MIX Magazine April 2012 by Mix Magazine

Portland, April 2012 Eat • Drink • Get Out • Get Together

Eating on 82nd Ave. • Getting creative with crepes Raw milk • Spring salmon • Floral cocktails

Revealing the hidden talents behind the city’s top restaurants p.26

APRIL 2012

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editor’s note In Portland, we treat dining out like a professional sport. We keep track of breaking restaurant news, idolize chefs, collect their recipes and analyze our dinners like they’re the big game, complete with pre- and post-prandial reports and real-time play-by-plays via Facebook and Twitter. Living in a town this devoted to eating out, it’s only natural that we’d devote an issue of MIX to the restaurant scene that gives us our raison d’être. We’ve covered the big names in plenty of past issues, so this time we’ve turned our attention to five people you might not have heard that much about. Working in the shadows of their well-known employers, these sous chefs and chefs de cuisine have talent to spare and yet they’re perfectly content working outside the spotlight (Page 26). Our restaurant landscape is constantly evolving — so much so that we were making Want to be sure you last-minute changes get every issue of MIX? to our content right Subscribe! up to the day we went 10 issues, $20 to press. To give you some perspective on Go to mixpdx.com

or call 503-221-8240.

east Alberta Street. It’s owned by two childhood friends from Iraq who were separated by war and reunited in Portland just a year ago. Their story of struggle and hope is similar to many of the people who’ve come to this country in search of a better life — many of whom make the food we love to eat (Page 36). So from stalwarts and standbys to high-profile eateries, we’re shedding a little light on some of the underrepresented aspects of our city’s food scene. It’s a rich subject that’s constantly changing. And, happily, we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. where it all came from, we charted the chefs and restaurants that formed the building blocks of the scene we have today. Our web traces the chefs who worked in the city’s most influential restaurants and went on to open kitchens or restaurants of their own. It’s amazing to see just how interconnected they all are (Page 34). But trendy restaurants are just one side of the story. There are countless mom-and-pop places that keep us deliciously well fed in between our spendy nights out. One such place, a recent addition to the lineup, is Dar Salam on North-

Danielle Centoni, editor dcentoni@oregonian.com PHOTOGRAPH By RANDy L. RASMuSSeN

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where to find the reCiPeS in thiS iSSUe: APPETIzERS • Deviled Eggs-onEggs, p22 • Smoked Salmon or Prosciutto Pea Shoot Rosettes, p22 MAIn DIShES • Crepes With Apples and Sausages, p9 • Crepes With Pesto and crème Fraîche, p9 • Roasted Whole Salmon With Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce, p23

april 2012 26

chefS in the ShadowS Get to know the unsung heroes behind some of the city’s top restaurants

a tanGled web Tracking the influential restaurants and chefs that helped build our restaurant scene

in everY iSSue 9 StarterS 5 ways to fill a crêpe, new local rum, whiskey school, tiny glasses, Iberico pork, Dragon Sauce 14 radar What to do, when and where

20 Get toGether A springtime feast with a dual purpose 41 SelectS Kabinett Rieslings from a wacky vintage 44 Good for You The raw milk debate

16 MixMaSter Lighten up with floral cocktails

47 Scene Eating along 82nd Avenue

18 i.d. Portland’s own Sake crusader

52 hiGh five Vintage restaurants worth a visit

war and peace (and food and friendShip) The story behind Portland’s new Iraqi restaurant On ThE cOVER: The fetching, photogenic Mika Paredes, sous chef at Beast, takes a break from the kitchen to linger in our spotlight. PhOTOGRAPh BY FRED JOE

ThIS PAGE: Patrick McKee, chef de cuisine at Paley’s Place, readies himself for another day of running one of Portland’s top kitchens. PhOTOGRAPh BY FRED JOE

LEFT: Lemon zest and juice destined for creamy fresh ricotta. PhOTOGRAPh BY MOTOYA nAKAMURA

Mix is 10 issues a year! it’s easy to subscribe online — go to Mixpdx.coM and click on “subscribe.” You can also find past articles, restaurant reviews and all our recipes at mixpdx.com, so get clicking and start eating.

SIDE DIShES • Herbed Persian Stuck-Pot Rice, p24 DESSERTS • Compote and Fromage Blanc crepes, p9 • Crème Fraîche Semifreddo With Roasted Rhubarb compote, p25 • Lemon Cream crepe cake, p9 • Profiterole Crepes, p9 DRInKS: • Scandinavian Spring, p17 • Tiberious Fizz, p17 cOnDIMEnTS • Fresh Meyer Lemon Ricotta With Local Honey, p45 • Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce, p24

online extraS at mixPdx.Com: • Dragon Sauce noodles • Spring Salad of Butter Lettuce, Asparagus and Radishes • Twisted Toll house cookies • Versatile crepes • Toasted hazelnut and Sake Dressing

MARK ROTHKO

February 18 – May 27

Take Your Relaxation Seriously ...

contributors

Fishels & American Leather® does. Portland-based freelance writer and video artist Amanda Eckerson specializes in documenting the intersections of culture and social justice as they manifest in art, food, politics and life. When she first heard about Ghaith Sahib and Maath Hamed, childhood friends from Iraq who reunited in Portland and opened a restaurant, she couldn’t wait to share their story with a wider audience (Page 36). “Dar Salam epitomizes the power of sharing food to break down prejudices and create understanding among different cultures,” she says.

Andrea Slonecker spent a week hanging out in coffee shops, bars and restaurants with five of Portland’s most under-the-radar chefs, interviewing them for our “Chefs in the Shadows” story on Page 26. “I originally thought this was going to be a story about chefs who aren’t getting the respect that they deserve,” she says, “but I quickly realized that they are all far too content to talk smack about their big-name bosses. The story became one of loyalty and admiration for the chef-restaurateurs who’ve put Portland cuisine in the spotlight, through the voices of the men and women who are running their kitchens.” Andrea has tried out pretty much every occupation that has to do with eating and drinking and is finally settling on a combination of food writing and teaching. She’s also the executive director of the Portland Culinary Alliance. She’s contributed to several cookbooks and epicurean travel guides, and her first solo cookbook project, “Artisan Pretzels at Home” (Chronicle Books), will be released in April 2013.

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Freelance writer and recipe developer Adrian j.S. hale tackled the confusing topic of raw milk for our Good For You column on Page 44. She writes a blog called Communal Table where she records her own relationship with food, family and friends. You can usually find her in her kitchen trying out some new recipe or ingredient. “A big draw to living in the Northwest is the bounty of fresh foods all around us,” she says. “Living here has allowed me to get closer to the sources of the foods I eat. I love that my kids know the farmers and the animals where our food comes from.”

fred joe has been a professional photographer for more than 20 years, and for the past 14, right here in Portland. The chefs he photographed for this month’s issue (Page 26) have been honing their skills for a long time, too. “I’ve met or photographed each of these people at various times over the last 10 years and after meeting them again for this assignment I can say that they’re all at the top of their game — still innovating, still making dining fun and exciting in Portland,” he says.

Other COntributing Writers: Amy BAird, KAthlEEn BAuEr, grAnt ButlEr, mAtthEw CArd, pAul ClArKE, KAthErinE ColE, BrEndA Crow, willi gAllowAy, ivy mAnning, dEEnA priChEp, miChAEl ruSSEll, AndrEA SlonECKEr, AudrEy vAn BuSKirK Other COntributing PhOtOgraPhers/illustratOrs: doug BEghtEl, BEnjAmin BrinK, fAith CAthCArt, rEEd dArmon, miKE dAviS, jAmiE frAnCiS , dArryl jAmES, BEth nAKAmurA, motoyA nAKAmurA

Pick uP thE dRy clEaning. MEEt cliEntS a ntS in thE PEaRl. gRab gR cOFFEE. bicEPS. FFEE. WORk On yOuR bi gO tO thE dOctOR. gEt lunch at SuShi land. StOP by thE bank. Run back tO thE OFFicE. catch a tiMbER’S gaME. bROWSE bOOkS at POWEll’S. StOP and SMEll thE ROSES. gO FOR a jOg On thE WatERFROnt. A better way to carshare is coming to Portland. No mandatory return locations. No deadlines. Simply take a car2go when you need it, and leave it when you’re done. For a limited time, register for FREE and get 30 minutes of FREE driving time. Visit portland.car2go.com and use promo code: ROSE.

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VOLUME 6 / ISSUE 3

mixpdx.com DANIELLE CENTONI / EDITOR

dcentoni@oregonian.com

LINDA SHANKWEILER / CREATIVE DIRECTOR

lshankweiler@oregonian.com REED DARMON / DESIGNER

rdarmon@oregonian.com

WALLY BENSON, COLIN pOWERS, AMY REIfENRATH / COPY EDITORS ADVERTISING BARBARA SWANSON / VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AND MARKETING bswanson@oregonian.com, 503-221-8279 STEvE uRBAN / MIX MAGAZINE MANAGER surban@oregonian.com, 503-221-8314 DENICE WILLIAMS / RETAIL ADVERTISING MANAGER dwilliams@oregonian.com, 503-221-8514 DEBI WALERY / GENERAL ADVERTISING MANAGER dwalery@oregonian.com, 503-221-8302 RYAN COuRTNEY / AUTO, REAL ESTATE ADVERTISING MANAGER rcourtney@oregonian.com, 503-221-8329 CHuCK SpITTAL / PRODUCTION COORDINATOR cspittal@oregonian.com, 503-294-4110 TO ADVERTISE STEvE uRBAN / MIX ADVERTISING MANAGER surban@oregonian.com, 503-221-8314 TO SUBSCRIBE: GO TO MIXpDX.COM OR CALL 503-221-8240 OR wRITE OREgONIAN puBLISHINg COMpANY

Attn: Circulation Dept./MIX Magazine 1320 S.w. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 CIRCULATION hOTLINE 503-221-8240 A publication of Oregonian Publishing Co.

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Five ways to fill a crepe

Cookbook author and miX founding editor martha holmberg knows a thing or two about crepes. she’s been making them since she was in junior high. oh, and her training at la varenne helps, too. she details her well-honed techniques in her latest book “Crepes: 50 Savory and Sweet Recipes” (Chronicle Books, $19.95), out this month. the cornerstone of the book is her sinfully good versatile Crepe recipe, which uses browned butter for luscious depth. then she fills those crepes with genius combinations that go well beyond the usual nutella and bananas. adding a distinct pdX flavor are recipes from several local cooks (and miX contributors), including matthew Card and gluten-free chef laura Byrne russell. i even donated a couple of recipes, too. to give you a taste of what’s in store, and provide you with some springy dinner and dessert ideas, here are five of holmberg’s recipes in mini form. — danielle Centoni

Lemon Cream Cake (left): whip 1 cup crème fraîche, 1 cup whipping cream and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar until peaks form, 3 minutes. lay a cooled crepe on a platter, spread with 3 tablespoons lemon curd, leaving a ¼-inch border. lay another crepe on top and spread with 1⁄ 3 cup whipped cream, leaving a border. Continue layering with 16 to 18 crepes. wrap in plastic and chill for 4 to 24 hours.

Compote and fromage blanc: simmer ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup orange juice, ½ cup water, 1 inch of peeled ginger root and 3 crushed green cardamom pods together for 10 minutes. discard ginger and cardamom, add 6 ounces sliced dried apricots, and simmer for 20-30 minutes until tender. season to taste with 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or more) and sugar. mix together 4 ounces fromage blanc and 1⁄ 3 cup plain yogurt. drizzle warmed crepe with apricot syrup, fold into quarters and top with 2 tablespoons cheese mixture and some poached apricots and syrup.

Profiteroles: arrange two to three small scoops of ice cream down the middle of a warmed crepe. loosely fold edges over and drizzle with warm chocolate sauce.

Pesto and crème fraîche: spread crepe with about 2 teaspoons of crème fraîche, then 2 tablespoons good pesto. fold edges so they meet in the middle. top with arugula lightly dressed in lemon vinaigrette and a few shavings of parmesan.

Apples and sausage: separately sauté 8 ounces bulk italian sausage until browned, 2 diced apples until tender and 4 thinly sliced leeks until soft; combine and season to taste. spread ½ ounce chèvre on crepe, top with ½ cup of sausage mixture, fold like a burrito, brush with butter and bake at 425 degrees until heated through.

 ONLINe bONus: Get Martha Holmberg’s recipe for Versatile Crepes at MIxpdx.COM photograph from "CrÊpes, 50 savory and sweet reCipes," ChroniCle Books

starters CONt. wHat yOu Need tuLIp GLasses make a small bit of room on the shelf for these diminutive tulip glasses from world market (as in Cost plus). a six-pack costs shown $7.99, and the delicate tumblers are aCtUal serious entertaining workhorses. Use size them as brunch-time bud vases or juice glasses, or put them to use as an elegant, stemless way to serve port, sherry and sauternes. — adrian J.s. hale

drINk tHIs paCIfIC ruM COOk tHIs draGON sauCe NOOdLes

although i like the smutty pictures  ONLINe and romance of restaurant cookextra: get books, it’s a rare day i actually the recipe at cook anything from them. i spent MIxpdx.COM my time on the line, and i know how long those dishes take to make. “momofuko” by david Chang and peter meehan (Clarkson potter, 2009, $40) is a prime example, jammed with money shots of unctuous pork belly and steamy noodles — and recipes that take all day. But the book accurately captures the grittiness and hard edges of restaurant life — warts, cursing and all — and it has a smattering of genius recipes that are quick to make and have become staples in my house. to wit: dragon sauce. little more than store-bought ssamjang (a korean paste of chile, soy and garlic), soy sauce, sherry vinegar, sesame oil and simple syrup, it makes everything good. although Chang uses it to flavor dense, chewy rice “cakes” called dduk bok ti, i use it to dress fried rice or udon noodles. sure, it’s somewhat bogus, but the results are terrific. — matthew Card photograph By faith CathCart

Bull run distilling opened its new distillery and cozy tasting room on northwest Quimby just last december, but distiller lee medoff was plenty busy long before the dust settled. this month he’s releasing his brand-new agricole-style light rum made with organic, crystallized south american cane juice. although it’s unusual to age a light rum, he lets it rest in used bourbon barrels for three to four weeks to soften the finish and enhance the flavor. he also has a dark rum aging away for 10 to 12 months. get one of the first tastes of light pacific rum at toast on april 28 and 29. hosted by the oregon distillers guild and held at the world trade Center downtown, the event features public tastings of local and national artisan spirits, plus cocktail demonstrations by local bartenders. — danielle Centoni bullrundistillery.com oregondistillersguild.org/TOAST-Details.html

River Dining at Its Best

Master CLass wHIskey

portland has its very own scottish-born whiskey expert, a man who has 30 years’ experience writing about the spirit for everything from Britain’s Whisky Magazine to Cigar Aficionado. learn all about whiskey (and even get certified) from the master himself at one of stuart maclean ramsay’s upcoming classes. Chose from american whiskey (april 15), world whiskey (april 22) and Craft distilling (may 6). Classes are $90, run from 3-6 p.m., and include tastings of eight whiskies. — danielle Centoni ramsaysdram.com

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starters CONt. eat tHIs IberICO pOrk don’t be grossed out, but raw pork is delicious — at least when it’s ibérico de bellota, spain’s most coveted swine. also called pata negra, or “black hoofed,” the pigs feast on fallen acorns (bellota) as they graze in oak groves and are known the world over for producing the best hams. But the sweet, nutty fat and earthy essence that make the ham so famous also result in incredible uncured pork, which you can now get through portland-based meat purveyor nicky Usa. shipped frozen from fermin, a small, family-owned operation in la alberca, spain, the meat comes in a variety of cuts, from familiar (ribs) to foreign (pluma from the shoulder region). deep crimson and richly flavored, this pork eats like beef (think Japanese wagyu), and can be prepared as such — seared or grilled to medium-rare, and, yes, even tartare. special order it from your local butcher counter, such as laurelhurst market, Chop, sheridan fruit Co. and milwaukie kitchen and wine. and watch for it at restaurants like le pigeon and andina. — andrea sloneCker

Get your hands dirty even if you have a balcony instead of a backyard, you can grow all kinds of veggies as long as you have full sun, an 18-inch-wide container with drainage holes and a commitment to watering (the soil should always be damp). planting season is here, so we asked portland gardening expert willi galloway, author

of the beautiful new seed-to-plate book “grow, Cook, eat” (sasquatch, $29.95), to tell us which vegetables grow well in containers. the former editor of Organic Gardening magazine and self-described variety-geek chose five intriguing plants we can’t wait to get in the ground — or pot.

