The new Nick’s: An iconic McMinnville eatery opens for a second act

In 1977, when Nick Peirano opened his restaurant, Nick’s Italian Cafe, McMinnville wasn’t a tourist destination known nationally for world class wines. The restaurant was among the farming town’s first elegant dining options and the community embraced it, especially for celebratory meals.

Nick’s daughter, Carmen Peirano, took over leadership in 2007. In 2014, the restaurant was honored with an America’s Classics Award from the James Beard Foundation.

For 46 years, the restaurant was a McMinnville institution, beloved by regulars for its menu of fresh pastas and Oregon wines. In July, a year after the Pierano family announced their plans to close, new owners have reopened it, ready for a fresh start. 

Thomas Ghinazzi, Jordan Neale, and Scott Baldwin, who also own Earth & Sea restaurant in Carlton, bought Nick’s early this year. In some ways, the new Nick’s feels like a faithful continuation of the original, but in others it’s clear that they are leaving themselves room to make the restaurant their own. 

Overall, the dining experience at Nick’s is little changed. The basket light fixtures, the window to the kitchen, and the woven-look accent wall made of wine barrel staves all remain. They added some booth seating and a round table in the front window for larger parties, but those who haven’t visited in a bit likely wouldn’t recognize big differences in the dining room. 

Chef Thomas Ghinazzi, along with chef de cuisine Jubal Kizer, is charting a new course for the kitchen. The menu retains its pan-Italian format of antipasti, wood-fired pizzas, hand-made pastas, and more meat and seafood-heavy secondi. But several of Nick’s signature dishes—including the Dungeness crab lasagna and the minestrone—have sunsetted. 

“We made the decision after a few weeks open to go in our own direction with the menu,” explained Chef Ghinazzi. 

Instead of minestrone the menu now includes Tuscany’s famous tomato and bread stew ribollita with the addition of sausage and pesto. Instead of crab lasagna, tender fusili with creamy pesto, chunks of broccolini stem, summer squash, and tomato. 

A slab of seared halibut arrives atop sweet corn puree with seared broccolini and a mouth-watering sweet and tangy cherry tomato agrodolce. 

Ghinazzi is proud of their slowly-fermented 24-hour pizza dough and is topping pies with San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and a few different combinations of toppings including seasonal mushrooms and sliced meatballs. But they’re also using the wood oven to impart flavor to other dishes. 

There’s a wood-fired chicken breast with eggplant ragout on the menu, and those celebrating a special occasion can opt for a $75 16-ounce wood oven-cooked ribeye rubbed with tomato paste, capers, and Calabrian chiles served with that same tomato agrodolce and Italian salsa verde. 

Ghinazzi says there’s no overlap between the menu at Nick’s and at five year old Earth & Sea, except for one dish: his version of the Italian-American seafood stew cioppino. It’s not listed on the Nick’s menu but is a frequent special.

Desserts include vanilla ice cream, chocolate mousse, and ice cream-filled profiteroles. 

Nick Pierano was an early supporter of the International Pinot Noir Celebration and restaurant co-owner Scott Baldwin, along with Rae Ellen Baldwin, founded Dundee Hills winery De Ponte Cellars in 2001. 

What can people expect from the wine program at Nick’s now? “We are heavily Italian influenced while also supporting our local wineries,” said Ghinazzi.”We wanted to give guests affordable options and the ability to get some excellent wines in the $40 to 75 range.”  The backroom bar is also open Wednesday through Sunday. 

Cheers to the return of this McMinnville institution!

Emily Teel (she/her) writes about cooking and dining and develops recipes on behalf of national brands. Mom to a toddler, she’s also an avid gardener and loves to forage for mushrooms and berries in the Pacific Northwest.

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