Javelina began as a pop-up in September 2023, launched by chef Alexa Numkena-Anderson six weeks after giving birth, working alongside her husband Nick. After a year and a half of pop-up service, the two opened a permanent restaurant on NE 42nd Ave in Cully in May 2025.
Numkena-Anderson taught herself to cook as the eldest of six siblings, later trained at Le Cordon Bleu, and worked through several Portland kitchens before running operations and menu development at a well-known local restaurant. Her cooking at Javelina draws on her Hopi, Yakama, Cree, and Skokomish heritage, with much of the menu built as "non-colonial" — free of dairy, gluten, soy, and white cane sugar — and centered on proteins native to North America.
Dinner runs through tepary bean dip, bison steak, and oysters, while lunch brings the Powwow Burger, served between two slices of frybread. Javelina has been named to the Eater 38 and included in Portland Monthly's 2025 best-of city list, and has drawn coverage from The Infatuation as one of the few Portland restaurants dedicated to Indigenous cuisine.
Numkena-Anderson taught herself to cook as the eldest of six siblings, later trained at Le Cordon Bleu, and worked through several Portland kitchens before running operations and menu development at a well-known local restaurant. Her cooking at Javelina draws on her Hopi, Yakama, Cree, and Skokomish heritage, with much of the menu built as "non-colonial" — free of dairy, gluten, soy, and white cane sugar — and centered on proteins native to North America.
Dinner runs through tepary bean dip, bison steak, and oysters, while lunch brings the Powwow Burger, served between two slices of frybread. Javelina has been named to the Eater 38 and included in Portland Monthly's 2025 best-of city list, and has drawn coverage from The Infatuation as one of the few Portland restaurants dedicated to Indigenous cuisine.