Eric Lemke is the owner and Executive Chef at The Green Gateau Restaurant and The Green Gateau Reception Center. In his role, Eric coordinates a team providing all aspects of hospitality, including food, beverage and event services. A big believer in Farm to Table dining, Eric supports local farms, ranches, bakeries, and breweries.

Eric began at The Green Gateau on Mother’s Day 2000. He had worked in 14 kitchens since he began cooking at the age of 16 and wanted to find a home. He had worked his way through college, was ready to get married and sink roots, and this restaurant would be a great challenge and opportunity.

Eric grew up in a family with parents who were raised in on farms in Northeastern Nebraska and they passed on a love and expectation for a clean, honest, and well balanced diet with an emphasis on: Saturday afternoon homemade sourdough bread, garden raised vegetables, fresh fish whenever they could catch it, and meat from the farm.

His family moved to Oregon’s Willamette Valley where he developed a taste for the fruits and seafood the Green Gateau’s guests find on the wine and food menus. Much of the restaurant and Reception Center menus have always been created with Eric’s childhood meals in mind.

The food at the restaurant has progressed through the years and remains on trend, is colorful, bold, yet classic and fresh. Eric rotates the menu with the seasons and the preferences of the guests-always remembering that if his guests don’t want it, then nothing else matters. The restaurant has weekly specials for all three meals-trying and refining dishes, adjusting seasonings, portions prices, and it never stops. This may be a reason behind the restaurants longevity and success.