Malka

***Continued from the slides above. Please read those first!***

Without getting too granular or too grand, there is plenty in the news about the questionable sustainability of restaurants/current food systems, and we are not immune to the same systemic issues that are causing many other restaurants to close, rising food costs being a big factor for us, among others.

Now:
The love I have for you who supported us so faithfully these past three years and the love I have for our staff past and present, who worked hard and lit up the house like a miracle, goes way beyond my powers of expression. That warmth will stay with me in memory for the rest of my life. I am so proud to have done this. We are so proud to have served you. With everything that I am, everything Malka is and was, we thank you.

A note to good employers: some truly exceptional people within our ranks may still be seeking jobs by the time we close. If you’ve got vacancies, please don’t hesitate to send me a message, if I might help make those connections.

Photo by ✨

Unfortunate update: A wave of positive Covid cases on our staff has made it impossible for us to be safely open at all this week. We will also be closed the following holiday week and will reopen on November 30th.

Everybody battling sickness is recovering at different rates, and we are doing our best to look after them and send them soups. I definitely have high hopes at this point that they will be right as rain in a couple days or so.

Times being what the are, the financial loss of another week right before our Thanksgiving break is significant for both the people who work here and the business. I’ll confess it feels uncomfortable to include that in this update, since money-talk is unseemly, and I have no positive conclusion to the thought. But I have a weird pact with myself to be as honest on social media as I can stand to be, so there you have it. We’ll be alright, I think, just a bit more strapped.

Some good news is that Julian’s pop-up is still on! He and those helping him are testing negative, so that’s a mercy, anyhow.

This has been a sharp reminder that we are not out of the woods with Covid, and we will continue caution and hope for a safe season when we come back from the break. Love to you all,
Jess

Early winter sunlight and winter cooking at the Malka house.
Photos by and , beautiful glass dish in the 3rd photo made by (check her out!)

I am deeply proud to announce that the talented and kind (and famous 💫 superstar) .che, author of newly released cookbook The Vegan Chinese Kitchen, is holding a pop-up dinner here at Malka this Monday, October 17th. We are lucky enough to work with Hannah, and her knowledge and sweet spirit make this a brighter place to be.
Hannah has been working on this pop-up concept for quite some time, and Monday’s dinner will be its debut. She has designed five-courses featuring ingredients nourishing to the body during the fall season, according to the wisdom of TCM, or traditional Chinese food therapy, with medicinal mushrooms, local Oregon produce, and her own carefully nurtured ferments. I encourage you to read the stunning menu on slide 5, which gives me an actual thrill every time—it sounds such a treat. The entire menu is completely vegan, gluten free, and frankly, gorgeous.
Seats are already half sold out, so if this sounds like a dream experience for you, I recommend taking hasty action. There will be two seatings, one at 5pm and the other at 7:30pm, with space available inside or on the patio. Seats are $85/person, and there will be signed copies of Hannah’s book available if you’re interested.
To reserve, head to the link in bio . We hope to see you Monday!
🍁🌼🌿🍁🌼🌿

Hi there!

It’s been a long stretch since I’ve given you an update on what our deal even is at Malka these days. You are our beloved community and the reason we exist, so I feel I owe you an honest progress report.
We’ve been doing indoor and outdoor dining exclusively for almost few months now, and a lot of things are genuinely getting better as a result! Most excellently: our food is going out of the kitchen and landing on tables hot, on real plates and not boxes. Our business is seriously flirting with profitability and sustainability, and the pay for our staff is improving.
But shocking to no one who knows this industry, our troubles are not over. While we’ve solved some old problems, we’ve created a few new ones. We’re not immune to the classic problems that are part of running a restaurant (too many costs, difficulty finding staff, summer is hot, that sort of thing). Without pulling you all too deep into this vortex, I’ll just say that you may have noticed the results—we’ve lately been closed on Sundays, we’ve made some extra mistakes during service, and we’re still unable to add takeout orders to our daily schedule.
We will be closed this Sunday as we’ve had to be for the past two Sundays, mainly because many of our beloved crew are also young scholars going off to university to pursue their futures (we love and miss you Evan, Elisabeth, and Syd!). It’s been a heck of a wallop finding replacements for those young culinarians (miss you too, Chef Brophy), and we just don’t have the staff to get through the week right now. We’re working on it.
Our troubles have also prevented us from doing takeout, causing me to receive more than a few expressions of disappointment. To be honest, it hurts very much to disappoint you all, and sometimes the pressures of trying to cook our best, protect the welfare of our dear staff, protect the experiences of our dear customers, fix busted equipment, clean metaphorical and actual spills, welcome and train new members of staff, etc. etc. and all with very limited resources feels like much too much.
In the meantime while we sort ourselves out, I cherish your tolerance, patience, warmth, and generous support.