Mother of The Month

ABOUT M.O.M.

Through her travels, Chef Lisa came to realize that the best meals of a country are not found in its restaurants. They’re found in its homes, made with love by mothers cooking for their families. So, in addition to Mother’s regular menu where she serves food from mothers around the world, Chef Lisa highlights a different mother each month and features some of her special dishes.

The special mother is called the Mother of the Month (or M.O.M.™), and her photograph, story and menu take a prominent place at the beginning of Mother’s menu. We choose a mother that allows us to take advantage of the seasonal availability of ingredients, such as a Greek mother in the summer months and a Polish mother in the winter months.

If you’d like to nominate a mother to be the M.O.M.™, CLICK HERE and tell us something about her and her special dishes.

M.O.M. Menu

Paula Heimberg

Paula Heimberg

Lunch

Tuna Melt
open-faced, on grilled country bread, tomato, melted cheddar,
housemade French fries

19

Dinner

Chicken Kiev
panko-breaded natural chicken breast
filled with herb butter, rice pilaf, green beans

29

Dessert

Blondie Brownie
Paula is allergic to chocolate, so none in her dessert!
housemade caramel pecan ice cream,
caramel sauce, whipped cream

10

Special Cocktail

Paula doesn’t drink, so to celebrate Women’s History Month,
we’re featuring spirits from a woman-owned distillery in
Portland & donating 25% of the proceeds to Rose Haven

Chai Martini
Freeland Chai Liquor, Freeland Dry Gin, Dragonfly Chai tea,
honey, heavy cream, orange peel, cinnamon, served up

12

 

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CURRENT M.O.M. STORY

Paula Heimberg

Paula Heimberg

mother of the month (m.o.m.)

Dr. Paula Heimberg grew up in New Bedford, a small factory town and fishing village in Massachusetts. She became fascinated with science in high school. As a teenager, Paula began working as a nursing assistant during school breaks, which she did even during medical school. In high school, she also worked evenings as a cook in a restaurant, and in college, the breakfast and lunch cook for over 100 students in a dormitory. A career in restaurants was a fallback if medical school didn’t work out.

Dr. Heimberg completed college, medical school, and a neonatology fellowship in Chicago. She completed a general pediatrics residency at St. Louis University Medical School the following two years. After training, she joined as a Commissioned Officer in the National Health Services Corps and is a veteran. For three years, she served in inner-city Boston and the rural south. She received a Bronze Distinguished Service Award for outstanding service in setting up systems to improve health outcomes. Her first child, Katy, was born during that time. After her stint in the public health service, Paula moved with her husband to complete her third year of pediatric training at Duke Medical Center in North Carolina.

In 1982, Dr. Heimberg joined a pediatric practice in Beverly, Massachusetts. Her son, Henry, was born in the first year of this position. In addition to providing care for her patients, she taught residents, medical students, nursing students, and advanced practitioner students. Dr. Heimberg had a teaching faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School for decades.

In 2016, after 34 years, Dr. Heimberg left her successful practice to join her family, who had relocated to Portland. In the winter and spring of 2021, Dr. Heimberg worked as a physician in the Covid immunization project at the convention center. Dr. Heimberg has volunteered to teach residents and young physicians overseas in Bhutan from 2019-2023. She currently teaches medical students at OHSU part-time.

Dr. Heimberg is an avid biker and hiker who enjoys yoga (most days), bridge, swing dancing, and cooking. She has a daughter, who is also a medical provider, a son-in-law, and a granddaughter in Oregon.

Click here to See Former M.O.M.S

Nominate A M.O.M.

The M.O.M. menu has been an important part of Mother’s since we opened in 2000.  This allows our guests to experience both new flavors and dishes from around the world and meals prepared with love by mothers cooking for their families.  Our past M.O.M.’s include a wide variety of individuals- mothers, sisters, grandmothers, daughters, friends, and wives- and we’ve even had a few honorary male M.O.M.’s!

If you would like to nominate somebody (or yourself) to be a future M.O.M. at Mother’s, please fill out this form and return it to the host at Mother’s or [email protected].  Once we receive your form, we will contact the nominee (if possible), or you, (if it’s you or if you’d like to be the intermediary) to discuss potential dishes for the M.O.M. menu.

When making menu suggestions, please keep in mind that our M.O.M. menu typically includes an appetizer, salad and/or lunch item, 2-3 entrees (usually a meat, poultry, and/or vegetarian/fish dish) and a dessert.  When making suggestions, feel free to make your list as long as you’d like, but don’t suggest dishes that replicate those on our main menu (even if yours is the best meatloaf in the world, meatloaf is on our regular menu, so couldn’t be offered on our M.O.M. menu).

It’s likely we’ll have a bit of back and forth where I may ask you to list ingredients in a dish to gain a clearer idea of how it might taste, but keep in mind that we won’t need any recipes until after we finalize the menu.

Thanks again for your interest in the M.O.M. program.  Feel free to contact us with any questions you have!

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