MIX Magazine March 2012

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

Good eats in Austin • Best bets on the coast Top five mac-and-cheese • Comforting wines

feed your soul Turn up the heat on hearty classics with whole dried chiles / p21 Actors, chefs and athletes dish on their favorite comfort foods / p29

MARCH 2012

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editor’s note Some people don’t hesitate for a second when asked what they crave when they’re feeling down.

It might be their mom’s chicken soup, or a big pile of chow mein from their favorite Chinese joint. For a friend of mine, it was Stove Top stuffing. She’d snuggle up on the couch and eat a giant bowl, and she kept boxes of it stockpiled for such occasions.

Clearly, “What’s your favorite comfort food?” is a very personal question.

For me, though, it’s a question not easily answered. There are few foods I don’t find comfort in, which makes it ridiculously hard to narrow things down to just one dish. Sometimes I need the endorphin lift of something intensely chocolaty or spicy. Sometimes I need the soothing nature of pudding or a big, goopy ice cream sundae.

But if I had to pick just one thing — one dish that I know always makes me happy, that Want to be sure you I never grow tired of, get every issue of MIX? that I could eat for Subscribe! breakfast, lunch or 10 issues, $20 dinner — I would have to choose lasagna, Go to mixpdx.com specifically the lasaor call 503-221-8240. gna from Southeast

section — part of me remembers what it was like being a well-fed, well-loved little girl. And the warmth, good smells and constant cackle of happy aunties in my grandma’s kitchen don’t seem like distant memories.

Whatever your personal predilection, this month’s issue celebrates food as therapy, the way it can lift our spirits, remind us that we’re loved and that there’s joy in the simple things in life, no matter how uncertain things can seem. That’s why we’ve packed the pages with recipes and recommendations for ways to turn what feeds your body into what feeds your soul. So raise a fork to the power of food, and dig in.

Taste Unique: 2134 S.E. Division St., 503-206-7059, tasteunique.com Division’s Taste Unique. Made with fresh sheets of pasta, decadent béchamel, Parmesan cheese and rich meat sauce that’s simmered long and slow, it’s an umami bomb, with the added bonus of carbs and cream sauce. How can you go wrong?

I’d like to say it’s just like Grandma used to make, but the versions I grew up with were much less refined. Still, lasagna was a mainstay at our big family gatherings, and every time I have it — whether from Taste Unique or the freezer

Danielle Centoni, editor dcentoni@oregonian.com

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where to find the recipeS in thiS iSSUe: MAiN DiSHeS • Buffalo Chili With Beans, p28 • Cheese Bar’s Raclette, p46 • Chicken Enchiladas • Foster & Dobbs’ Fondue, p46 • Red Chile Macaroni and Cheese, p26 • Tortilla Soup With Shrimp and Avocado, p26 BReAKFAST • Blueberry Coffeecake Crumble Muffins, p17 • Sticky Buns, p10 DRiNKS • Aquavit Old Fashioned, p20 • Old-Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail, p20 CONDiMeNTS • Basic Red Chile Sauce, p24

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Warming up to Whole chiles Homemade chile sauce lifts rib-sticking classics to new heights

29

soul Food Some of our favorite Portlanders reveal what they eat to beat the blues

in everY issue 40 Five Wines A bottle for every craving

42 pubcraWl Collaborative beer dinners 

9 starters Bottled cocktails, deluxe mix, retro sandwiches, pickled salmon, speedy sticky buns

14 radar Where to go and what to do this month

16 good For You Baked goods with a healthful bent

18 mixmaster Reviving the OldFashioned cocktail

45 good cheese Fondue in all its gooey glory

47 scene Favorite coastal eats 52 high Five The city’s best mac-and-cheese

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eat here: austin, texas Our Southern soul sister is keeping it weird — and tasty

ON THe COVeR: Homemade chile sauce gives a kid favorite some grown-up heat PHOTOGRAPH By WeNDi NORDeCK

THiS PAGe: Above: Get the (fondue) party started, Page 45.

PHOTOGRAPH By MOTOyA NAKAMuRA

Left: Central owner Dustin Knox, Page18.

PHOTOGRAPH By THOMAS BOyD

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

online extras at mixpdx.com: • Get the recipe

for Victory Bar’s Baked Spaetzle With Gruyère and Crispy Shallots • Find out how Nong Poonsukwattana makes her Khao Man Gai • Learn The Country Cat’s secrets to fingerlickin’ skilletfried chicken and toasted pecan spoonbread • Try Andrew Carmellini’s Midwest Whitefish Chowder • Discover Christopher Handford’s recipe for Fainá and find out where to buy his five wine picks

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jason cohen (Eat Here: Austin, Page 35) lived in Austin, Texas, for 10 years before moving to Portland. He returned in February 2011 to a different city.

“Austin’s thing is to always say how much better it used to be, whether you’ve lived there for 20 years or 20 weeks,” he says. “But even though I miss the cheap, traffic-free Austin, the new one has much better food and coffee.

Now if I could only get Cacao and Bunk to open up locations here.”

A senior staff writer for Texasmonthly.com, he’s also written for Portland Monthly, Eater and SPIN.

A recent transplant from San Francisco, photographer wendi nordeck now calls Portland home. She shoots food, still lifes and interiors for editorial and advertising clients, including Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma.

Her work has appeared in several magazines, including 7x7, California Home and Design, Sunset and Oprah. For this issue of MIX, she turned her lens to dried chiles (Page 21). “The best part of working on this story was that my entire place smelled of chiles — and tasting the recipes, of course,” she says. “I can personally attest to the deliciousness of all the recipes in that story. Not only did I try them all, I ate the leftovers for a week straight.”

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jody horton (Eat Here: Austin, Page 35) is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Austin, Texas. He specializes in food, travel and portraiture and is a frequent contributor to Texas Monthly and Southern Living. His work has also appeared in Food & Wine, Esquire, GQ, The New York Times and Garden & Gun. “This assignment for MIX reminded me just how much is going on in Austin,” he says. “The restaurant scene is one of the most vibrant in the country and is constantly changing and evolving. I feel very lucky to live here.”

For this issue, cookbook author and food writer ivy manning turned her love of all things spicy into our chile story on Page 21.

Believe it or not, her romance with chiles got a late start. Back home in her native Sheboygan, Wis., paprika was considered “spicy.”

After a college spring break trip to Austin, she saw the light — or the heat, rather. “I was at this dive bar and I took one bite of a taco with this incredible tomatillo-serrano salsa on it, and my tongue just woke up. I finally realized there was complexity behind the heat, and that’s where the fun is.” She’s been reaching for the Cholula and making her own chile sauce ever since that fateful bite.

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Other COntributing Writers: Kathleen Bauer, lucy Burningham, grant Butler, matthew card, Paul clarKe, Katherine cole, SaSha davieS, aShley gartland, Karen locKe, deena PricheP, michael ruSSell, linda ShanKweiler, andrea SlonecKer, audrey van BuSKirK Other COntributing PhOtOgraPhers/illustratOrs: doug Beghtel, thomaS Boyd, olivia BucKS, lucy Burningham, andrew Burton, faith cathcart, reed darmon, Brian feulner, roSS william hamilton, Brian lee, Sean mcardle, Beth naKamura, motoya naKamura, randy l. raSmuSSen, linda ShanKweiler, john vallS, john m. vincent, miKe Zacchino

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February 18 – May 27

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VOLUME 6 / ISSUE 2

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starters Page 10: speedy sticky buns, two new candy shops

Page 12: Flying saucer sandwiches, luxe cookie mix, pickled salmon

Diagram oF a guilty pleasure

Chicken Club at Pine State Biscuits Sometimes when you’re craving comfort food, you just can’t decide what you want most: Something salty and fried? Something rich and creamy? Something completely carb-unconscious?

When we don’t want the stress and aggravation of deciding exactly how to blow a week’s worth of calories with one dish, we go to Pine State. there, the over-the-top biscuit sandwiches are delicious mash-ups of some of our favorite guilty pleasures, letting us satisfy all of our cravings (or at least most) in one bite. you’re no doubt well aware of the gravy and cheesetopped reggie deluxe; now meet the Chicken Club: Biscuit: It’s flaky, buttery and rich, with a hint of buttermilk tang. Since you won’t be able to get the whole sandwich in your mouth anyway, save the top to drizzle with honey for dessert.

Iceberg lettuce: a fat layer provides cooling, refreshing crunch and no nutritional value — bonus guilt points!

Red tomato: a thick, juicy slice adds a burst of brightness.

Blue cheese (or ranch) dressing: you can’t go wrong with either one, but if you choose blue cheese, you’ll end up with the equivalent of a classic Wedge salad on your sandwich.

Bacon: a thick-cut and meaty slab gives a hint of porky smoke. besides, everything tastes better with bacon.

Fried chicken: Impossibly crispy and peppery outside, while tender and juicy within. even grandma didn’t make it this good.

PhotograPh by Sean Mcardle

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starterscont.

