WHO WE ARE
Lauren Bruschi, who was born and raised in Rome, Italy is Daje’s founder. She spent her younger years growing up in her family’s restaurants in San Francisco, Rome & Portland. Since moving to Portland in 2000 she’s been in the service industry. Her passion of the culinary world, wine, spirits and geography have guided her diverse journey of experiences.
Lauren loves learning - getting her Level 2 certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, as well as a BS from PSU. While working in the service industry at night, she also worked in the Green Building world on projects such as: LEED certification, Biomimicry education, waste-stream auditing for large companies like Nike, and hosting/giving tours of Portland’s sustainable infrastructure to international delegates & politicians.
Lauren has most recently opened four restaurants, as well as leading a full rebrand of a bar & restaurant for Alpenrausch from the team at Olympia Provisions. As the General Manager, Alpenrausch was awarded one of America’s Top 25 Best New Restaurants of 2024 by Bon Appetit Magazine. Lauren also had her cocktails written up in New York Times T Magazine.
Eli Iturrieta is originally from California, though they spent summers growing up in Chile & Mexico, where their family is from. A Spanish speaker and a long believer that everyone should have access to fresh food. They are a chef and cheesemonger by trade, but have many skills and years of experience.
Eli attended Culinary School in San Francisco and worked at several restaurants in the Bay. They moved to Portland and quickly joined on to the team at Meriwether's Restaurant & Skyline Farm. They went on to grow with the wonderful team at Gruner and was the Sous Chef at Quaintrelle. Their resume includes working at acclaimed places such as: Nostrana, City Market / Pasta Works, Negociant, Cowbell, among others.
Eli has taught butchery courses, been a Kitchen Manager, Deli Manager, and Cheese Counter Manager. They most recently competed in The Cheesemonger Invitational in NYC.
Eli loves to teach others about the many ways flavors can play together and the nerdiest parts of cheese! When they aren’t composing beautiful cheese boards you can find them in their large garden with their pup.
We believe in uplifting folks within the industry - with a special focus on queer & BIPOC professionals.