Famigila e Ravioli
Olivia Spitzer
This is a love story. It begins, like so many do, with a dinner beside the sea. Imagine, if you will, the waves, the soft light, the couple. Except in this story, our protagonists are not dining together. They’re not in the same room. He’s not actually dining at all. He is the chef, and she is a patron. Sixteen years later, together they have three daughters and a ravioli shop.
“I was the head chef at this little oceanside inn in Northern California. That’s where I met Stephanie, my wife,” Jeremy Baumgartner, explains. Baumgartner owns, manages, and creates all the ravioli for “Foglia,” a gourmet pasta company based out of SW Portland. He says that Stephanie began visiting his restaurant and fell in love with the fresh crab ravioli. She started bringing her friends and family, wanting to share the experience with them. Even though Stephanie and Jeremy eventually moved away, their start at that seaside inn stuck with them. “About a year ago her parents came up to visit. Her dad is a fisherman and every time they come to visit they bring crab and fish, and every time they say, ‘you know you have to make that crab ravioli’.”
The couple had a new baby, and he was working long hours at a local grocery store, but he was happy to oblige. Together the family ate, and Baumgartner expressed that he was considering getting a second job. His salary just wasn’t enough for their family anymore. “Her parents were like, ‘why don’t you just make these raviolis?’ So,” he laughs, “I started. It was the crab ravioli, [that] was the first one. By March I was making pasta and still working my full time job, 10 hours a day, 5 days a week. After work I would go to the shop and start making some dough. I didn’t sell one pack until May.”
As Jeremy worked on the dough, Stefanie tackled other projects. “Our original name was Ciao. Steph didn’t care for it. It was too generic. Foglia – the meaning is leaf. Italian pasta makers are known as sfolgniana, as some who hand rolls pasta. Pasta makers are making leaves.”
Once the recipes were perfected, Baumgartner started applying to farmers’ market with just four varieties for ravioli. “[Hillsdale was] our first market. It was exciting, it was also rough – I was working my salary job, and with three daughters at home – I didn’t sleep much. Stefanie and I were like, ‘oh my god, are we ever going to make money at this?’”
Over the spring, their sales began to climb. Word spread about the man making ravioli at Hillsdale and soon he was in more farmers’ markets. As the demand for his product grew, it was becoming harder and hard to meet all the needs of both his job and his business. In the summer of 2022, he faced a large decision. “Our sales were getting much better. I would have Stephanie and our daughters in that little [kitchen space], packaging for us. There was more and more tension at work – I wanted more time for ravioli.” He remembers thinking, “Even if I fail at this, it’s not the end of the world. But if I don’t take this chance, I’ll be regretting it the rest of my life.”
That’s what they did. Jeremy, Stephanie, his in-laws, their daughters, the whole family took that leap together. So far, it’s been paying off. Foglia just moved into their own kitchen and retail space, close to home, in Beaverton. “It’s been insane. I am super grateful. I’m excited that I’m working for myself. I drop off the girls at school, I come here, leave by 4 or 5 o’clock. [I get] full life balance, its great.”
Their space is perfect for any shoppers with mid-week ravioli needs, but Baumgartner says he won’t be exiting Hillsdale anytime soon. “That seems to be our sweet spot, the farmers markets. [My kids] love coming and I think it’s a great experience for them. They see the long-term effect of how we make friends, how relationships are built. How you take a dream and make it reality. I really hope its inspiration for them in their future lives.”
You can find Jeremy, Stephanie, and Foglia at Hillsdale Farmers’ Market on Sundays or at their new shop in Beaverton, 10am – 4pm, Tuesday – Friday.