1. ‘Black’ cherry tomato: Unlike most cherry tomatoes, these fruits the size of a pingpong ball have a full tomato-y flavor with just a hint of smoke. look for starts at your local nursery or order starts of ‘Chocolate Cherry,’ a very similar variety, from territorial seed Company (territorialseed.com). 2. ‘golden India’ Snow Pea: gorgeous two-toned purple flowers are followed by tender, very pale yellow snow peas. plant this at the base of a bamboo trellis and encourage the six-foot tall vines to climb. John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds (kitchengardenseeds.com)

3. ‘Satsuki Midori’ cucumber: this rare asian cucumber scrambles readily up 12

trellises, making it the perfect centerpiece for a large container. the fruits grow 10 to 12 inches long and have crisp, white flesh with a subtle melon flavor — and the seeds never turn bitter. Seeds of Change (seedsofchange.com)

4. ‘golden Alexandria’ Alpine Strawberry: perfect for spots with afternoon shade, these compact plants have beautiful chartreuse leaves and sweet, red strawberries you can harvest from early summer into fall. Annie’s Annuals (anniesannuals.com) 5. ‘Delfino’ Cilantro: Unlike regular cilantro, which features lobed leaves, this variety produces ferny, dill-like foliage that adds great texture to containers. plus, it resists going to seed in the heat. John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds (kitchengardenseeds.com) — willi galloway

read tHIs 'tHe suGar Cube' when kir Jensen opened up her tiny cupcake cart the sugar Cube in 2008, she made an instant splash, locally and nationally, with treats that balanced deliciousness with pure whimsy. the best of them are compiled in her new cookbook “The Sugar Cube” (Chronicle Books, $24.95; full disclosure: it’s co-written by miX editor danielle Centoni). the collection ranges from portland brunch obsessions like eggy stratas and coffee cakes to homey cookies, pies and puddings, all with unusual twists (like the twisted toll house cookies made with hazelnut flour). and yes, you’ll find some of the cupcakes that put Jensen on the map, like the highway to heaven, a chocolate and coffee concoction that’s decorated with chocolate ganache, caramel sauce and ridged potato chips. — grant BUtler

 ONLINe bONus: Get the recipe for kir Jensen’s twisted toll House cookies at MIxpdx.COM

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Local Media Partener

radar Our picks for what to do when LOve stOry

April 3-29: tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” is one of the greatest love stories (and tragedies) ever written, and its story of love and marriage in Imperial russia gets adapted to the stage by Kevin McKeon, who created Portland Center stage’s heartbreaking version of “snow Falling on Cedars” a few seasons back. After the final curtain, head down the street to Jimmy Mak’s, where you can lift your spirits with cocktails and live jazz, and discuss the play between sets. pcs.org jimmymaks.com

A nOrDIC nIGht

April 4-7: Call it the perfect day trip. First, head east to the Dalles for the 33rd annual Northwest Cherry Festival, which celebrates the cherry blossoms of spring with a parade, a classic car show, food and — this sounds promising — a lip-sync contest. then venture east across the Columbia river to Goldendale, where you can sip the latest vintages at Maryhill Winery before heading back to Portland. thedalleschamber.com maryhillwinery.com

April 12-14: White bird normally presents its shows in the large Arlene schnitzer Concert hall, but for the West Coast-debut of sweden’s Göteborg Ballet they have the more-intimate newmark theatre for an all-nordic showcase of talent from the latest hotbed of groundbreaking dance in europe. to make it an all-swedish evening, head out early to southeast Portland’s Broder, where there’s smoked trout, pickled herring and gravlax, as well as meatballs in sherry-cream sauce. whitebird.org broderpdx.com

sPrInG FOr beer AnD MOre

April 6-7: What once started out as a beer-centric event is now a celebration of a wide range of pleasures. At the 18th annual Spring Beer & Wine Fest at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, you get to taste some of the northwest’s best flavors, whether in a glass or as part of the festival’s tour de Cheese & Chocolate. Admission is free to the first 1,000 each day. springbeerfest.com

A PAssIOn FOr PAstA

April 20: At the start of the year, you vowed to learn new cooking skills, and here it is April and you haven’t done a thing. Get moving with In Good taste’s Hands-On Pasta Techniques class. Adam Kaplan, a onetime chef at Genoa, shows how to make perfect noodles, as well as handmade ravioli and potato gnocchi. ingoodtastestore.com

stOrMy WeAther

Fest + FeAst In AstOrIA

filling in as lead vocalist for Pink Martini, singer Storm Large offers a unique spin on popular songs you’ve heard many times before — but never like this — in a unique collaboration with the Oregon symphony. As an added bonus: rock violinist Aaron Meyer performs during the concert’s first half. After the show, head for a strong drink at Dante’s, the gritty downtown club where Large and her band used to rock out every week. orsymphony.org danteslive.com

need more excuses to visit Astoria. It’s the perfect two-hour drive from Portland, much of it along the beautiful Columbia river. And when you get there, the 30th annual Astoria-Warrenton Crab, Seafood & Wine Festival awaits. It’s the coast’s largest seafood and wine festival, featuring northwest cuisine, arts and crafts vendors, northwest wine and live music. Make it a weekend with an overnight at the recently refurbished Commodore Hotel in downtown Astoria. oldoregon.com commodoreastoria.com

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h Here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s not unusual for the aftermath of winter to cast its gloom so deep into the calendar as to imperil plans for Memorial Day weekend. In this preternaturally gray place, it can be hard to discern from the weather alone when spring has indeed sprung. Fortunately, there are flowers. Colorful sprays of blossoming flora are sometimes enough to satisfy the winter-weary until the weather can catch up with the season — but for those needing an additional boost of springtime spirit, many bartenders are using the power of the flower to prepare their guests for the sunnier days to come. Liqueurs and tinctures enhanced with the subtle perfume and flavor of roses, violets and orange blossoms are a small but significant part of our bibulous heritage. Nineteenth and early 20th century bar guides frequently call for these floral ingredients in softer, sweeter drinks, intended for what were then considered the more delicate tastes of the fairer sex. These preparations include elaborately layered poussecafe-style drinks with demure names such as the Maiden’s Kiss and Eve’s Garden, and sugary frappés such as the Happy Thought, in which rose and violet liqueurs are combined with crèmes de menthe and cacao, and a trace of cognac. Sturdier, boozier — and,

presumably, more masculine — drinks were also sometimes laced with touches of floral character. In New Orleans, the venerable Ramos Gin Fizz was accented with dashes of orange-flower water. Violet liqueur lent color and a beguiling aroma to drinks such as the absinthe-sparked Attention and the Aviation, one of the touchstone drinks of the craft-cocktail renaissance. More recently, elderflower became a ubiquitous essential in cocktail circles, following the 2007 release of St. Germain elderflower liqueur. Other spirits producers have likewise turned to floral flavors, in products such as Hendrick’s Gin, which includes rose petals in its mix of botanicals, and Dimmi Liquore di Milano, an Italian herbal liqueur with an ethereal aroma from the use of apricot and peach blossoms. In recent years, crème de violette (and the similarly flavored Crème Yvette) returned to American bars following a decades-long absence. But today’s DIYminded bartenders are just as likely to reach for house-made bitters and syrups infused with lavender, or garnet-red teas or syrups flavored and colored with hibiscus petals. Through their fragrance and their flavor, floral ingredients can lend brightness to a cocktail, giving an airy character to the crisp snap of gin, or enhancing the fruity resonance of cognac with a graceful lift. But floral ingredients’ virtue can also be their vice. Although a delicate touch of violet or lavender can introduce a fresh flush of springtime flavor to an otherwise simple cocktail, too aggressive of a pour can pummel the palate, resulting in a soapy character in the drink and an unsettling aroma evocative of

BY PAuL CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHY BY THOMAS BOYD

Tiberius Fizz MAKES 1 SERVING

When preparing this drink at Metrovino, bar manager Jacob Grier uses Portland-made gin and an easy hibiscus petal syrup.

1 (¼-inch-thick) slice of cucumber 2 ounces gin (Grier recommends New Deal #3) ¾ ounce hibiscus syrup (see below) ¾ ounce fresh lemon juice Chilled soda water Ice Garnish: thinly sliced cucumber Place cucumber in the bottom of a cocktail shaker and crush with a muddler or a wooden spoon. Add remaining ingredients except soda water. Fill shaker with ice; shake until chilled, about 10 seconds. Strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice. Top with a splash of chilled club soda and garnish with thin slices of cucumber.

a great aunt’s boudoir. With spring now in full swing — regardless of what the day’s weather forecast may say — floral ingredients are popping up on local drink menus. A classic Aviation cocktail, made with gin and maraschino along with a trace of violet liqueur, is a fixture of the menu at 2nd Story, a new bar/small plates hot spot in Southeast Portland. Last summer, the bar also served drinks prepared with a house-made elderflower cordial, which is likely to make a return appearance after elderflowers blossom later in the season. At Gilt Club, the tequila-based Cactus Blossom is flavored with lavender syrup and lemongrass, and at Metrovino, bar manager Jacob Grier (pictured) spirits guests into the season with drinks including the hibiscus-accented Tiberius Fizz, made with the locally produced New Deal gin and the delicate taste of fresh cucumber. Grier says that though floral ingredients may have a limited utility behind the bar, they serve as a useful counterpoint to some of the stronger-flavored spirits

To make the hibiscus syrup: Make a tea by soaking 6 to 8 dried hibiscus petals in 1 cup of hot water for 5 minutes. Strain to remove petals and add 1 cup granulated sugar. Whisk or shake until sugar is completely dissolved. Keep remainder refrigerated. You can get hibiscus petals at Mexican grocery stores and tea shops. — Jacob Grier, Metrovino

Scandinavian Spring In this seasonal cocktail, Grier matches the aromatics of anise with lavender and honey, adding depth with Maurin Quina, a French aperitif liqueur flavored with bitter almonds and wild cherries.

1½ ounces Krogstad aquavit ½ ounce Maurin Quina ½ ounce fresh lemon juice ½ ounce lavender-honey syrup (see below) used in cocktails, while also ushering guests from the dark, heavy drinks of winter toward the lighter, brighter flavors of spring and summer. “Bartenders like to use a lot of bitter or strong-flavored ingredients, but that’s not for everyone — and floral cocktails are a nice change of pace from that,” Grier says. “They’re very approachable flavors, too; they really play well with citrus.” Last year at Metrovino, Grier matched fresh citrus and floral flavors in the

Scandinavian Spring, made with the anise-rich Krogstad aquavit, lemon juice and honey-lavender syrup. As with the Tiberius Fizz, Grier will likely break out the Scandinavian Spring for guests seeking respite from the ponderous flavors of winter, and for those just dying for spring. “Everybody’s thinking about flowers in bloom for spring,” he says. “These are citrusy, refreshing drinks that play up to that role.”

Ice Garnish: lemon twist Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill with ice. Shake well until chilled, about 10 seconds; strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel. To make the lavender-honey syrup: Combine 1 cup hot water with ½ cup honey and ¼ cup lavender buds. Let mixture steep as it cools; strain before use. Keep remainder refrigerated. — Jacob Grier, Metrovino £

I.D.

BY IVY MAnnInG / PhOTOGRAPh BY MOTOYA nAKAMURA

[ Marcus Pakiser, sake crusader ] Once the beverage of choice only at sushi restaurants, sake has become an “it” beverage even on non-Asian menus around town. And that’s in large part due to the efforts of Marcus Pakiser, sake sommelier to Young’s Columbia Distributing Co., the region’s largest sake, beer and wine distributor. When he’s not making sales calls, visiting sake breweries in Japan, teaching sake seminars or writing sake lists for restaurants around town, you’ll likely find Pakiser perched on a stool at one of Portland’s izakayas enjoying hamachi kama (broiled yellowtail collar) with a chilled glass of his favorite beverage. We caught up with him and got an education in the finer points of sake. MIX: Sake seems to be moving into the mainstream. Why now? Pakiser: People love sake because it’s incredibly versatile; it is great with foods of all kinds. And it’s sulfite-free, so it’s less likely to give you a hangover. They can be delicate, rich, intense — there is so much variation. Part of the allure, too, is people are looking for something from smaller artisan craftsmen. A lot of the sakes we carry never make it outside of their tiny village or prefecture in Japan, but there’s a market for them here.

