About
At Celilo Restaurant, we are committed to a healthy and sustainable future. We source high quality, fresh food, grown miles from our doorstep. We make every attempt to buy naturally raised products and organic products when available.
Scroll down to meet our Executive Team.
Our story
Executive Team
Chef Ben Stenn
Ben Stenn is the chef and managing partner of Celilo Restaurant and Bar. He graduated from NYU in 1992 with a BA in political science and a minor in French Literature. As it happens, the minor degree had more influence than the political science (thank goodness) as it got Ben to France where he found his raison d’etre. Ben spent two years in France, first at La Varenne, Ecole de Cuisine and then at several restaurants that rounded out his early learning. He returned to New York City and the restaurant world before coming to the Pacific Northwest.
After arriving in Hood River in 1995, Ben operated the Sixth Street Bistro and Loft for ten years. This offered Ben the opportunity to establish a family of farmers and producers. This in turn, became the foundation of Celilo Restaurant when it opened in 2005. Ben’s philosophy, “Know the source, Know your people, Know your food.”
Ben continues to pursue relationships with a network of exceptional food people in the Gorge. He also enjoys the wealth of natural beauty in the region. Ben, his wife Carol and their two daughters are active outdoor enthusiasts in Hood River and beyond.
Maui Meyer moved to Hood River and co-founded The Sixth Street Bistro and Loft in 1991 after graduating from Cornell University with degrees in hotel finance, food & beverage and real estate development. He and partners, opened Celilo Restaurant & Bar in 2005 to rave reviews, establishing a national reputation as a food & wine lovers destination.
Currently, Maui is the managing owner/partner and principal broker at Copper West Real Estate, located next door to Celilo. Maui remains involved at the restaurant however, and through the operations of several other community-related businesses, he continues to work for the greater good of the region. He was a Hood River County Commissioner for 12 years, a Board Member of Rural Development Initiatives (RDI) for 10 years and is currently a Board Member of FCA (Farmers Conservation Alliance). He lives in Hood River with his wife Jan and their 3 children.
Accolades and Media
We are very grateful to the following people for their encouraging words and their belief in our work.
A Fall Weekend Getaway in the Pacific Northwest
By Valerie Stivers and Hank Zona, Wall Street Journal
What an honor to be included on this “ideal itinerary!” Read More…
24 Best Things to Do in Hood River, OR
“Celilo Restaurant and Bar is a woodsy-chic New American restaurant on Oak Street in the heart of downtown Hood River that serves contemporary farm-to-table cuisine and Oregon beers and wines. Committed to sustainability, the restaurant uses only the freshest, locally sourced ingredients from local foragers, ranchers, and winegrowers to create a menu of farm-to-table fare…”
Feeding the front lines: Celilo receives OHF award for meal program
By Emily Fitzgerald, Columbia Gorge News
The Oregon Hospitality Foundation awarded funds to 10 Oregon restaurants currently working to feed frontline workers and vulnerable communities during the pandemic. One of those restaurants is Celilo Restaurant & Bar in Hood River, receiving $6,900 from OHF earlier this month for their twice-weekly prepared meal kits. Since the program started back in mid-March, Celilo has prepared and delivered over 1,000 meals, with the help of donations from local farms, vendors, and individual sponsors.
“There is a tremendous generosity of the human spirit that has come out of this (experience),” said Celilo chef and co-owner Ben Stenn in a video interview with OHF Executive Director Wendy Popkin. “… We’ve learned all kinds of valuable lessons, and that is that we’re a small community and we will come together, even if we can’t be together, we will come together and support each other. It’s been a powerful experience.” Read More…
2019 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
It’s an honor to be chosen as a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winner – Celilo has been a recipient of this award since 2014 and is one of only 34 restaurants in Oregon to receive the award this year. Come peruse our wine list for yourself and let our staff make recommendations from our extensive list.
The Columbia River Gorge Is a Low-Key Food and Wine Paradise
By Hannah Wallace for Bloomberg
On the upscale end of the dining spectrum, Celilo still stands strong after 14 years, with skillet-roasted Totten Inlet clams and rich pork sugo over rye-flour gnocchi, served with purple broccoli sprouts… Read More…
National Geographic Magazine
Why wild salmon remains king in the Pacific Northwest by Langdon Cook
Where to Dine: Celilo Restaurant “Locally and sustainably sourced fish, meats, and produce star at Celilo, in Hood River. An A-list cellar highlights Oregon wine.”
1859
Dec 2018: Absolutely Gorge-ous by Kevin Max
“On Oak Street in downtown (Hood River) is Celilo, a restaurant and bar with local cuisine and the warmth created by the blond wood of an updated lodge. I came not just for the food but for the extensive wine list. French-schooled chef Ben Stenn turns local bounty into stunning Northwest cuisine…”
The Grape Northwest
“Tasty nibbles, local craft brews, artisan cocktails and elegant, European-inspired entrees come together in Hood RIver's most revered restaurant. The emphasis on local ingredients extends to a wine list showcasing Columbia Gorge selections, complemented by those from the Willamette and Walla Walla valleys, with a few California and Old World offerings mixed in.”