Look and Cook: Sticky Buns Few of us have the time-management skills, let alone the baking skills, to make homemade sticky buns from scratch. Frozen doughs are an option, but, again, there’s that whole planning-ahead problem. What to do? Pop open a tube of crescent rolls!

1 open 2 cans of crescent roll dough. Sprinkle each triangle with a mixture of cinnamon-sugar (and, perhaps, cardamom or allspice), and roll up starting with the pointy end. there will be a point of dough sticking up; fold it over to make the bun look like a little rosette.

now open blue collar baking company you won’t find flaky 319 S.W. Pine St., croissants, intricate 503-227-3249 pastries or technicolor bluecollarbaking.com French macarons at this new downtown cafe, and that’s just fine with us. Portland needed a cookies-and-milk kind of bakery and now we’ve got one. blue Collar baking opened its bright comfortable space last month, serving up homestyle cookies and moist mini-bundt cakes like grandma used to make, plus scones, panini, yogurt parfaits and espresso drinks with beans from Water ave. Coffee. So far we’ve fallen hard for the lunch Whistle cookie — soft, buttery and packed with plump dried cranberries, brightened with orange zest and studded with white chocolate chunks that are rich and creamy without being overly sweet. the pumpkinginger bundt cake comes in at a very close second. It’s so moist, tender and light it almost falls apart, and it’s flecked with big, juicy pieces of candied ginger. — danIelle CentonI

PhotograPh by MIke zaCChIno

I want candy: Two new shops there’s so much good candy in the world. Sadly, you can’t find most of it at the supermarket. but there’s hope: Portland has two new candy shops with a wellcurated selection of sweets.

Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop: 10

2 Melt together ½ cup butter, ½ cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt and any other spices (or spirits!) and chopped nuts you like. Pour one-third of the syrup into the bottom of a pie dish, arrange the dough rosettes on top. Pour the remaining syrup on top.

opened last fall, this bright, fun shop features nostalgic candies like goo goo Clusters and Mallow Cups alongside new inventions like angry birds gummies. Meanwhile, a wall of coolers keeps 200 different boutique sodas icy-cold. the bulk bins even include fried eggs — fruity-tasting gummy candies that are as elusive as bigfoot.

Sit at the counter and order an egg cream, float or shake or choose from more than 30 flavors of syrup

(made with real sugar) for your custom phosphate.

— danIelle CentonI

817 S.E. 34th Ave, 503-894-8980, fizzportland.com

Candy Babel: Sustainably minded 25-year-old amani greer packs scores of obscure sweets from around the world into her tiny 240-square-foot shop. In the vintage jars you’ll find Scandinavian treats like double-salted licorice and foam candies, tons of kosher candy, plus artisan treats like candied bacon and Morrocan Mint tea lollipops. there’s also a rotating selection of freshly spun cotton candy in 135 flavors. — karen loCke 1237 N.E. Alberta St., 503-867-0591, candybabel.com

Drink this / cocktails by the bottle

3

bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until buns are cooked through. Invert dish onto a serving plate and dig in. — danIelle CentonI PhotograPhy by Motoya nakaMura

Inspired in part by a version at Chicago’s aviary, ace Clyde Common bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler has begun bottling and selling cafe cocktails (think sweet, bubbly mixtures of bitters, sweet wine and citrus oil). at the forefront of the carbonated cocktail trend, in which drinks are given an effervescent fizz through Co2 cartridges rather than spirit-diluting ingredients like sparkling water or wine, is his americano ($7). the blend of Campari, sweet vermouth, orange oil and water is carbonated with an iSi twist n’ Sparkle, decanted into single-serving glass bottles and sealed with a bottle cap. an aperol Spritz is set for spring.

Premade and served sans bottle, the drink is consistent and, for bartenders, easy to prepare (just pop the cap). though olCC rules confine the drink to the bar or adjacent ace hotel, don’t be surprised if Morgenthaler’s long-term plan includes retail.

Meanwhile, Interurban, the new bar on north Mississippi avenue, is serving craft cocktails in 15-ounce apothecary bottles meant for sharing, like chef John gorham’s food. Pro tip: the menu lists a mixed-toorder negroni and Manhattan ($40 each, serves four to six), but if you ask nicely, they’ll batch up any cocktail you like. — MIChael ruSSell Clyde Common, 1014 S.W. Stark St., 503-228-3333 Interurban, 4057 N. Mississippi Ave., 503-284-6669, interurbanpdx.com

B A B E T T E S F. C O M

2 0 8 N. W. 1 3 T H A V E N U E , P O R T L A N D ( 5 0 3 ) 2 2 8 - 0 4 0 7

The Oregonian / Mix Magazine 1/2 PAGE VERT 4.25” x 10.875”

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starterscont. eat this pickleD salmon We do love our salmon here in the northwest. and we love our pickles. but until recently, nobody out here combined the two. Pickled salmon is a traditional offering at new york’s Jewish delis and gourmet stores (a sort of more delicate, pinker spin on pickled herring), and now, thanks to Seattle’s loki Fish Co., it’s at your local new Seasons. Pacific salmon is given a lip-smacking sweet-sour vinegar bath, with a pinch of pickling spices and plenty of thinly sliced onions. It’s perfect for enjoying on a slice of good deli rye. — deena PrICheP

Obsession: Toas-Tite Sandwich Maker everyone knows grilled cheese sandwiches taste better when the edges are sealed like a pie (just ask the australians about “jaffles”). but no one wants a space-hogging electric gadget destined to break. enter the toas-tite sandwich maker, a refreshingly low-tech way to make round, pudgy, portable hot pockets of toasty goodness with whatever heat source you have handy — from a fireplace or campfire to an electric or gas burner. Wildly popular in the 1950s, vintage versions are common on ebay, where they sell for anywhere from $12 to $100. but the irons are clearly making a

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reaD this american FlaVor after cooking our way through andrew Carmellini’s James beard award-winning cookbook “urban Italian” (harperCollins, $35), we knew the man could make perfectly pillowy gnocchi and ethereal fresh ravioli, all the while charming us with his inimitable voice. So the focus for this european-trained chef’s follow-up book — rootsinspired american cuisine — came at us like a curveball.

We shouldn’t have been  online bonus: concerned. In “american Flavor” (harperCollins, get the recipe for $34.99), Carmellini proves andrew carmellini’s he’s just as adept at makmidwest whitefish chicken potpie and flaky chowder (pictured above) ing buttermilk biscuits as he is at at mixpDx.com making Italian food. his book takes home cooks on a rich road trip through america’s cultural melting pot. there’s no overriding ethnic focus or regional bent, just Carmellini’s take on dishes culled from coast-to-coast travels — Chile-laced green grits, root beer Cake and Midwest Whitefish Chowder. but what really keeps us turning the pages of this modern classic is the chef’s no-holds-barred narrative. once again, Carmellini’s fine storytelling makes this cookbook as welcome on our kitchen counter as it is on our bedside table. — aShley gartland

comeback, with a line of brand-new replicas that launched in September (toastite.biz).

We recently picked up a vintage version for $15 and can’t stop making cheesyegg breakfast sandwiches, nutella-filled treats and tuna melts. It even makes plain-old Pb&Js taste better. For more recipe inspiration, check out toastiterecipes.com, where a young California couple use their extensive collection of toas-tites with everything from toaster waffles to phyllo dough.

— danIelle CentonI PhotograPh by Motoya nakaMura

buy this nuVrei cookie mix When we first heard that nuvrei bakery was selling the mix for its knee-buckling-good Flourless Chewy Chocolate Cookies (with walnuts or chocolate chips), we rejoiced. When we found out it cost $18, we scowled and sneered — and bought it anyway. and then we rejoiced again. though the price tag is painful, the mix offers a ridiculously easy way to bake about two dozen über-impressive cookies in minutes. Just whisk in egg whites. It also makes an impressively luxe gift. the ingredients are simple (powdered sugar, cocoa powder, walnuts and chocolate chips) but top-notch, creating dough that’s so crazy good it could stand in for a chocolate truffle. eat it raw with some creamy peanut butter and prepare to weep. buy the mix in the cafe or email order@nuvrei.com. — danIelle CentonI 404 N.W. 10th Ave., 503-972-1700, nuvrei.com PhotograPh by Motoya nakaMura

radar Our picks for what to do when A DELICIOUs ROAD TRIP

March 2-4: Head down to Ashland for the Oregon Chocolate Festival, which fills the Ashland springs Hotel with dipped strawberries, truffles, cupcakes and other delicious treats from Oregon chocolatiers. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has just kicked off its 2012 season, so you can round out the weekend by catching the romantic tragedy “Romeo & Juliet” or a stage adaptation of the Marx Brothers’ “Animal Crackers.” ashlandspringshotel.com osfashland.org

A vINTAGE EvENING

March 3: Over the years, the Classic Wines Auction has grown from a small gathering of wine collectors raising money for charity into a monster event that raises more than $2 million for nonprofits like Metropolitan

Family service, New Avenues for Youth and Friends of the Children. Before the bidding begins, there’s food from Corey schreiber, founder of Wildwood Restaurant, and the Country Cat’s Adam sappington. classicwinesauction.com

PACk ON THE POUNDs

March 4: We’re not sure why, but today is National Poundcake Day, perhaps set aside to raise awareness of the baked good that forever cowers in the shadow of cupcakes and pie. … Whatever.