MIX: Compared with beer or wine, a bottle of “Japan’s national beverage” can be pretty pricey. Why? Pakiser: Sake is made with a special type of rice, and sake rice is not cheap. Something like 50 percent of the cost of making sake is in the rice alone. Sake is about half the price in Japan, but add the process of customs and importers, and it ends up more expensive here. There are domestically made sakes (six breweries in the U.S. and a few in Canada) that are not that expensive, and some, like SakeOne in Forest Grove, are doing a great job. MIX: In DIY-crazy Portland, everyone seems to be brewing beer in the basement or distilling gin in the bathtub. has the trend spread to homemade sake? Pakiser: There are lots of home sake brewers in Oregon. Fred Eckhardt is the father of home-brewed sake in Portland; he’s been doing it since the ’70s. he has a recipe you can get at Steinbart’s home brew store (fhsteinbart.com), and they supply home brewers with koji (the active culture used to ferment rice for sake), so there are tons of folks getting into brewing sake at home. Some are really good. MIX: Can you give advice to sthe uninitiated on how to find a good sake? Is there a type one shouldn’t drink? What should newbies start with? Pakiser: Keep this in mind. You get what you pay for. If you buy a $2 bottle of sake, that’s exactly what you’re going to get. Look to spend about $15 to $20 retail fora good bottle of sake like Yuki no Bosha,

Sake Fest:

Portland’s sakecurious can try hundreds of sakes along with food from Ping, Departure, Yakuza, Masu and more at Sake Fest PDX, 6:30-9 p.m. April 12 at The Governor hotel. Go to sakefestpdx.com for more info and tickets.

6580 NE M INERAL S PRINGS R D C ARLTON , OR 97111 503-684-2991 CONTACTUS@ANNEAMIE.COM

www.anneamie.com or SakeOne’s Yoshinogawa Winter Warrior. Those are good starter sakes. At a restaurant, try a sake flight. They are on the menu to educate and help you find what you like. MIX: What drives you nuts about American sake drinkers? Pakiser: Most folks start off with piping-hot sake, and I try to explain that’s akin to boiling your Chardonnay. When Japan first started shipping sake to the U.S. after World War II, the sake we were receiving was the stuff that they wouldn’t drink, so the restaurants

here warmed it up to make it palatable. There is a place for warmed sake; some junmai and honjozo sakes warmed to body temperature are great. But piping hot? That must stop! Also, this whole notion that sake is just for sushi drives me nuts. We’re limiting sake so much by only drinking when eating sushi! I’ve paired sake with Gorgonzola, rare beef with rich mushroom sauce, spicy chicken wings. People say I’m too geeky on sake, but I swear that it goes with just about anything you can think of, it really does.

SortIng out the Sake label Ordinary sake (the equivalent of table wine) is called Futsu-shu and is the stuff served hot at your local sushi joint. But the good stuff (called Tokutei meisho-shu, or special designation sake) is what you’ll find on wine lists and store shelves. Making sense of the labels on these bottles isn’t easy. A single sake could be categorized by several terms, such as junmai (no alcohol added), ginjo (premium), nigori (unfiltered) and genshu (undiluted). Each term denotes a type, grade or style, and we’ve listed the most common terms below. Commit them to memory, and it’ll be much easier to identify the sake you want.

TyPEs:

Junmai: One of the two main types of special-designation sake, junmai is made only from water, rice, yeast and koji. The term also means the rice had a polishing ratio of at least 70 percent (i.e. 30 percent of the outer shell was polished away). Honjozo: The second main type, it has a small amount of distilled alcohol added. Some Japanese ginjos and daiginjos (which are premium grades of sake) may be honjozo (i.e., a bit of brewer’s alcohol was added), but it won’t necessarily say “honjozo” on the label.

GraDEs:

Ginjo: Premium. Can be either junmai or honjozo. Rice must have a polishing ratio of at least 60 percent (40 percent of the outer shell was polished away). The more that’s polished away, the higher the quality of sake. Daiginjo: Super-premium. Can be either junmai or honjozo. Rice must have a polishing ratio of at least 49 percent (at least 51 percent of the outer shell is polished away).

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sTyLEs:

Genshu: Fullstrength sake, between 18 and 20 percent alcohol, because it has not been diluted with water to the typical 15 percent alcohol of a regular sake. Koshu: Aged sake Nigori: Unfiltered or only lightly filtered sake. It’s slightly cloudy and can be sweeter. Nama: Unpasteurized, or “raw” sake. Very perishable (must be refrigerated) and highly prized. £

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get together [ A dual-purpose dinner party ]

BY AMY BAIRd / Photography by MOTOYA NAKAMURA

The Menu deviled Eggs-on-Eggs Smoked Salmon or Prosciutto Pea Shoot Rosettes Spring Salad of Butter Lettuce, Asparagus and Radishes Roasted Whole Salmon With Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce Herbed Persian Stuck-Pot Rice Crème Fraîche Semifreddo With Roasted Rhubarb Compote

The Wine Red: Broadly Vineyards, Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, Oregon, 2010 White: Gini Soave Classico, Monteforte d’Alpone, Italy, 2010 Rose: Chateau Routas, Rouviere, Provence, France, 2010

espite the persistent rain and dreary gray days, April is a time for celebration. Not only is it my birthday month, but this April also happens to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the Save Our Wild Salmon coalition, which works to restore wild salmon to sustainable, harvestable levels in the Columbia and Snake rivers (and yes, I do work for them). It is also the perfect time to celebrate the spring salmon runs in our waters. Which got me thinking: What better way to herald the homecoming of our prized chinook than with a dinner party that raises funds to help restore our wild salmon populations? I invited more people than my Southeast Portland apartment could comfortably hold and set out to prepare a bright, spring-themed menu that my friends would not be able to resist. Though the coalition works to bring more folks to the table to discuss sustainable solutions for wild salmon in our rivers, I knew that if I wanted people to come to my table and dig deep in their pockets, I’d have to provide more than hummus and veggies. So I collaborated with a food-savvy friend and came up with a delicious study in springtime pink and green, built on wild salmon, of course, and plenty of tender, seasonal produce. I wanted the meal to be flexible for any willing-todonate friends, so we settled on a laid-back, buffet-style approach. As guests arrived we offered a vibrant, appropriately pink gin cocktail sweetened with rose syrup and set out several bottles of wine. For appetizers, we put together deviled eggs topped with sustainable salmon roe. We also curled smoked salmon and prosciutto into dainty rosettes and skewered them along with bright green pea shoots to make bundles reminiscent of spring flowers.

A whole salmon is more impressive at the table than a platter of fillets, and it’s also easier to cook for a large group. So we stuffed two whole fish with fresh herbs and lemon and then roasted them until just cooked through. A bright-green spring onion and tarragon cream sauce added a decadent yet fresh note. Instead of plain pilaf, we cooked up Persianstyle saffron rice studded with herbs and completed the main course with a spring salad of crisp asparagus, tender butter lettuce, spicy radishes and creamy feta. Most of the ingredients for the meal were prepped in advance, so I could focus on chatting with guests instead of hovering over the stove. Even the dessert, a vanilla-scented crème fraîche semifreddo with rhubarb compote, was made the night before. Our bellies full and our cocktail glasses empty, it was time to chat a bit about the other purpose of the party. I didn’t prepare a long, involved speech or browbeat anyone into donating. I simply summed up the organization’s The Playlist goals and ended by asking Various mixes people to donate if they felt compiled from the inspired. This humble gatherfollowing artists: ing of 15 close friends raised almost $1,000, proving that Amon Tobin even the smallest contribution Bonobo can make a difference. You Buddha Bar don’t always need a reason, but Beck when a party with close friends Xavier Rudd has a charitable purpose, that’s Beth Orton definitely something worth Groove Armada celebrating. Thievery Corporation

Timeline TWO dAYS BEFORE: Prepare the semifreddo and rhubarb compote. Prepare the spring oniontarragon sauce. ONE dAY BEFORE: Boil and halve the deviled eggs, prepare the filling (but don’t assemble). 22

Make the salad (do not dress). A FEW HOURS BEFORE: Assemble the deviled eggs. Parboil the rice and move to a pot for finishing, prepare the saffron water for finishing. Make the pea shoot rosettes. Bake salmon. RIGHT BEFORE SERVING: Finish cooking the rice. dress the pea shoot rosettes.

deviled eggs-on-eggs MAkeS 4 dOzen

These are just your basic, beloved deviled eggs, changed up a bit with a smattering of fresh herbs and a dollop of salmon roe. Feel free to tweak the filling to your taste, but keep in mind that a tangy, lightly salted filling stands up best to the briny roe. Salmon eggs can be found in jars at gourmet grocery stores, or from your local sushi joint (we picked up ours from the sustainably focused Bamboo Sushi in Southeast Portland).

⁄3 to ½ cup mayonnaise

Juice of ½ to 1 lemon 1 tablespoon dijon-style mustard Few dashes hot sauce Salt and white pepper to taste ½ cup salmon roe ⁄3 cup finely chopped fresh chives or chervil 1

Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Cover and bring to a boil. As soon as the water begins boiling, turn off the heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. drain and rinse with cold water until cold enough to peel. Peel the eggs, cut in half and pop the yolks out into a small mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, lemon juice (starting with the smaller amounts of each), mustard and hot sauce to the yolks. Mash until smooth (you can also do this in a stand mixer). Add more mayonnaise if needed for a creamy consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and more lemon juice. To assemble, spoon the yolk mixture into the whites (you can also pipe it into the whites using a pastry bag or a plastic zip-top bag with a corner snipped off). Top with a dollop of salmon eggs and a sprinkling of herbs. — Deena Prichep

Smoked Salmon or Prosciutto Pea Shoot Rosettes MAkeS ABOuT 3 dOzen

Pea shoots are the tips of pea plants, with a sweet green pea flavor and adorable curling tendrils. Speared with a twirl of smoked salmon or prosciutto, they look just like a spring rose. You can find pea shoots at springtime farmers markets and Asian grocery stores. 8 ounces smoked salmon and/or prosciutto (if using salmon, make sure it’s thinly sliced and pliant enough to allow you to curl it into shape) 1 bunch pea shoots, washed and dried 2 tablespoons olive oil

dress the salad.

Juice of ½ lemon

Heat the spring onion-tarragon sauce.

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the rhubarb compote.

2 dozen eggs

Roll up the slices of salmon or prosciutto into rosettes (depending upon the size of the slices, you may need to cut them first). Spear a toothpick through the leaves of a bite-sized length of pea shoot (or fold a larger length to make it bite-sized). Spear a rosette next to the pea shoot, and then bookend with another bit of pea shoot. Arrange on a platter. Before serving, whisk together the olive oil and lemon juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper. drizzle sparingly over the rosettes and serve. — Deena Prichep

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Roasted Whole Salmon With Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce MAkeS 12 TO 15 SeRVinGS

Whole salmon are sold at fairly reasonable prices at most fish counters, and cooking them is quite easy. Remember that the fish continues to cook after you remove it from the oven, so pull it out just before it’s done to your liking. The salmon is equally delicious at room temperature, so you can make these ahead or cook them one at a time if your oven isn’t big enough to cook both.

2 whole salmon, 3 to 4 pounds each Salt and pepper 1 small bunch fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley 1 small bunch fresh dill

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2 lemons, sliced into thin rounds Olive oil Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce, for serving (recipe follows) 23

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the salmon from the refrigerator to take the chill off while the oven preheats. Oil two large baking sheets or line with parchment. Rinse the outside and cavity of the salmon. Pat dry. Season the inside with salt and pepper, and fill with half of the fresh herbs and a few of the lemon slices. Lay the fish down on the prepared baking sheet, and rub the top of the fish with a drizzle of oil. Top with a few of the lemon slices, and season with salt and pepper. Repeat with remaining salmon. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the salmon feels like it has some firmness when you press it, and it’s just beginning to think about flaking. Let rest before serving. Serve with Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce. —Deena Prichep

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Spring Onion and Tarragon Sauce MAkeS ABOuT 2 CuPS

This recipe showcases delicate spring onions in a creamy, tarragon-scented sauce. If you can’t find spring onions, you can substitute a slightly lesser amount of sweet onions, along with a bunch of scallions. 927 SW YAMHILL • 503.223.3737

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¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter 1 pound spring onions (or 1 pound sweet onions and 1 bunch scallions), bulbs diced and green tops roughly chopped

Herbed Persian Stuck-Pot Rice MAkeS 12 TO 15 SeRVinGS

Usually when cooking rice, we take care not to burn things. But in Persian cooking, the crust (called tahdig) is the most prized part. Traditionally it’s upended and turned out whole, for a dramatic presentation, but nobody will fault you if you can’t achieve quite the same result. Feel free to substitute other fresh herbs, or divide the mixture between two pots if you don’t have a single one that’s big enough. 4 cups basmati rice 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped 1 small bunch fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons flour

1 small bunch fresh dill, coarsely chopped

2 cups whole milk

½ bunch scallions, thinly sliced

¼ cup fresh tarragon leaves

¼ cup olive oil or melted butter

¼ cup crème fraîche

2½ cups warm water

Salt and white pepper to taste

2 teaspoons salt

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the diced onion bulbs along with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are softened but not colored, about 20 minutes. Add the onion tops, and cook another 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Allow to cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk, a little at a time, letting the flour absorb each addition of milk before adding more. Raise the heat to medium-high and simmer briefly until the mixture thickens a bit. Add the tarragon and remove from heat. Transfer the mixture to a blender (or use an immersion blender), and blend until very smooth. Transfer back to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for a few more minutes, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the crème fraîche. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. — Adapted from Jennifer Hess, “Food52 Cookbook”



Juice of 1 lime 1 pinch saffron Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the rice and simmer for 5 minutes. drain. In a large bowl, mix together the parboiled rice, cilantro, parsley, dill and scallions. In the bottom of a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil or butter over medium heat. (If you don’t have a large enough pot, you can divide the recipe between two pots.) Add the rice mixture and press down to compact. Set over medium-high heat and cook until the rice begins to toast and become fragrant. While the rice is toasting, mix together the warm water, salt, lime juice and saffron. When the rice is fragrant and sizzling for a few minutes, pour the water mixture over the top. Let come to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cover tightly (if your lid doesn’t fit tightly, you can wrap it in foil or a dish towel. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, then remove from heat and let rest for 15 minutes. In traditional presentation, the rice is upended out of the pot onto a platter with the crust on top (dip the bottom of the pot in cold water for 30 seconds to help loosen the crust). But feel free to scoop out the rice and mix the lightly browned bottom with the rest of it. — Deena Prichep

oNLINe eXtrA: get the recipe for Spring Salad of Butter Lettuce, Asparagus and radishes at mIXpdX.com

Crème Fraîche Semifreddo With Roasted Rhubarb Compote MAkeS 12 SeRVinGS

Semifreddos are a great way to create a dessert with the light coolness of ice cream without having to purchase an ice cream maker. Beaten egg whites and cream are folded together into a sweet vanilla base, with a bit of crème fraîche for tang, then frozen until scoopable. The oven-baked rhubarb makes a sweettart counterpoint.

