Cook Riegna Breaux returns to Salem dining scene after heart attacks, restaurant closure

"Hey baby, how you doin'?"

The boisterous voice coming from The Dehn Bar's kitchen is cook Riegna Breaux. She maneuvers between the stove, fryer and sink, chatting with folks like old friends as they come to the window to order food. The joy on her face and in her voice would never reveal the hardships she overcame to return to the kitchen.

In January 2023, Breaux was at her lowest: she had closed her restaurant a month earlier, Tasten Cee Barbecue Soul Food, found a place to host pop-ups again and then suffered two back-to-back heart attacks.

But Breaux refused to put her passion of feeding people on hold, despite high levels of stress, burnout and other underlying medical conditions.

"You know, it depends on how much you love something," Breaux said. "I love the expression on (a customer's) face after they've had something good. That's God speaking to me saying that it's what I'm supposed to be doing: making them close their eyes, kick their feet or push their drink to the side just to eat."

Restarting again

Breaux previously opened Tasten Cee BBQ Soul Food on State Street in spring 2022. She said she got into financial and operational conflict with her restaurant's manager and business partner and eventually was unable to continue due to the financial strain and shut down the restaurant at the end of the year.

"I didn't have a choice but to close as I was uneducated on how to do things," Breaux said.

Breaux said she went to the West Side Bar in West Salem days after the restaurant closed to rent out the kitchen to resume pop-ups. She was recommended to try a pop-up at The Dehn Bar, which Breaux had never been to before. Thankfully, bar manager Michele Irby allowed Breaux to "try out" some days at the bar. At the time, there were some rotating pop-ups that had already set up shop inside the bar.

"She was great right away," Irby said. "There are foodies and people who come just for her food after they've had it a few times."

Breaux's heart attacks came in late February and early March 2023, just days apart from each other. She said they were from stress. In that time she was also diagnosed with congestive heart failure. In order to recover, she had to not work for up to six months.

Unsure of what to do, she set up a GoFundMe to raise money to help for rent and medical expenses, and raised $2,500. A customer even reached out and wanted to give her $1,500 but Breaux found that to be too much money to accept. In the end, the customer generously paid Breaux's rent for three months as she recovered.

Back onto the scene

Breaux returned to doing pop-ups at The Dehn in mid-May. She resumed weekend pop-ups twice a month.

She also began saving for her own food truck.

Breaux worked through the summer and found it was wearing on her. She decided to discontinue her pop-up at The Dehn. Heeding the advice of slowing down and taking care of herself, she began working at Taproot's Old Mill Cafe in September.

But Breaux found herself aching to make her own food again. In early October, she returned to The Dehn and asked if she could resume her pop-up.

"Don't get me wrong, I needed a job and working for (owner Christopher "Toph" Holland) is great," Breaux said. "I really missed cooking my own food."

She pitched serving "Sunday dinner" to Irby, who loved the idea and allowed her to resume. The essence of the pop-up service is to serve Soul food like she had been before, back on the twice a month schedule.

"Riegna has a wonderful personality and makes you feel at home," Irby said. "We all love her, she's a welcome face to see when you walk through the door and we couldn't be happier with the situation."

Despite juggling working at the Old Mill Cafe, Breaux preps everything at home to get ready for Sunday dinner. Every weekend is a different menu, as she likes to always have something new for folks to try. She said she only uses fresh products and makes everything herself, aside from the condiments.

"I'm a pop-up but in my mind I'm a fixed staple here at The Dehn Bar," Breaux said. "Folks call and ask if I'm here so in my mind, I'm part of here."

But because her business license for using Tasten Cee had expired, she "doesn't go by a name." Instead, all future info about her pop-ups are listed under The Dehn Bar's social media channels.

"It doesn't matter what name I go by now to me, some know me as Tasten Cee and others don't even know my name, actually," Breaux said and laughed. "As long as I cook, I don't have to have a name."

The latest addition to The Dehn is a new breakfast menu she and Pizza Fritta pop-up cook Aaron Heath started in mid-February. You can find the two of them inside The Dehn on the weekends.

The workload is greater than ever with the added days of the breakfast pop-up and Sunday dinner, but Breaux couldn't be more excited. Since the pop-ups are smaller compared to the full-scale restaurant, there's less stress. She said she's learned if it's not something she can personally fix, she lets it go.

"The doctor said my heart is healthy, but because I have heart failure I could go any day," Breaux said. "So I live every day like it's my last, so if I spend my last day on this earth feeding somebody, I'm happy with that."

To keep up with Breaux's pop-up, check out The Dehn Bar Facebook page.

Address: 157 Commercial St. SE

Em Chan covers food and dining at the Statesman Journal. You can reach her at echan@statesmanjournal.com and follow her on Twitter @catchuptoemily.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Riegna Breaux returns to Salem dining scene with The Dehn Bar pop-up