Our Establishments
In June of 2020, our Founder Angel Medina re-opened the doors to his beloved La Perlita Cafe, in Northwest Portland.
In November of 2020 our team launched their first version of the República restaurant.
In 2022 we launched 6 more concepts and renamed our group República & Company.
República & Co. is composed of a number of Restaurants, Coffee Shops, a Coffee Roastery, and a Bakery & Cafe.
All of them located in the city of Portland, Oregon.
República
A Mexico Forward Chef's Tasting Experience
By Chef Jose "Lalo" Camarena
Wednesday - Sunday.
4:30pm - 8:15pm
Chef’s 10 Course Dinner (only)
Reservation encouraged, via TOCK.
Address:
100 NW 10th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
Located on the corner of NW 10th & NW Couch Street
(across the street from Powell's Book Store)
About Republica
República is the best Mexico-forward restaurant in the country.
What does that mean, really?
It means that when our young Chef Jose “Lalo” Camarena dreams up a plate he does it understanding the intentionality of the restaurant. There are a number of rules in place to assure that our offerings pay respect to the food from the country that is now Mexico.
The rules for each dish are:
Is there a meaningful historical connection between this dish and the culture?
Are the components being used currently in season? Can we source them locally?
Is it beautiful when plated?
Does the taste match the beautiful aesthetics of the plating?
That is a lot to ask from a chef. It essentially calls for making original dishes and presenting them with a background story of an etymology that oftentimes has very little to do with what we now call Mexico.
It means that, in order for us to hold our culture and our cuisine in high regard, we first have to acknowledge most of it didn’t belong to us in the first place. Everything from the foundational corn dishes – first created by the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayas, Aztecs – to the mole recipes that feature ingredients originally from Asia and Africa, were somebody else’s to begin with.
We call these acknowledgements and this intentionality “Mexico-Forward” cuisine.
About Comedor Lilia
Lilia is like no other restaurant in this city.
We know because we made it this way by design.
It's our way of letting the world know that not everything should follow a format, at the same time showing the world that a restaurant, even though new and small in size, can have a chef that goes out there just about every day and can dream up some new dish using whatever components he found that day at the farmers market.
In addition, his GM and front of house can accurately share with you how that new dish came about and where every one of its components came from.
All of this while treating you like a guest in their dining room… (or Comedor) and showing you that Pacific Northwest cuisine can look very different through the eyes, perspective, and skill of a young Mexican-American chef.
About De Noche
This one is pretty simple, we just wanted to have a space that allowed us to bring you beautifully executed Mexican cuisine.
5 days a week, Chef Miguel & Chef Felipe curate a nostalgic dining experience inspired by the humility of his upbringing and his continued growth and mastery of the cuisine from his homeland.
This was our original intention when we opened República back in 2020: a place that would introduce folks to dishes from all over the Republic of Mexico, from Tetelas Mixtecas, Memelas Veracruzanas, Quesadillas Oaxaqueñas, to Tacos Yucatecos. We serve many traditional dishes that play homage to their place of origin, but use modern cooking techniques, giving you a different interpretation that reflects the skill of our kitchen.
Yes, we know that this is a big undertaking, but again this is what sets this little operation apart from the others.
About Matutina
It is either the best brunch joint with an in-house bakery & cafe, or the best cafe featuring a full brunch menu and fresh baked goods!
The word "Matutina" is the feminine of the word "early morning", as in the early morning shift.
The term "Panaderia Americana" was chosen as a way to describe what we do. This isn't a traditional Panaderia, but it also is not a traditional Bakery.
It's really more of a phrase that our crew used around here to describe to their friends and family what Matutina was; "es como una panaderia, pero como panaderia Americana".
It's like a bakery, but like an American Bakery.
4 Restaurants,
1 Cocktail Bar,
3 Coffee Shops, and a Roasting Company.
We love food, we don't hide this.
We do however understand that without our cafes we would not have any of our restaurants, after all you fell in love with our Coffee!
We have 3 Cafes; La Perlita, Esperanza Trading Company, and Electrica.
In addtion, we have our roasting company, Reforma Roasters, who keeps all of us fueled day in and day out.
La Perlita
Cafecitos Chingones since 2017!
7 Days a week.
8am - 4pm
Espresso Drinks and Pourovers.
Pan Dulce by Matutina.
50 free Conchas on Sunday!
Address:
5620 N. Interstate Ave
Portland, OR 97217
About La Perlita
This is where it all began.
Before there was a James Beard nominated restaurant or the thought of having one of the fastest growing Restaurant Groups in the country, there was La Perlita.
The work of founders Angel Medina & Axel Villa, what was once a cute and amicable little coffee stand has given the world one of the best Mexican restaurants (República) in the country.
La Perlita has since transitioned into its own stand-alone space in North Portland. Still very much as humble and opinionated on the topics of our culture and its people as well as who the GOAT is… doesn’t matter what we are talking about athletes or Mexican composers, aquí hay de todo!
Esperanza Trading Co.
A Cafe & Workspace in the heart of Woodstock.
7 Days a week.
8am - 4pm
Espresso Drinks, Pour-overs, and a large selection of Wines.
Pan Dulce by Matutina.
Address:
4229 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97206
About Esperanza Trading Company
A collaborative effort between the Republica & Co. group and former MLB great Kevin Youkilis.
The idea was to create a space that brought together the community in the Woodstock neighborhood by way of great conversations over coffee.
Today Esperanza serves Coffee, Tea, Wine, and an assortment of warm treats courtesy of Matutina (our sister bakery).
Though its tucked away between two buildings, our beautiful cafe is surrounded by green plants, great art, and all of the smells that come from the Probat Coffee roaster, which on any given day is in full motion courtesy of the Esperanza Coffee roasting team.
Electrica Coffee
Mexican Coffee + Japanese Tea
Tuesday - Sunday
9am - 4pm
Espresso Drinks, Pour-overs, and a well curated selection of Japanese Teas.
Pan Dulce by Matutina.
Address:
2181 NW Nicolai Street
Portland, OR 97210
About Electrica Coffee
Established in November of 2022 and quickly regarded as one of the best coffee shops in Portland… well to be fair, we didn’t say that someone else did.
We do however strongly believe that Electrica is like no other coffee shop in the city.
There is a lot of intentionality behind having a harmonious blend of cultures inspired by the backgrounds of our Founders (Mexican & Japanese).
Located inside of Schoolhouse Electric in Northwest Portland, “Electrica” is the work of Seiji Nanbu and the team at Republica & Co.
Reforma Roasters
¡Con Amor Y Sin Limites!
The fuel to all of our operations!
Reforma Roasters is the work of Angel Medina, our Founder. It was a project that was founded on love for community and coffee.
No really, we know how cliche that phrase sounds, but the reason why this company started up was to raise funds for DACA recipients in 2017, right as the political ideology of this country began to shift to one that became even more “Anti-immigrant”.
At the moment, we source 90% of our coffee from states in Mexico such as Oaxaca, Veracruz, Chiapas, Nayarit, Guerrero, Puebla, and occasionally Colima.
You can find all of our rotating roasts at Reformaroasters.com
