liqueurs, and Bailey’s Irish cream, an unapologetically desserty drink. And just as Ndamukong can’t do anything but try to win — whether that’s in football, business or a pick-up basketball game with friends — Katya brings that winning mentality to Kaya. “She wants this to be raising the bar for cocktails in Portland,” Sanders says. “She’s definitely got a very competitive nature in there.” Sports and sneakers are part of the vibe— including custom sneakers for the staff—and patrons are invited to wear vintage thriftstore finds, street style or designers. There’s no dress code. There will be a TV — but just one. The decor will include portraits of some of Katya’s heroes in fashion and music by artist Jordan Barros — all “African-American OGs that I really feel have impacted the fashion and music industry for a long time,” she says. (Among them: Michael Jordan and Grace Jones.) “It’s about paying homage to those who have changed the music and fashion industry, and part of that is sneakers—it’s one of my absolute loves,” Katya says. It’s a place you might imagine players for the Trail Blazers going — as well as Portland’s large community of sneakerheads and sneaker-company employees — but really, it’s for everyone. “I want Kaya to bring customers that feel welcomed and comfortable, and they’re still able to get this really fine-dining, elevated moment,” Katya says. “I want everyone to be able to embrace who they are. Because I am who I am. And I think I’m pretty frickin’ fun and amazing.” In the end, that’s a social and political statement too: about style and culture, but also class and race and the question of who does this space belong to? Who does Portland — and Northeast Portland, specifically, belong to? “One hundred percent,” says Katya. While the Suhs’ primary home is still in Tampa, Fla. (from his time with the Bucs), they also have a home in Irvington, where Joel Andersen also still lives. They are not just giving back to the community but taking back a community. “Alberta and Killingsworth, they’re still very much thought of by Black Portlanders as their streets, right?”says Andersen. On Alberta, a few blocks west of MLK Jr. Boulevard, the Terrell Brandon Barber Shop stood — until its recent closure — as a survivor and an emblem of that history. Then, for the better part of 15 blocks, you’ve got mostly hip and new fancy businesses. And so it is at Alberta Alley — except there, the hip and new and fancy businesses are owned by a Black man from the neighborhood and his biracial wife. During the Suhs’ interview at Bae’s, a customer stops by to say hello. He is Anthony Deloney, a longtime youth-sports coach and the director of development at SEI (Self-Enhancement, Inc.), a local nonprofit for underserved youth whose programming Ndamukong participated in growing up. Deloney is a regular customer, and Ndamukong asks after his son Aaron, a fellow Grant alum and current basketball star at the University of Vermont. The work the Suhs are doing here — even if it’s just an awesome chicken tender or a killer cocktail — is something both a new generation of Northeast Portland kids and adults who haven’t left the neighborhood can appreciate. “I mean, I grew up five blocks away from here,” Ndamukong says. “The best feeling is coming back to the neighborhood and having people recognize that. You take great joy and pride in it.” Better than another Super Bowl, even. Above: the bar at Kaya. At right, Kyle Sanders, Kaya’s general manager, mixes one of the bar’s signature cocktails, the chocolate-espresso martini, called Kat Naste. PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN 23
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==