MIX Magazine Jan/Feb 2012

Portland, January / February 2012 Eat Drink Get Out Get Together

Spanky-new restaurants Big barleywines Local farro Oahu: An eater’s paradise

OUR HEROES Local artisans who make us proud — and hungry / p32

MEET YOUR MAKERS JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2012

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TURKISH DELIGHT A hands-on Middle Eastern dinner party / p20

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editor’s note New year, new start, right? That’s what resolutions are all about. Well, we’re all for it. We love trying new things, whether we’re cooking a dish we’ve never even tasted (like the manti on Page 23), or trying out a new column, in this case Good For You, our health-oriented column on Page 16.

But just because we’re shining a brighter light on nutrition in each issue, it doesn’t mean there won’t always be a place for things like duck fat and triple-cream cheese and well-marbled Want to be sure you roasts in MIX. We’re just get every issue of MIX? balancing things out a Subscribe! bit, because even we 10 issues, $20 can’t eat like that every day — even if we really Go to mixpdx.com want to. or call 503-221-8240.

2

Although it seemed fitting to kick off our new column in our first issue of the new year, I’m a firm believer that anytime is a great time to start something new. In the waning months and weeks of 2011, when most of us are looking back, no fewer than 15 noteworthy restaurants were looking forward, opening their doors for the first time. We’ve got our first impressions of them on Page 47. And the amazing artisans we’ve profiled in this issue (Page 32) didn’t wait for the first day of the year to launch their passions, and we’re the richer for it.

So by all means make some grand plans this month for the coming year. Just don’t forget to keep that enthusiasm and curiosity going for the remaining months of 2012.

Don’t worry, we’ll be here to help.

Danielle Centoni, editor dcentoni@oregonian.com CAKE PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY MARCEllA ROBIN (SEE PAGE 40)

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JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2012

WHERE TO FIND THE RECIPES IN THIS ISSUE: MAIN DISHES • Creamy Phyllo Spinach Pie, p25 • Sweet Potato and Leek Manti, p23 APPETIZERS AND SIDES • Avocado Sumac Whip, p24 • Miso-Creamed Kale, p12 • Red Lentil Kofte, p24 SOUPS AND SALADS • Egg and Lemon Soup With Fresh Crab and Orzo, p24 • Pastaworks Farro Salad, p17 DESSERTS • Rice and Almond Pudding With Rose Syrup and Pink Peppercorns, p26

P.26

20

ALL HANDS ON DECK A warming Turkish dinner party where guests get in on the action

27

EAT HERE: OAHU An eater’s paradise on Hawaii’s most underrated island

32

THE INCREDIBLES Local artisans making our food scene phenomenal

IN EVERY ISSUE 9 STARTERS Asian junk food, chocolate love, new shops, luscious kale 14 RADAR Where to go and what to do this winter 16 GOOD FOR YOU Get to know a new heirloom grain 18 MIXMASTER Cocktails with that fresh pine scent

42 PUBCRAWL It’s time for big, bold barleywines 44 FIVE WINES Five winter whites for crab and truffle season 47 SCENE 15 new restaurants for the new year 52 HIGH FIVE Cheese plates with a modern makeover

ON THE COVER Coava Coffee’s Matt Higgins gives new meaning to the word micro-roaster.

PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS BOYD

THIS PAGE Turkish-style almond puddings topped with rose syrup and a sprinkle of crushed pink peppercorns.

PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIAN LEE

DRINKS • Hunting Vest cocktail, p19

ONLINE EXTRAS AT MIXPDX.COM: • Get chef Chris

Czarnecki’s recipe for Truffles and Crab in Puff Pastry • Find out where to buy our five white wine picks • Cook up Timothy Wastell’s recipe for Toasted Farro Risotto • Make an Arugula Salad with PomegranateSumac Dressing to go with your Turkish feast

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contributors

When he took this self-portrait, photojournalist thomas Boyd felt it was only fair to put himself through what he put eight of Portland’s food artisans through (Page 32). See, Boyd used a ring light, which circles the lens and temporarily blinds the subjects, leaving them disoriented and slightly perturbed. He set the light up in a room full of sausage, a distillery, a coffee roaster, a brewery and even in a room with molten chocolate. Even so, he didn’t leave as fat and drunk as he’d hoped, but he did manage to smooth things over enough to photograph all eight talented artisans in their work space.

“Everyone was a good sport and I saw and smelled some delicious treats. I’ll be revisiting when MIX magazine’s check clears.”

Boyd has been a photojournalist since 1993 and on staff at The Oregonian for four years.

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Honolulu-based photographer marco garcia, whose clients include Condé Nast Traveler and Frommer’s guidebooks, specializes in assignment and portrait photography. Garcia’s work has taken him around the globe and off the beaten path, whether he’s hopping over lava on the Big Island or dodging drunk salarymen in Tokyo. For this issue, Garcia waited out clouds and the occasional passing shower to make sure Oahu glowed glamorously through his lens for our Eat Here story on Page 27. His biggest feat during the shoot was saving a loudly mewing stray kitten, which found itself trapped between the bushes near Kailua Beach. No pictures were taken of the rescue or else he’d be a YouTube sensation.

kim carlson, who profiled cake designer Marcella Robin on Page 40, is editorial director at Culinate, the Portland-based cookbook app developer and food website.

Having been married since Ronald Reagan was president, Carlson was not in the market for a wedding cake when a friend told her about Robin’s creations.

“They are so stunning,” she says “I wanted to tell everyone I knew about them. A lot of people who work with food are dubbed artists, but in Marcella’s case, it’s true.

She’s a sculptor whose medium is cake.”

Lila martin, who wrote our “Eat Here: Oahu” story (Page 27), grew up among the shelves of her mother’s gourmet grocery store on the island of Kauai.

That exposure to foreign flavors piqued her palate, and she’s since traveled the world in search of regional tastes. Her appreciation for the distinctiveness of Hawaii’s cuisine has only increased in the six years she’s lived in Portland. Honolulu, with its international influences and generations-old mom-and-pop businesses, has particularly fascinated her recently. “The food scene on Oahu right now is exciting. A new generation of chefs is really focused on local sourcing and implementing that in an accessible way. The endless variety of ethnic restaurants there could take a lifetime of visits to fully explore. This is just a starting point.”

Other COntributing Writers: Lucy Burningham, grant ButLer, PauL cLarke, ShoShanna cohen, katherine coLe, Brenda crow, reed darmon, SaSha davieS, john foySton, aShLey gartLand, teri geLBer, ivy manning, hanna neuSchwander, deena PricheP, michaeL ruSSeLL, andrea SLonecker, jen StevenSon Other COntributing PhOtOgraPhers/illustratOrs: faith cathcart, roSS wiLLiam hamiLton, fredrick d. joe, Brian Lee, randy L. raSmuSSen, Linda ShankweiLer

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VOLUME 6 / ISSUE 1

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

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Thursday-Sunday February 23-26, 2012

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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starters Page 10: Local chocolates = love, a trio of new shops

Page 12: Green machine, locavore diet, crave-worthy kale, apron couture

GuiLty pLeasure / asian snacks

> milKiS Soda

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We tell ourselves we have to hit the Asian market for things like fish sauce or sushi rice, but really we’re just looking for an excuse to load up on all the weird, mysterious, artificially flavored snacks we know we shouldn’t eat but can’t resist. Soft, gummy pillows of mochi filled with fake strawberry jam? Yes, please! Salty, spicy peanuts that make our tongue tingle disconcertingly? Bring it! Here are a few of our favorites you can find at most Asian markets around town.

KaSugai gummy candieS

These Japanese gummy candies don’t come in little bear, worm or shark shapes, but they actually taste like something other than sugar.

They come in a bunch of flavors — melon, litchi, strawberry, pineapple — but the white peach and purple grape flavors are the best. As you bite into one, it floods your mouth with true fruit flavor. — Ivy Manning

I’m a sucker for strawberryflavored Milkis, a weird, sweet, milk-meets-soda beverage from South Korea. The cute, slender can promises “Fantastic feeling!” which just makes me love it more.

— Ivy Manning

>

huang Fei hong SPicy SnacK PeanutS

Super-crunchy and jumbo size, these peanuts are laden with Szechuan peppercorns (which make your mouth get strangely tingly and numb), dried hot chili peppers and, yes, MSG. The combination of salty, nutty, spicy and tingly is pretty much perfect — so good I can’t help but tear through the bag the moment I leave the market. (Available at ABC Seafood.)

— Brenda Crow

> white rabbitS candieS

> bongbong Korean cracKerS Swirly and barely sweet, these crackers go by several names, depending on the brand.

But no matter what they’re called, they’re always loudly crunchy, nutty with a roasted sesame flavor and downright addictive. — Reed Darmon PHoToGRAPHY BY FAITH CATHCART

>

These mild, sweet, milk-flavored candies have an enduring allure. They’re comforting rather than flashy, and the intriguingly illustrated wrappers haven’t changed since the Cultural Revolution.

— Reed Darmon

Strawberry-marShmallow mochi

Pretty-pink and appealingly squishy, these glutinous rice cakes have a layer of spongy sweet marshmallow inside, and a gooey center that tastes like strawberry candy. — Danielle Centoni

< ShrimP chiPS They’re so deliciously savory and they do that weird tingly thing on your tongue. Plus, sometimes they come in cute packaging with pink polka dots and a lovable cartoon shrimp.

— Shoshanna Cohen

< ramuné Soda When a bottle of soda comes with six warnings, you know you have to have it. What sets these drinks apart — and provides the reason behind the lengthy do-not list — is the marble. It’s what seals the bottle. To open it you have to push the marble down into the bottle, where it rolls around with each sip. Pointless, but fun. — Danielle Centoni

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STArTerSconT. Dream box of chocolates Pick a favorite local chocolatier? Impossible. Pick a few favorites from each one? Slightly more doable.

We tasted our way through the core selection from seven local chocolate-makers, picked our favorites, and put together the most perfect box of Portland bon-bons. — DanIelle CentonI

1b

3

Two from Pix:

7

1a

2

10

8 9

4

1a. Chardons Premium booze encased in a crunchy, crystallized sugar shell then enrobed in chocolate — it's three kinds of heaven in one. the Krogstad aquavit version (1b) is a standout.

2. Ambrosia the rosemaryinfused ganache perfectly sets off a fruity layer of port reduction. pixpatisserie.com

13 5 6 14

Two from De Paula: 3. Sea Salt Caramel a chocolate cup embedded with a crunchy marcona almond holds the silkiest sea salt caramel imaginable.

4. Bananas Foster the sweet white chocolate dome encases a luscious rum-spiked banana purée. depaulaconfections.com

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6. Conquistador Hazelnut Praline locally grown hazelnuts, caramelized into sweet crunchiness, are the stars of these rich chocolates. moonstruckchocolate.com

Two from Moonstruck:

Two from Missionary: (vegan)

5. Sea Salt Cajeta Caramel Slowly caramelized milk gives the chocolaty filling a rich, butterscotch flavor.

7. Meyer Lemon Explosion this big truffle bursts with bright lemon flavor thanks to rich chocolate ganache

1

12. Luscious Caramel the flowing salted caramel is as dark and intense as the chocolate. this one's for real caramel lovers.

13. Oregon Kiss local roasted hazelnuts are ground with milk chocolate and sea salt, covered in more bittersweet chocolate, then rolled in cocoa powder. think Baci candies with a college education. sahagunchocolates.com

Two from Xocolatl de David: 15

spiked with lemon purée and lemon oil.

8. Trailhead Espresso the super-smooth ganache is infused with beans from local trailhead Roasters. It tastes just like a chocolate-covered espresso bean without the grit. missionarychocolates.com

Three from Alma: 9. Thai Peanut Butter Coconut milk, ginger, lime, chile and chocolate make an irresistable combination. like a chocolately satay sauce, but in a very good way.

10. White Dog Whiskey alma's superb caramel gets a dose of House Spirits moonshine, for a spirited yet surprisingly delicate kick.

14. Bacon Chocolate the chocolate ganache in these truffles is bold and smoky, like eating chocolate by a campfire.

15. Bacon Caramel thick, gooey caramel enrobed in dark chocolate gets infused with bacon, for a smoky, porky flavor that's hard to beat. xocolatldedavid.com PHotoGRaPH BY FaItH CatHCaRt

go here / Three new ShoPS 1 Milwaukie Kitchen & Wine

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Two from Sahagún: 11

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11. Deux Pistaches these rich and nutty bars offer two layers of pistachio goodness — roasted pistachio giunduja and salted pistachio marzipan. almachocolate.com

Former Carafe chef and bona fide Frenchman Pascal Sauton brings a bit of ooh-la-la to tranquil Milwaukie with his specialty market-meets-deli-meetscooking school. Pop in for a round of Brillat-Savarin and a bottle of Bordeaux, a smoked ham and white cheddar croissant sandwich, lip-smacking desserts from the Sugar Cube’s Kir Jensen or a cooking class led by local culinary savants.

— Jen SteVenSon

10610 S.E. Main St., 503-653-3228; milwaukiekitchen.com PHotoGRaPHS BY lInDa SHanKWeIleR (leFt, toP), anD DanIelle CentonI, (leFt, BeloW)

2 Mio Seafood Market though it’s in a corner of Mio Sushi’s warehouse, this tiny market with its roll-up garage door is only tangentially related to the local sushi empire. the offerings are curated independently, which is why there’s a very unusual, but well-thoughtout, combination of gourmet goods, from imported Italian plums to frozen asian dumplings, plus house-made specialties like poke and ceviche. It’s like Pastaworks meets Uwajimaya, but on a tiny scale. the fresh fish selection is all locally caught and sustainable, some of it is sushi grade, and you can get any of the varieties on offer turned into fish and chips.

— DanIelle CentonI

1703 B N.W. 16th Ave., 503-972-1140, miosushi.com

3 Woodsman Market

nestled between the original Stumptown Cafe and the Woodsman tavern on Division Street is a bright, white-subway-tiled nano market filled with everything you need for a simple gourmet meal, from the outdoor carts of fresh flowers and produce, to the jars of pasta sauce and tins of smoked paprika. there’s cheese selected

by Steve Jones of Cheese Bar, charcuterie from local faves like Chop and Fino in Fondo (you can even buy the hams featured on the Woodsman’s country ham plate), plus wine, beer and sandwiches.