It’s just a good excuse to eat poundcake, like Bakery Bar’s magnificent blueberryalmond slab topped with cream cheese glaze, or the marionberry and cream cheese poundcake from Piece of Cake Bakery. bakerybar.com pieceofcakebakery.net

14 14

RUB ELBOWs WITH CHEFs AND FARMERs March 5: If you’ve been

wanting to meet the farmers who supply your favorite restaurants, and the chefs who turn the produce into culinary magic, check out the Farmer Chef Connection event hosted by Portland Chefs Collaborative. More than 300 chefs, farmers, ranchers, fishermen and chefs will gather at Clackamas Community College from 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. seminars include fermenting foods with David Barbar of Picklopolis, and tasting and learning about heritage breeds.

Enjoy an incredible lunch with produce donated by local farms, all prepared by chefs. sam Mogannam, founder of san Francisco’s Bi-Rite Market and author of “Eat Good Food,” offers the keynote address. portlandcc.org

THE BIG ONE Is BACk

MArCh 17: You’ve made it through winter, which had smaller farmers markets. But there’s magic when the opening bell rings to open the season for the Portland Farmers Market at Portland State University, where you’ll find great seasonal produce along with baked goods, artisan cheese, game meats and great hot coffee. portlandfarmersmarket.org PhotograPh BY Brian FeUlner

AND THE REsT Is HIsTORY

March 6: 100 years ago today, Nabisco created the Oreo cookie — the chocolate sandwich cookie with sweet cream filling. We bet that it was 100 years ago tomorrow that the first kid pulled apart the chocolate cookies and ate only the cream filling.

DEFY GRAvITY!

MArCh 14-APril 8: the girl in green is back! the Broadway across america series brings back the hit musical “Wicked” for an extended three-week run.

Before watching the Wicked Witch learn how to fly, grab something virtuous at the newest outpost of Laughing Planet cafe on Southwest Fourth avenue, just steps — or a short broom flight — from Keller auditorium. portlandopera.org/broadway/2011_2012 laughingplanetcafe.com PhotograPh BY Joan MarcUS

(there’s also a 1k for kids 12 and younger). Awaiting you at the finish line: smoked salmon chowder and a glass of Widmer Brothers’ finest beers. shamrockrunportland. com

YOU’D BETTER WEAR sOMETHING GREEN

March 17: Irish wannabes turn out in droves for St. Patrick’s Day, and since this year’s celebration falls on a saturday, you can expect the green beer revelers to be particularly raucous. kells Irish Restaurant & Pub stretches its Irish Festival from March 16 to 18, with live music, dancing and plenty of corned beef and cabbage. kellsirish.com/portland

NOW THIs Is LIvING!

RUN, FOR YOUR LIFE

March 18: Provided you didn’t overdo it on st. Pat’s, kick off the running season and start getting in shape with the Shamrock run, which winds through downtown Portland and the Willamette waterfront in 5k, 8k and 15k increments

March 23-25: Make the most out of your kitchen and garden with expert advice at the Better living Show, a free three-day exposition of green lifestyle choices at the Portland Expo Center, featuring presentations on everything from sustainable flower gardening to cooking more-nutritious food. betterlivingshow.org COMPILED BY GRANT BUTLER

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Good for you [ Wake up to better baked goods ]

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During the gluttony of the holiday season — and the sugar-fueled fest known as Valentine’s Day — your healthy eating intentions were likely derailed by the abundance of cookies, candy and chocolate that so easily fell into your reach. But now that you’re starting your annual spring slim down, you’re dedicating yourself to improving your diet starting with the first, and most important, meal of the day.

The problem? You’re a sucker for baked goods. True, you could lighten up your favorite muffin recipe with cholesterolfree egg substitutes and zero-calorie sweeteners, but when you crave the real thing, making your favorite recipes with substitute ingredients will leave you feeling deprived.

“If you want the flavor of a rich sour cream coffeecake and you make it with nonfat yogurt, it might have some textural similarities but it won’t have the richness you crave,” says Grand Central Baking coowner Piper Davis.

Try taking a different tack: Instead of thinking about what to cut out, think about what you can add to make your favorite morning treat more nutritious, and therefore more satisfying and less guilt-inducing. “If you want to get more nutrients into your baking, look instead to recipes and products that like to be loaded with nuts or sweetened with the flavor of dried fruit rather than sugar,” says Davis.

Her philosophy is rooted in baking with whole foods and shared by health-minded bakers who use nutrient-dense ingredients like nuts, seeds and whole-grain flours at their bakeries and cafes. The result is a treasure trove of tasty sweets that provide flavor and health benefits in one satisfying package — and offer more than just a sweet, buttery indulgence.

At Southeast Clinton’s cozy Compote cafe, owner Shana Lane-Block swaps refined flours for healthy, whole-grain alternatives like teff, spelt and rye flour in her scratch-baked goods. She’s also transformed the nutritional hazard known as the modern muffin by using sweet potato purée and heart-healthy flaxseeds. At Grand Central’s bakeries, Davis upgrades the cinnamon roll by incorporating whole grain flour and an eight-grain cereal into the dough.

And Kim Boyce, the genius behind the PHOTOGrAPH BY BeTH nAKAMurA

BY ASHLeY GArTLAnD

Blueberry Coffeecake Crumble Muffins MAKeS ABOuT 16 MuffInS

These moist, tender muffins are decadent, but not dangerously so. using whole grain rye flour gives them an added boost of nutrition, plus a malty-sweet flavor that goes perfectly with the spices. replacing some of the butter with yogurt adds protein while reducing some of the fat and cholesterol.

Walnut crumBle: 2 ⁄3 cup walnuts, finely chopped

¼ cup packed brown sugar ¼ cup granulated sugar muffins: 1 cup rye flour 1 cup all-purpose flour ¾ cup granulated sugar 1½ teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1½ teaspoons kosher salt ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon allspice 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter 1 cup whole milk plain yogurt 1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, stir together the walnuts, brown sugar and sugar to make the crumble topping.

In a large bowl, stir together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.

Set a small, heavy sauté pan over medium heat. Cut the butter into chunks and add them to the pan.

Allow the butter to melt, stirring occasionally, until the foam has subsided and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and browned (don’t let them get too dark). remove from heat and immediately pour browned butter into a medium-size bowl to stop the cooking. Allow butter to cool until barely warm. Whisk in the yogurt, egg and vanilla extract.

Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and gently stir to combine.

Scoop the batter into lined muffin pans two-thirds of the way full.

Alternate filling every other space to ensure the muffins bake evenly.

Drop the blueberries evenly among the muffins, and sprinkle the crumble over the top.

Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and the tops spring back when lightly touched.

Let the muffins cool slightly, then remove from the pan and set on a cooling rack (or pivot them onto their sides in the muffin pan) to ensure a dry, not soggy, crust.

— Kim Boyce, Bakeshop, Portland

award-winning cookbook “Good to the Grain” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $29.95), showcases the possibilities of baking with whole grain flours at Bakeshop, her new eastside bakery. “The great thing about whole grain flours is that they have great flavors and textures, and they have added health benefits,” she says. At Bakeshop, Boyce incorporates rye flour into her coffeecake, and will use barley flour and unrefined maple sugar in her strawberry-barley scone this spring. These recipes do contain butter and sugar, so they’re still considered a treat, she says. But if you’re going to keep eating baked goods for breakfast, you might as well enjoy the perks of choosing ones with an enhanced health profile.

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5 to Try Bakeshop At her new eastside bakery, buzzed-about baker Kim Boyce introduces customers to lesser-known whole grain flours like rye, buckwheat and barley flour, which she’ll use in a tender strawberry-barley scone this spring.

Baker and spice Health-minded regulars at this popular Hillsdale bakery start the day off right with a morning bun. The bagel-like roll is studded with sweet currants and gets a nutritional boost from the addition of whole wheat flour and 10-grain cereal.

17

compote Whole ingredients and from-scratch baking are the focus for Southeast Clinton’s cozy Compote cafe. Owner Shana Lane-Block fills her pastry case with nourishing baked goods like a moist sweet potato muffin made with whole grain flours, sweet potato purée and flaxseeds, which are a good source of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids.

Grand central Bakery Cinnamon rolls are admittedly an indulgence. But at Grand Central Bakery, they’re made more virtuous thanks to the absence of frosting and a dough that incorporates whole grain flour and eight-grain cereal.

