Gado Gado takes its name from the Indonesian dish — literally "mix mix" — that Thomas Pisha-Duffly grew up eating at family gatherings: peanut sauce, snappy beans, crispy cucumbers, and fudgy eggs. Tom's mother, half Dutch and half Chinese-Indonesian, cooked Indonesian, Malaysian, and American fusion food at home, and his grandmother passed down recipes and stories from her life across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. A trip to Indonesia with his now-wife Mariah pushed Tom to dig into that food more seriously, and pop-ups became the couple's testing ground before Gado Gado opened as a restaurant.
Mariah's hospitality background runs through front-of-house work in Portland, Maine, including a stint managing the floor at Duckfat, before the two built Gado Gado together in Portland, Oregon's Hollywood neighborhood.
The menu is split between a rice table — a shared spread of dishes meant for the table rather than individual plates — and an a la carte option for ordering more selectively.
Gado Gado has been named to the Eater 38 and scored 8.1 out of 10 from The Infatuation. The James Beard Foundation has recognized the restaurant repeatedly: a Best New Restaurant finalist nod in 2020, a Best Chef Northwest & Pacific finalist nod in 2023, a semifinalist nomination in 2025, and semifinalist and finalist nominations across the Northwest and Northwest & Pacific categories in 2026.
Mariah's hospitality background runs through front-of-house work in Portland, Maine, including a stint managing the floor at Duckfat, before the two built Gado Gado together in Portland, Oregon's Hollywood neighborhood.
The menu is split between a rice table — a shared spread of dishes meant for the table rather than individual plates — and an a la carte option for ordering more selectively.
Gado Gado has been named to the Eater 38 and scored 8.1 out of 10 from The Infatuation. The James Beard Foundation has recognized the restaurant repeatedly: a Best New Restaurant finalist nod in 2020, a Best Chef Northwest & Pacific finalist nod in 2023, a semifinalist nomination in 2025, and semifinalist and finalist nominations across the Northwest and Northwest & Pacific categories in 2026.