— DanIelle CentonI

4529 S.E. Division St.; woodsmantavern.com

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cook this / Miso-creaMeD kaLe Kale is like a sweet kid brother you just can’t shake. Super friendly and impossible to avoid, it’s in season 12 months out of 12 in the northwest. Don’t get me wrong, I adore this super food as much as I do a summer tomato (or my kid brother), but I’m always on the hunt for a new delicious way to prepare it. At Wafu, chef-owner Trent Pierce gives lacinato kale an east-meets-West treatment that has so much umami it puts creamed spinach to shame. After tasting this, you’ll praise the virtues of this dark mineral-laden crucifer and want to eat it, dare I say, every single night. —TeRI GelBeR PHoToGRAPH BY RAnDY l. RASMUSSen

Just in time for all those weight-loss resolutions, Farm to Fit delivers singleserving, calorie-controlled meals made from local ingredients by local chef Kevin Sandri of Garden State food cart fame. I tried the 1,200-calorie a day plan for five days ($115 for 15 meals). The upsides?

It was plenty of food, even with workouts thrown in; meals reheat quickly, offer seasonal ingredients and are, in general, tasty. The downsides: Accumulating 15 plastic containers is a bummer, even if they are recyclable; meals are meatheavy, which means they’re not exactly low-fat; and some meals were downright downers. Still, if you hate to cook and count calories, and don’t want to put your locavore ideals on hold, Farm to Fit could be your solution. — DAnIelle CenTonI farmtofit.com

Miso-Creamed Kale MAKeS 4 SeRVInGS

3 to 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided) 1 large shallot, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed, roughly chopped ½ cup shimeji mushrooms with stems, or shiitake mushroom tops

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1 tablespoon soy sauce ¼ cup dry vermouth ½ cup heavy cream ¼ cup white miso paste

Place 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. When melted, add the shallot, garlic and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over low heat without letting the garlic and shallots color, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the kale and continue to cook for a few more minutes until wilted.

Meanwhile, in a small pan set over medium-high heat, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter. Add the mushrooms and cook until softened and cooked through, about 5 minutes. If the mushrooms become too dry, add the rest of the butter. Stir in the soy sauce, cook another minute and turn off the heat. once the kale is wilted and soft, increase the heat to medium high, add the vermouth and cook until it’s just evaporated, about 1 minute. Add the cream and miso, stirring until completely incorporated. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 2 more minutes until the sauce reduces slightly and tightens up the around the kale. Taste for seasoning (but don’t forget the mushrooms have soy sauce). Place the kale on a warm platter and scatter the mushrooms over the top.

Serve immediately. — Trent Pierce, Wafu, Portland PHoToGRAPH BY FAITH CATHCART

wear this schooLhouse eLectric's apron Known for making the coolest old-school light fixtures around, Schoolhouse electric & Supply Co. recently branched out into the world of housewares and got a new location to boot. We’ve been coveting pretty much everything, from the armchairs to the rugs, but Portland designer Adam Arnold’s ticking-stripe apron, with its crisscross back, is at the top of our must-have list.

— DAnIelle CenTonI

$115; 2181 N.W. Nicolai St., schoolhouseelectric.com

briGht iDea aLternative venDinG Machines So many great ideas never get beyond the talking stage, but last fall three Portland creatives brought their vending-machine dreams to life. Richard Anders created Soda Pagoda (sodapagoda.com),a collection of rehabbed vending machines decorated by local artists and dispensing exotic and sometimes questionably flavored sodas from around the world (Black garlic? Really?). You can find the machines at several food cart pods around town, and eventually you’ll be able to go on the website to vote on the drinks that go in them.

Then there’s the goodie monster, the pet project

of creative strategist Mark Jacobs and his friend, designer Mette Rankin. Big and furry and brimming with good-for-you snacks like Sahale nuts and Somersaults crackers, the Goodie Monster is located in the lobby of Goldsmith Building in Chinatown, where the duo work. Both adorable and awesome, it’s pretty hard to resist anything the Goodie Monster is selling.

Here’s hoping more ugly, boring vending machines get a similar makeover. You can watch how he was brought to life at bureauofbetterment. com, and get a list of snacks he dispenses at goodiemonster. com. — DAnIelle CenTonI

omantic G E TAWAY S Fall in love, all over again!

Couples have been flocking to this inspirational cliff and the ambiance of Hood River for generations. There’s a lot to love – just one scenic hour from Portland.

World-renowned for beautiful hikes and waterfalls, Gorge Wine Country now features dozens of award-winning wineries, scores of great restaurants, brew pubs, and intriguing shops, plus all kinds of outdoor adventure activities.

The perfect place to re-connect!

The Landing at Newport Alta Crystal Resort

Discover The Landing at Newport, a 57-unit resort style condo-hotel. From glorious sunrises to magnificent sunsets, you will experience an ever-changing view of the beautiful Yaquina Bay and Bridge.

Located at the end of the historic Newport Bayfront, you can enjoy the fishing fleets, shopping, and fine dining.

Make your getaway unforgettable by staying at the all new Columbia Cliff Villas Hotel. Breathtaking views, exquisite furnishings and fireplaes in luxurious rooms and suites.

Take a romantic escape to Washington’s largest ski area. Our small resort is tucked in the woods, with charming chalet suites & a romantic honeymoon cabin. Soak in our hot tub & 90° heated pool. Take a gondola ride to Crystal’s summit & Washington’s highest restaurant at 6872’. Snowshoe right from your door. Incredible stay & ski packages midweek (non-holiday) or every day in the spring.

1-866-912-8366 www.columbiacliffvillas.com

1-800-277-6475 www.altacrystalresort.com

www.thelandingatnewport.com or call 1-800-749-4993

Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center Located in the heart of Walla Walla’s wine country, the Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center is Walla Walla’s leading hotel and restaurant.

Enjoy a romantic escape to comfort and tradition with beautifully appointed rooms, unforgettable seasonal cuisine and a wonderful selection of area wines. Exceptional guest experiences for every guest!

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Little Creek Cove on the Beach

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radar Our picks for what to do when SOupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ON!

Jan. 1-31 January is one of the chilliest months of the year, which makes it the perfect time to observe National Soup Month.

Warm up with a bowl of Mama Leoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chicken soup or tomatoorange soup from Elephants Delicatessen, or head to the coast, where you can find soul-satisfying clam chowder at Moâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurants, with six outposts between Cannon Beach and Florence. elephantsdeli.com moschowder.com

LEARN tO ButCHER LIkE A pRO Jan. 8-29 Ethan Bisagna,

former butcher at Laurelhurst Market and proprietor of Feastworks Catering and Charcuterie, shares secrets and techniques in his series of pig and chicken butchery classes. participants learn how to make sausages, tie roasts and truss chickens, and they go home with an assortment of meats and recipes. feastworks.com

SWIg AND DIg IN

put SOME SIzzLE IN yOuR WINtER

winter feels a lot less bleak, thanks to the Oregon Wine, Food & Brew Festival, a twoday celebration of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drinking and food scenes. In addition to top pinot noir, look for winter ales and specialty brews, along with cooking demonstrations from top Oregon chefs, all under one roof at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem. oregonwinefoodbrewfest.com

onstage itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hot hot hot, thanks to Spanish flamenco star Soledad Barrio and the company Noche Flamenca, which is hailed as the most authentic touring flamenco troupe in the world. White Bird presents them in the intimate Newmark theatre. Make it a full night with tapas from Spanish restaurants toro Bravo or patanegra. whitebird.org torobravopdx.com patanegrarestaurant.com

Jan. 13-14 the middle of

A SEAFOOD BOuNty

Feb. 3-4 the Oregon Convention Center becomes a seafood destination with the return of the Portland Seafood & Wine Festival, which arrives right in the middle of Dungeness crab season. Between bites and sips of wine, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a special area to build elaborate sand castles. pdxseafoodandwinefestival.com

Jan. 12-14 Baby, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cold outside. But

ANDREA MOHIN

I â?¤ ROMANCE! Feb. 14 Make your

Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day reservations early. thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no romance in takeout from taco Bell.

14

ON tHE tRuFFLE HuNt

Jan. 27-29 Oregon truffles reach the peak of ripeness in their native soil in midwinter, and the Seventh Annual Oregon Truffle Festival celebrates their distinct flavor through a weekend of special events around Eugene. A sure sellout is the grand truffle Dinner, featuring some of the regionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top chefs. oregontrufflefestival.com

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StILL AFLOAt AFtER ALL tHESE yEARS

Feb. 23-26 the Newport

Seafood & Wine Festival turns 35 this year and marks the occasion with an added fourth day. In addition to tastes of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fresh from the sea, the event features small Oregon wineries and craft booths. newportchamber.org/ sw_general.htm

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Feb. 26 thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already been plenty of drama with this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Oscars â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Eddie Murphy dropped out of hosting, and old-timer Billy Crystal stepped in to save the day. Create your own drama at an Oscar party with these three easy steps.

1) Wear an outfit so daring that Joan Rivers would be rendered speechless. 2) Smile uncomfortably during the monologue â&#x20AC;&#x201D; people wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re nervous or had Botox. 3) Even though youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not nominated, seethe with jealousy when winnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; names are announced. Now thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s star power! oscars.org

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16

GOOd FOR yOu [ Plow-to-plate grains with an Old World pedigree ]

By AShLEy GArTLAnd / PhOTOGrAPh By rOSS WILLIAM hAMILTOn ou know whole grains are good for you, but you can eat only so many bowls of steel-cut oats for breakfast and brown rice for dinner before your taste buds get bored.

Fortunately, there’s a world of lessfamiliar whole grains out there just waiting to shake up your menu. One of our favorites is plump, chewy farro. Also known as emmer wheat, this Italian staple and Old World heirloom wheat variety is a rich source of fiber, B vitamins, vitamin E and carbohydrates.

According to recent studies, it is also higher in antioxidants than common wheat varieties. Even from a culinary perspective farro is a gold mine, offering a nutty, full-bodied flavor and firm texture to soups, risottos, pilafs and whole grain salads.

Although most farro is grown in Italy, we have our own

source just beyond our state borders at Washington’s Bluebird Grain Farms. On their small Methow Valley family farm, Brooke and Sam Lucy sow, grow and harvest emmer wheat and run an Old World wooden granary and mill that produces fresh “plow-to-plate” grains with high nutritional value. “Most imported farro is pearled. The husk is shaved, which takes out most of the nutrients,” Brooke says. “We believe that foods should be whole or living, and we did not want to shave the most nutritious part off of our grain after taking such care in growing it.

So we developed our own system of taking the husk off that did not ruin the integrity of the whole grain.”

The couple’s conscientious approach to growing and harvesting their farro has made a fan of many local chefs, including Vitaly Paley of Paley’s Place. “It simply tastes better than the stuff from Italy,” he says. “It has a very unique crunch, chew and texture that I like.” This sturdier texture means it’s also quite forgiving.

Why you need whole grains

MAkES 8 SErVInGS

The latest dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults consume about 11 servings of grain products each day. The conservative recommendation is to make sure that half of those come from whole grains, says diane Stadler, the director of Oregon health & Science Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s graduate nutrition program and a registered dietitian. Whole grains havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had their bran and germ removed, so they have more fiber and nutrients than refined grains. They provide sustained energy, help you feel fuller longer, and are thought to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

Getting five to six servings of whole grains is ideal but eating just one serving is a good start. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some research shows that the benefits of eating whole grains start to kick in from the first serving you eat, so switching any amount of your current grain consumption to whole grains is a plus,â&#x20AC;? says Cynthia harriman, director of food and nutrition strategies for the Whole Grains Council/Oldways.

This salad offers the perfect balance of spicy, sweet, earthy and tart flavors. Make a big batch on the weekend and eat it for lunch all week long.

For the dressing: 1 tablespoon harissa

â &#x201E;3 cup sherry vinegar

1

½ teaspoon sea salt ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Pinch of granulated sugar ž cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad: 3 cups cooked farro (see Farro cooking tips) 1 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed, roughly chopped 1 cup sliced almonds, toasted ½ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted ž cup dried cherries 5 ounces feta, crumbled To make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the harissa, vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar. drizzle in the oil while whisking to emulsify.

To make the salad: In a large bowl, combine the farro, kale, almonds, pumpkin seeds and dried cherries. Toss to combine. drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Top with the crumbled feta and serve. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Adapted from Pastaworks, Portland

Five more great farro dishes around town AccAnTo At Belmontâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lively enoteca Accanto, chef david Anderson pairs chewy farro with seasonal root vegetables â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and occasionally truffles â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in a hearty winter soup. accantopdx.com

Find Bluebird Grain Farms emmer wheat at all three Pastaworks locations and online at bluebirdgrainfarms. com and ourfoodshed.com

Farro cooking tips

â&#x20AC;˘ 1 cup of dry farro equals about 2 cups cooked â&#x20AC;˘ Use 1 part farro to 3 parts liquid, such as chicken

broth or water â&#x20AC;˘ Simmer, covered, until tender and liquid is absorbed, about 25 minutes for pearled farro, or 40 minutes or more for semi-pearled or whole farro. you may need more liquid when cooking semi-pearled and whole farro.

