In The Brewers Kitchen w/ Breakside chef Michael Blank-Delaney’s new menu debut
The New School’s new ongoing series ‘The Brewers Kitchen’ investigates how breweries approach food, embracing creativity both in their offerings and in their business models. Today’s beer landscape sees everything from high-end gastropub-style brewpubs to food carts, pop-ups, and outsourcing the kitchen to third-party food vendors. Keeping the public as interested in the food is often as much of a draw as the beer itself, and is therefore an essential element of business for many breweries. This culinary world is often inhabited by chefs and brewers who are as passionate about their food as they are about the beer.
In The Brewers Kitchen, we highlight the people making some of the most deliciously creative food to pair with our brews.
Change is afoot in the kitchen of one of Portland’s most decorated breweries. Mike Delaney has taken over the kitchen at Breakside’s largest location - Slabtown - moving over from the smaller and cozier Dekum pub, where he has churned out beloved fare like nachos, buffalo chicken wraps, and burgers since day one in 2010. Even Breakside - with its massive success, numerous awards, and continuous growth - is not immune to the changes impacting the beer industry, most notably a decline in alcohol consumption and rising costs for labor, ingredients, and packaging. Partially due to these factors, after 16 years at the helm running Dekum’s kitchen, Delaney and the Breakside team decided his skill could be put to better use running the substantially larger food program at Slabtown while outsourcing the kitchen at Dekum to the popular food cart Farmer and the Beast as a way to cut down on costs in the kitchen and to attract new fans. The move is also part of a major menu refresh at Breakside’s NW Slabtown pub that launched this week.
“They gave me a job offer of taking over and rejuvenating the menu [at Slabtown], giving it a nice refresh and doing an event menu refresh as well because there are a few things that have been here for, like, the last 9 years. Updating it to 2026, you know?,” says Delaney.
archival photo of Mike Blank-Delaney in the Breakside NE Dekum kitchen
For Delaney, who now holds the title of executive chef, the move is something of a promotion that recognizes his tenure and ability to create the kind of menu that strikes the balance between broadly appealing but high level executed pub food to go with IPAs and lagers, as well as more ingredient-obsessed foodies looking for thoughtfully crafted dishes. This is the sweet spot for Delaney, a native Oregonian who grew up in the coastal enclave of Pacific City. It is also well-suited to the Slabtown neighborhood, with its mix of high-income residents, sports lovers, and tourists seeking casual yet elevated options. Under Delaney’s guidance, Breakside was an early champion of upscale pub fare, often making its food as much of a draw as its beer. Items like the nachos, ahi tuna sandwich, and even the buffalo chicken wrap have developed their own cult following because of Delaney’s attention to detail and quality.
Delaney didn’t find his way to the kitchen right away, but it was always in his blood. Growing up in the small Oregon coast town of Pacific City - before it became a major tourism hub anchored by Pelican Brewing, where he also worked in his early days - Delaney was catching fish from creeks and found himself fascinated by ingredients and cooking.
“I learned to cook at a very early age because of my mom. I went to my mom once, and I was like, ‘I want something different for dinner.’ She's like, well, you're gonna have to make it yourself.’ I took that literally and just started doing it. My dad was a commercial fisherman in Pacific City, and so I got to play with seafood all the time, specifically salmon. And so I would just cook salmon every way possible. We’d go fishing and catch trout,” reflects Delaney, who couldn’t resist offering a cedar-grilled Alaskan sockeye salmon with lemon-kissed kale and house tartar sauce on a rustic bun on the new menu. “We had a creek that ran through our yards, so we'd go and get crawdads and stuff in the creek, and make those every which way. That's not your typical, like, kid food.”
After attending college in Alaska, Delaney considered moving to Colorado or Portland, and Portland won. When he got to the Rose City, he worked at a handful of restaurants, including Pizzicato for five years.
“I feel like I made it 5 years in every job before I kind of got bored, and I would try something new. I thought about going to culinary school, but I never thought that being a chef was something I wanted to do for work,” he says.
Looking for his next gig, Delaney inquired at Bridgeport Brewing’s now closed Pearl District kitchen, but they did not have any open positions. By sheer coincidence, Scott Lawrence had just moved across the street from Bridgeport. He was starting a little brewery called Breakside and was on the hunt for someone to run the kitchen at their Dekum pub in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Northeast Portland. One fateful night, Lawrence wandered into Bridgeport and asked if they knew anyone who could cook.