Semifreddo: 6 large eggs, separated 11⁄3 cups granulated sugar (divided) 2 cups heavy cream Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup crème fraîche

Retro Cocktails

Roasted rhubarb compote: 3 pounds rhubarb, cut in 2-inch lengths 1 cup white or red wine

Classic Cuisine

½ cup granulated sugar 1 vanilla bean pod

To make the semifreddo: Line two 9-inch loaf pans with plastic wrap, leaving a generous overhang on both sides. (You can try to smooth out any wrinkles that will imprint themselves on the finished semifreddo, but I usually fail at that task.) Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2⁄3 cup of the sugar, a little at a time, beating until peaks are stiff but not dry. Transfer whites to another bowl (it can be a small one) and set aside. Add the cream to the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

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Place the reserved egg yolks in the mixing bowl and add the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean (reserve the pod for the roasted rhubarb). Add the vanilla extract and remaining 2⁄3 cup sugar. Beat until the mixture has thickened, lightened in color and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Whisk in the crème fraîche until just combined. Gently fold the yolk mixture into the large bowl of whipped cream. Fold in about one-third of the egg whites to lighten, then fold in the remaining whites until there are no streaks left, taking care not to deflate the mixture. divide mixture among the prepared loaf pans, smooth the top, and fold the ends of the plastic wrap over to cover it. Freeze until solid, at least 4 hours (or up to 2 days ahead). To make the roasted rhubarb compote: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a roasting pan, stir together the rhubarb, wine, sugar and leftover vanilla bean pod. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring once after 15 minutes, until the rhubarb is completely tender but hasn’t lost its shape. Remove the vanilla bean. To serve: Cut the semifreddo into thick slices. Serve topped with the roasted rhubarb and its syrupy juices. — Deena Prichep £

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Chefs in the shadows they’re content

without star status, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it

Patrick McKee (the family Man) Chef de cuisine for Vitaly Paley at Paley’s Place

What is your role at Paley’s Place? I’m in charge of the day-to-day operations — ordering food, butchering animals, going over the reservation book, inputting invoices for food cost analysis. I work on the hot line, cold line or expedite during dinner service. our menu changes daily, and it’s my job to make sure we stay creative and that I keep the cooks motivated and involved in the creative process. I’m generally there by 12:30 p.m., and then leave as late as 1:30 a.m. I’m the first guy there and the last guy there.

By AndrEA slonEcKEr Photography by FrEd JoE When you read about Portland’s top dining destinations, rarely will you see mention of the names on the following pages. But these sous chefs and chefs de cuisine are the talent behind the talent, helping to put and keep their respective restaurants — not to mention Portland — on the culinary map. Each has the skill and experience to open his or her own place, but for years they’ve been happier staying put and dodging the media glare. Well, we think it’s high time they got a taste of the spotlight for a change. After all, these are the people behind the menus that make us drool, and the dishes we can’t stop thinking about. Get to know them, in their own voices, and find out what they do to make their respective restaurants a success — and don’t be surprised if they finally launch their own one day.

What is your philosophy as a chef? Honest cooking. That means, if you say you are working with the best product, you are actually working with the best products available. And if a steak is overcooked and you know it, then you don’t send it out, you start over. I always tell my guys that even if we’re running late getting the food out to the table, that it’s still better to take the time to make sure that it’s perfect. What is your working relationship like with Vitaly? We always joke about it: He comes in and gives us his 30 seconds of creative input and then walks away. It sounds easy now, but when I was learning how to do Ben’s job (former chef de cuisine Ben Bettinger), he did it so well that Vito put me in shoes that were too big for me. It took me a little while to fill those shoes. When I first started, Vito went over every fine detail with me on a daily basis. As I’ve proven that I’m able to do this job, he has released the reins. Vito places a lot on me, creatively, and it pushes

me, and places pressure upon me to meet that standard every day. How do you and Vitaly balance each other? I still come to him and ask for advice with an ingredient and he’ll blast out an idea in two seconds. And then there are times where I give him an idea. We challenge each other. There are times when he tells me to push myself to do more: “This may be hard for you, but do it.” Is it difficult to work in the shadow of Vitaly Paley? It doesn’t bother me, because I’m humble enough to accept the role that I am in. He gets the recognition, and it just doesn’t matter to me that much. What matters to me more is the

satisfaction that he and Kim (co-owner Kimberly Paley) get out of my job performance, and also hearing happy customers’ comments about my food, and also our service. What keeps you there? Vito. He’s my boss, but he is my friend. He’s definitely looked out for my family. He takes a keen interest in my kids, especially now that I’m a single dad. Ties like that are hard to break. I’ve found a home with Vito and Kim, and I’m more happy making that work for my life than I would be attempting to open something of my own. The other thing that keeps me there is that when I first started I saw Vito’s level of commitment to what he was doing and it really struck a chord with me. He whipped me into shape. I was

an experienced chef when I got there, but he got me into “Paley’s form.” We’ve seen a lot of chefs in town come through here, and not a single one would deny that they are better because of their experience working at Paley’s. What will change when Vitaly’s new restaurant opens? He’ll take on more of the “Thomas Keller” role. He’s going to be the chef-owner of his two places, and then Benny (Bettinger) and I will be running the kitchens. He is the overseer, he checks in with me almost on a daily basis. With this new venture, my role is to just support Vito and keep doing the best I can do.

Years at PaleY’s Place: 7½ traInIng: on-the-job

at Zefiro aVerage number of Hours Worked Per Week: 65 to 70 faVorIte kItcHen tools:

Meat fork and fish spatula (never tongs) faVorIte tHIng to cook:

Tasting menus faVorIte tHIng to eat:

Asian, at Biwa — his son loves the heart skewers and his daughter loves the mackerel

Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton

(the Partner)

Former chef de cuisine at Metrovino; co-chef/owner with husband Gregory Denton of soon-to-open Ox Restaurant

When and where did you first start working with your future husband, chef greg denton? We’ve been working together since 1999. We were hired at Terra in napa at the same time and both started on the pantry station. He would get promoted, and then I’d get promoted to the same station a little bit later. so, I basically followed him around the kitchen. We were pretty much best friends from the day we met. traInIng: california I always really enjoyed learnculinary Academy in ing from him. He is a great san Francisco teacher and loves sharing his knowledge and training. Within aVerage Hours a couple of years as our relaWorked Per Week: tionship started to grow into 60 something more, it really never changed that much. faVorIte kItcHen tools: Fish spatula

and a “good” spoon faVorIte tHIng to cook: Mexican faVorIte tHIng to eat: Italian

so, have you ever not worked together? Well, we moved to Maui together, and at first we were co-sous chefs at one restaurant, but then we both accepted positions as execu-

tive chefs at different restaurants. That was really the only time we weren’t working together in the 13 years we’ve known each other. Even then, he would come in and help me out on some nights because I was understaffed. so we still kind of worked together — that was the first time that I was really his boss. not long after that we moved to Portland to help open lucier. Greg was the executive sous chef and I had to work in the front of house; because of their corporate rules, they wouldn’t let us work side-by-side in the kitchen. After that, I knew I wanted to get back into the kitchen, so we started looking on craigslist. We started doing cooking tryouts. since we didn’t have a restaurant kitchen, and many times it was for restaurants that weren’t open yet, we’d invite the owner to our house and we’d cook for them. That’s how we met Todd steele, the owner of Metrovino, and we got hired to run his kitchen. What’s your philosophy as a chef? Balance. I think the most important thing a chef can do, besides making everything delicious, is to create balance in a meal. It’s fun to strive for this by providing contrasts within a dish, not only in flavors, but with temperatures and textures as well. What makes you and greg click? In the kitchen, that is. We get along great in the kitchen. The only time we don’t see eye-to-eye is when we’re putting together a new menu. rarely do either

of us come up with a dish and the other one says “that sounds perfect and amazing, let’s put it on the menu!” It usually starts with one of us suggesting an ingredient we want to work with, and then it is like a tennis match. The ball is going back and forth over the net — we keep lobbing it to each other, trying to sell the idea. “I kind of like this, but I’m not really crazy about that.” “let’s keep going in this direction, but forget about this little part that you were really excited about in the beginning.” It’s not really a finished dish until we are both completely excited about it, until we’re both salivating because we can’t wait to try it. What is your biggest challenge as a chef working with your husband, often without receiving the level of attention that he receives? I’m pretty cool with Greg getting most of the recognition for our work. He is naturally more outgoing than I am, and I have never really liked being the center of attention, so I’m happy to stay behind the scenes most of the time. It’s more important for me that the people I work with recognize the value of my contributions. What’s it going to be like for you at ox? Hopefully it’s going to be insanely busy and fun! Among other things, I look forward to creating our desserts and developing some of the more Argentine and south American-inspired recipes. I’m also very excited to get back in front of a wood-burning grill, cooking side-byside with my husband.

Rich Meyer

(the Loyalist)

Chef de cuisine for Greg Higgins at Higgins Restaurant and Bar What is your role at Higgins? My role here is guidance, support and creativity. I schedule the staff, write the menus, write the specials, put out any fires that happen throughout the day, make sure everyone is getting along. Most restaurants have very, very high turnover, but I don’t have that issue here. People come here to cook and typically stay for two-plus years, sometimes five or seven. Why do people stay at Higgins so long? When I was a young cook, I was always looking for three things: one, is it a popular restaurant? Two, what is the philosophy of the restaurant? And three, are the ingredients good? Here you have everything, and a great Years at HIggIns: 15 support staff. The owners traInIng: Western of the restaurant are great culinary Institute — everyone’s treated fairly, everyone’s paid well. The aVerage Hours restaurant has been here Worked Per Week: 50 17 years, and I’ve been here for 15 of those years. faVorIte kItcHen I’m not an “ego person,” tool: Forschner but I think we produce 12-inch scimitar (he’s really great food, and I’m had it for 15 years.) proud of what we do here. faVorIte tHIng to And that’s why I’ve stuck cook: Fish around for so long. faVorIte tHIng to eat:

How long have you been running the kitchen? seven or eight years. Before me, the chef was Vito dilullo, and I was the sous chef. Then Vito left here and went over to caffe Mingo before opening ciao Vito. Then I moved up.

Japanese and chinese

What’s your philosophy as a chef? Just to produce the best food that I possibly can, using the correct ingredients. If I’m in a spot that allows me to do that, then I am happy. What is your working relationship like with greg Higgins? The way that he and I design things, and the way we work, is that I’m the production person. He can throw out an idea to me, and I put it into action. We sit down every Wednesday morning and design the week’s menu. We just bounce things back and forth off each other. I can do whatever I want here. I don’t have any boundaries. Why do you and greg click? like minds — especially on the philosophy of food. He feels, and I feel, that you start from the ground, and you build off the basics. I think that’s why Greg and I are so compatible. He shows a lot of trust in me and I show a lot of

respect for him. We’re great friends. We travel together. does it bother you to work in his shadow? That’s probably the question that people ask me the most: “How do you survive being in the background?” But during my early days here we were in our heyday. You could count the good restaurants in town on one hand, and there was media here all the time. It got to the point when I was just done with it. I am so opposite of a celebrity-chef wannabe. This is his restaurant. I’m a worker — for him. I’ll manage all his people, but that limelight position is his. And I’m fine with that. The people that really mean something to me, they know what I do here. And that’s all I need.

What’s next for you? open your own place? I won’t say that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind. Greg and Paul (Paul Mallory, the restaurant’s co-owner) and I have been trying to put another project together for years. If it happens, it happens. When is it going to happen? Beats the hell out of me. If the right opportunity came around for me, I would certainly take it, and Greg would, by all means, encourage that. I can’t really say why I’m still here now, but I’m happy. I love working with the people that I work with. This is truly a family. Most of the service staff has been here since day one, for 17 years. That tells you something — about how this restaurant is managed and how people are treated. That should be a pat on the back for both Paul and Greg.

Mika Paredes

(the Best friend)

Sous chef for Naomi Pomeroy at Beast What’s it like behind the scenes at beast? It’s a small staff — there are just three of us in the kitchen. Wednesday is our Monday. We have lunch together and go over the concept that naomi and I came up with on saturday. We talk about the direction that the menu is going in for the week, depending on what our farmers were able to deliver to us for that week. And then we get going. We hit the ground running. Years WorkIng WItH PomeroY: 7 total

(clarklewis and Beast)

traInIng: culinary

school at a technical college in Minneapolis (she can’t remember the name.)

aVerage Hours Worked Per Week:

60 to 80, depending on special events

faVorIte kItcHen tools: “Bad-ass” ice

cream maker and a large offset spatula

What is your philosophy as a chef? I cook the way that I listen to music. I’m a huge audiophile, and I feel like I cook in an analog sense. I like to hear the cracks and the pops, and I love vinyl — it’s a natural sound, as opposed to digital music. so I’m not really a part of that whole molecular gastronomy thing. I like home cooking, authentic stuff. not a lot of hands on my food. not a lot of squirt bottles. Very natural, just letting the ingredients do what they are intended to do — analog versus digital.

faVorIte tHIng to cook: Mexican

What is it about naomi Pomeroy that you find inspiring? Tenacity. I see her getting faVorIte tHIng to eat: up at 6 a.m. to take her kid to Vegetarian food and school, and then coming in to sushi work a 12-hour day. I see that drive. That’s a major influence for me. I try to surround myself with people who have great motivation. Her tenacity and her will to never give up at anything, and just try to make it better and better, that’s awesome. (carnitas)

What is your relationship with her like? outside of the kitchen we’re friends. We lived together for almost two years. But we don’t talk a lot in the kitchen. A lot of mind reading goes on, and intuition based on our relationship. I think I bridge the gap between her and the rest of the staff. she’s focusing on the bigger picture. And we depend on each other for emotional support. You give up a lot of your social life for this industry, so you’ve got to be a family. In the kitchen it’s a unique relationship. It’s a democracy, for the most part. It’s very collaborative. If I’m struggling to figure out something and need her help, all I have to do is call her, or send her a text, and she’s right on it.

do you ever feel like you’re in the shadow of naomi Pomeroy, the media star? she’s always brought me along on the journey. I encouraged naomi to pursue doing “Top chef Masters,” for example, and we all stepped up. We were ready to work an 80hour week again, as if we were opening a new restaurant. she feels great about leaving and she can let go. That’s where we’ve gotten in the last few years. We want it to happen. We can see where it can get us. Is there a difference working in a femaledominated kitchen? I tend to work well with anyone. I’m pretty diplomatic, and I like people. But I think that working with women is great. I think they pay attention to a little bit more detail, and there’s a little bit more grace. But I still love

the way that men cook. It’s so authoritative, and there’s this ego that I can’t quite describe. I like that. We’ve always had at least one guy working in the kitchen, so it brings balance. I’ve been referring to everyone we have working with us now as “The A Team.” I go in every day with no stress, which really says something. Is your goal to open your own place? Perhaps, yeah. I love this industry — I love the fast pace, I love how it’s constantly changing and I love to cook. First I want to travel and paint a picture and learn how to knit, so who knows. We’re relocating, and so in the immediate future it’s all about trying to reinvent Beast. not too much, but we want to expand a little bit and make it more approachable for people. That’s all I can get my head around right now.

