Julie VandenBerg has been obsessed with the details of things since she was a child growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Observing her best friend’s mother orchestrate multi-coursed French dinners using local ingredients that the family had gathered and preserved over the summer, made a big impression upon her. As did her time with her Grandma Ruth, who led the dynamic life of a homemaker, realtor, and an educated woman of culture, exposing Julie to Seattle’s art, music and food scene, and inspiring her to pursue an arts degree, which began at Cornish College of the Arts and was completed at SOU with the highest honors. Julie majored in painting and minored in printmaking. She opened and ran two different printmaking studios over a seven year period, where she taught classes, curated art shows, and held art gatherings. She ran her studios as environmentally friendly spaces—one of only a handful of green studios around the US. She has shown her work throughout the Rogue Valley and was even featured on Oregon Art Beat tv show many years back. Julie wrote her own art column in the Ashland Sneak Preview for 18 years, keeping her in touch with the ever changing local arts community. She has taught printmaking throughout the Rogue Valley to people of all ages, from children to college students to seniors. She has extensive experience in the picture framing industry and often builds her own frames from scratch. She currently enjoys curating shows in the restaurant and may be found giving personal tours of the art hung at Nous to anyone who might be interested.

Julie feels that it is vital to be surrounded by real art, and to support the local arts scene. There is so much affordable art in our valley, that there is no reason to purchase mass produced art. “I have a relationship with the art that is hung upon my walls. I gaze upon it at different times of day—a stationary piece of work that centers me—a steady eye among the hurricane that is life. I allow a moment to take in its texture, its colors, its composition, the artist’s intention—and I lose myself in it. I forget the immediate stressors of the day, taking a break from constantly moving digital input, to appreciate the painting. It enriches my life. I want to share that experience with others.”

Julie is attempting to combine her role as a restaurateur with her concepts as an artist. She envisions the restaurant as a community gathering space, in which folks meet to connect about all sorts of different topics, be it food and wine, art, political or environmental issues, mental health practices, or just basic human connection.

“My artistic inspiration often stems from nature. I long to be in the forest to offset the pressures of being social. If I am hung up on how to complete a painting, I go for a hike, and find the answer outside. Each venture outdoors is unique, as the sunshine highlights elements of nature as if they are a curated gallery show that only I can observe in that moment, before it all shifts. This is where the inspiration originated for the restaurant’s design. I wanted the space to feel welcoming, like warm sunshine glowing through a verdant forest. I also wanted it to feel bright and playful. By using shades of pink, reflecting flowers and berries, as well as the bright red of the Alsatian flag that greets our guests at the doors of the restaurant, I have created such a space. The different shades of green reflect plant life, and complement the warm colors, and the yellow ochre reflects rich sunsets alighting our Alpine valley. The pinks and greens evoke cozy French cafes, and some of the details, which will slowly be added over time, will evoke the rich history of German country woodcuts influenced by botanical elements and folk tradition.”

As you enter the restaurant, you will see a black and white stork, which Julie painted, on the back wall above the booths. ‘Cleo Storkchop’ as she’s known, is the Nous mascot. The stork represents peace and harmony between the formerly warring regions of Germany and France, which used to fight over Alsace. Alsace remains in France now, on the border of Germany and Switzerland, and its residents retain a large amount of pride in the region and its cultural specialties. Alsace has an interesting similarity to our little town of Ashland, both being Alpine meccas of sustainability, with surprisingly similar local plants available for culinary use, and a strong arts and outdoor scene. The stork also represents ecological balance, which is important to us as business owners. Nous chose the stork as their mascot because they strive to be as sustainable as possible, and because they hope to encourage and celebrate peace and tolerance within our community.

Hospitality Maven

Julie VandenBerg has been working in the valley’s finest restaurants for about 25 years, including over ten years at Amuse, in which she managed there during the last 4 years. She began her career in the service industry at Quinz and later Alex’s, where she learned so much from Quinn and Charles. She has 20 years of experience managing businesses, which include restaurants, wholesale picture framing, art studios, and apartments. Julie holds multiple roles at Nous—inventor of yummy cocktails, maker of house bitters, designer of the vibe, dining room manager, and fine tuner of details for the perfect experience. Let’s just call her a Hospitality Maven.

She takes pride in helping the workplace to be equitable, and in encouraging healthy communication so that staff members are able to operate as a highly functional team with the goal of excelling within a thriving restaurant environment. She cares deeply about justice, and about helping the restaurant industry to be sustainable and its staff having the benefits of any other professional. Julie is the heart of the restaurant, warmly welcoming guests by name, and staying until the end each night to lock up. She makes herself available by being present, listening, and genuinely caring about others. She wants both the guests and staff members to feel seen and appreciated, and that they may come to her with issues or concerns, and feel welcome to stop by and tell her their latest life events and anecdotes. She is known to a special few as ‘Kitchen Mom’. In many ways, running a restaurant is like being a professional mom—making sure that the team communicates well, and works together as efficiently as possible, ensuring that everyone’s feelings are respected, and balancing the needs of the guests with the needs of the staff.

As far as employee wellness, the trio strives to break the mold of toxic restaurant work environments. “I worked as many as four jobs as a single mom while raising my sons in Ashland, often while putting up with verbal and sexual abuse in the workplace. I wanted to change this. We encourage our staff to take care of their mental health and to take time off for self improvement and enrichment. We don't tolerate inappropriate behavior in the workplace. We encourage communication and thoughtful problem solving. We pay a living wage, and as we achieve success, we hope to provide healthcare to our staff. We eat together every day before we open to the public. And we make ourselves available as owners to listen to our staff and implement their feedback when appropriate. We three owners are present and working in the restaurant every day.”

Julie came to realize that in every position she’s held, it is in the act of noticing little details and preferences, and in taking the time to prioritize them, that we create connections with one another, and that is what matters to her-–connection. She loves seeing the intimacy that takes place between humans over a beautifully curated meal. After all, it is the little things that make up the grand, beautiful picture that is life. And that is where we hold our fondest memories. When a reporter suggested that the Rolling Stones are “just selling nostalgia to keep [their] old fame alive,” Mick Jagger silenced him by responding, “It’s the memories that keep us.” And he is right.