Bethany’s Table, a freestyle farm-to-table bistro in your neighborhood
Janet O’Connor is the spiritual leader and chef-owner of Bethany’s Table. She has assembled a talented team of chefs in her kitchen who prepare top-flight fare from natural, local ingredients. Her husband David worked as Director of Customer Experience for the first ten or twelve years but he has surrendered that title and hired competent, professional leadership. You’ll find him wandering around from time to time, usually with their restaurant dog Zoe in tow. We usually use our newsletter to let you know about upcoming events, but from time to time David shares chapters from our restaurant reality show.
A Great Location That Doesn’t Exist..
We find ourselves tucked away in a largely unknown spot on the edge of the urban growth boundary with a Portland address in unincorporated Washington County, Beaverton School District. Those of you that live in the area know the challenges of a location that doesn’t technically exist. We are not a “restaurant in Beaverton” and we are not a “restaurant in Portland.” There are very few searches for “restaurants in Washington County” and there is actually a Bethany, Oregon near Silverton. So we need our neighbors , our regular customers , over and over, and we know it.
All six of our children have worked for us; some of them still do. We have formed longstanding relationships and friendships with our customers.
We pay living wages and offer health insurance, the cost of which is offset by a 2% Health and Wellness surcharge on dine-in sales. Half of this surcharge goes toward the employee contribution, such that full time, single employees have had no out of pocket premium expense. We strive to be a business in your neighborhood that you are proud to support.
A Brief History
We started the restaurant in 2009 at the depths of that terrible recession. We had taken over a failing business here and were caught holding the bag on the lease for this space and Janet said, “What this neighborhood really needs is a good restaurant.
We bought a 3-burner camp stove on eBay for $38. We splurged on a barbecue that we used for all of our grilling (on the back porch) until 2014.
Folks who hadn’t been in the restaurant for a few weeks would remark, “Boy! There’s been a lot of changes!” The gods would drop just enough nectar from the end of the straw to keep us from starving; we just kept getting better and better.
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We remodeled in increments, removing the tacky fluorescent lights, opening up the entrance, partitioning the dining room from the lobby, installing cabinets here and there. In September 2014 we closed for a week or so and installed a legitimate cooking line with a legal hood, finally abandoning our back-porch barbecue. In 2016 we gutted the restaurant and annexed space in the frozen yogurt shop. The monstrous cooler needed to go, as did the orange linoleum flooring.
We erected beams, framed a ceiling, installed wainscoting, wood ceiling and a set of barn doors that would partition the dining room for private dining and special events. We hung an entry awning that doubled as a sign. We purchased and refinished old pews to serve as banquettes. We didn’t use a contractor as there wasn’t sufficient funds or time for such a luxury. Our otherwise laid off staff did all the work. It took three weeks. It was a miracle.
Moving Forward
This year we formalized our pandemic-inspired Marketplace into the space next door and we have submitted for a building permit to add a bar and perform one more remodel, finally executing our vision for a world-class restaurant. We will close the first half of September and then again in January. This will include a full bar, climate-controlled wine storage and a second, smaller private dining room.
We aim to maintain Bethany’s Table as the best restaurant on the West Side. Whether it’s date night for the two of you, an 80th birthday dinner, a wedding or a blowout party, we will never stop striving to make your experiences special.
We are not based on a concept. We don’t have scripts. We meet you with genuine hospitality. We are a place to meet and it gives us great joy to see our restaurant full of friends, neighbors and colleagues conversing, laughing, eating and drinking together. Welcome to the BT family.
