A new seafood restaurant owned by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe opens Thursday at ilani, the tribe’s casino resort in Ridgefield, Washington, about 25 miles outside Portland. The restaurant, called sámn, takes its name from the Cowlitz term for fish and replaces Line & Lure, the Pacific Northwest seafood spot that closed earlier in September after operating since the casino’s early days.
According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, sámn focuses on a seafood-centric take on coastal dining, drawing from Pacific Northwest ingredients and foodways while grounding its offerings in Cowlitz tribal culinary traditions. The menu includes deep-water favorites, gumbos, stews, pastas and an oyster bar, alongside steak, chicken and other Pacific Northwest-inspired dishes, plus influences from Cajun, French and South American cuisines. The beverage list features wine, craft cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks.
A cdcgaming.com report described the restaurant as drawing on local ingredients and the region’s tribal food traditions. Line & Lure, which sámn replaces, was among ilani’s first restaurants and opened in April 2017, the outlet reported.
Showcasing the Tribe’s First Foods
The Columbian reported that sámn will feature some of the Cowlitz Tribe’s “first foods,” described as culturally significant foods that have sustained the people for centuries. Line & Lure closed Sept. 19. The Columbian has referred to the new restaurant as both “sámn” and “sámn Pacific Coast Kitchen.”
Cowlitz foodways and regional context
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe’s Natural Resources Department describes hunting, fishing and gathering foods as central to the Tribe’s identity and traditional lifeways. That provides cultural context for the reference to “first foods,” but does not identify particular foods as ingredients in sámn’s recipes or establish how the restaurant sources them…