The combination lends the dough a toasty flavor that pairs well with the caramelized cinnamon-brown sugar filling. little t american Baker At Southeast Division Street’s modern morning hangout, pastry-obsessed regulars can choose between an oat-date scone made with fiber-rich oats, medjool dates and buttermilk, or a flaky whole wheat croissant that employs less butter than the traditional version with equally pleasing results. £

open daily 1829 nw 25th avenue

503 225 5017

mixmaster [ A good Old-Fashioned revival ] By paul clarke photography By thomas Boyd

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E ven during the good old days, people hankered for the good old days.

When it comes to comfort cocktails, nothing surpasses the sepia-toned nostalgia inherent in the Old Fashioned.

Christened during the Gilded Age — a recipe for an “OldFashioned Whiskey Cocktail” first appeared in George J. Kappeler’s “Modern American Drinks” in 1895 — the Old Fashioned traces its lineage to an era before inventions such as the electric streetcar, the Tesla coil and the zipper made the world unsettlingly modern.

In a way, the Old Fashioned’s name tells us everything we need to know about its character, if not its composition: The drink is simple, but not simplistic, designed without flamboyance or frippery — in short, just the sort of no-nonsense thing they drank back in the good old days.

Between Kappeler’s era and today’s craft-cocktail bars, the Old Fashioned took a short, but unfortunate, detour. The Old Fashioned was originally designed to be simple and strong. Nothing more than a decent jolt of whiskey (brandy or Holland gin were also fair game), made agreeable with light touches of sugar and bitters, served with a chunk or two of ice and adorned with a piece of lemon peel. But by the late 20th century, it had become anything but. The drink’s descent was a sorry thing to see: The Old Fashioned’s spine-stiffening strength was rendered flaccid with a spray of soda water, and its spiritforward maturity of character left pubescent by a mawkish mash of maraschino cherries and orange slices. In this ignoble form, the once-forthright

Old Fashioned had devolved into a sad and flabby drink, the sweatsuit-clad mall-walker of the cocktail universe.

Fortunately, we live in an age of bibulous rediscovery.

Even with today’s sometimes over-the-top trends in mixology, bartenders and drinkers are renewing their appreciation for the original Old Fashioned’s old-fashioned, less-is-more approach.

Of course, this reversion to simplicity requires care. As made in the traditional style, the Old Fashioned places the taste of the base spirit squarely at center stage, the sugar and bitters functioning not as a mask for the liquor’s flavor, but as artful accents to the spirit’s nuances. With this kind of turn in the spotlight, the choice of spirit is significant; preparing an Old Fashioned necessitates using the good stuff — not the great stuff, mind you (unless you’re feeling decadent), but something sufficiently sipworthy enough to be enjoyed on its own.

Bourbon and rye whiskey are the spirits most frequently deployed in today’s Old FashCentral bar manager Daniel Osborne torches a skewered orange peel to garnish one of the bar’s 10 variations on the Old Fashioned. Not much more than a “pampered shot,” the drink has become watered down since its birth in the late 1800s, but craft bartenders around town are reviving it with inspired variations that honor the base spirit.

ioneds, but that hasn’t always been the case. Brandy was likely the Old Fashioned’s first flame, and the rich maltiness of Dutch genever — ancestor to the more familiar London dry gin — is a surprisingly agreeable base, with a good deal of historic precedent. Today’s bartenders are also mixing the venerable drink using the rich character of dark rum, aged tequila or smoky mezcal to flavorful effect (the vodka Old Fashioned, for some reason, has yet to catch on).

Such is the Old Fashioned’s pull on bartenders’ heartstrings that earlier this year, Central owner Dustin Knox debuted an Old Fashioned Happy Hour. Ten versions of the drink are offered, each prepared using a different base spirit, with corresponding tweaks in the choice of bitters, sweetener and garnish.

Alongside a classic rye Old Fashioned is a drink based on single-malt scotch, sweetened with honey syrup and served with a spray of smoky Laphroaig. A tequila-based Old Fashioned is sweetened with agave nectar and doctored with dashes of grapefruit and mole bitters. Knox says the most surprising — and one of the more popular — manifestations of the drink is the version based on aquavit, its caraway and anise flavors softened with honey syrup and accented with Angostura, orange and grapefruit bitters. Knox mixed the drink with House Spirits’ aged Gammal Krogstad aquavit until the supply was exhausted, and

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Knox says the Old Fashioned’s simple format gives the bartender an opportunity to highlight the most engaging qualities in a base spirit.

“The Old Fashioned is really just a pampered shot,” Knox says. “That’s the allure for me; you’re having a dialogue with the spirit.”

The renewed appeal of the Old Fashioned comes as no

surprise, Knox says. If anything, this most simple of cocktails makes perfect sense in an increasingly Byzantine world. “Cocktails are getting so complicated,” he says, with bartenders using smoke guns, centrifuge-separated juices and barrel-aging behind the bar. ”Sometimes you need to step back, and just have a simple, strong drink. You can really appreciate something like that.”

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While this recipe first appeared in print in 1895, the basic formula for the Old Fashioned had been in use for almost a century. For best results, use a coarse sugar such as Demerara. Contemporary versions substitute a teaspoon of sugar for the sugar cube, or use a spoonful of simple syrup. If you follow the latter course, skip the added water.

1 sugar cube 1 teaspoon water (or less — use just enough to dissolve the sugar) 2 dashes Angostura bitters 2 ounces rye whiskey or bourbon Ice Lemon peel, for garnish

Place the sugar cube in the bottom of an old fashioned glass; add water, and crush the sugar with a muddler or a spoon, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add bitters and whiskey; stir. Add several large cubes of ice and briefly stir to chill.

Use a vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife to cut a thin swath of lemon zest; use as garnish.

— Adapted from “Modern American Drinks” by George Kappeler

Aquavit Old Fashioned Central owner Dustin Knox says the aquavit’s flavors of caraway and anise match surprisingly well with those of honey, Angostura and citrus bitters. Knox prefers the limited-release aged Gammal Krogstad aquavit from House Spirits, but says the unaged Krogstad aquavit also works quite well.

1 teaspoon honey syrup (see note) 2 dashes Angostura bitters 1 dash grapefruit bitters (Knox recommends those from Fee Brothers) 1 dash orange bitters (Knox recommends Angostura Orange) 2 ounces aquavit Ice Orange and grapefruit peels, for garnish

Measure honey syrup into an old fashioned glass; add bitters and aquavit, and stir. Add a large piece of ice (or several large cubes), and stir briefly to chill. Using a vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife, cut thin swaths of zest from an orange and a grapefruit; use as garnish.

—Dustin Knox, Central, Portland

Note: To make honey syrup, combine ½ cup honey with ¼ cup hot water, and stir until completely mixed; keep refrigerated. £

Discover the nuances in flavor and heat that come from cooking with whole dried

You wouldn’t be caught dead with a tin of preground pepper, and your nutmeg is always freshly ground from the source.

But when a recipe calls for chile powder, you reach for a jar.

What’s wrong with that, you ask? Nothing, if you don’t mind sacrificing flavor for convenience. Just as whole spices freshly ground have more flavor and aroma than preground spices, whole dried chiles offer nuances you just can’t get from a jar of powder. “Reconstituted dried chiles have a much gentler, almost fruity, chile flavor,” says Nick Zukin, chile aficionado and proprietor of Mi Mero Mole taqueria. “Using chile powder usually results in a tinny, harsh flavor in dishes.”

➼ By ivy manning Photography by Wendi nordeck

21

chile Primer

➼

Not only that, but store-bought chile powders limit you to whatever chiles the manufacturer has decided to use — usually New Mexican or ancho. But there are dozens of varieties of dried chiles available at local markets, and each has its own special flavor and texture, ranging from smoky and earthy to sweet.

“Now, even when I make Texas-style chili, I use reconstituted chiles rather than chile powder,” Zukin says. Not only is chile powder with an “e” banned from his pantry, so is chili powder with an “i,” which is a blend made from ground chiles and other spices such as cumin and garlic. The powders just can’t compare to freshly made chile sauce.

With that in mind, we’re sharing our go-to recipe for a rich, warming chile sauce you can use to add instant depth and heat to a long list of recipes, from chicken enchiladas to chunky buffalo chili. The sauce is a blend of meaty ancho and earthy guajillo chiles, but feel free to use our chile primer (at right) to help you find other intriguing chiles.

The recipe makes a ton, so you’ll have plenty of sauce to tuck into your freezer for later.

You can even use it to add depth and smoky flavor to vinaigrettes, meat marinades (just add citrus juice), sauces for grilled fish or fresh pico de gallo. Once you have a big batch of authentic homemade chile sauce at your fingertips, dinner gets a lot more interesting.

PreParing the chileS

If you’ve ever handled chiles and then touched your eyes or mouth, then you know that even the mildest chiles can irritate your skin, so the first step in making chile sauce is to put on a pair of rubber gloves.

Once the gloves are on, open up the chiles lengthwise with kitchen shears and remove the stems, seeds and any light-colored veins inside the chiles. This step will remove a lion’s share of the heat from the fruit.