WHY PORTLANDERS SHOULD BE EATING AND DRINKING IN HOOD RIVER
By Jack Rushall for THRILLIST
"If you want a real taste of the Oregon countryside, Celilo crafts a chameleon of a menu that mixes and matches the best and brightest of Oregon’s seasonal bounty..."
Foodie paradise along Oregon’s Hood River
By MARTHA ROSS for The Mercury News
Stenn’s self-described epiphany about the area’s fresh-food treasures came from the easy availability of morel mushrooms. At the upscale restaurant in New York where he worked, no expense was spared in shipping these delicacies in from Oregon, foraged in the same forests near where he now lives. “Working here, the pickers show up at the back door with baskets,” he said. “These are the same morels I got in New York, but they came out of the woods that morning.” Read More...
2017 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
It’s an honor to be chosen as a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award winner – Celilo is one of only 33 restaurants in Oregon to receive the award this year.
Come peruse our wine list for yourself and let our staff make recommendations from our extensive list.
EATER, PDX
"The Columbia River Gorge is famous for top-notch berries, pears, apples, and salmon, and its most refined restaurant, Celilo, offers these local ingredients through a Mediterranean lens, with pastas, paellas, and more. Chef Ben Stenn works with local farmers and ranchers no matter the season. A recent risotto featured foraged mushrooms, mirepoix vegetables, and fennel, topped with fennel-chive oil, micro sprouts, and grana padano cheese." Read More...
425 Magazine
"The scenic Columbia Gorge boasts a diverse climate traveling from rainforests in the west to arid desert in the east. At Celilo Restaurant, the town’s top farm-to-table eatery, located in the heart of downtown, Chef Ben Stenn’s commitment to sourcing both locally and organically pays off with amazing results." Read More...
2017 Oregon A-List Wine Award
This award is presented by Oregon Wine Press and Oregon Wine Board. It is given exclusively to notable restaurants that display a distinguished commitment to Oregon wine by featuring a distinctive selection of wines from Oregon on their by-the-bottle and/or by-the-glass wine lists. The Oregon Wine A-List designation will be awarded to as many nominated restaurants as, in the opinion of the judges, meet the qualifications for an A-List Award.
2016 Oregon A-list, regional spotlight award
“Whether guests order a glass or a bottle from Celilo’s extensive list, there is no doubt the dining experience will have a lasting impression. For this and its dedication to our wine industry, Celilo has earned a 2016 Oregon Wine A-List Regional Spotlight Award.” Read More...
2016 Wine Spectator Award of Excellence
This award is given to “lists that offer a well-chosen selection of quality producers, along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style. Typically, these lists offer at least 90 selections”.
1859 oregon's Magazine
“One of our favorites on the loop is Celilo Restaurant & Bar, with a modern ambience and a laser focus on seasonal and locally procured ingredients. Pasta is made superb with roasted Hood River organic shiitake mushrooms. Hanger steak dances on the plate with Dancing Roots Farm kale. Sunchokes take center stage in several dishes, from a purée drizzled over black cod to sunchoke chips topped on a simple green salad.”
DK Eyewitness Pacific Northwest
“Celilo is driven by a devotion to using fresh and local ingredients, and the kitchen turns out seasonal delicious dishes. Superb home-made pastas. The decor resembles a timbered lodge.” Read More...
Pacific Northwest’s Best Trips: 33 Amazing Road Trips
“A modern and beautiful restaurant that uses quality, sustainable ingredients.”
Frommer’s Review
“…utterly hip in concept and is a sophisticated alternative to the homey restaurants that have long been popular in Hood River. Think timber-town natural-wood decor meets modern urban design aesthetic, and you’ll have a good idea of what this place is like. The concept of fresh and local drives the kitchen here, so you can count on the menu sticking to whatever is in season–luckily, that can cover a lot of territory in this fertile region. Dishes with house-made pasta are always a good bet, and, in the fall, you might get your noodles sauced with fresh chanterelle mushrooms. Lots of fresh herbs flavor many of the dishes here.” Read More...
Day Trips From Portland, Oregon
“Seafood, pasta, and steaks are served creatively with an emphasis on local foods at this downtown restaurant. The menu changes with the season but the quality is always to notch. Celilo makes every attempt to buy naturally raised produced and organic products when available, and even converts their used vegetable oils into biodiesel to burn in the company car.” Read More...