Chef Michael Blank-Delaney and Breakside owner Scott Lawrence in the early days of Breakside Brewery
“[Scott] came in and asked the bartender if he knew anybody. He was looking for somebody to run a kitchen. The guy had just seen me, and he's like, ‘well, actually this guy just came in, and gave my phone number, and then Scott called me out of the blue. He's like, ‘I just kind of want to do like 15 items or something on a menu in this small place in Northeast Portland.’ So we actually met for a beer at Bridgeport, and I brought my girlfriend at the time up, and she was with us, and we were having a beer, and she's like, you're gonna need somebody to run your front of the house, too. And so she ended up getting the job,” says Delaney.
Once at Breakside, Delaney helped create the menu that would pull in regulars even before the brewery itself was up and running and established. As the beers progressed in skill and standing with numerous awards at Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup, and Oregon Beer Awards so too did Delaney’s food paired up alongside them. Much like Brewmaster Ben Edmunds, with his perfectionist yet straightforward approach to brewing, Delaney is able to create dishes that appeal to the masses while also demonstrating a high level of skill and quality.
Breakside Brewing NE Dekum pub
Before the team ultimately decided to pass the reins at the Dekum kitchen over to Farmer and the Beast, there was talk of refreshing the concept by turning it into a cantina with tacos. Then Laverne’s opened with a similar concept. There was talk of barbecue, and then Lil’ Barbecue opened in the nearby Tough Luck. Delaney even liked the idea of pizza until he realized there were three solid pizza joints right in the neighborhood. With all of this in mind as well as the headwinds making it costlier to do business, the most efficient choice was for Delaney to take the helm at Slabtown.
With the other Breakside locations mostly in the hands of their respective chefs and food carts, Delaney has been focused on putting his talents to use in the Slabtown kitchen and revamping the menu. This process has involved a combination of evaluating what is worth keeping - the massive buttery Bavarian pretzel stays - as well as adding new dishes and even bringing over some of the greatest hits from Dekum. The Breakside team even solicited customer feedback by sending out surveys.
“For the most part, we kind of kept the base menu pretty similar. Then we transferred at least half of it over here to kind of run the same way [as Dekum],” says Delaney.
This means that beer-brined wings, the Tex-Mex-style El Jefe burger with Pendleton beef layered with fire-roasted Hatch chiles, Tillamook pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayo, shredded lettuce, guacamole and fresh pico de galla, and of course the original Dekum nachos can all be found at Slabtown now.
“Those damn nachos were the ones that really popped off,” says Delaney, who is still passionate about the dish all these years later. “We make our chips in-house. We use a tortilla that has some sturdiness to it. It's a little bit thicker than most.”
From there, he is careful to train his team that every surface must have some sort of topping, whether it be cheese, meat, beans, pico de gallo, pickled jalapeños, guacamole, sour cream, or ideally all of the above. While Delaney is proud of his burgers, sandwiches, and wraps, he is also excited to add a handful of cheffy, even healthier dishes to the menu at Slabtown. This includes creative fare like the crispy shawarma tofu tossed in warm shawarma spices and finished with sumac and fresh herbs, his savory Mediterranean mussels simmered in white wine with garlic, shallots, tomatoes, butter and fragrant herbs, French dip, that aforementiponed cedar plank salmon sandwich, and even the uber-nutritious Superfood Salade with kale, Brussels sprouts, radicchio, broccoli, kohlrabi, carrots, cranberries, and pepitas tossed in a poppyseed vinaigrette. Running specials has always been a source of creativity for Delaney, and he plans to continue this in his new role, whether whipping up tacos after being inspired by a trip to Los Angeles, replicating a crazy, decadent dish he saw in Las Vegas, or making the kind of visually grabbing food that sends the Instagram algorithm into a frenzy.
“I'm a hungry guy, you know? I love going out to see what other people are doing. Social media has a big impact on what I see, too. I follow a million people who are doing awesome food all over the world. I have my favorite cuisines, and so I definitely look at that. I love pushing myself to learn things,” says Delaney.
As Delaney enters the next chapter of his life as a chef, he is excited for the changes on a personal level and for the company he has been a part of for so many years. This means using the highest-quality ingredients he can source, keeping his team happy, and running a much larger operation than he did at Dekum. Always humble and open-minded, Delaney sees these moves as an opportunity to take Breakside’s culinary game to the next level while simultaneously preserving the easygoing pub culture that made it a neighborhood institution and a beer destination.
“I've run a pretty fun kitchen to work for and have people for a long time. I have people who have worked at Dekum for 16 years. The average is probably 7 or 8 years. People really enjoy the beer, of course. But they really enjoy the camaraderie with the company. That's one of the reasons why I've stayed in the pub atmosphere is because I just love the culture of it.”
Breakside NW Slabtown
Breakside NW Slabtown’s new menu:
Starters
Bavarian Pretzel
A massive hand-twisted soft pretzel, brushed with butter and sprinkled with flaky salt. Paired with house beer mustard and a velvety smoked gouda fondue for the ultimate shareable snack.