If you like spicy food, chef Oswaldo Bibiano of Autentica and Mextiza restaurants suggests setting aside some of the seeds to add a little extra heat: “You can add a lot or just a little of the seeds to make things hotter, and they are a key ingredient to my mole, so I never throw them out.”

Once the seeds are removed, the chiles are traditionally toasted in a dry pan or skillet to intensify their flavor. Watch carefully and work in small batches, advises Bibiano: “They should just start to turn color and have dark spots on them; if you overcook the chiles, the sauce will be bitter.” Most chiles take just 30 to 40 seconds on each side to toast.

This step is not only worth the effort for the complex flavor it lends sauces, but it also gives off a delicious aroma, notes Bryan Picking the Steelman of Por Qué No. BeSt dried chileS “I love it when I walk in the restaurant The popularity of Mexican cuisine is and Marcos Lopez, our chef at the Missisat an all-time high (salsa now outsells sippi kitchen, is toasting chiles on the comal. ketchup as Americans’ favorite condiIt gives off a fragrance that is transcendent.

22 ment). That means it’s pretty easy to find It doesn’t last long because some of the a wide range of whole dried chile pods chiles will burn fast if left on the comal, but just about anywhere. But before you snap there is a moment when they are all toasting up those chiles, give them a squeeze. that makes me forget any worries I was havAccording to Bryan Steelman, owner of ing and just fall into a warm little daydream Por Qué No, the best dried chiles are not moment.” brittle. “They may be very dusty, dependOnce the toasting reverie is complete, ing on where they were dried … but if soak the chiles in hot tap water for about the chile is brittle it means that it wasn’t 30 minutes. There’s no need to use boiling stored correctly and is past its date,” he water; it can actually leach out too much says. “They should be pliable and soft flavor. To transform the reconstituted chiles and give you the feeling that decadence into a sauce, the chiles are drained (the soaklies below that dark surface.” ing water is bitter) and puréed in a blender in batches with charred onions and garlic, seasonings and broth.

Finally, the sauce is SourceS strained to catch any Most supermarkets tend to have slower turnaround and higher prices large bits of skin (comwhen it comes to dried chile pods, so we recommend buying chiles at mon with guajillo chiles) Mexican markets such as the ones listed below. You’ll find fresher chiles, or seeds the blender a wider selection and a better price. Be sure to examine the chiles in the may have missed. If you bag carefully; don’t buy chiles that have light spots on them (it can be a don’t mind a chunky, sign of an infestation from field pests). less refined texture, straining is optional.

Mercado Don Pancho: 2000 N.E. Alberta St., 503-282-1892

La Tapatia Supermercado: 1025 E. Powell Blvd., Gresham; 503-492-8303 Food 4 Less: 7979 S.E. Powell Blvd., 503-774-4665 Tortilleria Y Tienda De Leon: 16225 N.E. Glisan St., 503-255-4356 Tienda Santa Cruz #2: 8630 N. Lombard St.; 503-285-8222

➼

There are seemingly a million chile pepper varieties out there. Here is a quick roundup of the chiles you’re most likely to come across in Portland markets that are good choices for chile sauce.

a ncho: The name means “wide chile” in Spanish, a fitting moniker for this wide-shouldered, nearly black pepper, made from ripe poblano peppers. They have a high yield of flesh to skin, which makes them a workhorse in sauces.

Anchos are mild with a rich, dark cherry/raisin sweetness. Beware: Ancho chiles are sometimes labeled “pasilla chiles,” but they are much wider at the stem than true pasillas.

Weight: 2 chiles per ounce califor nia: Shiny red with fairly smooth skins, these are dried, ripe Anaheim chiles with an uncomplicated, sunny flavor that is very mild.

They are usually blended with more interesting chiles when making sauces.

Weight: 4 chiles per ounce. chipotle: Made by smoking and drying jalapeños, chipotles are often sold canned in tomato sauce as “chipotles in adobo,” but they also come in two dried varieties: meco (mellower) and mora/moritas (very spicy). They have a dusty, tan appearance and a woodsy, smoky flavor with quite a bit of heat; they are best in moderation in sauces.

Weight: 4 to 10 chiles per ounce. guajillo: These “little gourds” are dried mirasol chiles. They have long, shiny, tapered pods with tough cranberry-red skins. They boast a moderately spicy, tangy flavor with a hint of citrus. Because the skins are tough, be prepared to soak the chiles a bit longer to make them pliable, and be sure to strain the sauce once blended.

Weight: 4 chiles per ounce new mexican: A variation of dried

Anaheim chiles, these long, tapered chiles are often labeled “Colorado chiles.” Hotter than California chiles, but with the same sunny flavor, they are sometimes crumbled dry over soups or reconstituted for a simple chile purée.

Weight: 5 chiles per ounce

Pasilla: These long, tapered chiles sport

black, wrinkled skins and lend a subtle, prunelike flavor with a whisper of licorice to sauces.

Complex and quite spicy, the dark flesh of these “chile negros” yields a mahogany brown purée that is often blended with cream.

Weight: 3 chiles per ounce

Puya: Similar in flavor, color and shape to

the guajillo, puya chiles (sometimes spelled “pulla”) are smaller and, more importantly, hotter — without being scorching. They’re virtually nonexistent at supermarkets but are common at Latino markets around town. They’re excellent puréed into sauce or fried for chile oil.

Weight: 18 chiles per ounce

Califor nia Pasilla Chipotle

Guajillo New Mexican Puya

Ancho

23

cooking the Sauce

24

You might think the sauce is done once it has been puréed, but it’s not. Taste it and you’ll find it’s probably quite brash, if not a bit bitter.

That’s because in order to bring out the complexity and nuances of the chiles, the sauce must be “fried” in a shallow puddle of oil. This melds the elements of the sauce and cooks out the raw flavor of the chiles. Because pouring liquid into hot oil can cause splattering, keep a pot lid handy to protect yourself and pour the chile sauce in all at once. The sauce will sizzle and bubble, but once it has simmered for a few minutes, you can reduce the heat and cook the sauce more gently. After 20 to 30 minutes of simmering, the sauce will bloom and become much more balanced and tasty. Skip this step, and you might as well use chili powder from a jar.

After simmering, taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings to suit you.

There are variations in flavor and heat even among the same variety of chile pepper, so consider our recipe a guideline. Add honey or sugar if the sauce is too bitter, salt if the sauce is bland or reserved chile seeds if you want a little more heat.

Once the sauce is completely cool, it can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months before the flavors begin to fade. Most recipes require 2 cups or less of chile sauce, so it’s best to store the sauce in 2-cup containers. Be sure to mark the containers clearly with the date and contents — you don’t want to mistake chile sauce for marinara!

Basic red chile Sauce MAkES 6 CuPS

This rich, thick sauce is incredibly versatile. Don’t just save it for Mexican dishes such as enchiladas (though it does make a killer version).

The sauce is just as terrific swirled into soups or creamy pasta dishes for depth, complexity and heat. If you like your sauce spicier, save some of the chile seeds and add them to the sauce after it’s puréed and strained.

2 medium onions, peeled and cut through equator into ½-inch rings 1 head (15-20 cloves) garlic, papery outer skins removed, individual cloves left unpeeled 10 ounces dried ancho chiles 5 ounces guajillo chiles 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano 2 teaspoons ground cumin 2 tablespoons vegetable oil About 2 teaspoons packed brown sugar, plus more to taste About 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt, plus more to taste

Adjust the oven rack so that it is 6 inches below the broiling element and preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with foil and arrange the onion slices (keep them intact in their round slices) and garlic on the foil in a single layer. Broil until the garlic is charred and tender when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes.

Remove the garlic, flip the onions with tongs and broil the onions on the second side until they are tender and lightly charred, 10 minutes more; set aside. When garlic has cooled, peel it.

Put on rubber gloves and break the stems off the tops of the chiles and shake out the seeds (reserve some to add to the sauce later, if you like heat). Using kitchen scissors cut down the length of each chile and open them up flat. Trim and discard any veins on the inside of the chiles.

Turn an exhaust fan on or open a window and place a heavy cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the chiles in batches and toast them, pressing down on them with a spatula, until they are lightly blistered and tan spots appear, about 30 seconds per side for the guajillo chiles, 40 seconds per side for the ancho chiles. Do not over-toast the chiles or the sauce will be bitter. Place the toasted chiles in a large bowl and add hot tap water to cover. Place a plate on top of the chiles to keep them submerged and let them soak until softened, 30 minutes.

Drain the chiles and blend them in batches in a blender or food processor with the onions, garlic, broth, oregano and cumin; be patient, you may need to stop several times and move the contents around a bit to make sure the sauce becomes evenly smooth. When the last batch of chiles is done, swish out the blender with ¼ cup of water to get out any of the chile mixture sticking to the bottom and sides of the blender and add it to the sauce. Strain the sauce through a medium-mesh sieve, pressing on the solids, or use a food mill. Discard the solids (skins and seeds).

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking.

