Rooted in Portland: How Kachka’s Bonnie Morales Is Betting on the City She Loves
There's a particular kind of commitment that goes beyond business strategy. It's the kind that says: we're staying, even when it's hard. For Bonnie and Israel Morales — the husband-and-wife team behind Kachka and their new production space Fabrika — that commitment is baked into everything they do.
A Love Letter That Became a Movement
Bonnie grew up eating the foods of her parents' homeland, who had immigrated from the Soviet Republics. When she and Israel moved to Portland from Chicago in 2010, they brought those flavors with them — and in 2014, opened Kachka on Southeast Grand.
"That restaurant was a love letter to my childhood," Bonnie says. What surprised her was how deeply it resonated with others — people who had never encountered the cuisine before, and people who recognized it from their own family histories. Eastern European food was underrepresented in Portland's dining scene, and Kachka was filling a real need.
The restaurant outgrew its original space by 2018, relocating to 11th and Belmont. They survived the pandemic. They kept going. And then they started thinking bigger.
Enter Fabrika
Tucked away on Oregon Street in Northeast Portland, Fabrika is part dumpling production facility, part distillery — and entirely a statement of intent.
The dumplings themselves have a storied origin. As Bonnie tells it, they were born in Siberia: shaped, thrown into the snow to freeze, and carried by hunters on long expeditions. In Eastern European markets, they were sold in bulk from freezer cases — a staple of home kitchens and childhood memories. Kachka had been selling frozen dumplings to New Seasons out of a cramped 200-square-foot cold kitchen above the restaurant. The demand was there. The space wasn't.
Fabrika changes that. But Bonnie is clear about what she won't compromise in scaling up. "I'm not willing to lower our standards," she says. "A lot of people will do that, and that is fine for them, but it's not something we are willing to do." To bridge the gap between restaurant craft and manufacturing scale, they've connected with the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership through a Prosper Portland grant — getting expert guidance on growing their process without sacrificing quality.
On the spirits side, Kachka had been producing their horseradish vodka with outside distillers. Fabrika gives them the chance to bring that in-house.
Staying Is a Choice — and a Statement
Portland has had a rough few years, and Bonnie doesn't sugarcoat it. As a business owner navigating the city's challenges, she admits the temptation to leave has been real. But she and Israel keep arriving at the same conclusion.
"If we close up Kachka and move it to the suburbs, or if we decide we're not opening another business in Portland, then we're part of the problem," she says. "In order for a city to revive itself and to grow, you need to have stakeholders."
Israel echoes that conviction. Making a conscious decision to stay, he says, isn't just about feeding their own business — it's about being part of the solution for the broader community.
Practically speaking, the Northeast location made sense too: easy highway access for self-distribution, a building full of other makers and trades — a distiller, a brewery, a print shop — and the possibility of eventually opening a public tasting room.
The Portland Difference
Ask Bonnie and Israel what makes Portland worth fighting for, and the answers come quickly.
There's the food culture — the kind where everyone, without exception, knows when Hood strawberries are in season, or when Dungeness crab comes in. "Name another part of the country where people are that connected to the food they eat in that same way," Bonnie challenges. "I have not experienced that."
And then there's the story of the kitchen fire.
In 2021, a fire broke out overnight at Kachka. No one was hurt, but the kitchen was burned out. Bonnie and Israel arrived that morning and started making calls. Within an hour, every vendor, every tradesperson they'd worked with over the years showed up. Ten different trades working simultaneously, on top of each other. Kachka was closed for one day.
"It could've been months," Israel says, still visibly moved by the memory.
"In other cities, you don't see the same community," Bonnie adds. "I think it comes down to that idea of collaboration, not competition. We live that here."
What Matters Most
For the Moraleses, success isn't measured in national headlines or social media reach. After going through an accelerator program with Built Oregon, they landed on something clarifying: they want to take care of Portland, first and foremost.
"We want to be an essential part of the Portland food world, that matters first and most," Bonnie says.
In a moment when it's easy to chase scale, visibility, or an exit, that kind of rootedness feels genuinely radical — and exactly like what a city in revival needs.
Kachka is located at 11th and Belmont in Portland. Fabrika, their dumpling production and distilling space, is on Oregon Street in Northeast Portland.
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