Firehouse In his new post as the Firehouseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s chef de cuisine, Timothy Wastell introduces Woodlawn neighborhood diners to farro prepared risotto-style with smoked pork shank and lacinato kale. firehousepdx.com clyde common Farro also gets the risotto treatment at the oft-packed Clyde Common, where chef Chris diMinno serves stewed farro with scallions, heritage variety citrus segments and zest, and braised rabbit or duck. clydecommon.com

â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is virtually impossible to overcook,â&#x20AC;? Paley says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We cook it for two or even three hours sometimes, and that long cooking time develops flavors that are impossible to achieve during the brief cooking of other grains.â&#x20AC;?

meriWeTherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resTAurAnT Chef Earl hook gives farro an ethnic feel with a vegan farro and lentil curry composed of farro, French green lentils, carrots, sweet potatoes, coconut milk and a house-made Indonesianstyle curry paste. A garnish of sambal fried shallots and peanuts provides an appealing textural contrast. meriwethersnw.com spiriT oF â&#x20AC;&#x2122;77 Even this sports bar is getting in on the farro action, with a salad of warm roasted winter squash, radicchio, fresh mozzarella and a balsamic dressing. spiritof77bar.com ÂŁ

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ď&#x192; ONLINE EXTRA: Get Firehouse chef Timothy Wastellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recipe for Toasted Farro Risotto With Smoked Pork Shanks and Lacinato Kale at mIXPdX.cOm

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17

mixmaster [ Arboreal flavors take

t

18

root in cocktails ]

o paraphrase Euell Gibbons, the late naturalist who pitched Grape Nuts in the 1970s with a memorable (and much-parodied) catchphrase: Have you ever sipped a pine tree? odds are, the answer is “no,” but that may not be the case much longer. once the exclusive province of verdant forests (not to mention air fresheners and household cleansers), the aroma and, now, flavor of pine, cedar and fir are increasingly — and unexpectedly — appearing in a bibulous format. of course, what’s new to us is an old favorite in other parts of the world. “In the Catalan region of Spain, the flavor of pine has been enjoyed for generations,” says Evan Zimmerman, formerly of Laurelhurst Market and now the bar manager at The Woodsman Tavern. Zimmerman says that though cedar and fir are omnipresent in the Northwest, it wasn’t until he sipped a drink devised by legendary Spanish chef Ferran Adrià that he fully realized the flavor potential of these evergreens. “He made a frappé with pine water — water that’s been extracted from fresh pine — mixed with gin and crushed ice, and it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had,” Zimmerman says.

At The Woodsman Tavern, Zimmerman’s cocktail list has a nod to the restaurant’s arboreal approach: the Hunting Vest, a whiskey-based mixture flavored with Campari infused with charred cedar. The concept isn’t entirely new — pioneering barman Jerry Thomas listed a recipe for pine-steeped gin in his 1862 bar guide — but Zimmerman says crossing a powerfully flavored Italian bitter liqueur with the bright, earthy flavor of cedar results in a complex, nuanced combination. “People

bY PAuL CLArkE PHoToGrAPHY bY FrEDrICk D. JoE sometimes have negative associations with cedar, like it smells like their grandfather’s closet, but when you pair it with something assertive like Campari, it becomes understated and elegant, a less-aggressive flavor,” he says.

Zimmerman’s cedar-enhanced cocktail is only the latest drink designed to appeal to pine-curious palates. Several years ago, Portland’s Clear Creek Distillery introduced its Eau de Vie of Douglas Fir, a spirit made by steeping, distilling and re-steeping the springtime buds of Douglas fir in clear brandy. The result is a potently aromatic, ethereally green spirit that seems to contain the concentrated essence of the Northwest forest. In Europe, a similar approach is taken with Zirbenz; this sweetened spirit is flavored with fresh cones of the Arolla stone pine, which grows high in the Austrian alps, and which give the liqueur a clean, floral flavor touched with warm spice.

Zimmerman sometimes uses drops and dashes of the Douglas fir spirit to bump up the brightness of a gin and tonic, and the distinctive character of Zirbenz can be found in several cocktails around town. At Grüner, the liqueur is added to the Manhattan-like Münchner, and at Teardrop Lounge, it’s mixed with tequila and toasted-pecan syrup in the rich and nutty Strong Waters.

At Gilt Club, bartender Colin Pomeroy says the bar staff was pondering how to incorporate Zirbenz into a cocktail when a sous chef’s

reeseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-like â&#x20AC;&#x153;you got your pine tree in my whiskeyâ&#x20AC;? accident answered the question for them. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He liked drinking rye whiskey, and he liked drinking Zirbenz; one time he poured one on top of the other and it worked out pretty well,â&#x20AC;? Pomeroy says. Adding additional depth with a dash of bitters and roundness with a rinse of port, Pomeroy dubbed the mix Steel Neil, and placed the drink on Gilt Clubâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current menu. Pomeroy says some guests have found the flavor of pine overwhelming when Zirbenz is sampled on its own, but when the liqueur is mixed with the similarly robust character of whiskey and port, the combination is much more approachable. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This way, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re drinking tree sap,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The rye takes over a lot of the strong pine flavor, and makes it more subtle.â&#x20AC;?

Hunting Vest MAkES 1 CoCkTAIL The Woodsman Tavern bar manager Evan Zimmerman started with a recipe for the old Pal â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a classic cocktail made with whiskey, Campari and vermouth â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and added an understated arboreal touch by infusing the Campari with pieces of charred cedar. ½ ounce rye whiskey ½ ounce fino sherry 1 ounce dry vermouth 1 ounce cedar-infused Campari (recipe follows) Ice Lemon peel Combine whiskey, sherry, vermouth and infused Campari in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well until chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe. Twist a piece of lemon peel over the drink, discard peel, and serve.

Cedar-infused Campari Find a block of untreated cedar. use a hatchet to chop off several pieces (about 2 inches wide by 1 inch thick). use a kitchen blowtorch to scorch the cedar until the wood surface is black and charred. Let wood cool, then place in a 1-quart Mason jar.

Add Campari to cover, seal and let mixture steep for two weeks. Without disturbing the mixture, use a rubber hose to gently siphon, or â&#x20AC;&#x153;rack,â&#x20AC;? the liquid from the sediment into a clean jar.

Strain infused liquid through a mesh sieve fitted with a coffee filter to remove particulates before use. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Evan Zimmerman, The Woodsman Tavern, Portland ÂŁ

The Woodsman Tavern bartender Evan Zimmerman takes a DIY approach when giving his Hunting Vest cocktail an evergreen flavor. He torches chunks of cedar until blackened, then steeps them in Campari.

19

get together

By DEEnA PRIChEP / Photography by BRIAn LEE

[ A warming Middle Eastern dinner that gets guests in on the action ]

I

20

Menu Creamy Phyllo Spinach Pie Red Lentil Kofte Avocado Sumac Whip Egg and Lemon Soup With Fresh Crab and Orzo Arugula, Pomegranate and Feta Salad With Pomegranate-Sumac Dressing Sweet Potato and Leek Manti Rice and Almond Pudding With Rose Syrup and Pink Peppercorns

Wines Kir-Yianni 2007 Ramnista, Greece Fausse Piste 2010 “Ma Conviction” Viognier, Columbia Valley Massaya 2010 Blanc, Bekaa Valley Chateau Ksara 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon, Bekaa Valley

find it hard to resist the allure of dumplings. Wrap almost anything in dough and suddenly it’s a lot more interesting.

Maybe it’s the element of surprise, or maybe it’s the indulgence of having your own giftwrapped package. Whatever the reason, I’m a sucker for all manner of pelmeni, siu mai, kreplach, won tons and the like. But there is a downside: Dumplings are a lot of work.

Unless you have an army of kitchen monkeys to help you, making the dough, cooking the filling and assembling the suckers can take the better part of the day. And so, when I became smitten with manti, Turkey’s contribution to the dumpling family, I decided to outsource the work — to a dinner party.

But if I wanted to make my guests work for their supper, I knew I had to make it worth their while. So I pulled together some similarly Ottoman-inflected drinks and appetizers and made a deliciously productive evening out of it. I combed through Silvena Rowe’s “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume” (a Turkish-fusion cookbook that’s become my latest obsession), along with a few other old and new recipes, and came up with a spread of small bites that could keep my guests happy during the manti-making.

Turkey’s meze tradition is perfectly suited for this kind of event, and I found many snacks that could be eaten with one hand as manti-makers did their work. I settled on red lentil kofte tucked into lettuce leaves and garnished with an avocado-tahini spread, small squares of creamy Turkish spinach pie and bowls of hazelnuts dusted with Aleppo pepper (turns out Turkey actually surpasses Oregon in hazelnut production).

But first, I warmed up the crowd with a drink. Turks typically pair their mezes with raki, but I went local instead, picking up a bottle of Stone Barn Brandyworks’ similarly anise-flavored ouzo (ignoring the fact that the Greeks and Turks might not have always been the best of friends). On a similar pan-Mediterranean note, we grabbed some Lebanese wine, as well as a Greek bottle and a local viognier to stand up to the spices.

With these snacks and drinks in hand, and a full table

The trick to making homemade dumplings for a crowd? Getting your guests to do the work. Don’t worry, they’ll love it — especially when there’s plenty of easy-to-eat snacks and good conversation.

21

get together cont.

22

of good friends, assembling the dumplings turned out to be delightful work. We caught up and laughed while rolling out thin sheets of dough and stuffing them with a sweet potato-leek filling (under the helpful tutelage of the one actual Turk in the room, who kindly didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t laugh at the more tortellini-like initial efforts). Once the dumplings were shaped, we sat down to a crab-studded egg-lemon soup and an arugula salad tartly dressed with pomegranate molasses and sumac. And then we dined on the dumplings themselves, boiled until tender and topped with garlicky yogurt and chile-infused oil. As we sipped our Turkish coffees and finished off the last of our rose syrup-topped puddings, we wondered aloud whether it was worth the effort. The vote? An emphatic yes. With a room full of friends and a plate full of food, it hardly felt like work at all.

Timeline Two days before: Make the manti filling and toppings, and the kofte mixture.

One day before: Make the manti dough, salad and dressing (keep separate), and puddings A few hours before: Assemble and bake the creamy spinach phyllo pie, make avocado whip, shape and arrange the kofte. Make soup and toss salad before serving.

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Sweet Potato and Leek Manti Makes 8 To 10 servinGs

Manti are often filled with lamb or beef, but this version uses a sweet potato and leek filling instead. The tiny dumplings are then sauced with tangy garlicky yogurt and topped with a drizzle of chile oil. Rolling and shaping the dumplings takes time, but the dough and filling can be made in advance.

Filling: 2 sweet potatoes (about 1½ pounds total) 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3 leeks (white and light green parts only), washed and sliced into ¼-inch rings Salt 2 teaspoons cumin seeds ¼ cup vegetable or chicken broth, or water Freshly ground black pepper Dough: 1 cup water 1 egg 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon salt 3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour Yogurt Sauce: 2 cups plain yogurt 3 cloves garlic, minced ¼ cup water Salt Chile Oil: ⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1

1 tablespoon crushed red chile flakes (see note)

To make the filling: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prick sweet potatoes all over with a fork, and place on a baking sheet. Bake until soft, about 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then peel and mash.

While the sweet potatoes are baking, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the leeks and a pinch of salt. Sauté until softened and beginning to color, about 15 minutes. Clear a spot in the pan and add the cumin seeds, toast until fragrant, then stir into the leeks. Add the broth or water to deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits.

Remove from heat. Add the mashed sweet potato, season with salt and pepper to taste, and allow to cool completely. (Filling can be made several days ahead.)

To make the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer mix together the water, egg, oil and salt. Mix in 3 cups of the flour. Attach the dough hook and knead until the dough comes together in a smooth ball that clears the bottom of the mixer, adding more flour if needed. (Though it takes more effort, the dough can also be mixed by hand.) Allow to rest for at least an hour before rolling out. (Dough can be made 2 days in ahead. Remove from the refrigerator an hour before using.)

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To make the yogurt sauce: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, garlic and water. Season with salt to taste. (Can be made several days ahead.)

To make the chile oil: In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the oil and chiles. heat until the chiles darken and flavor the oil (take care not to scorch; can be made several days ahead).

To assemble the manti: Place ¼ of the dough on a well-floured work surface, keeping the remainder covered with plastic wrap or an overturned bowl so it doesn’t dry out. Roll out the dough as thin as possible, adding more flour as needed to keep it from sticking. (If the dough resists rolling, cover it with a dish towel and let sit a few minutes to relax the gluten, then try again.) When the dough is rolled, cut it into 3-inch squares. Stack the squares (be sure they’re well-floured to keep them from sticking together), cover and repeat with the remaining dough.

Place a small scoop of filling in the center of a square, rub the edges of the dough with a little water to moisten, and bring the corners up to the center, pressing the edges together to form a square-based pyramid. Pinch the edges to make sure they’re sealed. (You can also shape them like tortellini, but the pyramid shape is traditional.) Place the shaped manti on a wellfloured plate or tray (otherwise they’ll stick and tear as you try to lift them off). Repeat with remaining squares and filling.

When you’re ready to cook the manti, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Working in batches, add the manti and cook at a gentle simmer until they float, about 3 to 5 minutes (the exact time will vary depending on how thinly you rolled the dough). Remove with a slotted spoon and serve topped with yogurt sauce and a drizzle of chile oil.

Note: You could use standard red pepper flakes – especially if you like heat. But I went with oily Marash chiles, which have a strong flavor and mild heat. Aleppo pepper is a good substitute if you have it on hand.

— Deena Prichep

23

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red Lentil Kofte Makes abouT 24

Kofte are a type of meatball common throughout the Middle East and South Asia, and can take many forms. This vegetarian version is a common Turkish appetizer, mixing red lentils and bulgur for a complete protein, sort of like an unfried falafel, and brightening it with herbs, lemon juice and red pepper paste. nesting the kofte in lettuce leaves lets you snack one-handed while you fold manti, and a drizzle of Avocado Sumac Whip makes them completely irresistible. ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 red onion, finely chopped 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon zatar Salt 1 tablespoon red pepper paste (or tomato paste; see note) ¾ cup red lentils 1¾ cups water Juice of 1 lemon ½ cup fine bulgur wheat Salt and freshly ground black pepper ½ cup chopped fresh parsley (divided) ⁄3 cup finely chopped scallions (divided)

1

24

2 small heads butter lettuce, washed and separated into leaves Avocado Sumac Whip, for serving (optional)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the red onion and sauté until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.

Clear a space in the bottom of the pot and add the cumin, zatar, salt and red pepper paste. Cook for about 1 minute to toast the spices, then stir into the onions. Stir in the lentils and water, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook until the lentils are fully cooked and beginning to break down, about 20 minutes. Add the lemon juice and bulgur, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes, until bulgur has absorbed the liquid and the mixture has cooled slightly.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in half of parsley and scallions; refrigerate mixture for at least 30 minutes until cool and firm. (Mixture can be prepared 2 days ahead.)