Quickly pour the chile sauce into the pot. (Keep a splatter screen or lid handy; the sauce will sputter and spit as it is added to the pot.) Reduce heat to maintain a very gentle simmer, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has lost its raw chile flavor, 30 minutes. Add the brown sugar and salt to taste. Cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

chicken enchiladas SErvES 6

A bit of tomato sauce and cumin simmered with our Basic Red Chile Sauce makes an incredibly rich enchilada topping. You’ll never go back to canned sauce.

For the enchiladas: 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon cumin ½ teaspoon ground coriander ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (3 pounds) 3 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes 2 cups shredded Asadero or jack cheese (divided) 3 green onions, finely chopped 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 6 to 8 (10-inch) flour tortillas cut in half For the sauce: 1 cup Basic Red Chile Sauce 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce ¼ cup chicken broth 1 teaspoon cumin Salt and pepper Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine the papri- 25 ka, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Rub the mixture all over the chicken breasts and place them in the prepared pan. Bake until the chicken is cooked through (an instant-read thermometer will register 175 degrees), about 30 minutes. Reserve the baking dish to bake the enchiladas. While the chicken is still warm, chop it and combine it with the cream cheese, 1 cup of the grated Asadero or jack cheese, scallions and cilantro in a medium bowl.

While the chicken is baking, make the sauce.

In a small saucepan, combine the chile sauce, tomato sauce, chicken broth and cumin.

Bring to simmer over medium heat, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until ready to use. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spread ½ cup of the sauce in the bottom of the baking dish used to cook the chicken.

Microwave the tortillas until just pliable, about 30 seconds. Place ¼ cup of the chicken mixture on one tortilla and roll up tightly. Place the enchilada seam side down in the pan. Repeat with the remaining filling and tortillas. Spoon the remaining chile sauce over the top of the enchiladas, sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese, and bake until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbly, 25 minutes.

tortilla Soup With Shrimp and avocado SErvES 4

This warming soup, brightened with lime zest and lime juice, makes a delicious weeknight dinner. Half the fun is in the assortment of toppings, which allow your dinner companions to customize their bowls as they see fit.

1 pound medium-size unpeeled shrimp (see note) ¾ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon granulated sugar 4 cups chicken broth 1 medium clove garlic, chopped 4 corn tortillas ½ cup vegetable oil 1 cup finely chopped canned tomatoes, drained ¼ to 1⁄3 cup Basic Red Chile Sauce 3 scallions, thinly sliced 1 teaspoon lime zest 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice Freshly ground black pepper 1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro ¼ cup crumbled Cotija or feta cheese 2 limes, quartered, for garnish

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red chile macaroni and cheese SErvES 4

Rich, toasty and spicy chile sauce spiked with a bright hit of tomato paste adds delicious depth to gooey mac-and-cheese. If you like your mac with sliced tomatoes on top, you’ll love this version even more.

1 whole-grain hamburger bun or 2 pieces whole wheat bread 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro 4½ cups whole milk 10 whole black peppercorns 1 garlic clove, peeled and lightly crushed 1 bay leaf 4 tablespoons butter ⁄3 cup all-purpose flour

1

1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (divided) 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste Freshly ground black pepper 1 pound large shell-shaped pasta (such as Montebello brand conchiglie pasta) 1¼ cups Basic Red Chile Sauce ¼ cup tomato paste

Tear the bun into small pieces and pulse in a food processor or chop with a chef ’s knife until you have fine crumbs. Toss the crumbs with the oil and cilantro; set aside.

In a large microwave-safe bowl or medium saucepan, heat the milk, peppercorns (place in a tea ball or cheesecloth to make them easy to remove later), garlic and bay leaf until hot but not boiling, about 2 minutes in the microwave, or 5 minutes on the stove, or until small bubbles form around the edges of the saucepan. Set the milk aside for 10 minutes. Remove the peppercorns, garlic and bay leaf and discard.

Peel and devein the shrimp; reserve shells. In a medium bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt and sugar, set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the shrimp shells with the broth and garlic. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the stock is simmering, make the tortilla strips. Stack the tortillas, cut them into quarters and thinly slice the tortilla quarters into 1⁄16 -inchwide strips. Heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan until hot. Add a small handful of the tortilla strips and fry until crisp and just starting to brown, 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining tortilla strips, reducing heat if necessary.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk a little at a time, letting the flour absorb each addition before adding more. Reduce the heat if the sauce is sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thickened and bubbling, 4 minutes. Set aside 1½ cups of the cheese and add the rest to the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm over very low heat.

Using a slotted spoon or sieve, remove the shrimp shells from the broth and discard. Add the tomatoes and Basic Red Chile Sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Rinse the shrimp, drain well and add them to the soup along with the scallions, lime zest and lime juice. Cook until the shrimp have curled and turned opaque white and pink, about 5 minutes.

Preheat the broiler and adjust the top rack so that it is 8 inches below broiler element. Spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. While the pasta cooks, combine the chile sauce, tomato paste and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl.

Drain the pasta and add it to the saucepan with the cheese sauce.

Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide the soup among bowls and arrange the avocado slices on top. Sprinkle the soup with cilantro and serve the tortilla strips, cheese and limes on the side for garnish.

Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish and spoon dabs of the tomato-red chile sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1½ cups of cheese and the bread crumb mixture. Broil until the crumbs are crisped and golden brown and the cheese sauce is bubbly around the edges, 4 minutes.

Note: Don’t let the step of deveining and peeling the shrimp turn you off. If you’d rather use peeled shrimp, feel free. The soup will still be tasty without the step of simmering the shells in the broth, and it will be even easier to make.

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1230 nw hoyt • 503.241.8800 r dinne ts h g i n seven ek e w a

Buffalo chili With Beans MAkES 6 TO 8 SErviNGS

The slightly gamy flavor of buffalo meat pairs beautifully with our Basic Red Chile Sauce in this slow simmered chili. Domesticated buffalo meat (often marketed as bison) is now widely available at grocery stores thanks to its low saturated fat content and satisfying flavor. If you can’t find buffalo, try this recipe with venison, elk or beef instead.

Fr a t e l l i Po r t l a n d . c o m

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| @fratelli_pdx

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

www.anneamie.com W E W E L C O M E Y O U T O V I SI T O U R B E A U T I F U L W I N E R Y A N D E STA TE V I N E Y A R D T O T A STE O U R A WA R D WINNING P INOT N OIRS AND OUR MUCH BELOVED W HITE W INES

2½ tablespoons olive oil, plus more if needed (divided) 2 pounds buffalo or beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch chunks Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 large onion, finely chopped 1½ cups beef broth 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 1 tablespoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon ground allspice 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes 1½ cups Basic Red Chile Sauce 1 tablespoon brown sugar, packed 1 bay leaf 1 (25-ounce) can pinto beans or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed Hot sauce

O P E N D A I LY 10AM-5PM

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, for garnish Sour cream, for garnish

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season a handful of the meat with salt and pepper and add it to the skillet; do not overcrowd the meat or it will sweat and refuse to brown. Cook the meat on one side until well browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn the meat with tongs and cook on the second side until well browned. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with the remaining meat, seasoning and browning it in small batches, and adding additional oil if necessary. Set the skillet aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender, 6 minutes. Return the skillet used to brown the meat to medium-high heat, add the broth, and bring to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom.

Add the broth and browned bits to the pot with the onions. Add the browned meat, cocoa powder, cumin, allspice, tomatoes, chile sauce, brown sugar and bay leaf.

Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until the meat is fork-tender, 2 to 2½ hours. Add the beans and cook, uncovered, until heated through, 10 minutes.

Season the chili with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Serve with cheese and sour cream. £

comfort me with . . .

The ciTy’s mosT celebraTed food lovers Tell us how They feed Their souls compiled by andrea slonecker

Whether it’s a nostalgia-inducing childhood favorite or a dish that reminds us of travels in a faraway land, food has the power to lift our spirits and set everything just right — well, at least until the last bite.

For me, the flavor and texture of the Baked Spaetzle With Gruyère and Crispy Shallots at Victory Bar (3652 S.E. Division St., 503-2368755, thevictorybar.com) strikes all the right chords: creamy, cheesy, rich and chewy. A topping of fried shallots and a side of house-made applesauce beautifully harmonize with the dish. Could there be a more soul-satisfying combination to whisk away the winter doldrums?

Well, that depends on who you ask. For some, the goodness of the world is restored with one bite of crispy, juicy, perfectly fried chicken. Others might need a steaming bowl of aromatic chicken soup to see the glass half-full again. We all have our own versions of comfort food, which got us wondering what our city’s most distinguished food lovers turn to when they need a little edible TLC. We asked local writers, actors, musicians, chefs and soccer players to tell us what they crave when they need the food equivalent of a hug. In response, they gave us dozens of delicious answers sure to inspire cravings of your own.