David Padberg (the Leader)

Executive Chef at Scott Dolich’s Park Kitchen

What is your role at Park kitchen? I am the organizer: I build our relationships with our suppliers and our farmers and ranchers. In some ways I think I really wanted to be a farmer, but I just didn’t have the guts. so building relationships with the people that do the really hard work of growing the food, I enjoy that a lot. I also design the menus and train the young guys. A lot of things that Park Kitchen is known for are programs that I brought to it: the whole animal butchery program, the tasting menu, the composed cheese plates and the desserts. When I started we did breakfast, lunch and dinner. When scott recruited me, he knew that formula didn’t work for the space and the location. He hired me to help reinvent the restaurant. so now, seven years later, we’re open seven days a week for dinner, and we have a private dining room, and it’s successful. What is your philosophy as a chef? I like to introduce people to unusual or forgotten ingredients. I don’t mean rare luxury items, I mean herbs like hyssop, fruits like gooseberries and vegetables like cardoons. I suppose my style is to make an unusual combination of flavors taste natural and harmonious. Why do you blog? so many of the things that make me excited about food are in the back story — the history, what’s going on in the world of food, new cookbooks, new tools. I like to share those nuggets of information. It’s not Years at Park easy to come up with the kItcHen: 7 time, but I enjoy it. I also use it as a way to educate traInIng: cookbooks our staff. It’s a database and travel where they can go back and recall the details of a fIrst kItcHen dish or the back story. exPerIence: The American restaurant in Kansas city What’s your relationship with scott dolich like? aVerage Hours When I first started, Worked Per Week: scott and I collaborated slow season 60-70, a lot on the menu. He high season 90-100 turned the kitchen over to me and it’s now faVorIte kItcHen tool: becoming more of a Girolle for slicing singular style, but one ribbons of Tête de Moine cheese that we created together. scott was the original faVorIte tHIngs to chef, and most people cook: sauces and salads identify him as such, but he has really embraced faVorIte tHIngs to eat: his role as restaurateur Thai and Japanese of Park Kitchen and The Bent Brick. He still expeblog: nourishing Ideas; dites one night a week at nourishingideas. Park Kitchen, and also at blogspot.com

The Bent Brick because he likes to stay involved. But Will (Preisch) is in charge of the menu at The Bent Brick and I’m in charge of the menu at Park Kitchen. still, scott is constantly tasting the food and asking, “How could this be better?” He’s the arbiter, the litmus test. Why have you stayed at Park kitchen so long? scott is a very good businessman, in terms of managing people. He allows us to arrange time off, which is really important in our industry to avoid burnout. Another thing that sets him apart is his willingness to spend money on quality ingredients. I’ve been approached to take on new projects with other people, but what keeps me at Park Kitchen is that the other business model

is not willing to spend money on food, so it’s less fun, and it’s contrary to my own beliefs. Will you ever open your own place? I’m sure it will happen, but it’s not as glamorous as people think it is. When you become a chef-owner, a lot of things in your life die. I love scott for taking care of all the stuff that I don’t want to deal with. In some ways, I have the best job around because I get to spend my time cooking. Most owners don’t get to do that. They have to spend their time worrying about health insurance and credit card charges, or lease agreements, or any number of things that have nothing to do with cooking. I’ve seen many of my friends go into it with mixed results, so I’m in no hurry.

the new exeCutives As Portland’s ever-evolving restaurant scene continues to expand, we’ve spotted a handful of freshly promoted chefs to watch. Here’s a look at five chefs who have recently worked their way up from sous chef to executive chef of some of the city’s most inspired restaurants.

Erik Van Kley

Anthony Walton

Little Bird

Beaker & flask

Time working with Gabriel Rucker: since 2005, when he was the sous chef at Gotham Bldg Tavern and I cooked there, too. When Gabe opened le Pigeon in 2006 I was the sous chef until little Bird opened in december 2010. Philosophy on food: The ingredients should speak for themselves. I remind myself not to try to force the food to do things that it doesn’t want to do, simply for the sake of dramatic presentation or ego. How does your style differ from Rucker’s? our style has kind of developed together. At first we were doing classic, simple food at le Pigeon. At little Bird, the food is scaled back and more approachable — a return to the original le Pigeon style.

Time at Beaker & Flask: since december 2009. I took over the sous chef position in April 2011, and head chef in late March 2012. Philosophy on food: I create dishes I’d want to eat. I draw a lot of my inspiration from my childhood and growing up in Wisconsin, with heavy German and southern influences. You could define my style as “Americana.” How does your style differ from Ben Bettinger’s? Having worked with Benny for the past few years, I can’t help but be influenced by his approach to food. our styles aren’t all that different, but I may have more of a Midwest-southern-comfort-food-thing going. What’s different at Beaker & Flask, now that you’re the head chef? The great thing about Beaker is that we are all passionate about the creative process and using our imagination in menu development. Kevin (ludwig, the owner) and the bartenders we have are amazing, and we plan on developing menus that play well together and influence each other.

Will Preisch the Bent Brick

Time with Scott Dolich: since october 2006, but I took a little hiatus in the middle of my employment there. I was the sous chef at Park Kitchen for two years, working under both scott dolich and david Padberg. I became executive chef of The Bent Brick when it opened in June 2011. Philosophy on food: I like to say that it is very American, simple and modern. I try to do some takes on American classics and to highlight regional food. I like to reiterate the same ingredient multiple times on the same plate. For example, if I’m using fennel you will see cooked fennel, raw fennel, pickled fennel stalks and fennel seeds. How does your style differ from Dolich’s? While we both focus on flavor, texture and temperature, our composition of plates tends to be very different. Mine are a little more precise and scott’s tend to be a little more rustic. At The Bent Brick, we only use domestic products. scott’s flavors tend to be a little more Mediterranean.

Justin Woodward Castagna

Time at Castagna: since october 2009 as the sous chef/chef de cuisine. I took over as the executive chef in July 2011. Philosophy on food: castagna has always looked to our local producers first. That being said, I have spent the better part of 10 years being open to all forms of cuisine and learning and choosing jobs based on what I did not know. My style is evolutionary. dishes or techniques go on the menu because they are new to me. How does your style differ from Matt Lightner’s? A lot of people have commented that my flavors are bold, compared to Matt’s more subtle style. Matt’s food was very spontaneous, but I approach new dishes more like a pastry chef would. Everything is very exacting, and sometimes it takes a very long time to get a dish just right. What’s different about Castagna, now that you’re the head chef? The way the kitchen was organized changed a lot. And before, there were four options for four courses, and a tasting menu. so there was something like 30 dishes on the menu at any given time. I felt like we should not be stretching our ingredients so thin. so we now have a very focused, seasonal, five-course menu in addition to our 10-course tasting.

Dustin See

Troy Furuta

Time at Metrovino: I started in June 2010 as a line cook, became sous chef in January, then took over as chef (in March). I’ve made a lot of good friends and played with a lot of ingredients you normally wouldn’t have a chance to play with. I saw one of the biggest, most beautiful white Alba truffles here. It was awesome. Philosophy on food: I try really hard to preserve the integrity of the beautiful things that the farmers bring to me. How does your style differ from Greg Denton’s? naturally we’re two different people, and I grew up on the West coast, he grew up on the East coast. But I’ve had a lot of good conversations on food with Greg over the last two years. We see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, and I tend to agree more than disagree on a lot of his ideals. What’s different about Metrovino now that you’re the head chef? Metrovino has set up a pretty strong tradition of quality. I’m definitely going to continue that. We’re serving brunch on sundays, and there’s a constantly rotating charcuterie board.

Furuta and chefstable’s Kurt Huffman will take over carafe (which might change its name) on May 1, with plans to renovate and update the menu. Time at Clyde Common: one year. My intention was basically to work with nate (Tilden) and try to obtain my own kitchen with him. I’ve been cooking for 14 years. So did you learn anything new? Absolutely. Whole animal butchery is something that I’ve never done before. We were getting pigs in and lamb. They have a strong grasp on what northwest cuisine is, contacting farmers and making sure we get really good ingredients. Philosophy on food: I believe in getting really good ingredients, keeping it really simple. I don’t like tricking people. I want them to know what they’re eating. What will be different about Carafe once you’re head chef? carafe right now is definitely a traditional French bistro. I would like to keep some of the classic French bistro dishes but make sure it’s modern, contemporary. We’re definitely thinking about doing a family-style sunday supper, and a menu that evolves on a daily basis, not just something that is going to change with the seasons. £

Metrovino

Carafe

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The birth of a scene

by michael russell Every chef starts somewhere, from a corner deli to culinary school. In Portland, the web of restaurants that produced our top-notch cooking talent is particularly interconnected, with many of our best-known chefs passing through the city’s foundational restaurants on the way to opening their own place. Our restaurant scene today was born out of places such as Pazzo in the Hotel Vintage Plaza, which once boasted an unrivaled all-star lineup of chef talent, or Genoa, where Nostrana’s Cathy Whims began as a dishwasher. Scott Dolich worked at several hot spots, including Zefiro and Higgins, before opening his Park Kitchen, which became its own training ground for local chefs. Greg Higgins first made his name at the Heathman. Le Pigeon’s Gabe Rucker and The Woodsman Tavern’s Jason Barwikowski both honed their skills at Paley’s Place before heading to Naomi Pomeroy’s Ripe Restaurant Group, which spawned its own bumper crop of Portland eateries. We’ve charted the cooks who earned their chops at Portland’s breeding-ground restaurants, then went on to run restaurants of their own either as the owner or opening chef. Young chefs are still working their way up the ladder at these seminal places with dreams of someday opening their own spot. Even now, the web continues to grow.

tracKing the restaurants and chefs Who helPed build our dining landscaPe ✱ david anderson

makes wood-fired pizza and bagels at Tastebud

is Genoa’s current chef (see Southpark)

went on to open

Navarre and Luce

see Zefiro

is the executive chef at Southpark

osWaldo bibiano

adam berger

owns Tabla and an upcoming meatball mini-restaurant

started as a dishwasher at anthony cafiero Genoa and now owns Nostrana followed Whims to and Oven & Shaker Nostrana and today is the culinary wizard behind Tabla

opened Autentica and recently expanded with Mextiza

Pazzo

is Pazzo’s current chef (see Heathman)

is now chef at Bar Mingo

cathy Whims

scott dolich

broc Willis

✱ John eisenhart

Jerry huisinga

1971-2008, REOPENED 2009

became chef de cuisine at Nostrana and today is opening a Southwestern concept

Nuestra Cocina

aren steinbrecher

genoa

Kelly myers

ran the show at Bluehour for a decade and today is working to open Morso

went on to open

landed at newly reimagined wine bar Coppia

John taboada

Kenny giambalvo

ben gonzales

marK doxtader

C. 1991

dave machado

dolan lane

was the ringleader of this culinary breeding ground, then helped open Southpark, and now owns Lauro Kitchen, Vindalho and Nel Centro

also worked at Bluehour and currently runs the kitchen at the resurgent Clarklewis

vitaly Paley

was dreaming of what became Paley’s Place while cooking at Pazzo

don Kotler owns Toast

david anderson

helped open Vindalho and is now chef at the reborn Genoa

nostrana C. 2005

rodney muirhead

Johanna Ware

opened Smallwares in February

barbecues great ribs at Podnah’s Pit

C. 1998

ben bettinger

alex Parsons

is executive chef at El Gaucho

went on to Beaker & Flask and today is rejoining Paley for a new downtown project

Jenn louis and david Welch

is Wildwood’s current executive chef

WildWood C. 1994

Kevin ludWig

bounced to Park Kitchen and Clyde Common before opening Beaker & Flask

Jason oWens

went to Park Kitchen, then helped found the Simpatica group and open Laurelhurst Market

adam and JacKie saPPington

met at Wildwood (Jackie then worked at Higgins, Paley’s Place and more) and together opened the Country Cat

gavin ledson

is the chef at Davis Street Tavern

Jason barWiKoWsKi

Smokehouse 21

✱ dustin clarK

cory schreiber

Wildwood’s founder, is now a teacher at the Art Institute of Portland’s culinary school

C. 1995

recently opened

Sunshine Tavern

went on to open Bar Avignon

Paley’s Place

bJ smith

left to start Culinary Artistry, then opened Lincoln and

randy goodman

left for Ripe’s Gotham Bldg Tavern, now owns Le Pigeon and Little Bird

mans the wood-fired oven at Ned Ludd

southParK

✱ broc Willis is Southpark’s executive chef

gabe rucKer

Jason french

left with Rucker for the Gotham Bldg Tavern, then was opening day chef at Clyde Common, Olympic Provisions and now the Woodsman Tavern