When ready to serve, arrange the lettuce leaves on a platter (set aside any that are too large or too small for another use). Scoop about 2 tablespoons of the mixture and shape it with your hands to make a torpedo shape. Place on a lettuce leaf and repeat with the remaining mixture. Garnish each with the reserved parsley and scallions. Serve with Avocado Sumac Whip, if desired.

Note: You can find mild or hot red pepper paste at Middle Eastern grocery stores such as Barbur World Foods.

— Deena Prichep

Avocado Sumac Whip Makes abouT 1 cup

This thick dip uses avocados instead of chickpeas in a somewhat standard hummus approach, yielding an Ottoman take on guacamole. Serve with red lentil kofte, pita chips or flatbread.

2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and cubed Juice of 1 small lemon ¼ cup tahini 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil ½ teaspoon crushed sumac ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon ¼ teaspoon ground cumin 3 cloves garlic, minced

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.

Process until it is the consistency of mayonnaise. Serve immediately.

— Adapted from “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume”

by Silvena Rowe (Ecco, 2011)

egg and Lemon Soup With Fresh crab and orzo Makes 8 firsT-course servinGs

This lovely, bisque-like soup takes the traditional Mediterranean egg-lemon base, and accents its rich sourness with sweet crabmeat, spunky arugula and slippery orzo. The combination is fabulous, and a great way to start a Turkish meal.

In a stockpot or large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and add the orzo. Simmer for 25 minutes, until the orzo is very tender.

1½ quarts (6 cups) chicken broth or stock

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, lemon zest and lemon juice. Whisk in about ½ cup of the hot stock, then whisk this mixture into the pot of stock. Add the arugula and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the arugula is wilted.

Add the crabmeat and cook for a minute longer, until heated through.

Serve topped with a pinch of sumac.

½ cup orzo 6 large egg yolks Grated zest of 2 small lemons Juice of 2 small lemons 3 ounces arugula, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups) Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper ¾ to 1 pound cooked crabmeat, picked over for shells and cartilage 1 teaspoon crushed sumac

— Adapted from “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume” by Silvena Rowe (Ecco, 2011)

creamy Phyllo Spinach Pie Makes 12 appeTizer servinGs

Unlike Greek spanakopita, where the phyllo is oiled between layers to make it shatteringly crisp, this Turkish version moistens the phyllo with layers of savory, cheesy custard. The pie puffs up like a soufflé, its eggy softness perfectly offsetting the layer of feta-spinach filling. Cut this into small squares to keep its richness from being overwhelming.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a steamer basket, or a pot with a small amount of water, cook spinach until wilted.

Transfer to a strainer. When cool enough to handle, press out as much water as possible. In a medium bowl, mix the drained spinach with the crumbled feta.

1 pound baby spinach leaves, washed

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Lay a sheet of phyllo in the bottom. Brush 1⁄8 cup of the egg-milk mixture evenly over the sheet, then sprinkle with a tablespoon of the grated cheese. Repeat the process until you’ve used up half of the phyllo (about 12 sheets). Spread the spinach-feta mixture evenly on top, then repeat the layering with the remaining phyllo, milk-egg mixture and cheese, ending with the milk-egg mixture and cheese. Tuck or trim any overhanging phyllo, and bake for 30-45 minutes, until the casserole puffs and browns. Allow to cool slightly, cut into squares and serve.

½ pound feta cheese, crumbled 4 eggs Pinch of salt 5 tablespoons butter 2¼ cups whole milk 1 (16-ounce) package phyllo, thawed ½ pound Turkish kasar (aka kasseri) cheese or pecorino, grated

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and a pinch of salt. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the milk and heat until mixture is warm but not hot.

Whisk butter-milk mixture into the eggs.

— Adapted from “Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005) by Claudia Roden

 onLIne eXtrA: get the recipe for Arugula Pomegranate and Feta Salad With Pomegranate-Sumac Dressing at MIXPDX.coM

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rice and Almond Pudding With rose Syrup and Pink Peppercorns Makes 8 servinGs

Milk puddings, scented with rose water or mastic resin, are a common dessert throughout Turkey. This recipe makes for a lightly sweetened and somewhat neutral pudding, a good counterpoint to the strongly flavored rose syrup and piquant peppercorns. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re serving the pudding on its own, you can increase the sugar and flavoring to your taste. ½ cup granulated sugar 4½ cups whole milk (divided) ½ cup almond flour (see note) Âź cup rice flour Several drops orange flower water or almond extract Rose syrup (available at Middle Eastern grocery stores) Pink peppercorns

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and 4 cups of the milk. heat over medium-high heat until hot but not boiling. Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining ½ cup milk, almond flour and rice flour until smooth.

Remove ½ cup of the hot milk and whisk into the almond-rice mixture to loosen. Whisk this mixture back into the pot and continue to stir as it comes to a boil. Lower the heat until just barely maintaining a simmer, and cook pudding, whisking regularly, for about 25 minutes (the pudding will thicken a bit early on, but the full cooking time is needed to ensure a smooth pudding in the end). Remove from heat, let cool for a few minutes, and add the extract.

Divide pudding among 8 serving dishes and chill in the refrigerator until cool, about 1 hour.

To serve, top each pudding with a drizzle of rose syrup and a few pinches of pink peppercorns (crush them lightly with your fingers as you scatter them).

Note: You can find almond flour or almond meal at most grocery stores, including Trader Joeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Or you can blitz whole, slivered or sliced almonds in a blender or food processor until powdery. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re making this for your Turkish mother-in-law, be sure to use blanched almonds for a pure white pudding.

Otherwise, a more rustic version with bits of brown almond skin is equally delicious. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Deena Prichep ÂŁ

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eat here / oahu [ Beat the winter blues with sun, surf

and piles of housemade soba ] “oahu’s the most underrated island,” my friend shouts to me as we zoom away from Waikiki along the lava-crusted eastern coastline, windows wide open. miles of road, beach and sky open up before us. She was talking about the incredible scenery on the windward side, but she could have easily been talking about oahu’s food scene. the island is an eater’s paradise. at first glance, you might think there’s nothing but chain restaurants and tourist traps, but look deeper and you’ll find another side to the island, one that most tourists never see. there’s a vast array of authentic asian foods, from Japanese noodles to chinese bakeries, plus affordable restaurants using native hawaiian ingredients in exciting ways. and because flights to oahu are direct, and cheaper than to most other islands, it’s an option for an easy hawaiian getaway that could even be taken over a long weekend.

By lila martin photography By marco garcia

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Maunakea Marketplace on your way into town from the airport, stop at Alicia’s Market (267 mokauea St., honolulu, 808-841-1921; no website), where you can take advantage of one of the island’s best selections of poke — the hawaiian dish of cubed raw fish or cooked octopus. you’ll know you found it when you spot the hand-painted murals of brightly colored seafood above the packed parking lot. Walk through the turnstile (it’s also a liquor store) to the back, where next to the hot case of chinese roast duck is a long cold case displaying sundry styles of poke seasoned with seaweed, scallions, onions, soy sauce, wasabi or chiles.

Exploring the Japanese restaurants that line the narrow back streets of Waikiki could fill an entire vacation. among the myriad storefronts specializing in everything from sushi to regional ramen is Matsugen (255 Beachwalk ave., Waikiki, 808-926-0255; no website). the house specialty is soba, handmade daily with buckwheat flour ground each morning in a small mill that marks the entrance to the dining room. the noodles are served simply, hot or cold, in a deeply flavored dashi broth or accompanied by a selection of dipping sauces. photos on the menu help you order, but the chewy and comforting cold soba with miso-sesame sauce is where you should start.

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a short drive west of Waikiki takes you from Japan to china. Snack your way along streets saturated with color and lined with bakeries, produce markets, herbalists, restaurants and gift shops. Wait in line at Char Hung Sut (64 n. pauahi St., honolulu, 808-538-3335; no website) bakery for a warm, toothsome manapua to munch on. this place arguably makes the best version of bao buns filled with minced roast pork: it’s where locals come to buy boxes to take to relatives on other islands.

alicia’s Market

Just a block away, Maunakea Marketplace (1120 maunakea St., honolulu; chinatownhi.com) is a visual playground for the culinary-curious, with its open-air grocery displaying gorgeous exotic

honolulu Farmers Market produce and fresh seafood chilling on ice. inside is a Southeast asian-style food court filled with vendors selling authentic thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino and chinese lunches. the best place to graze on unusual prepared foods featuring local produce is at the Honolulu Farmers Market on Wednesdays (4-7 p.m. outside the neil S. Blaisdell concert hall, 777 Ward ave., honolulu). on a lawn under towering palm trees youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see vendors selling abalone and fresh tofu. Sample creations such as sweet mochi rice stuffed with sweet potato, â&#x20AC;&#x153;sushi slidersâ&#x20AC;? (ahi poke atop a tempura-fried kale chip with two savory sauces) and ono pops (onopops.com) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; paletas that incorporate seasonal local fruit in a seemingly limitless list of combinations such as kalamansi-coriander, guava-tamarind and papaya-star fruit.

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Matsugen

oahu Kaneohe

honolulu KaLaNIaNaoLe hIGhWaY For a real scenic treat, take the long way to lunch on the east side of the island at He’eia Kea Pier General Store & Deli (46-499 Kamehameha highway, Kaneohe, 808-235-2192; heeiapier.com). this lunch counter sits at the end of a fishing pier with an unbelievable mountain backdrop. run by a cia-trained, island-born chef, the kitchen uses ingredients that are mostly local and some are extremely so. Fish shows up on the menu only when it’s caught by longtime fishermen in the community. the taro that goes into salads and other dishes comes from the lo’i (taro paddy) up the road that chef mark noguchi helps tend on his day off. Wild fern and ulu (breadfruit, used in place of potatoes in the corned beef hash) are other menu items gleaned from this area. the dishes are twists on local plate-lunch classics — fried rice, hamburger steak, guava chicken and lu’au stew (cooked taro leaves flecked with chunks of pork) — and they’re all delicious. in hawaii, they call this kind of food “broke da mouth” good. make sure you’ve packed your swimsuits and towels for the trip, because some of the most beautiful beaches on the island are lined up along nearby Kalanianaole Highway. Waimanalo, Kailua and makapu’u are three white-sand, blue-water beauties that you won’t want to miss.

Back in honolulu, plan to make reservations at Town (3435 Waialae ave., honolulu, 808-735-5900; townkaimuki.com). this restaurant does everything right, from sourcing produce directly from island farms to making charcuterie, bread and pasta in-house. preparations on the menu will at first look familiar: arugula salad, hand-cut pastas, flatiron steak. But enhancing these dishes are native and tropical ingredients that you may never have heard of and won’t find anywhere else. pepeiau mushrooms decorate the pasta, yacón and mango are tossed into the salad, and pa’i’ai (pounded taro root) is pan-fried and set under the steak.

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he’eia Kea Pier General Store and Deli

town serves a solid cup of Stumptown, but why not take the opportunity to sip an island roast while you’re in the only state in the U.S. where coffee is grown? good hawaiian coffee hasn’t

town

handcrafted in the Pacific Northwest

historically been easy to find, but a couple of coffee aficionados have recently opened shops to showcase it. these hand-picked, small-batch roasted beans grown by rusty’s hawaiian on the Big island have fruit-forward flavor profiles (berries, apricot) unlike any other i’ve tasted. Savor them at Beach Bum Cafe (downtown in the Executive centre at 1088 Bishop St. no. 101, honolulu, 808-521-6699; beachbumcafe.com), or at Morning Glass (2955 E. manoa road, honolulu, 808-673-0065; morningglasscoffee.com) in manoa (which also makes a crave-worthy maple-sausage breakfast sandwich on a homemade English muffin).

Discover Distilled Difference please enjoy our products and the outdoors responsibly

“aloha” is both a greeting and a farewell. So, too, is a cocktail at sunset — an idyllic mark to the beginning or end of a hawaiian vacation. locals know that the best place for this is at the outdoor bar at the halekulani hotel’s House Without a Key (2199 Kalia road, honolulu, 808-923-2311; halekulani.com). this is the real deal, where even the island’s residents treat themselves to the sunset-hula experience. Sip an expertly prepared mai tai while musicians strum hawaiian melodies and a single graceful hula dancer makes timeless moves against a golden backdrop.

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halekulani hotel

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People fly to Paris, Rome and New York just to eat and drink the best of what those cities have to offer. Funny thing is, even though Portland is half the size, our culinary scene is just as much of a major tourism draw. We have the chops, the passion and an individual, iconic cuisine you really can’t get anywhere else.

Though it’s obvious we have our local chefs and restaurateurs to thank, it can be easy to forget there’s a cadre of forward-thinking artisans who are just as responsible, if not more, for creating a destination-worthy food and drink scene. Their products make us do a double take, challenging our preconceived notions, raising our expectations, setting trends and providing inspiration. In the following pages, get to know eight of those risk takers — artists in the true sense of the word — and what makes them tick.

Photography by Thomas Boyd

Matt Higgins of Coava Coffee:

hands-on roasting, from plant to cup

Matt Higgins has fallen behind on his irrigation. In a basement room in the far reaches of North Portland, he is filling and refilling a watering can, pouring its contents into plastic bins crowded with seedlings.

Fluorescent grow lights cast an illicit-seeming glow. We are in a makeshift greenhouse surrounded by something unexpected: over 400 infant coffee plants.

Just a few hours before, across town in a Southeast Portland warehouse, Higgins was working the other end of the supply chain.

A one-man assembly line, he carefully embossed, measured and filled 10-ounce bags of fresh-roasted coffee beans. Hustling with callused hands in basements and backrooms, Higgins has built one of the country’s most well-regarded boutique coffee roasting companies — the tiny Coava Coffee Roasters.

Higgins, 30, began roasting coffee in California in 2005. Soon after, he moved to Portland with his wife and found work as a barista at one of Portland’s most notable coffee shops of the past decade, Albina Press.

During that time, he nursed a dream hatched in his early days in coffee: to build his own company, with a laserlike focus on quality.

By 2008, Higgins was roasting coffee in his garage and selling to a handful of local shops. Within a year, he had secured a unique space for Coava’s first cafe and roastery, and his beans were being showcased by the country’s best cafes, from San Francisco to New York.