Moon Travel Guides, Northwest Cuisine
“Another great addition to the Hood River dining scene is Celilo Restaurant and Bar with a daily changing menu and an updated lodge look that features hefty wood beams and splashes of soothing color. The food is very well executed, with up-to-the-minute preparations such as seared scallops with truffle oil and fresh porcini mushroom salad.” Read More...
Travel + Leisure
“The restaurant puts local produce to good use: foraged chanterelles in pasta, roasted organic beets with fresh fish.” Read More...
National Geographic Central Cascades GeoTourism Project
“Celilo’s owners established the restaurant to be an outlet for the amazing food products that come out of this region. From the interior crafted by local artisans to their commitment to local food and culture, Celilo brings out the best of the Hood River region and the Pacific Northwest.” Read More...
The Oregonian “Good Grub in the Gorge For You”
“The sale will allow the bistro’s formers owners to concentrate on their other project — Celilo Restaurant and Bar, the gorge’s most elegant dining establishment. Partner Maui Meyer said the menu is built around local farms and what he calls the Northwest regional foodshed. ‘We want it to taste like Hood River,’ he said.” Read More...
Wine Enthusiast Magazine “Washington Wine Country for the Insider”
“Celilo Restaurant and Bar in downtown Hood River sources everything—tea and coffee, produce, seafood, pork, lamb and beef—locally, sustainably and in an environmentally responsible fashion.” Read More
The Oregonian, Ultimate Northwest Magazine “25 Great Oregon Restaurants”
“Celilo Restaurant (16 Oak St., Hood River; 541-386-5710; celilorestaurant.com) is the kind of place you’d expect to find in Portland. Craftsman-style construction, quality local art, a sustainable business ethic and a Northwest-focused menu that changes weekly make it all feel truly fresh.” Read More...
The Culture Trip
Specializing in Pacific Northwest cuisine, Celilo Restaurant and Bar is a friendly eatery serving lunch and dinner alongside complementary libations. Procuring the freshest local ingredients available to them, which often include naturally raised and organic products, Celilo’s team — headed by managing partner, Chef Ben Stenn — delights customers again and again with its seasonal fare. Within an inviting space adorned with local art, guests can feast upon highlights such as the house-made pasta with local mushrooms and asparagus sautéed with garlic, herbs, and extra virgin olive oil then topped with grated lemon gremolata and grana padano cheese and the hanger steak finished with a red wine sauce and served with golden potato purée, collard greens, kale, and pickled red onion. Read More...
Local Purveyors
We are proud to have built partnerships with producers who continue to amaze and delight our customers with their world-class food products, while ensuring our community’s healthy future via sustainable farm practices. Here are just a few of Celilo’s producers.
Carlton Farms
Carlton, OR
Naturally raised pork
Cascade Farms
OR/WA
Naturally raised beef
Cascadia Creamery
Trout Lake, WA
Dairy farm and farmstead artisan cheese
Coava Coffee
Portland, OR
High quality, fresh roasted, single origin coffee
Columbia Gorge Garlic
White Salmon, WA
“WA State certified” organic garlic
Costarossa Farm
Hood River, OR
Organic vegetables and flowers
Cowbell Cheesemonger
Portland, OR
Importers of Specialty Cheese
Draper Valley Farms
OR/WA
Naturally raised and free range poultry
The Flowering Farmhouse
Hood River, OR
Flower to Flour Farm
Parkdale, OR
Organic vegetables and greens
Gorge Greens
Carson, WA
Certified organic micro greens,
green house grown year round
Hood River Blueberry
Hood River, OR
Organic blueberries
Heritage Seeds
Mosier, OR
Small batch milled, organic whole grains
and corn flour
Hood River Organic
Dee, OR
Cultivated organic crimini mushrooms
Idiot’s Grace Farm
Mosier, OR
Tilth certified organic cherries
James Organic Blueberries
Hood River, OR
Organic blueberries
Kiyokawa Orchards
Parkdale, OR
Heirloom varietals of apples and pears
Nature’s Finest Farm
Hood River, OR
Organic produce
Oak Rose Farm
Hood River, OR
Certified Organic Fresh vegetables, greens and berries
Olympia Provisions Farmer's Network
OR/WA/CA
Regenerative agriculture, GAP certified
Prairie Creek Farm
Joseph, OR
Tilth certified organic potatoes
and root vegetables
Provvista Specialty Foods
Portland, OR
Importer of artisan and small batch producers
Quercus Farm
Underwood, WA
Organic vegetables and greens
Raisin Hill Farm
Lyle, WA
Organic fruits, produce and tomatoes
Saur Farming
Hood River, OR
Organic produce and specialty greens
Siragusa Orchard
Hood River, OR
Apples, pears, apricots, peaches,
pluots and cherries
Starr Farm
Hood River, OR
Organic berries and squash
Strand Tea Co.
Sandy, OR
Organic teas grown ethically and sustainably
White Salmon Baking Company
White Salmon, WA
Brioche burger buns