Key

owned or co-owned by chef

✱

current day-to-day or executive chef

erin mcbride

✱ michael stanton

scott Ketterman

is the current Heathman chef

jumped to Simpatica and today tours the city with his Crown Paella pop-up

daniel mondoK

eric bechard

vito dilullo

heathman

went on to accolades at Higgins

C. 1982

brad root

left for New York then returned to open Aviary

gabe rosen

gregory gourdet

Kevin gibson

was opening chef at Castagna before moving on to Pastaworks Evoe

owns Biwa, the impressive izakaya

flies high at Departure

chris israel

saucebox

became sous chef at Higgins before opening Ciao Vito

See Pazzo

is Saucebox’s current chef

aaron barnett

took over at 23Hoyt before opening St. Jack

now owns four restaurants, Saucebox, Bluehour, 23Hoyt and Clarklewis

1990-2000

23hoyt

andy ricKer

monique siu

went on to own Castagna and its neighbor, Cafe

scott dolich

went to Pazzo and Higgins, among other spots, before opening Park Kitchen and

Castagna

chris carriKer

Kenny giambalvo See Pazzo

bluehour C. 2000

✱ thomas boyce

✱ david Padberg

Will Preisch

owns Blueplate, though it’s for sale opened Ruby Jewel ice cream shop

C. 2003

gabe rucKer See Paley’s Place

Meat Cheese Bread

see Zefiro

elias cairo

castagna

Xocolatle De David

alyssa gregg

owns Spints

is the cheese guru at Cheese Bar

nate tilden

opened Clyde Common,

Olympic Provisions

and the Spirit of ‘77 bar

opened Beast, which is set to move in August

C. 1998

eric finley

recently opened his stand-alone Chop charcuterie shop

is the David in

naomi Pomeroy

riPe restaurant grouP

is the house salumist at Olympic Provisions

C. 1999

dave briggs

steve Jones

opening chef at DOC, chef-owner of June

See Paley’s Place

Kevin gibson

went on to open

greg Perrault

Jason barWiKoWsKi

is Castagna’s current chef

John steWart

ParK Kitchen

lisa herlinger

✱ Justin WoodWard

is the current executive chef

became the opening day chef at Dolich’s The Bent Brick

Bollywood Theater

is Bluehour’s current chef

Jeff reiter

troy mclarty

makes ramen and more at Boke Bowl

opened Beaverton’s DeCarli

opened Manao Thai

went on to Simpatica, Lovely Hula Hands and is opening his

PatricK fleming

Paul and Jana decarli

eKKachai saKKayasuKKalaWong

owner of Nong’s Khao Man Gai, is the Queen of Portland’s food carts

is 23Hoyt’s current chef

went to Gracie’s and today is chef at the Gilt Club

The Bent Brick

nong PoonsuKWattana

✱ amber Webster

C. 2006

briefly bartended at Saucebox and now commands his Pok Pok mini-empire, including Whiskey Soda Lounge and Pok Pok Noi and new ventures in New York

owns Mint/820

✱ alex diestra

bruce carey

zefiro

dolan lane

lucy brennan

C. 1995

was the opening chef at Saucebox and 23Hoyt and today owns Grüner and the upcoming Corazon

vito dilullo

see Zefiro

dominates Vancouver’s dining scene with Roots, Lapellah and 360 Pizzeria

sarah Pliner

John eisenhart

scott dolich

C. 1994

PhilliPe boulot

took over the kitchen at Pazzo

See Zefiro

higgins

greg higgins

remains as culinary director

C. 2005

owns Trebol and its fabulous tequila selection

opened Sel Gris, helped open June, and is now working to launch Paulée in Dundee

went to Alberta Street Oyster Bar before opening McMinnville’s Thistle

PoK PoK

Kenny hill

recently opened 2nd Story restaurant

tommy habetz

who worked briefly at Genoa, was chef at the Gotham Bldg Tavern before opening

✱ Jason oWens is the current chef at

Simpatica Dining Hall

Bunk Sandwiches

mattheW busetto

cooked at Clarklewis then opened Firehouse

Restaurant

John gorham owns Toro Bravo,

Tasty N’ Sons and Interurban

dave Kreifels

simPatica C. 2005

is the chef at

Laurelhurst Market

ben dyer

opened Laurelhurst Market and is the chef Ate-Oh-Ate

alex yoder

is the chef at Olympic Provisions original location

clyde common C. 2007

erin Williams

is chef at Olympic Provisions Northwest

✱ chris diminno is the current chef

Jason barWiKoWsKi (see Paley’s Place)

culinary ambassadors Restaurateurs Ghaith Sahib and Maath Hamed are educating Oregonians about Iraqi culture, one plate at a time by amanda eckerson Â? Photography by FaiTh caThcarT

Close friends Maath Hamed (left) and Ghaith Sahib grew up together in the same neighborhood in Baghdad, riding bikes, learning to drive, cutting school like any other teenagers. But the war changed everything. They finally reunited in Portland last year, and together with members of Sahibâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family, they opened Dar Salam restaurant.

The old carriage house on norTheasT alberTa sTreeT is one of the oldest structures on the block. Formerly the cozy nook for chez suzette, it is now home to dar salam, one of the newest restaurants in Portland, and one of the only iraqi restaurants in oregon. like the very building itself, dar salam is a story of old and new: Two boyhood friends who grew up together in baghdad, then reunited in Portland after war and exile, are starting a new chapter of their lives by cooking up some of the most ancient tastes their culture has to offer. inside, the dark wood rafters set off warm yellow walls lined with burgundy cushioned benches. ghaith sahib, one of the owners, is serving two customers in the corner. The food is beautiful: large platters of squash-colored chickpea stew, carvings of lamb, fresh-baked flat bread, and dollops of hummus and baba ghanouj. The lamps hang low over the tables, draped with strings of beads like headdresses, and a deep red curtain stretches over the back windows. Tucked behind the bar are glimpses of the simple delights of iraqi culture: a silver tray with miniature cut-glass teacups, each with its own tiny spoon; small ceramic coffee cups with gold filigree along the edges;

“i thought maybe, one day, i would be able to visit iraq again, and see maath,” sahib says. “i never imagined that he would come here.”

a hookah, the hose wrapped around its base. maath hamed, sahib’s business partner, takes me for a tour. The walls are covered with hundreds of framed photographs. “That is ghaith’s brother,” he points to a man sporting sunglasses smiling in front of two gigantic sphinx-like statues. “That was taken in Paris, though — they have many of our artifacts.” There are pictures of iraqi lakes and marshlands, and even mountaintops. “most people think our country is desert. it is not,” hamed says. images of babylon and sumeria i recognize, with the hanging gardens and tower of babel, but the gigantic sand sculpture minarets are from akkadin, ashus and abbasen — ancient empires i have never heard of. “iraq is the oldest culture in the world,” he explains. “it is where the bible is set.” both hamed and sahib are shy, humble and full of genuine hospitality. They have been best friends since grade school, growing up together in the neighborhood of Yarmouk in baghdad. “We were normal kids — we rode our bikes, learned to drive,” hamed says. “but iraqi teenagers are always thinking about college and work,” says sahib. That said, they weren’t strangers to skipping school to smoke hookah and play pool — but the only details they’ll share about those episodes is a look between themselves and a hearty laugh. sahib and hamed were in iraq during the u.s. invasion and its aftermath. in a simple

Maath Hamed and Nawal Jasim, Gaith Sahib’s mother, prepare an order in Dar Salam’s kitchen, which is really just a tiny trailer behind the restaurant. In Portland’s sea of Lebanese restaurants, Dar Salam’s Iraqi dishes, such as the stuffed-onion dolma (far right), stand out.

word, they describe it as “horrible.” bombs fell on their street. “at first, people worked together, but then it changed. People only act for themselves now,” hamed says, shaking his head. sahib was the victim of a roadside bomb, fell into a coma and had to relearn to walk. he emigrated in 2006, first to syria, then to india, then with a fake passport to holland, where he gained asylum. “i left everybody — i left my family, i left my home, i left maath.” hamed stayed behind. he was studying physics at the university of baghdad and had secretly enlisted in the new u.s.-trained iraqi army in 2003. his reason was simple: he needed a job. For the next seven years, he risked being killed as a traitor to save money. no one in his family knew. his goal was to get out. “no one is left,” he explains. “There used to be free health care, now there is nothing. everyone like us is gone. There is no future there anymore.” anyone who had the means, creativity or dedication to get out is gone. most of hamed and sahib’s family and friends are in diaspora — in egypt, holland, syria, the united states. The two men finally reunited in Portland just last year. sahib relocated here in 2009 after meeting Tiffany sahib, his future wife and a Portland native, in the netherlands. When hamed was finally issued a visa to leave, he came straight to where his best friend was. “i thought maybe, one day, i would be able to visit iraq again, and see maath,” sahib says. “i never imagined that he would come here.” but hamed had another reason to come to Portland: he found out that his college sweetheart, lobna al-humairi, lived here, too, because it’s one of the united states’ main resettlement spots for iraqi refugees. in six short months, the two couples began hatching plans for a future together that would bring them happiness and recognize their past. sahib and hamed are quick to assert that it’s the women in their lives who have made this new endeavor possible — namely Tiffany; sahib’s recently immigrated mother, nawal Jasim; and hamed’s fiancée. “lobna brought me here and made me stay,” hamed says. “Tiffany found the place, ghaith’s mother does all the cooking. it’s them, really,” he says with a deferential smile. “We started a food cart on division and 50th called aladdin’s castle about eight months ago,” Tiffany says. “We bought an old trailer for $600, gutted it, remodeled it, built the kitchen. it took about four months, but the reception from the neighborhood was amazing. it’s been our dream for a while to have a place with the hospitality of a middle eastern family. it’s more than just a food experience.

VISIT willamettewines.com

We’re all family.” she means it literally. hamed, sahib and his wife and parents all live together. The food is prepared by sahib’s mother with love, family recipes and a few tweaks from her son. “now i teach her,” sahib laughs. “she loves to put in a lot of oil and salt, so i have to tell her how americans like it.” everything is prepared fresh in the tiny kitchen behind dar salam. some orders will take between 15 to 20 minutes to prepare because they make it from scratch, and presentation is of utmost importance. “even if we’re slammed, they are in the back arranging the parsley just perfectly,” Tiffany says as she jokingly rolls her eyes. a piping hot plate of food (with an artfully arranged snip of parsley), emerges from the kitchen with sahib. hamed explains that it is as delicious as it is in iraq, with a few necessary Portland changes. “in iraq, we eat red meat, fish and kebab all the time. We do all that here, too. but we can also make most of the dishes vegan or vegetarian.” in front of me are some recognizable items, but the best items are the surprises. The iraqi dolma, for instance, is a translucent onion stuffed with spices, rice and pomegranate syrup between

each layer. The staple dish, marga, a puréed chickpea stew with hints of garam masala and cardamom, is incredible. For dessert i taste the only item on the menu that Tiffany makes, a chocolate-garbanzo bean cake. The cupcake is dense and sticky, served with a rose-raspberry whip, and is a distinct iraqioregon mix: garbanzo beans and gluten-free. it’s not easy running a restaurant. each of them puts in 12-hour days, not to mention errands and paperwork. but all of them are happy. “i want to introduce people to my culture. What do you know about iraq?” hamed asks me. besides my newfound knowledge of marga and dolmas, the answer is war and Wmds. “You see, that is why we’re doing this,” he says. They are 24/7 cultural ambassadors, using food and friendship to build community. sahib and Tiffany have simple hopes for the next few years. he’s excited about the summertime, and opening up the patio to serve hookahs packed with their own mix of tobacco and fresh fruit. she hopes to visit the middle east. hamed wants to get married. but their collective wish is to live in peace, and home cooking on alberta street is where it starts. £

selects Kabinett rieslings

[ Germany’s bizarre 2010 harvest beguiles with notes from pears to broccoli ] By katherine cole / photography By jamie francis

here’s been a ton of buzz about the wines resulting from the 2011 harvest here in oregon. it was the coldest vintage in 50 years. there was too much rot. the vines didn’t produce enough fruit. pundits have been barrel tasting, deliberating and debating on the long-term value of this highly unusual vintage. as we wait for the 2011 reds to finish barrel aging, we’ve naturally been thinking about the implications of other off-the-wall vintages. in an unproven wine region, a harvest that doesn’t conform to the norm can be devastating. But since we’ve been making wine for 50 years here in oregon, we’re confident that our seasoned vintners know what to do with an abnormal harvest. But that depends how you define “abnormal.” in germany’s 2010 harvest season, for example, even

some winemakers whose ancestors began laboring in their family cellars centuries ago were at a total loss. Because no matter how many millennia you look back through germany’s winemaking history, experts are saying that 2010 was the most peculiar vintage germany has ever seen. period.

stranger tHan FictiOn Due to a sequence of bizarre weather events, german vignerons

were faced at harvest with very few, very thick-skinned, very tiny grapes. and in a weird twist of the usual order of things, the resulting concentrated flavor came with through-the-roof acidity levels, forcing winemakers to de-acidify and even — egads! — send their wines through chardonnay-style malolactic fermentation to dull the knives a bit, lest consumers have the sensation of their tongues being sliced in half.

panelists Greg Cantu, wine director, grüner and kask, grunerpdx.com Mimi Martin, co-owner, the Wine and spirit archive educational center, wineandspiritarchive.com Nicolas Quillé, winemaker and general manager, pacific rim, rieslingrules.com Barnaby Tuttle, proprietor and winemaker, teutonic Wine company, teutonicwines.com Grant Butler, critic-atlarge, the oregonian and miX Katherine Cole, wine columnist, the oregonian and miX

selects / Kabinett rieslings cOnt.

these wines will remain on store shelves throughout the spring, to be replaced by the 2011s in early summer. so now — a bit of bottle age having softened them out — is the ideal time to sample the strangest vintage in german history. eager to witness this important event, our miX tasting panel recently rounded up a gaggle of kabinett rieslings, threw them into paper bags and tasted them blind. our group was heavily stacked with acidheads. our host, greg cantu, selects the wine lists for the alsatian eatery grüner (translation: he tastes riesling all day, every day). our special guest, Barnaby tuttle, makes mosel-style Willamette Valley rieslings under his own label and imports yet more rieslings direct from germany (none of his wines were in our lineup, however, which allowed him to judge impartially). and our regular panelist, nicolas Quillé, is a winemaker known internationally for his Washington and oregon rieslings under the pacific rim label. our location for this unusual mission was grüner’s luxe private room, tucked behind kask, the restaurant’s low-key contemporary saloon. to get to it, one navigates a dark, mazelike passageway, at one point tiptoeing through the kitchen and past a phalanx of busy line cooks. as we noshed on fragrant cheeses and fresh-baked Bavarianstyle brezels (pretzels) in this hidden bunker, we half expected the members of the seminal and famously reclusive krautrock band kraftwerk to wander in for a secret repast. after all, the wines were so strange, nothing could have surprised us.