Higgins could have located Coava anywhere, but decided on Portland in part because its

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coffee and food culture are thriving.

“Our entire generation is moving away from bigger, cheaper, more,” says Higgins.

“Coffee isn’t just about caffeine anymore.

It’s an artisanal beverage. Portlanders were primed for that idea by Stumptown and others.” But Higgins is picking up the ball and running with it.

Coava approaches coffee with an attitude of purity that is rare, even in Portland.

Focusing exclusively on high-quality single origins, the company has never offered a blend. Coava also regularly buys out the entire coffee production of small farms, mean-

ing most of the coffees now on the menu are available nowhere else in the world. Higgins travels to coffee farms once or twice a year to taste coffees, scout potential new farm partners, and secret away a few more seeds for his collection. In less than three years, Coava has featured more than 40 coffees that score above 90 points on a 100-point scale (as measured by the coffee world’s equivalent of Wine Spectator, coffeereview.com).

Higgins’ commitment to singularity runs through almost everything — beginning with the cafe’s menu, which is limited to two coffees at any given time. As an inveterate

gearhead, Higgins also customizes his prized Probat roasting machines. But nothing is as dear to him as the coffee itself. That’s where his basement full of coffee plants comes in.

He started growing the plants to become a more educated buyer, one who can speak knowledgeably with farmers about varietal differences and nitrogen deficiency. “I think I’m an excellent roaster,” Higgins says, “but I’m only as good as the coffee I buy. My job is to showcase that coffee, and not introduce any defects into it.”

— Hanna Neuschwander  coavacoffee.com

antHony and Carol boutard of ayers CreeK farM:

Boutard he couldn’t grow grain corn west of the Cascades, the lure of a truly phenomenal corn bread was all the motivation he needed to place an order and plant corn at Ayers Creek Farm.

That corn grew like crazy.

Faced with an abundant harvest, Anthony and his wife, Carol, bought a mill, sieved the corn and created a stoneground polenta that’s become prized by

taking risks and growing a community Back in 2003, Anthony Boutard was flipping through a seed catalog when he discovered a corn whose description read “makes great corn bread.” Though naysayers had told

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local chefs and market-goers. With any other farmers, this success story might seem purely serendipitous. But for the Boutards, this risk-taking approach — one backed by thoughtful research and an enthusiasm for good food — has paid off again and again.

When the couple bought their 144-acre Gaston berry farm in 1998, they played it safe and grew primarily berries while they learned the tricks of the trade. It wasn’t until the Boutards decided to diversify their operation and grow an array of crops, however, that they found their niche in the farming community. Now they’re known as experimental farmers who raise less-familiar local crops like walnuts and burdock and who grow staples such as winter vegetables, beans, grains and fruit of extraordinary quality.

“Everything they do is at such a high level of quality — what they grow, how they grow it, how they treat their soil, how they’ve integrated the wildlife around them, their delivery process, their personalities and the stories from their newsletters,” says chef Cathy Whims of Nostrana and Oven & Shaker. “They build so much respect for their farm and their products and we learn so much from them.”

The couple’s careers have also given them an opportunity to share their knowledge with the farming community. Anthony even puts his lessons in writing by penning an informative farm newsletter and articles for industry publications. “Sharing information is important to us,” he says. “Nothing we do is proprietary because agriculture has been on this Earth for 10,000 years or longer and we are just adopting ideas that have a long history.”

Anthony also taps his skills as a former lobbyist to engage in the political arena and shape policy decisions that affect small farms like his own. He recently worked on legislation for the Farm Direct Bill, regularly testifies before boards and commissions, and writes op-ed pieces and letters to the editor when policy proposals will affect family farms.

“You cannot shape a debate by silence,” he says. “Or, as my mother used to say, ‘I can’t say yes if you don’t ask.’ ” — Ashley Gartland

When House Spirits Distillery debuted in 2004, it was one of the first startups in Oregon’s microdistillery movement. But as House Spirits founder Christian Krogstad tells it, had the Northwest’s beer scene been less vibrant at the time, he might never have turned to the hard stuff.

“Seven years ago, there was less opportunity to be really creative and innovative in beer and wine, because there were so many people involved in it,” Krogstad says. A Seattle native who worked as a brewer and winery manager in Portland and Bellingham through the 1990s, Krogstad says his curiosity and a creative impulse eventually propelled him in the direction of distilling. “With spirits, we were able to come in and establish our own style of gin and our own kind of whiskey, and that’s been really fun,” he says.

Today, House Spirits is recognized as one of the more influential small distillers in the country, with a product portfolio that includes the micro-icons Aviation Gin and Krogstad Aquavit (the latter inspired by a childhood spent surrounded by Scandinavian food and drink), along with a limited release line of whiskies, liqueurs and other spirits. From its start in Corvallis (the distillery moved to Portland in 2005), House Spirits embodied the indie ideal of

creatively massaging the boundaries of traditional spirits categories, resulting in gins and whiskies that are esoteric but still hew to a classic template — an intoxicating combination for many of today’s curious drinkers.

While Krogstad would like to take credit for anticipating the public’s growing demand for innovative drinks, he admits some of the distillery’s more popular spirits have been happy accidents. “It’s not so much that we’re looking at the market and trying to identify where there are gaps and then trying to fill them; I’d like to think we’re that sophisticated, but we’re not,” he says. “We’re looking at things from the standpoint of, ‘What would I like to drink that I can’t buy?’ In this way, we’re our own focus group.”

At House Spirits’ tasting room, visitors can sample some of the distillery’s smallerscale releases as well as work-in-progress projects, such as its Gammal Krogstad aged aquavit, and a coffee liqueur made with Stumptown coffee. Later this year, Krogstad plans to introduce a malt whiskey

CHristian Krogstad of House spirits distillery:

putting Portland’s indie spirits on the map

and a genever-style gin, along with a bitter amaro-style liqueur and other spirits still in development. Krogstad says the tasting room introduces visitors to House Spirits’ products (while generating additional sales revenue), but it also helps educate him about the types of spirits a thirsty Portland desires.

“Because we have this awesome tool, we use it to test new products,” he says.

“We get feedback from the tasting and they decide whether or not they’re going to buy it. Somebody spending their money on something makes them much more honest in their opinions. That tasting-room interface is a way we can stay very close to what people are thinking, and what they’re drinking.”

— Paul Clarke 

housespirits.com

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elias Cairo of olyMpiC provisions:

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There’s a science to the craft that chef-turned-salumist Elias Cairo has perfected at Olympic Provisions’ USDAcertified meat curing facility, one that involves talk of pH and incubation times and a uniform that calls to mind a chemist’s garb.

But for all the lablike appearances of the immaculate Northwest Portland space, you need only peek inside the curing room to recognize that Cairo’s products have stronger ties to Old World traditions than modern-day methods. On any given day, this vast room holds some 8,000 pounds of classic European-style salumi that Cairo cures using traditional charcuterie skills he picked up working as a chef abroad.

Though Cairo studied the craft overseas, it wasn’t until he arrived in Portland that he decided to pursue a career curing meat. He had both a passion for the trade and a drive to fill the void in the domestic salami market for regional European-style products. “I was blown away that the style of salami I liked didn’t exist here, and then once I got to the store and started tasting other salami, it was very obvious that no one was making a saucisson sec or saucisson d’Arles or finocchiona salami. There were only super-tangy American salamis and they were a different style than I was used to.”

One of the biggest differences between Olympic Provisions’ salumi and the vast majority of domestic salami is the mold that coats it. Other companies may remove the mold from their salami to aid with shipping and storage issues and then replace it with milk powder or rice flour to create the perception of mold. Cairo inoculates his salumi with edible molds similar to those found on aged soft cheeses, and lets the molds rest on the product. “We’re the first people in Oregon to ferment meat and keep natural white molds on it,” he says. “The people from the Oregon USDA have never seen it, so they wonder how and why we make things this way. We tell them it’s because it’s the only way we can develop the flavor that we love.”

Whether Cairo is making his elemental saucisson d’Arles, his paprika-laced chorizo rioja or one of his new products — pâtés, rillettes, and gourmet dry-cured chorizo “Slim Jims” he calls the Flaco Paco — he insists everything be done by hand, from the freshly ground spices to the carefully selected local meat, to the fat that’s hand-chopped and folded in.

“It’s great to slow the process down and make our products the proper way, the way I learned to do it (abroad), and not cut corners,” he says.

— Ashley Gartland  olympicprovisions.com

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Alex Ganum, head brewer and founder of Upright Brewing in Portland, admits his beers may cause craft beer connoisseurs to bubble with questions. Why infuse a single ale with lemongrass, orange peel, hyssop and Szechuan peppercorns? What happens when raw oysters float in a boiling stout mash?

Why not make bigger batches of beer?

Since March 2009, when Ganum brewed Upright’s first beer — a traditional old ale called Billy the Mountain — he’s been pushing minds and palates with small-batch beers that defy easy categorization. “Like (Charles) Mingus, we’re not trying to be different, we just sort of are,” says the 31-year-old.

(He usually cites the more obvious connection between the brewery and the jazz musician: the upright bass.)

His emphasis on “different” seems appropriate for beers that are inspired by French and Belgian farmhouse ales, use an uncommon hybrid of French and Belgian saison yeast strains, age in second-use barrels (including pinot, gin and whiskey), and require open fermentation and exotic ingredients ranging from rose petals to cherry purée. One of Upright’s popular year-round releases, the Four (the beers are named for numbers corresponding to their starting gravities) is just one example of Ganum’s take on different, with its light saison yeasts, a hint of lemon tartness and textured wheatiness.

It’s the kind of beer that, like all of Upright’s beers, belongs with food, Ganum explains. “The styles we focus on tend to be dry and not too extreme in any direction,” he says. “The dryness is key to making a pairing that can be repeated with different courses throughout a dinner.”

He should know. Ganum discovered his knack for brewing as a 23-year-old culinary school student in Portland. He started home brewing in his studio apartment and got hooked. Instead of heading to a restaurant for an internship, he went to Brewery Ommegang in upstate New York to learn from brewmasters with advanced degrees in fermentation. Ganum turned

down a job at Ommegang to return to Portland, where he eventually became the head brewer at BJ’s Restaurant and alex ganuM Brewhouse in Jantzen Beach. A car accident of uprigHt in 2006 forced him breWing: to take a break from the physical demands of brewing, which he viewed as an opportunity to launch Upright.

Ganum says he’s

moving Northwest beers in a new direction

looking forward to releasing Upright’s latest round of beers, which are French bière de garde inspired. He also hopes to work with more fresh fruit, as he did for Fantasia, a beer that was barrel aged with 800 pounds of peaches chunked to fit through eight bungholes. And he’ll continue to curate the beer list at Grain & Gristle pub, which he co-owns with Ben Meyer and Marcus Hoover. Look for Ganum there, reading a book at the bar and drinking a Manhattan. 

uprightbrewing.com

— Lucy Burningham

If you import antique glass bottles from Germany for your Oregon wine, if you find one single 46-year-old row of chasselas vines growing in Forest Grove and vinify it, if you plant your own vineyard just 22 miles from the ocean in a freezing-cold, high-elevation site that may or may not ripen, you might be completely nuts.

Or, you might just be Barnaby and Olga Tuttle.

The rules of the wine game are changing, and in Oregon, the Tuttles are at the forefront of the new guard. Where the old buzzword was “big,” as in oak and alcohol, it’s now all about “small” — low pH, low alcohol and low brix (a ripeness measure) at harvest. Where the cool 2007 vintage was viewed in some quarters as disastrous, the cooler 2010 and 2011 vintages are triumphsin-the making.

That’s because the Tuttle way of thinking is taking hold.

When they were starting out in 2008, the Tuttles were told that their ultralight whites and reds would never sell. Mere wisps of wines, mostly less than 12 percent alcohol by volume, their Teutonic Wine Co. releases balance on a precarious high wire of acidity and minerality, modeled after the tensile wines of Europe’s Mosel River Valley.

The Tuttles spend three weeks every

summer living in the Mosel, working with their mentors Harald Junglen and Anne Ackermann of Weingut Ackermann and leading walking tours of the region. In addition, they check in with their growing catalog of other (11 at last count) producers whose wine they import from the German Mosel, the Luxembourg Mosel and the French Moselle regions.

(Keep an eye out for their limited-quantity line of “sekthaus” German bubblies.)

Back at home, the couple follow natural, Old World winemaking practices and organic and biodynamic-leaning farming methods in the vineyard, with an eye always on Germany. They bottle their wines in German-style “hocks” and occasionally even import traditional green-blue “flutes” for special releases. Proudest accomplishment to date: “Our pinot noir is going to be sold at a former fortress of Teutonic knights,” says Barnaby, with a faraway look in his eyes. “Of course,” he adds, “it’s now a restaurant.”

Portland culinary types dig the esoteric, food-friendly Tuttle style, too. Clyde Common, Genoa, Grüner, Nostrana, Olympic

barnaby and olga tuttle of teutoniC Wine Co.

changing the way we think about oregon wine Provisions, CorksCru, E&R Wine Shop, Foster & Dobbs, Great Wine Buys and Storyteller Wine Co. are just a few of the countless local sipping spots that have championed this outlier label. “The food scene in Portland has really embraced us,” says Olga.

“They’ve put our wines out as glass pours and trained their staff about what we are trying to do.”

And here’s the rub: The rest of us have gone all Germanic as well. Did I just see shoppers at Fred Meyer’s Hollywood West location plucking the Tuttle’s absolutely köstlich riesling off the shelf ? Yep, thanks to Barnaby and Olga’s infectious enthusiasm, the masses, too, are developing Teutonically tuned tastebuds.

— Katherine Cole  teutonicwines.com

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MarCella robin of M. robin CaKes:

“Like a woman in heels, these cakes look best on pedestals,” Robin says.

And maybe they belong under the spotlight, too.

Having studied sculpture at SUNY at New Paltz and, more recently, having worked as a personal chef in Portland, Robin brings an artist’s focus and a discriminating palate to her job.

Not to mention the heart of a romantic.

“I don’t ascribe any magic to wedding cakes, but the stakes are higher,” she says.