 ONLINE bONus: Get the recipe for Victory bar’s baked spaetzle With Gruyère and Crispy shallots, left, at mIxpdx.COm PhotgraPhy by motoya nakamura

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‘‘

ErIC mOOrE, chef/ co-owner, Victory Bar I have always loved the phat Thai ruam at Whiskey soda Lounge (3131 S.E. Division St., 503-232-0102, whiskeysodalounge.com), and lately I get it with everything, including wrapped in an omelet (haw khai). I usually miss regular dinner hours due to work, so I’m always looking for something good late at night (it’s available only after 10 p.m.). the shrimp, crab and pork all go so well together with the spicy noodles and are held in this thin, crepelike omelet. after tasting heavy food all night, this is like a flavorful thai massage for my mouth. I have no problem taking down this behemoth, and it pairs perfectly with two or three tamarind Whiskey Sours.

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dIaNa abu-JabEr author, “Birds of Paradise”

I’m wild for the little cookies, cakes and baked goods, as well as the simple sandwiches they put together, at baker & spice (6330 S.W. Capitol Highway, 503-244-7573, bakerandspicebakery.com).

Their ham and cheese on house-baked bread (smoked ham and Gruyère) is a luscious bite accompanied by a cup of their excellent coffee, followed by a Chocolate Crackle Cookie.

It’s a perfect repast that hits all the essential comfort groups.

adam sappINGTON

chef/owner, The Country Cat Dinnerhouse & Bar for Jackie and me, our favorite comfort food spot is dots Cafe (2521 S.E. Clinton St., 503-2350203, dotscafepdx.com). the

JEssICa pIErCE

manager/sommelier, Ned Ludd

Vegan deluxe sandwich is our go-

Evoe (3731 S.E. hawthorne blvd., 503-232-1010; pastaworks.com/evoe) is my comfortable little getaway right in the middle of Portland. kevin gibson continues to blow my mind every time I sit down at the little counter. I usually graze through the menu while drinking cider on draft, though the wine selection is affordable and perfect with the food, too. my favorite lineup is to start with the deviled eggs. he usually has a beautiful soup of the day, and I will finish it off with The Gallego sandwich with anchovies and peppers. my palate is instantly transported from Portland to Europe, and Evoe is as comfortable as I get with food in public.

PhotograPh by faIth CathCart

to dish. Coming from a meat geek like myself, this should say something. toasted rye bread, caramelized onions, wilted spinach, chickpea purée, mushrooms and tomatoes — it’s that combination and the soft, crispy texture of the bread that makes this my pick.

PhotograPh by ranDy L. raSmuSSEn

pauLa markus

butcher/co-owner, Chop Butchery & Charcuterie

It doesn’t matter whether it’s summer or winter here in Portland (I guess I must be truly American), my comfort food is pizza from Lovely’s FiftyFifty (4039 N. Mississippi Ave., 503-281-4060, lovelysfiftyfifty.com). I go for any one of the weekly specials, or just the plain old Margherita. With a glass of Italian red and a bowl of malted milk ball Ice Cream, I’m on cloud nine. The world could be coming to an end and it wouldn’t matter.

Simple is best, and a slice of great pizza always makes me feel like everything will be fine.

PhotograPh, LEft, by roSS WILLIam hamILton

CarrIE WELCh, publicist, Little Green Pickle; co-founder, Feast Portland: Food & Drink Festival There is one dish that is the end-all, be-all for me, one that far surpasses all other dipped, breaded and fried options: The Country Cat’s skillet-Fried Chicken and Toasted pecan spoonbread (7937 S.E. Stark St., 503-408-1414, thecountrycat.net).

I mean, come on, just the name alone makes me salivate! From the perfectly crispy, well-seasoned, juicy chicken to the luscious spoonbread, it’s one of those dishes that goes right to the pleasure center of your brain, and fast. If you haven’t had spoonbread, particularly Country Cat’s, a couple dollops of this almost pudding, almost soufflé-type bread, will show you what real comfort food is all about.

 ONLINE bONus: Get the recipe for The Country Cat’s Skilletfried Chicken and Toasted Pecan Spoonbread at mIxpdx.COm PhotograPh by motoya nakamura

pasCaL sauTON

IsaaC brOCk

owner, Milwaukie Kitchen & Wine

musician, Modest Mouse

The boudin Noir at st. Jack — that’s comfort food to me (2039 S.E. Clinton St., 503-360-1281, stjackpdx.com). It’s like really going back to my childhood in France and my mom; that’s how she would do it. At St. Jack, they do it nice and simple, just how I like it. I see sausages paired with all sorts of things on menus, but for me, just sautéed in a pan, with buttery pomme purée and sautéed apples, that’s totally like home. Chef Aaron Barnett makes things that are simple and good, very traditional and just plain yummy.

as far as comfort foods, the first go-to for me is to make a stew of some sort at home with soda 31 bread. but beaker & Flask (727 S.E. Washington St., 503-235-8180, beakerandflask.com) is a place that I know will always serve the comfort food purpose. they have a fairly shifting menu (this is a good thing), so I can’t really nail down one dish that I go to time after time, but the chef has a knack for putting all the right things together in ways I don’t think many folks pull off. I never have eaten a single thing there and thought to myself that the chef had just put these items together because the words would look nice in a row on the menu. beaker & flask is, foodwise, one of the best restaurants I’ve ever eaten at, and consistently so. I always leave happier than when I got there, and I usually show up happy.

PhotograPh by ranDy L. raSmuSSEn

NONG pOONsukWaTTaNa

Nong’s Khao Man Gai

my favorite comfort food is pork Liver Congee from kenny’s Noodle house (8305 S.E. Powell blvd., 503-7716868). I eat that with Chinese doughnuts. the congee costs only $4.75 and the Chinese doughnuts are $1.25. they have the best congee in town.

PhotograPh by faIth CathCart

 Online bonus: Get the recipe for Nong poonsukwattana’s khao man Gai at mIxpdx.COm

PhotograPh by anDrEW burton

‘‘

GrEGOry GOurdET, chef, Departure

maTT mOuNT

I go to Luc Lac Vietnamese kitchen (835 S.W. Second ave., 503-222-0047, luclackitchen.com) after a long workday. they are up the street from me and offer a huge late night menu. When I need something warm for the chilly bike ride home, I get tom yum soup: hot, sour and spicy broth, fragrant with lemongrass, galangal and lime.

Slurping up fat rice noodles always soothes, and shrimp, mushrooms and big chunks of ripe avocado round out the dish. Crunchy bean sprouts, basil and plenty of sliced jalapeño tricks the whole thing out. most traditional comfort food actually makes me pretty uncomfortable — too rich, greasy and heavy. tom yum is super clean, super flavorful and very filling. all that for less than $9. yes, please, and often.

distiller, House Spirits Distillery

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I spent the first 17 years of my life growing up in hawaii, and I spent the last six of those years hating it. It wasn’t until my late 20s when I came to terms with hawaii, and fell completely in love with it. So comfort foods to me have the flavors, smells and ingredients of the hawaiian food I grew up with, many of which are borrowed from other cultures. regardless of whether I’m sad, happy, drenched in rain or sunburned, I could eat no fewer than two Onigiri from biwa (215 S.E. ninth ave., 503-239-8830, biwarestaurant.com) any given day of the week (the record so far in one sitting is six). the simple Japanese picnic food takes me back to hawaii the moment I see them plating this dish of steamed rice stuffed with ume (preserved plum) and wrapped in nori. big runnersup are the ramen from biwa (which isn’t quite saimin, but close enough), and the mac salad at ate-Oh-ate (2454 E. burnside St., 503-445-6101, ate-oh-ate.com).

PhotograPh by rEED Darmon

kurT huFFmaN, ChefStable my new favorite brick and mortar place for snack comfort food is kim boyce’s bakeshop (5351 n.E. Sandy blvd., 503-946-8884, bakeshoppdx.com). I love her Corn and Gruyère muffin. I’ve always been obsessed with Nong’s khao man Gai (Southwest 10th avenue and alder Street, 971-255-3480; 411 S.W. College St., 503-432-3286, khaomangai.com), and now that she’s introduced new dishes at her new cart near PSu, it has led to all sorts of weight gain this winter. as far as restaurants, I love going to alexis (215 W. burnside St., 503-224-8577, alexisfoods.com). It’s been around for 32 years, and I grew up going there for special occasions with the family. It’s unpretentious, has great service, inexpensive — all of those things that I associate with “comfortable.” I love the lamb chops and the calamari. they both go great with tons of lemon and tzatziki.

PhotograPh by oLIvIa buCkS

Luz ELENa mENdOza

lead singer, Y La Bamba; server, Zilla Saké House

I get a burrito at El Nutri-Taco (2124 N.E. Alberta St., 503-4738447, elnutritaco.net) truck. Every day when I’m working at Zilla Saké, I crave a robust burrito from there: black beans, corn, zucchini, tempeh and avocados … mmm. Can’t go wrong.

