fausto (of Mariscos con Onda, June 6) and Justin Woodward (formerly of Castagna, June 27). Tickets for those events are not included in the membership price.

Decor at The Bitterroot Club includes a creel, or wicker basket used for holding fish, from Doug Adams’ grandfather, a photo of Adams with former Imperial sous chefs Ricky Bella and Matthew Jarrell and an illustrated picture of fly fishing lures

Michael Russell | The Oregonian

“The whole idea is something I’ve been working on for a while,” Adams said. “Slow-smoked and seared steaks, big ribeyes cold smoked for two or three hours at 120 degrees, rested with beef tallow and herbs and garlic and then seared, so it’s almost like prime rib steaks, but I just love how smoky they get.”

An advanced look at the “classic” menu for June 13 reveals five family-style courses, including mini smoked bologna sandwiches with sweet hot jalapeños and American cheese; smoked trout with farm greens and green goddess dressing; grilled prawns with avocado and spicy peanuts; smoked and charcoal-grilled ribeye steaks with candied jalapeño-dill relish; a twice-baked blue cheese potato; and a buttermilk chess pie with market strawberries from pastry chef Kir Jensen.

According to business partner and beverage director A.J. McCafferty, the membership model allows Bitterroot to build a relationship with a set customer base by hosting cooking lessons or providing recipes online. If they can sell more than 100 memberships, they will either add a second night of service on Saturdays or close reservations to the public.

So how is it not a restaurant?

“It’s not seven days a week, or even five,” Adams said. “We’re gonna do one dinner a week with the ability to say, hey, let’s pause it or keep it moving, do casual stuff like crawfish boils, butcher burger nights or fried chicken dinners.”

The room itself has a sort of Central Oregon lodge vibe, with a taxidermied elk head overlooking two comfy-looking brown chairs. China from Adams’ grandmother and creels — wicker baskets for holding fish — from his grandfather rest on shelves. A vintage ice box and a 115-year-old butcher block from New York’s Hudson Valley rest in the kitchen.

Without an exhaust hood, much of Bitterroot’s cooking will begin on that smoker out front. Meanwhile, guests will gather at a large communal table made from wood salvaged from the Santiam Fire in 2020 or perch at a small chef’s counter. Each of Bitterroot’s 16 nightly tickets includes gratuity and comes with bottomless frosty mugs of Tack Shack, Burnside’s tasty Texas-inspired amber lager, poured from the couple’s old home kegerator. (“Classic” yet “adventurous” wine pairings from McCafferty cost extra.)

Bitterroot will host its first public dinner — a collaboration with Mariscos con Onda chef Adán Fausto — at 7 p.m. on Friday, June 6, with the first “classic” Bitterroot Club dinner taking place the following Friday, June 13 at 1403 S.E. Stark St.; tickets and more information at

thebitterrootclub.com

— Michael Russell;

mrussell@oregonian.com

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