“How often do you get to have a wedding cake? The shape of it, the show of it. It’s a gracious act to serve all of your friends a delicious, beautiful cake.”

Robin has been decorating cakes —

bringing wedding cakes into the modern era Say the words wedding cake, and most people conjure up an image of white frosting and pink roses — a fixture on a banquet table.

Iconic, sure, but maybe not so interesting.

Self-described cake geek Marcella Robin sees greater possibilities.

Robin’s wedding cakes are time-intensive works of art that bring flavor, texture and stunning good looks together in unique, multitiered confections.

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at times professionally and at times for fortunate friends only — since her college days. But in 2011, armed with knowledge she gained after completing a 15-week pastry course at the NW Culinary Academy of Vancouver, B.C., Robin decided to take her business to a new level with M. Robin Cakes.

Her cake designs had also achieved new heights, prompting practically everyone who sees them to ask, “How does she do it?”

“They’re complicated,” she admits.

Unlike a typical American cake — in which the cake layers are baked, then filled, frosted and decorated — Robin’s cakes are created from the outside in; that is, she first bakes what is in essence the decorative exterior wall, and then uses it as the form for the entire cake.

To do this, she assembles carefully colored pastes made of egg whites, confectioners sugar, butter and food dye. (“Palettes are incredibly important,” she says. “It’s like fashion.”)

Then, using the colored pastes, she essentially draws or stencils the cake’s design onto silicone baking mats. Next she makes the batter for a thin sponge cake called a jaconde, manipulating ingredients such as poppy seeds, dried blueberries or pumpkin seeds for more color and texture — and, importantly, flavor. Finally, she adds this batter to the baking mat and bakes it; the design, then, is cooked directly into the jaconde.

After baking, she carefully fits the pieces of jaconde into a pastry ring, joining the seams. Then she cuts a base, which could be a sponge cake or another layer that has structural integrity; it is fitted into the base of the jaconde ring. Then it’s time to construct the cake with various layers from bottom to top: maybe a layer of almond dacquoise (crispy meringue); another of strawberry bavaroise (strawberry purée blended into a mousse-like layer); and yet another of chiboust, essentially a combination of pastry cream and Italian meringue.

“It’s like filling a hatbox,” Robin says.

The tiers are then frozen until wedding day, when she assembles the final cake. The cakes “freeze beautifully,” she says, but they are served at room temperature.

Although Robin has been at it less than a year — her website went live in early August — her cakes have garnered attention from wedding blogs everywhere, including Martha Stewart’s, where they were described as “traditional yet modern with a slight androgynous tone.”

Robin likes that description, although it was not foremost in her mind as she created her unique style.

“These cakes are highly ornamental,” she says. “But without ornamentation.”

— Kim Carlson  mrobincakes.com

to experiment with chocolate.

Dense bricks of Swiss single-origin chocolate line the fastidious pantry shelves, alongside Spanish vinegars, high-end olive oils and worldly sea salts. His cold larder is a lineup of unique ingredients not usually found in a chocolatier’s battery.

Locally grown aji dulce chile peppers. River’s Edge goat cheese. Umeboshi (salted plums) made from farmer Gene Thiel’s famous wild plums.

And bacon, always some bacon.

Ingredients and flavors inspire Briggs.

Holding a bottle of fresh-off-the-boat fish sauce from Vietnam, he coerces me to taste some on the tip of my finger. “Good, eh?” he exclaims. “Asian is my go-to comfort food.” I see the wheels turning as he ponders a use for this salty liquid. His childhood of Asian travels influenced an early creation called “Salt & Pepper” — a Szechuan peppercorn ganache dipped in 72 percent dark chocolate with a sprinkling of French salt.

This is fusion food with a kick and a story.

More than half a decade ago when other chocolatiers were infusing their candies with spices and herbs, Briggs began experimenting with pork, a favorite ingredient for many

david briggs:

thinking outside the chocolate box David Briggs has the athletic build and self-assured stance of a Roman soldier.

His one-man candy company, Xocolatl de David, holds fort behind a Southeast sandwich shop, Meat Cheese Bread. Toiling over warm dark chocolate and a counter-top tempering machine, Briggs (a machine in his own right) dips every chocolate by hand while rattling off brave and bold ideas for his savory sweet concoctions.

Chocolate found Briggs in 2006 when he was a young sous chef at Park Kitchen, fresh out of CIA Hyde Park. “I got up early,” he recalls, “And while my cook friends were sleeping in, I had to find something to do before my restaurant shift.” Sheer boredom turned his home kitchen into a laboratory of yeasty doughs. But eventually, his drafty apartment and substandard oven forced him

Stumptown chefs. On his website under the section Pig, you’ll find eight different items like bacon caramel sauce or chicharrón.

Some are limited editions, like the latter, made with fried pork rinds and Viridian Farms Calabrian chile powder. Like a porky, spiced Nestlé Crunch bar, it hits a lot of culinary targets, but somehow, it works.

Briggs’ favorite bar is his Almond & Pimentón, and has been since the first time he made it. The compact Raleigh Bar, a combo of nougat, nuts and chocolate, is his best-seller, especially after food critic Andrew Knowlton praised it in Bon Appétit magazine, writing, “It’s the best chocolate candy I’ve had.” Briggs could hardly keep up with demand and had to hire a wrapper to help.

How many has he made? “Too many to count,” he says, sighing. His first and loyal client Steve Jones of Cheese Bar is still one of his loudest cheerleaders, with an exclusive selection of individual truffles ($3) at his hip eatery-cum-cheese-and-charcuterie counter.

When I ask Briggs how he saw his future in chocolate, he replies, “I don’t see an end.

I have too many ideas that I have not had the time to get to yet!” He knows it’s a battlefield out there, but for now he’s staying in the line of fire. That’s good news for all of us on his side.

— Teri Gelber £  xocolatldedavid.com

41

PUBCRAWL [ Brewers go for big and bold at barleywine time ]

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BY JOHN FOYSTON / PHOTOGRAPH BY ROSS WILLIAM HAMILTON f you were a professional brewer, you likely would’ve spent your summer in tall rubber boots, toiling over a boiling kettle to make batch after batch of your brewery’s most popular beer, in a race with thirsty patrons to keep the taps pouring.

You kept a close eye on your cost of ingredients, too, because good brewers do, and because most brewpubs depend on summer’s bounty to get them through the dark doldrums of winter. Now the rush is over, and it’s time for you to make something that isn’t an IPA or a golden ale; now it’s your time, and if you’re like most brewers, accountants be damned: It’s time to make something big and bold and chock-full of malts and hops.

It’s barleywine time.

“It’s time for brewers to spread their wings,” says Preston Weesner, who runs the Holiday Ale Festival, Oregon’s biggest festival devoted solely to the big beers of winter. “He’s saying, I’m going to get the specialty malts, I’m going to get the spices, I’m going to take the time and tie up the tanks for three weeks.”

Other beers qualify as holiday beers — strong ales, old ales, winter warmers, spiced ales and more — but barleywines are among the biggest of all beers, typically brewed at 10 percent or more alcohol by volume and 100 international bittering units. That’s a lot of hops, even by Pacific Northwest standards. All those hops balance the big malt bill needed to create the

alcohol, body and residual, toffee-like sweetness that make barleywines the favorites of many beer connoisseurs.

“It’s expensive,” Weesner says, “it takes time and tankage and ingredients, but you build them big and age them to burn off some hops and alcohol, and they become these warm, glowing presences, perfect for sipping because each sip reveals something new.”

Barleywines are something like the beer equivalent of a fortified wine, and often enjoyed the same way — after dinner, with or in place of dessert, accompanied by plenty of good conversation. To guide you through the offerings you’ll find on shelves these days, I corralled a couple of local barleywine experts to help me taste them. Weesner you’ve met. Ben Flerchinger is a brewer at the Lucky Labrador and curator of the Lab’s late-winter Barleywine Fest, which has featured as many as four dozen barleywines from around the region. And we invited Chris Crabb along; she helps with the Holiday Ale Fest and likes hoppy beers better than barleywines — she’ll keep us from getting too beer-geeky.

Old Yeller, lucky labrador, Portland (8.2 percent ABV): We started out with Ben Flerchinger’s barleywine, a year-old bottle.

Flerchinger immediately noted a hint of red licorice in the aroma, followed by caramel and toffee. “Not all beers can age for a year,” says Weesner, “but this one has that aging texture — sherry and caramel — and beers this complex often evoke flavors that the brewer never added; that’s the beauty of a big barleywine.” Chris Crabb was surprised the beer was not as sweet as the aroma promised, which is another trait of barleywines.

JOhn BarleYcOrn BarleYwine, Mad river Brewing co., Blue lake, calif. (10 percent ABV): Weesner thought the 10 percent alcohol was well hidden, though it played a definite role, if not a leading one, both in the nose and on the tongue. He tasted muted cinnamon and nutmeg and noted

how flavors in these beers develop — and change — with age. “It’s like a pot of stew,” Flerchinger says.

“It’s almost always better two or three days after.” That translates to a year or two for barleywines, and Flerchinger acknowledged that it’s sometimes a gamble to wait, but that a good beer repays the time generously.

XVii anniVersarY ale, Uinta Brewing, salt lake city (10.4 percent ABV): BeerMonger Sean Campbell (we were tasting at his bottle shop) thought this beer tasted almost like a double IPA, and Weesner concurred: “This is a hop bomb,” he said, “with lots of alcohol right under the resin-y hops.” In fact, he got two hop aromas — piney and cheesy — toggling back and forth, and confessed that the hops were really fighting him, but then he’s the rare Northwesterner who is not a raving hophead. Crabb, who is a hophead, loved the beer because of its over-the-hop nature, so if you think the dark months mean giving up hops, hold out hope and look for the XVII Anniversary ale.

Old FOghOrn BarleYwine, anchor Brewing, san Francisco (8.8 percent ABV): “This is the classic,” Weesner says. “When someone says ‘barleywine,’ this is the picture in my mind — this is the one I judge all others against.”

Anchor Brewing revived the thenobscure barleywine style in 1975 when they first brewed and later bottled this beer, and if you’re new to barleywines, start here. Flerchinger got lots of brown sugar in the aroma and thought it was almost too sweet, but liked it as it warmed.

Weesner got cherry Life Savers in the aroma, and lots of malt and spice in the flavor. “I love that the batches vary a bit from year to year,” Weesner says. “The differences really come out in a vertical tasting of a few different years.” If you like more spiced ales, Anchor Christmas Ale is your beer. It’s been brewed for 37 years now to a slightly different recipe each year and is available only in the depths of winter.

hiBernatiOn ale, great divide Brewing, denver (8.7 percent ABV): Hibernation Ale has been Great Divide’s holiday ale since 1995, but it was only lately that they started aging this beer, possibly at Weesner’s suggestion and certainly to excellent effect.

Even relatively young, Hibernation is a nicely balanced beer, with both Flerchinger and Weesner detecting a hominy/grits/polenta graininess to the beer, plus lots of chocolate.

“This is definitely a breakfast beer,” Flerchinger says.

JUBelale, deschutes Brewery, Bend (6.7 percent ABV): Weesner found successive waves of flavor — plum, raisin and chocolate — breaking too fast to pick up with one sip. “It may take five or six sips to get them all,” he says. “But they’re all there and that makes this a very giving beer, which is what a holiday beer should be.”

Crabb liked the upfront hops but found Jubelale’s distinct roastiness a bit too bitter for her. Flerchinger perfectly nailed the flavor when he said it tasted like Cadbury’s chocolate with dried fruit inside.

adaM, hair of the dog Brewing co., Portland (10 percent ABV): “Sweet plum, dates, raisin, bam, bam, bam,” says Weesner. “Plus a lot of upfront smokiness.” Part of the reason for Adam’s dimensional complexity, Weesner says, is that brewer Alan Sprints’ small brew kettle requires long boils that create layers of flavor. Flerchinger got smoke and fruit and said the

Online eXtra: If you

want to eat your barleywine too, get the recipe for this Ginger Barleywine Cake at

mIxpdx.Com

where tO haVe a taste Or twO lucky lab Barleywine Fest: It’s early for details, but expect enough barleywines (as many as four dozen) that you’ll be happy you have two days to sample them.

March 2-3, 2012, Lucky Labrador Beer Hall, 1945 N.W. Quimby St.; luckylab.com

beer was carbonated enough that it could sit opened before serving. The richness of the beer soon turned the discussion to the best ice cream to pair it with — vanilla bean or French vanilla — and all agreed that a slice of warm apple pie with ice cream and a snifter of Adam would be a fine thing. Adam is available year-round, and Hair of the Dog also makes a dedicated holiday ale called Doggie Claws.

PaPa nOel’s Olde ale, alameda Brewhouse, Portland (7.2 ABV): Crabb immediately tasted coffee and Weesner used the array of flavors as an example of his theory that good barleywines are beers you can chat with. “There’s another quick succession of big flavor notes,” he says. “Coffee, toffee, black currants, peppercorns, plums, Italian plums, stone fruit. …

Brewer Carston Haney didn’t put any of that in there, but the explosion of flavor compounds evokes those things — like all good holiday ales, this is a great beer to hang out and have a conversation with.” £

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44

FIVE WINES [ Winter whites for truffle and crab season ]

t

BY KATHERINE COLE / PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROSS WILLIAM HAMILTON

rue or false: White is a summer wine.

White is an aperitif.

White is for the salad course.

If you answered “false” to all three, you’ve got the ear of Chris Czarnecki.

“I started my culinary career thinking that you should start with a glass of white wine or sparkling before you move on to the real stuff,” says Czarnecki, the 33-year-old chef-owner at The Joel Palmer House in Dayton. “But I’ve realized that it is a shame to relegate white wine to the status of prelude. It can be the star of the show.”

Czarnecki knows about making stars out of understudies. His forefathers have been in the restaurant business since

1916, and it’s long been a family tradition to hunt wild mushrooms and integrate them into the house cuisine. His father, Jack Czarnecki, the restaurant’s chief mushroom forager and former executive chef, is perhaps the nation’s foremost expert on cooking with fungi — especially truffles.