WHY Kabinett? in germany, it’s nearly impossible to find a bottle labeled simply “riesling.” that’s because in addition to the name of the producer, the appellation, and the three Vs (vintage, village, vineyard), there’s — unique to germany — the sweetness category, plus there’s the prädikat. i’ll try not to bore you to tears with the minutiae of the german labeling system. let’s just say that the prädikat generally translates into the concentration and richness of the finished liquid. it ranges from kabinett, a mere wisp of a wine, typically delicately sweet with bright

acidity and a bit of spritz, all the way to trockenbeerenauslese, which, besides being fun to say, is a syrupyrich dessert sipper. there are four other categories in between the two extremes, but for our purposes, we decided to focus our attention on the lightest end of the spectrum — the kabinetts — because these feather-light wines are so transparent that the vintage can’t help but express itself through them. our other reason for reaching for delicate kabinetts was seasonal. if a wine ever reminded us of tender buds, baby chicks and butterflies, it’s this one. and, as our resident food expert grant Butler pointed out, this wine kills with a spring-pea risotto. and onion tart. and strawberry salad. not to mention pork, chicken, chinese food, indian food, thai food …

OUr Winners “for people used to kabinetts, this is not an easy vintage to sort through,” noted Quillé. indeed, we found wines that blew our minds, like the 2010 leitz “rüdesheimer klosterlay” rheingau riesling kabinett. although it didn’t make our final round, it beguiled cantu with its “spearminty, vegetal quality” and “herbaceous pop” — not terms any of us had ever heard applied to a kabinett before. Ultimately, though, we reached back toward the familiar — the aroma of fresh apples and pears — in picking our winners. our first two were classics — from the ubiquitous Dr. loosen — that showed it’s possible to capture kabinett character even in a totally wacko year. our final pick is a pure geek’s delight, an old-world, naturally fermented, “technically bizarre” yet “true to the region” (that was tuttle talking) beauty from grand old producer reichsgraf von kesselstatt. now that we’ve tasted through an iconic wine from an un-iconic vintage, what does all this mean for oregon 2011? Well, given that the rieslings we loved all came from well-established, long-lived houses, we’d say that in the off years, oldie estates are bound to be goodies. they may not have been through a vintage like this before, but they’ve been around the track.

tHe Winning Wines easygoing classic

2010 Dr. Loosen “Bernkasteler Lay” Mosel Riesling Kabinett ($25) “if i were picking a wine for a class, i’d pick this one for sure,” said our wine educator, mimi martin, citing its notes of green apple and slate, with a crisp acid finish. “it has that clean mosel character,” agreed Quillé. at just 7.5 percent alcohol by volume, this delicate, spritzy wine was kabinett through and through, albeit on the rich side due to the vintage. named for its slate-y (“lay” means slate) soil and location at the village of Bernkastel, this classic single-vineyard wine was essentially faultless, although cantu declared it, with a yawn, “a little boring.”

for fooD loVers

2010 Dr. Loosen “Blue Slate” Mosel Riesling Kabinett ($20) at an easygoing 8 percent alcohol by volume, this flavorful wine made us hungry. Despite its purpose — it’s a blend of vineyard sites, made to keep the kabinett tradition alive in an increasingly climate-challenged world of ever-higher-sugar wines — i picked up decidedly un-kabinetty notes of lemon chiffon, toasted caramel and treacle, counterbalanced by a scent of springtime flower buds. cantu noted “quince”; martin described the palate as “peachy” and “unctuous.” But what the heck; Butler suggested that these unusually pronounced flavors would pair well with a pungent fondue or an alsatian tarte flambée, which is sort of a crème fraîche, onion and prosciutto pizza (are you drooling yet?).

 Online eXtra: Find out where to buy these wines at miXpdX.cOm

Wine geek’s Delight

2010 Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt “Scharzhofberger” Mosel Riesling Kabinett ($23) a quick primer, for those of you who don’t spend your days with your noses buried in wine blogs: german riesling is going through an unpopular phase right now among the wine world’s cool kids, because most german vintners choose to control the fermentation process by inoculating their juice with introduced yeasts, rather than waiting for unpredictable indigenous yeasts to do their thing spontaneously. and in order to hit the precise note of sweetness they are aiming for (that is, a kabinett rather than a spätlese), they stop fermentation with a blast of sulfur. But this wine didn’t taste like it had been made in such a scientifically controlled environment. to cantu, it was “the most esoteric” of our lineup, “savory, wild and herbaceous,” not to mention “technically bizarre,” with notes of eucalyptus, tomato plant and broccoli (!) ; “i get the vineyard in this one,” he concluded. tuttle declared it symbolic of the “new-wave terroir” movement in the mosel: “the young punks coming up and making the wines the way their grandparents did.” Well, when we unmasked this winner, we found it to be grandparent rather than grandchild. Weingut reichsgraf von kesselstatt is more than 660 years old, and by all accounts, the winemaking process there hasn’t changed since the 1300s. “We categorically reject so-called new oenological procedures,” states the winery’s website. this kabinett was undoubtedly a true reflection of a radically different vintage. Will it ultimately be a successful wine? only time will tell. in the meantime, it’s following an exciting and unpredictable path. £

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good for you [ The raw milk debate ]

BY ADRIAN J.S. HALE

his is not the conversation where we try to persuade you to drink more milk, nor are we telling you to avoid it at all costs. Enough people out there reduce this ancient food to either a shortcut to intestinal troubles or a jug of beneficial wonder-enzymes. The truth about milk is probably somewhere in between, and the real truth about milk is that it is one of many complicated food choices we face every day. At the grocery store, there are more choices than ever before — organic, local, rBST-free, pasteurized, ultra-pasteurized, even lactosefree. Each of these comes with pluses and minuses. But there’s another choice out there, one you can’t get at grocery stores (at least not in this state), and the debates surrounding it are growing louder and, quite frankly, more confusing, every year. We’re talking about raw milk. Next time you reach for a carton, picture this: a big, sterile facility with the constant hum of heated pipes carrying hundreds of gallons of milk from dozens of grain-fed herds to humongous vats. The milk gets superheated, separated and centrifuged. In a world that increasingly cares about the source of its food supply, a world where it’s becoming more and more common to buy meat and vegetables directly from the farmer, milk still resides in the industrialized shadows. Many say this is a necessary evil, since raw milk can carry bacteria that can cause food-borne illnesses, which are especially dangerous for those with compromised immune systems. But a growing contingent of people — millions in the United States alone — would argue the benefits far outweigh the risks. Taya Lindley, a licensed acupuncturist in Portland, is one of them. She researched different types of diets for her family and found herself leaning more toward small-scale, unprocessed foods. The switch to buying raw milk from grass-fed cows was a natural progression, she says, with the added bonus that her family would be getting “good fat, enzymes and proteins that aren’t in pasteurized milk from grain-fed cows.” To the people who say there is too much risk involved, she insists that if you get milk from the best possible source, the risk is minimal. “At some point we have to base our food

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MOTOYA NAKAMURA

choices on instinct,” she says. “Yes. There is a small risk of contamination, but I make informed decisions about a lot of the things my family eats.” Milk is rich in calcium, protein, vitamins, minerals and beneficial bacteria that produce important enzymes. Proponents of raw milk — like advocates of other raw foods — say the unheated stuff has more of these nutrients because they haven’t been destroyed or diminished in the heating process. They also say raw milk is easier to digest because the enzymes needed to digest lactose and casein haven’t been killed in the pasteurization process. Also very important, say proponents, is that raw milk usually comes from cows that graze on grass, which gives the milk more omega-3s and three times the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than that from grain-fed animals. Early but promising evidence shows natural forms of CLA can reduce cancer risks. There’s also a subjective side as to why raw milk has a growing fan base. First, there’s the taste. Many people seek out raw milk because

it’s creamier, sweeter and has a better texture — especially milk from Jersey cows. It adds far more depth to cheese, yogurt and dairy-based desserts than traditional milk. They also appreciate its tradition as a wholesome, unadulterated food humans have relied on since at least 6000 B.C., and it makes them feel connected to their local farmers. “There is a lot of trust that goes on between you and the farmer,” says Tressa Yellig, chef and owner of Salt, Fire & Time in Northwest Portland. “Buying this milk puts us back in the food system by participating in the life cycle. You are actually connected to the food itself, where it comes from, how much goes into making it.” Yellig has long been dedicated to whole, natural foods, opening her self-described “traditional foods general store” three years ago. She says if she were legally permitted, she would sell only raw milk. She has been drinking it for six years and says the benefits far outweigh the risks, which she says are minimal when the milk comes from healthy, well-managed cows.

“Raw milk isn’t dangerous as long as you start out with a good product,” says Yellig. “The risk is in human interaction.” That’s why even farmers who produce raw milk think it’s dangerous to suggest that all raw milk is necessarily healthier and safer than their pasteurized brethren. “You have to manage the whole process differently,” says Charlotte Smith, an Oregon farmer who keeps three Jersey cows rotating on her St. Paul pasture all year. “You have to manage everything from the soil to the grasses to the cleanliness of the milking parlor to the immediate cooling of the milk.” Smith runs her farm as a holistic entity. She ensures a steady supply of her cows’ intended food — grass —by not allowing them to stay long enough in one pasture to overgraze it. They’re rotated every few days and followed by chickens that

scratch around and disperse the manure, helping it become fertilizer. In the three years she’s been doing this, she says the soil on her farm has improved tenfold. This kind of milk comes at a cost. It’s usually between $11 and $14 per gallon and will keep for seven to 10 days. This is laughably expensive to some but reflects the food issues we face today — it costs a lot more to produce nonindustrialized foods in a sustainable way. Finding milk in its purest form is a commitment. If you want it, you’ll need to visit a few farms that are doing this big job on a small scale. You’ll need to ask questions (see next page) and tour farms. In short, you’ll have to be engaged in the process. After all, making informed food choices is what this is about, and in the end, we think that’s really good for you.

Defining pasteurization: Pasteurization is the process of heating milk and cooling it in rapid succession to reduce the amount of pathogens. For many years, the process involved heating milk to 145 degrees and keeping it there for 30 minutes — a method that can be duplicated in a home kitchen if you want to buy raw milk but are apprehensive of the risks. This old-school process is benign to the structure of milk compared with the more common methods today. Most milk labeled “pasteurized” is treated by heating milk to 161 degrees for 15 to 20 seconds in a method called “high temperature, short time” (HTST). Ultra-pasteurized milk, which includes many organic brands, is treated with the ultra-high temperature (UHT) method, which heats milk to 275 degrees for at least one second. These processes are popular because they give milk a longer shelf life. In the case of UHT processing, the milk can be stored unrefrigerated for six to nine months in an unopened aseptic carton. On the flip side, these processes have been proven to alter the structure of the protein molecules in milk, particularly in the case of UHT processing. This is why ultra-pasteurized milk cannot be turned into cheese and ultrapasteurized cream doesn’t whip as well without added stabilizers. Raw milk advocates also claim that these altered proteins can be as bad for our bodies as trans-fatty acids.

What is homogenization? Homogenization is the process of crushing fat particles in milk, which changes their size and emulsion capabilities. This process forces the cream layer to stay suspended in milk. Some critics claim that homogenization is even more damaging to the integrity of milk than pasteurization. The heating of milk has been a part of its production for a long time, but the ability to change the fat particle is an industrial process.

Fresh Meyer Lemon Ricotta With Local Honey One way to use raw milk is to turn it into a simple cheese like fresh ricotta, where the nuances of the milk really come through. Here’s a recipe you can throw together with a few pantry ingredients, and you can use pasteurized milk (though not ultra-pasteurized) if you like.

4 cups whole milk with a thick cream layer from grass-fed Jersey cows, or 3 cups milk plus 1 cup cream (not ultrapasteurized) ½ teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice ½ teaspoon Meyer lemon zest (optional) Local honey for serving

If using raw milk, shake the jar to combine the cream and milk before measuring. Put the milk, cream (if using) and salt in a medium saucepan and warm over medium-low heat until it just comes to a boil. (Be patient. This might take a while, but it’s better to heat the milk slowly and turn it off right as it boils. Stir it occasionally so that the bottom doesn’t scorch.) Remove from heat, add the lemon juice and give it one stir, no more. You should start to see the milk solids separate from the watery whey.

Cover and let the milk settle, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes. Line a colander with cheesecloth or a tea towel and set it over a bowl to catch the whey as the cheese drains. Gently ladle the curds into the prepared colander and let them drain. After about 10 minutes, lift the cheesecloth out of the colander and plop the cheese into a bowl. Mix in the zest if using and drizzle a little honey on top. — From Adrian J.S. Hale

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THE SALE OF RAW MILK IN OREGON IS LEGAL ONLY UNDER THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:

Farmers who choose to produce raw milk can’t advertise. This means that you have to do research to find a farm that produces the highest quality milk. A good place to start is realmilk.com, The seller cannot a database that lists farms by state. From there, call around and ask a few of advertise milk for the questions below. Definitely visit the sale (hence our farms that look most interesting to you. inability to recomLook for fresh, healthy grass that is not mend producers). overgrazed. The cows should look clean and content. These farms shouldn’t have The milk is sold a strong odor or look overrun, and the directly to the confarmer should be completely transparsumer where it is ent with his or her practices. If you sense produced. that isn’t the case, go elsewhere. Here are a few questions to ask: The producer owns ● How often are your cows out on pasno more than three ture? (They should spend the majority dairy cows that have of their time on verdant, clean-smelling calved at least once green pasture, not on hard-packed dirt.) (the numbers are ● Do you rotate the cows to different different for other areas of the pasture? If so, how often? kinds of animals). (The farmer should keep the animals off the grazed pasture long enough for the forage to grow back and the manure to become fertilizer.) ● Do you supplement the cows with any kind of grain? If so, how much of their overall diet is grain-based supplement? (Most likely, the animals will need some kind of supplementation, but many proponents of milk from grass-fed cows believe the amount should be no more than 1 percent of their overall body weight). ● Do you use a feed that contains GMO corn or soy? (The answer should be no. In fact, it’s best if the farmer avoids corn and soy altogether, as these are likely to be GMO and are much harder on the animals than grains such as oats and barley, which more closely mimic foraged grains.) ● What are your practices if one of your cows gets mastitis? (Mastitis is an infection of the udder and happens frequently in milking animals. You should expect the farmer to treat this as you would treat an infection in yourself. While the cow is convalescing, they should keep the milk from this animal separate and out of the milk supply.) ● Can I visit your milking parlor? (The answer should be yes. Your farmer should be transparent and be able to answer any of your questions openly.) ● How do you sterilize your bottles? (They should use safe food-handling practices. It’s best if they have a devoted dishwasher just for milking jars, and the jars should be wellsanitized.) ● How quickly do you chill the milk after milking? (It should be chilled to below 37 degrees immediately. Ideally, this should happen in an ice-water bath to cool the milk as quickly as possible. Not only is this safest, but it also extends the life of the milk.) ● When I get milk from you, am I getting that day’s milk? (It’s best to get that day’s milk or milk from the day before. This milk will last seven to 10 days, but you should always be getting your milk as fresh as possible.) £

scene Our picks for what to eat where Hidden gems and favorite dishes on 82nd Avenue tad’s chicken ‘n Dumplins (right) and four other retro restaurants still going strong, p52

12 to try Eating on 82nd

We all know that 82nd Avenue is ground zero for authentic (at least for Portland ) ethnic food — especially Asian. But as you drive down the gritty street, it can be hard to make heads or tails of what’s worth a stop and what should be studiously avoided. To give you a guide to the infamous avenue, we polled some of our most intrepid food writers about their favorite places — the joints that are worth the trek, that keep them coming back for more. Arranged north to south, there are enough delicious destinations to fuel weeks of good eating.