Nachos
House-fried tortilla chips buried under molten cheddar & jack, black beans, pico de gallo, pickled jalapeños, guacamole, sour cream, and green onions.
Dirty Fries
Crispy beer-battered Sidewinders loaded with smoked gouda-Swiss cheese sauce, bacon, jalapeños, and green onions.
Wings
Beer-brined and fried, tossed in your choice of house-made sauce, served with blue cheese or ranch, carrots, and celery.
Crispy Shawarma Tofu
Shatter-crisp tofu tossed in warm shawarma spices, finished with sumac and fresh herbs. Served with house tzatziki.
Hummus Plate
Creamy hummus topped with a Greek salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, herbs, and feta, served with warm pita. Gluten-free option available with tortilla chips.
Mediterranean Mussels
A heaping bowl of fresh Puget Sound mussels, simmered in white wine with garlic, shallots, tomatoes, butter and fragrant herbs. Served with grilled bread to soak up every last drop of that savory goodness.
Salads
Brew Salad
Mixed greens tossed with a poppy seed vinaigrette and topped with superfood seeds, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and nutritional yeast croutons.
Caesar Salad
Fresh chopped romaine tossed with our house garlicky caesar dressing. Finished with garlic herb croutons, parmesan cheese and a lemon.
Cobb Salad
Crisp romaine piled high with grilled chicken, pepper bacon, ripe avocado, cherry tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, green onions, and crumbled blue cheese - served with your choice of dressing.
Superfood Salad
Kale, Brussels sprouts, radicchio, broccoli, kohlrabi, carrots, cranberries, and pepitas tossed in a poppyseed vinaigrette
Burgers
Combo Burger
A classic All-American style burger. Quarter-pound Pendleton Beef patty with your choice of cheese on a toasted bun topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickles, and mayo.
Impossible Burger
Plant-based Impossible patty with your choice of cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles.
Cheeseburger
Pendleton Beef with your choice of cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles.
Slabtown Smokestack
Pendleton Beef stacked with Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar, pepper bacon, smoky pulled pork, stout chipotle tamarind BBQ sauce, chipotle mayo and crispy onions.
El Jefe
Pendleton Beef layered with fire-roasted Hatch chiles, Tillamook pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayo, shredded lettuce, guacamole and fresh pico de gallo.
The Forager
Pendleton Beef loaded with melted Tillamook Swiss cheese, roasted wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and garlic aioli.
Sandwiches/Wraps
Buffalo Chicken Wrap
Grilled chicken tossed in our house IPA Buffalo sauce with mixed greens, celery, carrots, and ranch, wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.
Veggie Wrap
Creamy hummus layered with seasonal roasted vegetables, mixed greens, pickled onions, feta cheese, and a drizzle of balsamic reduction, wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.
Cedar Plank Salmon Sandwich
Cedar-grilled Alaskan sockeye salmon with lemon kissed kale and house tartar sauce on a rustic bun.
French Dip
Thinly sliced slow-roasted beef, melted Swiss, horseradish sauce, and crispy onions on a warm roll. Served with a garlic herb au jus.
Wild Mushroom Dip
Roasted wild mushrooms, melted Swiss, horseradish sauce, and crispy onions on a warm roll. Served with a savory mushroom au jus.
Blackened Chicken Sandwich
Blackened grilled chicken breast, pepper jack cheese, pepper bacon, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and chipotle mayo on a rustic bun.
Entrees
Quinoa Bowl
Greek-herbed quinoa topped with roasted seasonal vegetables, lemony chickpeas, cucumber-tomato salad and housemade tzatziki. Finished with dill, cracked pepper and evoo.
Mac & Cheese
Cavatappi in a Tillamook Vintage White Cheddar, gruyère, and parmesan cheese sauce, finished with toasted breadcrumbs.
Chicken Tenders
Three crispy fried chicken tenders with your choice of dipping sauce, served with ranch and your choice of side.
Bavarian Sausage Plate
Carlton Farms smoked bratwurst crafted with Breakside IPA, served over cider–braised sauerkraut with bacon and onions, alongside beer mustard, smoked gouda cheese sauce, pickled onions, and warm pretzel bites.
Desserts
Triple Berry Crumble
Plump strawberries, ripe raspberries and blueberries sandwiched between a wholesome oatmeal crust and golden crumble topping. Topped with Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream and raspberry sauce drizzle.
Stout Brownie
A decadent brownie made with only the finest of chocolates and our Black Swift Stout. Topped with Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate sauce drizzle.
1570 NW 22nd Ave, Portland, OR 97210
