About Us
Peerless Restaurant & Bar is located in Ashland Oregon’s Historic Railroad District, simply a few blocks from the downtown area. Although the restaurant is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of downtown, we share a close proximity to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Our Team
Harlan Brooks
Executive Chef/Proprietor
As a leader, Harlan is constantly teaching and pushing his team to put the utmost consideration into flavor and technique. He is always ecstatic to learn something new from any member of the team and encourages a learning environment. He’s poured his heart and countless hours into our kitchen, dining rooms, and gardens. His work ethic is infectious and steadfastly aimed to give our guests the best. Come on in and say “Hi!” to Harlan any night we’re open; he’ll likely be right at the front of our kitchen.
Zack Karr
Chef de Cuisine
Zack’s philosophy has always leaned towards simple preparations of well-curated ingredients. Zack brings experience from the Portland kitchens of Picnic House, Grain & Gristle, and the wood-fired heavyweight that is Solstice in Hood River.
His passion for cooking is matched by his love of hunting for (and organizing/storing) great produce. He believes in treating ingredients with respect and loves to roam the valley’s farmers’ markets in search of something new from a local producer. He also believes that a chef’s job of paying respect to those farmers, ranchers, and foragers is more important now than ever.
He believes in working, cooking, learning, and cleaning as a team and is wholly against the often-toxic culture that stems from the traditional hierarchy of fine dining kitchen brigades. He prepares each dish as if it were for his family and always leaves a station cleaner than he found it.
Rush Manbert
Sommelier
To Rush, wine is about connecting people, enjoying food, and sharing special moments. “We only have so much time to enjoy ourselves, so we might as well do it,” he often remarks (with a huge grin). Attitude or pretense has no role to play here.
As a sommelier, Rush’s job is to connect guests with wines they’ll love. He takes great pride in curating our varied wine list and educating our staff with the knowledge to find that perfect pairing. He appreciates a broad array of flavors and styles of wines and understands each for the unique playing card that it is. Each wine has a perfect match with the food or setting, and the work of connecting those dots never gets old.
Coming to Peerless with a background in wine production has given Rush a unique view behind the veil of wine. Weather variance, winemaking decisions, and many other butterfly effects combine to create the cornucopia of variety and complexity we all enjoy. For Rush, wine is both beautifully simple and endlessly complex: At its core, wine is fermented grape juice that was stopped just short of becoming vinegar - but it is also a subject with ultimate depth.
