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About the Ladle
It started as a tired bakery room
The Copper Ladle opened in 2016 in a tired bakery room on Vine Street, Hood River. Chef and owner Ana Beltrán still writes every menu herself — every Tuesday, from what the farms bring Monday.
The Copper Ladle
Ten years at one wood fire
In 2016, Ana Beltrán took over a tired bakery room on Vine Street with one wood oven, nine tables, and a stubborn idea: one menu a night, cooked over fire, written from whatever the farms brought in. Hood River came mostly to see if it could be done.
Ten years later, the room seats twenty-eight and the menu is still written every Tuesday. The bread is baked in the back room, the trout comes down from the river, and the short rib has not left the menu since the first winter — some decisions the regulars have taken out of our hands.
EST. 2016 — HOOD RIVER, OREGON
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The fire decides the menu. We just write down what it says.
Ana Beltrán — Chef & owner
From the guest book
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We drove over from Portland for our anniversary on a friend’s say-so. The short rib alone was worth the trip — but it is the quiet care of the room that we will still be talking about next year.
Renata & Cole Whitaker
Anniversary supper · October 2026
Reservations
Tonight’s menu is already written.
Twenty-eight seats, one menu a night, and a kitchen that cooks over wood. Book ahead for weekends — the bar keeps two stools for walk-ins every night we serve.
Parties of seven or more — call us and we will set the long table.