1) Pho Oregon Pho Oregon has become our default when we need a pho fix. As the broth’s combination of cinnamon sticks, cloves, coriander pods, fennel seeds, star anise and cardamom wafts up from the bowl, the universe feels like a calmer, more sensible place. But I’ve also grown fond of some of the non-pho offerings, particularly the bun tom thit nurong or vermicelli noodles with char-grilled skewers of shrimp, pork and vegetables. It’s a hearty combination of vegetables and meats that, when the little bowl of dressing is poured over it, becomes like a warm Asian pasta salad. Another

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favorite? Curried coconut milk soup with chicken (bun ga ca ri). The slightly sweet, milky broth that infuses the vegetables and meat is heavenly. 2518 N.E. 82nd Ave. 503-262-8816 — KAThleen BAuer

2) Lanvin I used to find Vietnamese sandwiches squishy and not very interesting, even for the $2.50 price tag. Then our neighbors brought over the banh mi from lanvin, and I was knocked out by the difference. The bun, while still light, had much more PhOTOGrAPh By BeTh nAKAmurA

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scene cont. body, and the fillings were way more interesting, with the vegetables and dressing playing off the spicy complexity of the meat. Plus, there are some serious pastry chef chops at lanvin, as the case is filled with gorgeous croissants, pain au noix and buns. And don’t be shy about trying their other savory treats like the petit chaud and banh bao. This place is hidden, tucked away behind the Pho Oregon building, and there’s just one table, so plan to cart your goodies home or to the nearest park for a memorable picnic. 8211 N.E. Brazee St., 503-252-0155 — KAThleen BAuer

3) ShenZhen Seafood Restaurant OK. It looks like a dive. But shenZhen offers some of the most authentic Chinese food in town. Fish tanks swimming with potential dinners cluster in the back, food glamour shots dot the walls, red lanterns glow above. settle in to peruse the menu — it’s phone book-size and, thankfully,

my Brother’s Crawfish packed with photos so you can see what dishes such as fried pig’s kidney, sliced snail in shrimp sauce and chilled jellyfish salad will look like. It’s a marvelous place to expand your taste buds. don’t miss the crispy-chewy appetizer of sesame green onion cake. 707 N.E. 82nd Ave., 503-261-1689 — Audrey VAn BusKIrK

4) Baiyok A little pink Craftsman house tucked amid discount stores, strip malls and used car lots, this delightful Thai restaurant would fit perfectly in any of Portland’s trendier neighborhoods. The graceful dining room features white tablecloths, tasteful lighting and elegant Thai decor. The menu covers

all the standards of the cuisine, and Baiyok’s real accomplishment is that these dishes are fully, gloriously spiced without being tongue-searingly hot. Freshly crisped basil leaves pack jolts of flavor in the classic tangle of drunken noodles. The green curry PhOTOGrAPh By dArryl jAmes

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with silken eggplant also stands out, and ask about the daily specials. 150 N.E. 82nd Ave., 503-255-6222 — Audrey VAn BusKIrK

5) Good Taste Noodle House There’s another restaurant with the same name in Portland’s teensy Chinatown, but this outpost on 82nd has my vote, and not just because even at high noon there’s plenty of parking and no need to endlessly circle the block looking for a space. It also happens to serve the same justifiably renowned won-ton soup plus other dishes that ring my bell, such as juicy roasted pork with its crackly skin attached, and a heaping plate of thick pan-fried noodles with beef big enough to share. A personal favorite is the fatty beef brisket hot pot, a bowl of sauce-laden beef with rich, chewy fat. For the timid there’s shrimp chow mein dotted with tender-crisp vegetables. If you’re very lucky you’ll arrive on a day when a whole roasted pig hangs in the window, with servings carved while you watch. If not, there’s always a brace of roast ducks with heads and feet attached that are delectable and ready to take home. 8220 S.E. Harrison St., #215, 503-788-6909 — KAThleen BAuer

6) My Brother’s Crawfish next door to Good Taste, his 82nd Avenue oddity — a new Orleansstyle restaurant reminiscent of a hip-hop night club run by PhOTOGrAPh By dOuG BeGhTel

PhOTOGrAPh By dOuG BeGhTel

Vietnamese-American brothers from houston — almost went under on new year’s day, but was saved at the eleventh hour by a renegotiated lease that halved the restaurant’s space. It’s a good thing. This is still the place to go for fire-engine-red crawfish boiled by the pound in a rich garlic broth, soft white bread stuffed with fried soft-shell crab and fluffy jambalaya tossed through with andouille sausage. And it remains one of Portland’s greatest culinary idiosyncrasies. 8220 S.E. Harrison St., 503-7743786, mybrotherscrawfish.com — mIChAel russell

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7) HA & VL If you love your neighborhood pho joint, your logical next step is to venture out to hA & Vl. no longer a well-kept secret, hA & Vl is dishing out the most comforting soup Portland has to offer. They highlight the myriad styles found throughout Vietnam, making just two each day and selling out early. my favorite, bún riêu, falls on monday. A tangy crab broth with stewed tomatoes and thick nubs of shrimp paste throughout, hA & Vl’s version is deeply flavorful with tender noodles and bright herbs. For a sweet treat on the drive home, I drop into Meianna Bakery and buy mango mousse cake by the slice or a pineapple custard bun. A step inside this scratch Cantonese-style confectionery is an adventure in baked goods, both just-sweet-enough and savory. HA & VL: 2738 S.E. 82nd Ave.,

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scene cont. 503-772-0103 Meianna Bakery: (Inside Fubonn Shopping Center) 2850 S.E. 82nd Ave., Suite 80, 503-788-7968 — BrendA CrOW

8) Beijing Hot Pot Call it Chinese fondue. hot Pot has been popular in China for 1,000 years, and this charming spot, tucked off 82nd’s hullabaloo, offers a faithful rendition of the experience. Try the combo dinner (with a side of dumplings). you’ll receive a lavish spread of thinly sliced raw meats (and/or tofu cubes), raw noodles and sliced vegetables, all ready to be plunked into a bubbly vat of broth in the center of the table (unless you have extremely sensitive taste buds, go for spicy broth). As befits a restaurant that focuses on cook-your-own protein, everything is entirely clean and spanking fresh. 2768 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-774-2525, thebeijinghotpot.com — Audrey VAn BusKIrK

9) Ocean City Seafood Restaurant In Portland, finding decent dim sum, that epitome of Chinese fast food, has been a dicey game at best. But I heard whispers that Ocean City’s dim sum lunch was quite good, possibly (fingers crossed) verging on great. Turns out, the rumors are true. The pork siu mai are moist and not the least bit greasy, the shrimp har gow popping with fresh flavor, and the barbecued pork buns are light and steamy, with delicious smokiness in the sauce. round two, consisting of fatty pork spare ribs and lo mai gai — rice and meat wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed — were accompanied by a tasty tangle of crunchy stir-fried pea shoots with garlic. If I hadn’t eaten so much, I would’ve been walking on air. 3016 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-771-2299 — KAThleen BAuer

10) Kenny’s Noodle House It isn’t a full-service Chinese restaurant. In fine hong Kong style, it pretty much serves only congee and

Kenny’s noodle house noodles. But they’re really, really good congee and noodles. Won tons are hand-stuffed, and rice is cooked and stirred for hours to make the smoothest comfort food in town. Order your congee plain or studded with pumpkin, organ meats or tender, barely cooked fish, and top it with savory Chinese dough-

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nuts or oily chili paste. even vegans will find happiness with ong choy and musty preserved tofu sauce. 8305 S.E. Powell Blvd., 503-771-6868 — deenA PrICheP PhOTOGrAPh By mIKe dAVIs

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Ocean City 11) El Rincon Latino el rincon latino doesn’t look like much. Actually, that’s an understatement. Found in a glorified shack just south of southeast Foster road, this taqueria looks like a lime-green Cricket Wireless store — a run-down one at that, with Portland’s sketchiest bathroom behind a chain-link fence in an attached house around back. But as they say, looks can be deceiving. regulars visit for the chorizo-heavy breakfast burritos and plates (available all day). For my taste, the best dishes here are the ones the Guadalajara-born owners know best — barbacoa and birria tacos, and tortas slathered with a truly spicy and smoky chile de arbol sauce. That barbacoa, a pungent, almost gamy lamb grilled crispy and served on (sadly) store-bought tortillas with (happily) house-made salsas, is reason enough to brave the shaky environs. 5703 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-384-2560 — mIChAel russell

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12) Chinese Delicacy A friend might dispatch you here for the (world’s worst-kept) secret menu of Korean dishes. But while the Korean-style pan-fried pork meatballs with stewed zucchini and cabbage are good, they could use a stronger spice kick. Better reasons to go include the seafood With spicy soup noodles, a steaming bowl of shrimp, scallops, cuttlefish and clams mingling with long, house-made noodles. Better yet are the steamed dumplings, the closest I’ve found to the street vendor delicacies I used to inhale 10 at a time when I lived in China. The flavor isn’t as explosive as those were, but when Chinese delicacy lays out 17 soupy white pillows on an oval plate for $6.50, the price is just right. 6411 S.E. 82nd Ave., 503-775-2598 — mIChAel russell PhOTOGrAPh By BenjAmIn BrInK

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Tad’s Chicken ‘n dumplins PhOTOGrAPhy By BeTh nAKAmurA

scene

HigH five Vintage favorites

Portland has such a thriving restaurant scene, it seems like there’s always something new and exciting opening. But amid the change, the trends and the constant national coverage, there’s a backbone of stalwarts that have stood the test of time, even though they rarely get an inch of ink. These restaurants may not be historic, storied or even remotely glamorous, but they’re good enough to have survived the past four-plus decades and will likely be around for even more. They’re family-owned places that generations of native Portlanders know well, but transplants have yet to discover. now’s the time.

1. Tad’s Chicken ’n Dumplins

Chicken and dumplins — or dumplings, if you insist — can’t boast the retro chic of some other American comfort foods (mac-and-cheese for example), but at this lively riverside spot in Troutdale, they’ve never gone out of style. Perched above the unspoiled sandy river, Tad’s has been a local landmark since the 1920s, and its vintage neon sign has even acquired a ghost (reportedly, no matter how many times it’s fixed, it quickly reverts to “Tad’s Chic dump”). A family tradition for generations, Tad’s harks back to the days when the Columbia river highway wasn’t “historic,” all food was local and microbrews came from the backyard. The signature dish is a classic, and Tad’s woodsy flair and a panoramic view make this a worthy destination, even if you’re not a fan of stewed chicken with puffy balls of dough. There’s plenty more on the menu, from pan-fried chicken to Wil-

lapa Bay oysters, pastas and a mouthwatering array of local steak. 1325 E. Historic Columbia River Highway, 503-666-5337, tadschicdump.com — Audrey VAn BusKIrK

2. The Leaky Roof

Talk about a trendsetter: This Goose hollow favorite began life as a food cart — in 1947. now the cozy space boasts outstanding comfort cuisine, one of the city’s heartiest fireplaces, an extremely personable staff and what’s billed as the largest selection of Irish whiskey in town. The hibernian theme continues in Irish stew, Guinness-battered onion rings, and cottage pie. But many regulars swear by the burgers, namely the leaky roof special, piled with ham, bacon and egg (speaking of those ingredients, there’s a lovely, mostly undiscovered weekend brunch — try, if you dare, the bread pudding-stuffed French toast). Other dinners offer well-executed renditions of homey classics (beef stroganoff, stuffed meatloaf, countryfried chicken. 1538 S.W. Jefferson St., 503-222-3745, theleakyroof.com

— Audrey VAn BusKIrK

3. Caro Amico

did Caro Amico really introduce pizza to the City of roses when it opened in 1959? It’s difficult to verify the owners’ claim, but certainly several generations of Portlanders grew up thinking that pizza should be served in an oval shape with rectangular slices, as they do here. If you haven’t visited this old-school Italian cafe in a while, you might be surprised at the decor — no more red-and-white-checked tablecloths and candles dripping wax on old Chianti bottles. In fact, the two separate dining rooms manage to be both romantic and family-friendly, which is a real feat. But the pizza’s as good as ever: crisp, crackery crust, zesty sauce and plenty of toppings (it’s

the predecessor to American dream, opened by a grandson of one of the original owners). If you’re in the mood for other Italian-American classics, you can choose from pasta dishes (cannelloni, manicotti, lasagna, pasta puttanesca) or a substantial entree such as chicken parmigiana and steak marsala. many trendier places would be wise to emulate Caro Amico’s attentive service — you don’t thrive in business for 60-something years without making customers feel like treasured guests. 3606 S.W. Barbur Blvd., 503-223-6895, caroamicoitaliancafe.com — Audrey VAn BusKIrK

4. Country Bill’s

no one sits inside Country Bill’s. diners at the 48-year-old steakhouse bring their appetites and two-for-one coupons and make a beeline for CB’s lounge, the adjoining bar. here it’s all throwback ambience, with red clamshell booths, flickering electric candles and servers who alternate between alarmingly fresh-faced and downright sassy. haute cuisine this is not. But the food at Country Bill’s is satisfying and good: A thick-cut prime rib comes pink and juicy; fat razor clams are breaded and briefly fried until tender; a poached steelhead special was as pristine as fish comes. All meals come with soup or salad and a potato on the side. Best to order

the hand-cut garlic fries. For dessert, pass on the tiramisu and ice cream pie from the neighboring safeway and consider the deep-fried cheesecake. like a cross between manicotti and cannoli, it’s country-fair gluttony incarnate. One more tip: if you’re enticed to try CB’s “famous” manhattan, know that the default whiskey is rotgut. name your whiskey. 4415 S.E. Woodstock St., 503-774-4198, countrybills.com — mIChAel russell

5. Pal’s Shanty

Family-owned since 1966, few things have changed at this divey-looking seafood tavern. A giant yellowed poster of W.C. Fields still stands sentry over the humble room, the log cabin “shanty” still holds cold beers behind the bar, and the seafood is still sparkling fresh and delivered every day. The Primo Clam Chowder comes crammed with clams, smoked fish and shrimp. Bay shrimp piled atop a simple salad are fantastically plump, juicy and sweet. The tender razor clams are portioned generously. And the dungeness crab cakes just might be the best in town — delicately crisp and ethereally light and tender, with no fillers like cod and gobs of bread crumbs to get in the way. People still come for the buckets (actually plastic tubs) of steamer clams (a “small” will get you about four dozen), but owner jim hanson says his weekly output of about 300 pounds is far below the 1,000-plus pounds during Pal’s hayday in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Though a steady stream of regulars keeps this working-man’s bar plenty busy, it has gotten overlooked as Portland’s restaurant scene has grown. But if you’ve ever moaned about the city’s lack of good, old-school seafood restaurants, look no further. 4630 N.E. Sandy Blvd., 503-288-9732

— dAnIelle CenTOnI PhOTOGrAPh By mOTOyA nAKAmurA

Pal’s shanty

Make a night of it.

An affordable weekend getaway with all the finer touches. 90 minutes from Portland in Grand Ronde.

The Northwestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Premier Entertainment Destination spiritmountain.com ~ 800.760-7977 ~ Hwy 18 ~ Grand Ronde, OR