So Chris and his staff often find themselves explaining to first-time guests that, at The Joel Palmer House, mushrooms get top billing. Starting with Joe’s Wild Mushroom Soup and ending with a Trio of Candy-Cap Mushroom Desserts, the menus here invariably celebrate an ingredient that typically plays second (or third) fiddle.

Located in the heart of wine country, The Joel Palmer House has a cellar deep in locally grown pinot noirs dating back to the 1990s. But sometimes, pinot noir just doesn’t cut it. Like when, in the depth of winter, delicate Dungeness crab is in season, along with subtle white truffles

(which, like pinot noir, have a predilection for growing in the Willamette Valley).

“Whether it’s oak, fruit or sugar, there are a lot of ways to overwhelm truffles,” Czarnecki says, “especially Oregon truffles, which are more complex yet more subtle than their Italian counterparts.”

At the same time, truffles love to leave their fragrant imprint on anything with fat, which is why he pairs truffles and truffle oil with cheese, egg and heavy cream in dishes like Truffles and Crab in Puff Pastry (find the recipe at mixpdx.com).

To match a rich, fungus-heavy dish like this, Czarnecki selects five locally grown white wines that won’t overpower the understated white truffles and crab meat. At the same time, they have the backbone of acidity and minerality to cut through heavy cream and rich cheese.

Some people consider winter to be a time for red wines, meat and potatoes.

Czarnecki, on the other hand, thinks of crab and white truffles. As for wine, there couldn’t be anything more seasonally appropriate, in this chef’s estimation, than a local blanc.

Snow, after all, is cold and white.

2010 Ghost Hill Cellars Bayliss-Bower Vineyard YamhillCarlton Pinot Noir Blanc ($25) Just because this story is about white wines doesn’t mean we couldn’t fit a pinot noir in the lineup. A smallproduction release from up-andcoming winemaker Rebecca Pittock Shouldis, this noir blanc isn’t an oxymoron; it’s just made from the clear juice pressed off the red grape skins, in the same method that’s followed to make Champagne from pinot noir. Perfect for those wine lovers who think they prefer reds, “this one has brisk acidity, it’s nice and dry, but it has rounder fruit in the midpalate,” Czarnecki says. The only evidence that it’s made from red fruit?

A haunting hint of rose hips.

2009 Seven of Hearts Crawford Beck Vineyard Eola-Amity Hills Chardonnay ($24) Let’s not beat around the bush.

This wine packs a serious punch at a whopping 15.7 percent alcohol by volume. But if you’ve ever had a cream sauce with sherry or brandy in it, you’ll understand why it could be a knockout when matched with Czarnecki’s cheesy, creamy recipe. Plus, it’s surprisingly balanced. “It’s got enough oak to hold it up without slapping you in the face with a two-by-four,” Czarnecki points out.

Seven of Hearts comes from Carlton couple Byron and Dana Dooley, who also produce the Luminous Hills label and wine country’s other guilty pleasure, Honest Chocolates.

SIMPLY ELEGANT

2009 Domaine Drouhin “Arthur” Dundee Hills Chardonnay ($30) Chardonnay for $30? Yes, if it’s the main vinous attraction for the evening.

A veteran winemaker in both Burgundy and Oregon, Véronique Drouhin-Boss has a knack for melding Burgundian subtlety with New World exuberance in her chards. The Arthur ages in a combination of stainless steel and oak; the result is a blissfully restrained wine from a typically opulent vintage, with cool, citrus-tinged minerality as well as a silky texture and spicy finish. “The Arthur is the best chardonnay example I know of where the fruit is simply riding in a wooden ship, as opposed to tasting like it was carved out of oak itself,” says Czarnecki.

2010 Amity Vineyards “Wedding Dance” Willamette Valley Riesling ($17) “Here’s the thing: The reason I like this riesling is that it is slightly off-dry and has a lower alcohol percentage,” Czarnecki says, referring to the fact that this mere slip of a wine is just 8.5 percent alcohol by volume. “It’s a more German style, friendly and accessible.

That’s what truffles are all about; they are friendly.” The “Wedding Dance” is one of three terrific rieslings from a historic local winery that dates back to the early 1970s. Light, spritzy and floral, it has shellfish-friendly notes of lemon on the finish. And its sweetness puts the salt-and-savory notes of cheese and truffle into sharp contrast.

Light and pretty, this is a white that could be an aperitif or a dessert course, yet it holds its own as an accompaniment to something savory. £

à ONLINE EXTRA: Get the recipe

for Chris Czarnecki’s Truffles and Crab in Puff Pastry and find out where to buy his wine picks at MIXPDX.COM

45

927 SW YAMHILL • 503.223.3737 WWW.THEREALMOTHERGOOSE.COM

mixpdx.com

2010 WillaKenzie Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Gris ($18) Tropical and lush, with coconut on the nose, this estate-grown gris “has enough character to stand on its own, but it also makes me want to pair it with shellfish,” Czarnecki says. When served alongside Truffles and Crab in Puff Pastry, his own recipe, he loves the way the WillaKenzie “has the acidity to cut through the fat, particularly the cream and the cheese. It resets the palate between bites.“ A classic Oregon white from a classic Yamhill estate.

Delicate layers of puff pastry encase truffles, crab and portobello mushrooms.

It’s a rich ensemble just begging to be paired with a crisp white wine -– even in the depths of winter.

> > > SubScribe at

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SCENE Our picks for what to eat where

NEW RESTAURANTS FOR A NEW YEAR In the last few months of 2011 there was a flurry — no, a blizzard — of new restaurants opening around town. And we’re not talking about ho-hum, no-name, mediocre fueling stations. We’re talking about musteat places helmed by tried-and-true teams. We are swimming (or happily drowning?) in top-notch choices.

As exciting as it is to see our dining scene exploding, it’s not easy keeping track of all the new places worthy of our attention. With that in mind, we’re forgoing our usual restaurant review format for this issue and instead rounding up our favorite 15 new and notable restaurants that opened in the fall and winter.

Since the restaurants are all quite new, we’re not giving them a critical once-over. Still, each one was good enough right out of the gate to warrant a place on our to-eat list — and will likely end up on yours.

Oven and Shaker, p48 1) Ambonnay

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2) Boke Bowl

ramen flings around the city, Boke Bowl has finally settled down. Occupying a modernistic roost in Southeast Portland’s increasingly gastro-centric inner industrial district, the 50-seat ramen shop has ceilings that stretch halfway to Japan and plenty of room for long communal tables. Chef Patrick Fleming, general manager Brannon Riceci and mover ’n’ shaker Tim Parsons offer the omnipresent horde of lusty lunchers a mouthwatering menu. Chow down on char siu steam buns, warm brussels sprouts and cauliflower salad with brined tofu croutons and, of course, steaming bowls of handmade noodles in three different broths, accessorized with everything from braised bamboo and edamame rice cakes to cornmeal-crusted oysters and buttermilk fried chicken with Orange Dot Sauce. Hot heads take note: You can splash everything with their fiery house-made Crying Baby sauce. — JEN STEVENSON 1028 S.E. Water Ave.; bokebowl.com

Following a heady phase of sexy, hotly pursued and wildly successful pop-up

3) Interurban

Portland has plenty of wine bars, but it’s never had one devoted entirely to sparkling wine until this small bar opened last fall in the close-in industrial eastside. It’s named for the village in northeast France that’s home to some of the world’s great Champagne-makers, and they are well-represented on the wine list, which has glasses running $7-$16, and full bottles of bruts, rosés and prestige bottles ranging from $35 to $1,000 (for a magnum of Dom Perignon rosé from 1996). Don’t go expecting dinner, though: The vegetarian small plates are limited to simple cheeses, popcorn seasoned with truffle oil, and spiced nuts. Think of this as the warmup act for a meal at nearby Olympic Provisions or Clarklewis.

— GRANT BUTLER

107 S.E. Washington St.; 503-575-4861; ambonnaybar.com

PHOTOGRAPHY BY RANDY L. RASSMUSSEN

If John Wayne were swaggering down North Mississippi Avenue with an appetite for a Suffering Bastard cocktail and

cast-iron skillet-baked Boar Hunters Pie, he’d look no further than Interurban, a city tavern that feels more like a saloon. Accented with slabs of recycled wood and plenty of quality hooch, the bar sports a boisterous vibe, a collection of unique taps including a beer engine sparkler, and the horned head of a red hartebeest shot in Africa by bartender John Green. The menu lavishes discerning drinkers with a dozen house cocktails, Negronis and Manhattans by the bottle, and 13 sparkling wines, but chef John Gorham’s menu doesn’t shrink from rustic tavern favorites like fish and chips and “Portland’s Finest Hand-Dipped Corndog” featuring an Olympic Provisions dog. And in true saloon style, come rain, shine or Christmas, the doors are open until 2 a.m. every night. — JEN STEVENSON 4057 N. Mississippi Ave., 503-284-6669; interurbanpdx.com

4) Luce There’s a burgeoning strip of East Burnside Street, between 20th and 28th avenues, that’s shaping up to be Portland’s next restaurant row, and John Taboada’s Luce, a cafe with an adjacent

When they opened SEPTEMBER Luce Manao

OCTOBER

Woodsman Tavern

NOVEMBER

Taste on 23rd Native Foods Cafe Via Tribunali Ambonnay Interurban PaaDee Noisette Boke Bowl Oven and Shaker Mi Mero Mole Mextiza

DECEMBER

Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen

SCENE / NEW RESTAURANTS CONT. event space, is the latest addition.

This is Navarre, Italian-style. Luce (pronounced loo-chay) means “light” in Italian, which captures both the lightness of the space — huge windows illuminate the bright white walls and shelving lined with imported Italian provisions — and the efforts from the kitchen. Simple preparations are the quintessence of Taboada’s skill and perfectly highlight the fresh pastas. Cappelletti in brodo — petite pillows of pasta filled with parmesan and lemon zest, bobbing in a bowl of delicately seasoned chicken broth — is indeed a ray of light on a gloomy winter’s eve. — ANDREA SLONECKER 2138-2140 E. Burnside St., 503-236-7195; luceevents.blogspot.com

5) Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen

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Downtown’s Pho PDX has moved next door and reinvented itself as Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen, complete with cool baroque wallpaper, upside-down parasols hanging from the ceiling and a mesmerizing, vaguely anime mural. The soup is still on the menu, but now it’s joined by a long list of other Vietnamese specialties like bo tai chanh, a salad similar to Thai larb, but in this case featuring almost-raw slices of beef. Another standout: bo luc lac, aka “shaking beef” — cubes of tenderloin marinated in garlic and fish sauce, then seared in a wok and served with a generous shower of crushed peppercorns over a bed of greens and cherry tomatoes. As befits a restaurant named for shaking, bar manager/co-owner Adam Ho has created a menu of custom drinks like boozy bubble tea, vodkalaced Thai iced tea and Vietnamese iced coffee made with Water Avenue coffee and spiked with Branca Menta — the mintier cousin of Fernet.

Even the non-alcoholic versions are delish. Best of all? They’re open late — until midnight Monday-Thursday and until 4 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

— DANIELLE CENTONI

835 S.W. Second Ave., 503-222-0047;

6) Manao Manao chef/owner Ekkachai “Chew” Sakkayasukkalawong spent five years in the kitchens at Pok Pok and Ping, and he brings a similar sensibility, and some familiar dishes, to this unassuming Thai restaurant in Southeast Portland’s Westmoreland neighborhood. His menu lopes from the islands of southern Thailand to Chiang Mai in the north, with stops in Bangkok,

where, in a previous career, Sakkayasukkalawong was an Ernst & Young accountant. Standouts include the phlaa saam klur, a shrimp, squid, pork and lemongrass salad swimming in citrus and Thai chiles, and the haw mok gai, seared chicken thighs with crunchy skin and juicy flesh, served with a sweet Thai chili dipping sauce.

— MICHAEL RUSSELL

7202 S.E. Milwaukie Ave., 503-236-0008; manaopdx.com

Boke Bowl

7) Mextiza When chef-owner Oswaldo Bibiano opened Autentica in 2006, he opened our eyes to the complexities and nuances of real Mexican cuisine, mainly from his coastal home state of Guerrero, Mexico. His new restaurant Mextiza, which he roughly translates to “pieces of Mexico,” pulls from the country’s many other culinarily rich regions, with dishes such as empanada-like enchiladas from San Luis Potosí and huarachitos from Mexico City, with a choice of toppings that range from mushrooms to chicken tinga. The space is similar to Autentica, with an open kitchen, flickering candles and richly painted walls. In this case, you’re greeted with soothing Caribbean teal and a mural of agave plants located, fittingly, next to the bar, which features one of the best collections of agave-based spirits and cocktails in the city. The menu doesn’t categorize the small plates and entrees, but the prices will clue you in. The cheaper options, like the picaditas con rajas — delicious little sopes topped with roasted poblanos and showered in cheese — are more snacky. Plates in the double-digits, like the northern Mexico-style roasted goat in a lip-smacking chile-vinegar sauce, are entree-size portions.

— DANIELLE CENTONI

2103 N. Killingsworth St., 503-289-3709; mextiza.com

8) Mi Mero Mole Mexico City is a taco-lover’s playground, where crispy, spit-roasted meat is shaved onto grilled tortillas under freeway overpasses, and golden-fried taco crescents are tucked under cloth for sale in closet-sized stalls. Based on the options around here — carne asada, carnitas pollo . . . yawn — you wouldn’t know there was so much taco diversity out there, but with Mi Mero Mole, owner Nick Zukin (the Zuke in Kenny & Zuke’s) aims to bring us all up to speed. The restaurant serves eight alternating varieties of tacos de guisado, the stewed meat

and vegetable tacos popular in Mexico City. Stroll in today and you might find shrimp in a rich squash-blossom cream sauce, smoked beef tongue in green salsa, as well as several excellent vegetarian options, each served on soft, house-made corn tortillas with rice and black beans. Portland’s taco horizon has expanded.

