Page 114 - SOM_SPRING_2021_Neat

chow | cravings

in Ireland, where they worked a season at a bed and breakfast
restaurant combo called Pure Magic. From Ireland, they moved
to Seattle and continued working in the restaurant business.

Grace shares, “I think it’s fair to say that Nat had the American
Dream. I loved our life in France and didn’t want to move back to
the states, even though the economy was terrible when we lived there
and we were constantly scraping by. Nat has always had big dreams of
owning his own restaurant. After returning to Seattle in 2014 and get-
ting married, we worked multiple jobs and saved as much money as we
could to start something that was ours.”

The dream of owning a restaurant took Nat and Grace on yet another
journey to find the perfect place. In 2019, they both quit their jobs
and took a one-way flight to Guatemala, where they backpacked and
took chicken busses through Chiapas, Oaxaca, Michoacan, ending up
in Baja. On that trip, they decided they were ready to settle down and
open a restaurant somewhere. They knew they wanted to be on the
West Coast with more sun than Seattle.

Grace searched Craigslist and found nine different restaurant spaces
between Ashland and Palm Springs, and in February 2020 they
embarked on a road trip to check them all out. The Green Springs Inn
was their first stop, and Nat LOVED it. The location had all the things
he had been dreaming of—trout fishing, wild mushrooms, and living
in the woods. You might even say it was love at first sight. They moved
in March of 2020, and it’s been a whirlwind since.
STARTING A BUSINESS DURING COVID-19 IS NOT FOR
THE FAINT OF HEART!
The current team at Cocorico is like most restaurants, a skeleton crew
trying to survive. Nat and Grace do most of the heavy lifting and are
grateful for the dedicated team. They both agree, “It’s so fun to have
a back-of-the-house team with passion that really gives a damn and
cares about what they’re doing.” Nat heads the kitchen crew, so you’ll
find a French flair in many of the dishes. However, he’s learned a lot
from cooking in different parts of the world and at different types of
restaurants in the U.S.

Joe Dyer is Nat’s right-hand man in the kitchen. Joe was a police officer
in Seattle and wanted to change his career. He had never worked in a
restaurant until he joined the crew and has found his calling. His pas-
sions are food, history, drones, making music, and constantly learning.
Coral Console is the baker who lovingly bakes delicious pies, cookies,
muffins, coffee cakes, and brownies.

Padraic Mcguire built all the cabins at Green Springs and ran the res-
taurant before Nat and Grace took over. Although he isn’t technically
on the team, he is considered essential to the operation and has helped
navigate running a restaurant during COVID 19 from day one.

“Our vision is to serve fresh, simple, delicious home-cooked food in
a comfortable and fun environment,” Grace says. “We are thoughtful
about where we source our products and are very aware of our envi-
ronmental footprint. We feel so fortunate that in these crazy times, we
are able to do something that we are passionate and excited about and

112 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | spring 2021