Whims was raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her mother was "from the Julia Child-era school" of cooking. She has been influenced by Italian-born cooking writer Marcella Hazan and French chef and restaurateur Madeleine Kamman.
Career
Early in her career, Whims was the bread and pastry chef in a local natural food restaurant and catered private dinners in Chapel Hill, and later worked at kitchens in the San Francisco Bay Area. She relocated to Portland in 1979 and immediately began working at Produce Row Cafe, and later served as a prep cook at the defunct Italian restaurant Genoa. Her title rose to executive chef and she became a co-owner during her eighteen-year tenure at Genoa, which has been credited "for bringing fine-dining to Portland", and closed in 2014. Whims studied with Marcella Hazan in Venice in 1998, and later worked at restaurants in Italy's Langhe region. Whims has opened several restaurants in Portland, including Nostrana, Hamlet, and the pizzeria/bar Oven and Shaker. She was a James Beard Foundation Award finalist for six consecutive years after opening Nostrana. Following Hazan's death in 2013, Whims commemorated the chef by creating a special tribute menu at Nostrana. The restaurant's menu has featured other recipes inspired by Hazan, as well as American chef, baker, and writer Nancy Silverton. Hamlet was named one of Portland's best restaurants by Portland Monthly in 2015. In 2017, Whims served as Oregon's ambassador of the James Beard Foundation's Smart Catch program, which promotes sustainable seafood practices. She opened the 40-seat wine European bar Enoteca Nostrana, adjacent to Nostrana, in 2018.
Recognition
Whims has received six James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef: Northwest, each year from 2008 to 2013. She was also nominated for a 2016 James Beard Foundation Journalism Award in the "Home Cooking" category for a story she co-authored with Langdon Cook called "Into the Woods", published in EatingWell magazine. She has been described by Portland Monthly Benjamin Tepler as "the unofficial doyenne of Italian cooking" for the Pacific Northwest. Katie Chang of Food Republic wrote, "Whims also helped train and usher in a new generation of talented chefs and restaurateurs... whom many credit with cementing Portland's status as a world-class dining destination." Her recipes have been shared in cookbooks and by a variety of other publications such as Epicurious, The Seattle Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Personal life
Whims is married and lives in Portland, Oregon. Her partner, David West, co-owns Nostrana and Enoteca Nostrana. She has described herself as a "born-again Italian". Whims has a sister who also works in the restaurant industry.