— MICHAEL RUSSELL

5026 S.E. Division St.; mmmtacospdx.com

9) Native Foods Cafe Need evidence that vegan food has gone mainstream? You’ll find it at Bridgeport Village mall, where this plant-centric dining spot — the first Oregon outpost of a small California chain — is dishing up organic bowls, burgers and salads to suburban shoppers. Chef Tanya Petrovna works magic with meat substitutions in sandwiches like the Deli Reuben, where thin slices of seitan take the place of the traditional meat, or the Rockin’ Moroccan Bowl, which features quinoa, grilled vegetables and a chickenlike protein made out of soy, wheat and peas. It may sound strange, but each bite is pure comfort — and any restaurant that offers steamed kale as a side dish alternative to french fries gets bonus points.

— GRANT BUTLER

7237 S.W. Bridgeport Road, Tigard; 503-968-9999; nativefoods.com

10) Noisette When we last saw Tony Demes around here, it was the late ’90s and he was chef/owner of Couvron, a downtown haute cuisine hot spot with just 32 seats, four-hour tasting menus and a penchant for vertically stacked food.

After eight years and a move to New York, he’s back with his new restaurant Noisette, a small, elegant 40-seat restaurant that doesn’t fall far from the Couvron tree. His food is still based in classical French cooking, it’s still prepared with expert precision (though the desserts need work), and the

eight-course tasting menu is still an hours-long endeavor. This time, though, you can also assemble your own custom meal from the small plates on the a la carte menu, including a luscious, silky tuna tartare and a rich duck liver with house-made brioche. Even the presentation echoes the original, though now the food sweeps across the landscape of long plates, rather than towering above them. — DANIELLE CENTONI 1937 N.W. 23rd Place, 503-719-4599; noisetterestaurant.com

11) Oven and Shaker When this new Pearl District hot spot hits its nightly stride, the buzz practically rattles the securely mortared bricks in the Italian artisan-built pizza oven. The bar-hugging crowd responsible for the jubilant melee is a blend of nearby loft-dwellers, post-work asylum seekers, and those who like a well-crafted cocktail with their ragu-stuffed arancini, dinosaur kale and grapefruit salad and spiced walnut-topped roasted squash pizza.

They aren’t disappointed, because the Oven and Shaker team doesn’t do anything halfway — chef Cathy Whims trekked to Italy to research the menu’s fried Sicilian-style street snacks while bartender Ryan Magarian co-owns Aviation Gin, a spirit that permeates the fittingly assertive grappa and orange bitters-kissed Corleone cocktail. Nostrana fans will be pleased to bite into Whims’ beloved slow-rising sourdough Neapolitan-style crust but need not worry about cutting it this time around — scissors are not required. — JEN STEVENSON 1134 N.W. Everett St., ovenandshaker.com

12) PaaDee The newest addition to 28th Avenue’s ever-expanding Restaurant Row, PaaDee means “to bring good things,” good things like Chiang Mai winter toddies, garlicky fried chicken PHOTOGRAPHY BY THOMAS BOYD

Noisette wings with sweet chili sauce, and boisterous communal tables that offer a convivial antidote to Portland’s endless winter. A partnership between Mee Sen founder Earl Ninsom and the owners of Goose Hollow’s Kinara Thai Bistro, the menu of Thai comfort food/drinking snacks offers a welcome respite from the usual Thai restaurant stalwarts.

However, dishes so far tend toward sweet, rather than the saltysour-fishy-fiery profiles we’ve come to crave from places like Pok Pok and Ping. If you wish to bring your red-whiskered bulbul to dinner, she can hang out in the levitating bird cage light fixtures dotting the dining room while you pass around translucent-skinned Chinese chive cakes, grilled cuttlefish skewers, and hot bowls of house-made egg noodles served “Phitsanulok Province-style,” with slabs of roasted red pork and pork belly in a spicy lime and, yes, pork broth. — JEN STEVENSON 6 S.E. 28th Ave., 503-360-1453, paadeepdx.com

13) Taste on 23rd This elegant Nob Hill wine bar and bottle shop’s retail display will warm the cockles of any card-carrying neat freak’s heart — bottles are exactingly arranged on spotless walnut-hued shelves and meticulously organized by flavor profile: soft, crisp, smooth, juicy, full, even “luscious.” Former Clyde Common bartender Shannan Shute presides over a succinct menu that includes a smattering of small plates and scrupulously selected cheese and charcuterie lists. The bar features up to 15 glass pours and excellent house cocktails — try the Autumn’s Best, a concoction of PHOTOGRAPHY BY RANDY L. RASMUSSEN

muscadet, sparkling apple cider, verjus, the French aperitif Pineau des Charentes and bitters.

— JEN STEVENSON

2285 N.W. Johnson St., 503-477-7238, tasteon23rd.com

14) Via Tribunali The unassuming, grissini-narrow storefront of this Seattle-based pizzeria’s downtown Portland outpost largely conceals the dark, sultry Neapolitan nest within, where dramatic chandeliers glow above high-backed booths, a cozy loft overlooks the Italian winefortified bar, and Nutella-stuffed dessert calzones encourage gluttonous behavior. The restaurant’s epicenter is the muchbuzzed-about Vesuvian-ash brick oven, which gives each pizza on the 23-pie list a 1,200-degree, twominute embrace before sending it to a good home. — JEN STEVENSON 36 S.W. Third Ave., 503-548-2917; viatribunali.net

15) The Woodsman Tavern When Duane Sorenson (of Stumptown fame) opened this “tavern” adjacent to his original cafe, it was after months, if not years, of gossip and secrecy.

Cloak-and-dagger intrigue aside, the end result is a warm, inviting neighborhood spot helmed by two Portland notables — chef Jason Barwikowski, who put Olympic Provisions on the map for more than its great salumis, and bartender Evan Zimmerman, the former bar manager at Laurelhurst Market, who made smoked cocktails de rigueur. With almost every surface covered by gleaming dark wood, and probably the Northwest’s biggest collection of forest-scape paintings, it’s at once cozy and mildly cheeky. The menu is just as comforting — raw bar, selection of country hams, flank steak with french fries —

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49

SCENE / NEW RESTAURANTS CONT. but there are a few subtle twists to keep things interesting. And with their highly touted “Josper” oven, Barwikowski and his crew can essentially grill with charcoal indoors and offer flame-kissed goodness all year round.

— DANIELLE CENTONI

4537 S.E. Division St., 971-373-8264; woodsmantavern.com

Five Favorites from late 2010 / early 2011 With all the new restaurants that have opened in the past few months — and weeks — we can’t help but look back on where our dining scene was this time a year or so ago. Turns out December 2010 and the first half of 2011 brought us some of the best restaurants the city has to offer. Though these five are just six months to a year old, they’ve already earned destination status in our dining scene, and we couldn’t imagine Portland without them.

— ANDREA SLONECKER

The Woodsman Tavern 1) Aviary It’s rare that a restaurant gets to reinvent itself within its first year of business, but that’s the half-full way to look at Aviary’s Fourth of July fire catastrophe. After their five-month closure, the lauded chef-owner trio re-emerged in December with an enhanced concept: the addition of a full-bar program created by bartender Ross Hunsinger, patio dining behind

the restaurant and a much-needed improvement to the acoustics using curtains and fabric panels. On the first go-round, manager/sommelier Leah Moorhead’s dining-room presence was reason enough to visit the Alberta Street bistro, but new sommelier Christine Schuman adds an Oregoncentric spin to the previously Frenchfocused wine list. Aviary is back, with a vengeance.

1733 N.E. Alberta St., 503-287-2400; aviarypdx.com

2) Little Bird After four consecutive nominations, and in his last year of eligibility, Gabriel Rucker finally took home the James Beard Foundation’s Rising PHOTOGRAPH BY FREDRICK D. JOE

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Wafu Star Chef of the Year award in 2011. Perhaps itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no coincidence that the win came just after the December 2010 opening of his downtown eatery, Little Bird.

Headed up by Ruckerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s longtime Le Pigeon sous chef, Erik Van Kley, Little Bird sports classic Parisian fare, tricked out.

A drizzle of curried aioli here, a â&#x20AC;&#x153;fallenâ&#x20AC;? bleu cheese soufflĂŠ there â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that imaginative flair, impeccably placed throughout an ever-evolving menu, that sets this place apart from a typical French bistro.

219 S.W. Sixth Ave., 503-688-5952; littlebirdbistro.com

3) Olympic Provisions Northwest With a knack for metamorphosing peculiar PDX locales into bustling resto-meccas for the Ăźberhip, restaurateur Nate Tilden has done it again. Tilden and the OP gang headed west in the spring of 2011 to set up shop in the former Carlyle space, transforming the warehouse tucked behind the restaurant into their meat-curing headquarters. The restaurant out front was originally intended to be a deli to showcase the goods of salumist Elias Cairo, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clearly a bona fide dinner house by night and a bright neighborhood cafe by day. The open kitchenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pièce de rĂŠsistance is an ornate vintage French rotisserie churning out succulent chicken, but do come here for a glass of rosĂŠ and, of course, the charcuterie plate.

1632 N.W. Thurman St., 503-8948136; olympicprovisions.com PHOTOGRAPH BY RANDY L. RASMUSSEN

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4) St. Jack Portland has experienced a French invasion as of late, but of the many Francophile restaurants that opened at the tail end of 2010 and into 2011, chef Aaron Barnettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s St. Jack is the one that takes us closest to the real deal. His menu of rich, Lyonnaise bouchon-inspired cuisine satisfies the most finicky of palates (who isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seduced by butter, bacon and cream?), but the surprise is the cozy patisserie that inhabits this Clinton Street cafe during daylight hours. Pastry chef Alissa Rozosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fresh baked madeleines and crackly-lacquered canelĂŠ are worth a visit before the noon bells ring.

2039 S.E. Clinton St., 503-360-1281; stjackpdx.com

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5) Wafu Once upon a time, Portland was a one-ramen-joint town (love you Biwa), but that changed in 2011 with a flurry of openings â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mirakutei, Boke Bowl and, most notably, Wafu â&#x20AC;&#x201D; chef Trent Pierceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collaboration with Chefstable. Ramen is what this place does best. Though the noodles are house-made and quite good, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that intoxicating broth that truly stands out; practically reduced to a chicken broth concentrate, it is the very definition of umami. Beware: There is one brothless ramen dish on the menu thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perfectly good, but may disappoint those looking for a steaming bowl of chicken soup to warm the winter soul.

3113 S.E. Division St., 503-236-0205; wafupdx.com

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HIGH FIVE

Modern cheese plates Though we like cheese and charcuterie plates and can appreciate that honey goes nicely with a wedge of pungent gorgonzola, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve started considering traditional cheese pairings a touch passĂŠ. Or at least predictable. So we went on a hunt for cheese plates with a bit more character and discovered a handful of chefs who have traded the typical format for more modern cheese course offerings.

High-quality fromage still serves as the foundation of these five plates, but their inspired pairings and presentations prove the time was ripe for a cheesecourse makeover. â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ASHLEY GARTLAND Composed cheese plates at Metrovino At this classy New American restaurant and wine bar, cheese plates are constructed with a chefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mindset. Each featured cheese is subjected to a taste test, and then a cast of supporting ingredients that go well beyond nuts and honey are selected to bring out the cheeseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best qualities. A seasonal gorgonzola dulce plate, for example, pairs the salty-sweet cheese with a fiery orange-chile oil and the vegetal flavors of radishes, celery leaves and pickled beets. Fingerling potato chips contribute that all-important crunch factor and ensure youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never miss the nuts. The masterminds behind these combinations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; chefs Gregory Denton and Gabrielle Quiùónez Denton â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are leaving at the end of January to open their own place, so try their cheese plates while you still can.

1139 N.W. 11th Ave., 503-517-7778; metrovinopdx.com

52

Honeyed panna cotta with blue cheese and pear preserves at Clyde Common Few people would view panna cotta as a vehicle for showcasing a beautiful blue cheese, but Clyde Commonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pastry chef, Danielle Pruett, has never been one to go the traditional route with her desserts.

At the hip West End hangout, the chef crowns a honeyed panna cotta with slivers of shaved blue cheese and floral pear preserves. The whimsical winter dessert reinvents that classic combination of honey, pear and blue cheese in a way that lets us enjoy our cheese course with a spoon.

1014 S.W. Stark St., 503-228-3333; clydecommon.com

Clyde Common Croute au fromage at Park Kitchen In Park Kitchenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bright, intimate dining room, chef de cuisine David Padberg skips the plate entirely and serves his cheese course in a rustic cast iron skillet instead. To make his Northwest-inspired twist on the comforting Swiss classic croute au fromage, the chef layers beer-braised onions, toasted bread and melted gruyère into the miniature skillet. A warm salad composed of sautĂŠed mushrooms, house-made ham and pears lends the dish a sweet, earthy finish and turns Padbergâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interpretation of the cheese course into a sharable starter or soul-satisfying meal.

422 N.W. Eighth Ave., 503-223-7275; parkkitchen.com Formaggi plate at Nostrana This respected Italian restaurant might be best known for its wood-fired pizzas and rustic pastas, but fans of fine cheese know Nostranaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way with formaggi also merits a special trip. Chef Cathy Whims brings diners a taste of Italy with a rotating selection of perfectly aged Piedmontese cheeses and artisanal accompaniments made in-house.

A Seville orange marmalade kicks off the winter cheese course pairings and proves an apt match

for crisp fennel-flavored crackers and slices of â&#x20AC;&#x153;salamiâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a sweet, fruity charcuterie impersonator made from dried figs, sambuca, saba and wild anise seed.

1401 S.E. Morrison St., 503-234-2427; nostrana.com Seasonal plate at Cheese Bar Curd nerds know to swing by Steve Jonesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Belmont Street cheese shop to supplement their cheese stashes whenever theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re running low. But the lauded local cheesemonger also gives shoppers plenty of reason to linger over his carefully curated cheese plates. Though Jones serves a traditional version, the more intriguing option comes care of a new collaboration with local baker Adam Kennedy (who formerly ran the cult favorite Broken Frame Bakery). Each season, the two men will put their heads together to match a Jones-approved cheese with a specialty bread made by Kennedy. The holidays saw a pairing of a traditional English fruitcake with Lancashire cheese and a bonus pour of barleywine. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to see what comes next.

6031 S.E. Belmont St., 503-222-6014; cheese-bar.com PHOTOGRAPH BY FREDRICK D. JOE

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