JEssE skILEs

owner/winemaker, Fausse Piste

My ideal comfort food is the biscuits and gravy at Fat City Cafe (7820 S.W. Capitol Highway, 503-245-5457, fatcitycafe.net) in Multnomah Village. I have been going there for over 20 years. Starting with first grade, my dad would take me there before the first day of school. It still lives up to expectations: flaky biscuits, rich gravy — and lots of it.

PhotograPh by rEED Darmon

Beastly good picks from the cast of ‘Grimm’ as the cast members of “grimm” acclimate to the rain, they’re each discovering comfort foods around town that help make Portland feel like home. here’s where they go when they want to indulge.

daVId GIuNTOLI (Nick Burkhardt) nothing beats seasonal depression like the Cinnamon rolls at mother’s bistro (212 S.W. Stark St., 503-464-1122, mothersbistro.com).

rEGGIE LEE (Sgt. Wu)

sasha rOIz (Captain Renard) for me, nothing says comfort like stepping into a bakery. the smell of baked breads and pastries is all the comfort I need. So on a cold, wet day, I trudge over to Lovejoy bakers (939 n.W. 10th ave., 503-208-3113, lovejoybakers.com), conveniently located within walking distance from my place. a coffee and a sweet something can offset the dreariest of days.

my favorite comfort food dish is the potatoes bravas with over-easy eggs from Tasty & sons, above, (3808 n. Williams ave., Suite C, 503-621-1400, tastynsons. com), plus a side of their biscuits with honey butter. they’re pan-fried cubed potatoes with just the right amount of spice — not too much, not too little — and the biscuit with honey butter just balances everything out. this place just bursts with down-home breakfast cooking, with a twist. I love taking friends from out of town there.

bITsIE TuLLOCh (Juliette Silverton)

sILas WEIr mITChELL (Monroe)

for me, it’s Irving street kitchen’s (701 n.W. 13th ave., 503-343-9440, irvingstreetkitchen. com) fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a side of their amazing cornbread. I had an early dinner there about a month ago, with a long night of production ahead of me, and I carried my leftover fried chicken around with me the rest of the night. I still get teased about that. as for why it’s comfort food: f. r. I. E. D.

aCtor PhotograPhS: © nbCunIvErSaL, InC. PhotograPh, toP rIght, ranDy L. raSmuSSEn

at piazza Italia (1129 n.W. Johnson St., 503-478-0619, www.piazzaportland.com), a very low-key and truly authentic Italian trattoria, there is a dish known (I don’t know why) as Linguine squarciarella. It is essentially a spaghetti carbonara, which is as comforting as Italian food gets (except maybe for gnocchi, but that’s open for debate!). What separates it from a regular carbonara is the fact that the egg is stirred into the perfectly chewy spaghetti, as opposed to whipped into a creamy sauce and poured over the pasta.all the flavors are there, but it’s lighter and the pasta plays more of a role. It’s not just a delivery system for an eggy cream sauce. Crack some black pepper on that stuff, have a glass of barolo — lights out, miei amici!

LEsLIE Lukas-rECIO

maTT mILLETTO

I am a native Oregonian, but I also feel home to me is Spain, so when I need comfort food that reflects both, I love the fideos at Toro bravo (120 N.E. Russell St., 503-281-4464, torobravopdx.com). Fideos is a rustic noodle casserole — kind of like paella made with noodles instead of rice. Toro gives fideos a Northwest touch by adding local ingredients like Dungeness crab.

My favorite comfort dish is the Fennel sausage breakfast sandwich accompanied by a side order of sweet potato hash from James John Cafe (8527 N. Lombard St., 503-285-4930, jamesjohncafe.com) in St. Johns.

A perfectly cooked egg sits upon a succulent house-made fennel sausage and sharp cheese. The hash is in perfect balance as well. I generally sneak in a Corpse Reviver cocktail or two and walk away ready to float through my Sunday afternoon.

farmer/co-owner, Viridian Farms

JEN sTEVENsON

author, “Portland’s 100 Best Places to Stuff Your Faces” there’s no way I’m going to sacrifice precious food money for a light-therapy box, so at the first sign of “SaD” I head straight to pacific pie Co. (1520 S.E. Seventh ave., 503-381-6157, pacificpieco.com) for the supremely comforting peanut butter and Jelly hand pie. Inside the elegantly crimped and innovatively labeled half moon of flaky golden crust is a layer of sweetened, whipped peanut butter cream topped with a fat wallop of berry compote. Don’t think “sandwich.” this is definitely dessert. for good measure, squirt some vitamin D drops in your (mandatory) glass of cold milk.

co-owner, Water Avenue Coffee

PhotograPh by thomaS boyD

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Dishes that score big with the Timbers

the members of the Portland timbers mLS team come from all over the world. as the 2012 soccer season opens, we asked several players what foods they seek TrOy pErkINs

JakE GLEEsON

TImbEr JOEy

hometown: Worthington, ohio

hometown: Palmerston north, new Zealand

hometown: Philomath

Goalkeeper

dIEGO Chara

ErIC bruNNEr

JOrGE pErLaza

(through translator beto angulo) hometown: Cali, Colombia

hometown: Dublin, ohio

translator beto angulo) hometown: guapi, Colombia

Midfielder

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Defender

one of my favorite comfort foods is a one thing that reminds pot roast that my family makes. It is me of home is black slow-cooked, with beans. La hacienda potatoes, carrots, real (12025 S.W. fresh beans and other Canyon road, beavervegetables. What I ton; 503-601-7000; like about it is that the lahaciendarealonline. meat is so savory and com) makes the beans closest to how my wife tender. I get this on and mother made them special requests, but I’m not the youngest in for me in Colombia. the family anymore, so also, our family was it ends up being only a able to find plantains few times a year that I here in Portland to get to enjoy this. make one of our favorite specialties.

Forward (through

my favorite comfort food would be chicken and rice, mixed with tomatoes, onions and carrots. the place that most reminds me of the food in Colombia would have to be brazil Grill (1201 S.W. 12th ave., 503-222-0002, brazilgrillrestaurant. com) because of the meats.

If I was any good at making fried chicken, I’d make it at home. but for me, usually, anything with a basic ingredient of grits is a comfort food.

Irving street kitchen (701 n.W. 13th ave., 503-343-9440, irvingstreetkitchen. com), has it on their brunch menu on Sundays. It’s a dish I like, and it reminds me of my childhood, especially in the winter. being a yankee, we used to throw sugar in it. but growing up with a lot of friends from the South, and with my wife’s family being from the South, it’s all about cheese and salt and butter, and you can’t go wrong with eggs on there. but, when you throw in fried chicken, it makes it a complete dish.

Goalkeeper

my favorite dish, or meal, in Portland is the meat pie. you can get them at a little bakery on the east side called pacific pie Co. (1520 S.E. Seventh ave., 503381-6157, pacificpieco. com). meat pies are a new Zealand tradition, so I love going over there and taking a big bite of one — it kind of reminds me of home. they’re very authentic, gourmet pies and I could eat about 10 of them. they are pretty dangerous during the season because they are not the healthiest, but they are very, very good.

brENda CrOW

JOhN VaLLs, photographer

I go to Chen’s Good Taste (18 n.W. fourth ave., 503-223-3838) when I’m seeking comfort. their Wonton Noodle soup with barbecue pork and bok choy is the ultimate soul-soother — deeply flavorful broth, tender dumplings and rich, just-fatty-enough barbecue pork. £

My family is from Cuba, and the flavors of pambiche (2811 N.E. Glisan St., 503-233-0511, pambiche.com) — garlic, onion, citrus, oregano, roast pork, black beans — bring me right back to the special meals my mother made.

The place isn’t fancy, hip, farmto-table or pretend-

owner, FoodShed (ourfoodshed.com)

PhotoPgraPh by rEED Darmon

Mascot

When it’s late and I’m done working, I go to big ass sandwiches (Southwest third avenue and ash Street, 503-803-0619, bigasssandwiches.com), a food cart. I get the roast beef with light fries and extra cheese.

It’s something that tastes delicious, and some friends of mine own the business. I know it’s heavy, but it tastes amazing. Easy to get to. Easy to eat.

ing to be anything other than what it inherently is: sturdy Caribbean country food. If it had to come down to one dish, it’d have to be the classic Sanwich Cubano. Much revered, often copied, but a great one is tough to find. It brings back memories of Cuban street food in Miami. £ PhotograPh

by John vaLLS

eat here

aUStIN teXaS

BY JASON COhEN / PhOTOGRAPhY BY JODY hORTON Barley Swine

[ Keepin’ it weird, and tasty, in the Texas capital ] Although other parts of Texas gave us J.R. Ewing, Enron and George W. Bush, Austin is Portland’s keepin’-it-weird sibling. In fact, the slogan originally spread from John Kunz, owner of Austin’s Waterloo Records, to his friend Terry Currier of Music Millennium.

Though the city may have been first to truly own its quirk, it’s been a little slower than Portland in developing restaurants that go beyond the state’s three basic food groups: barbecue, cheap Mexican and chicken-fried steak. Not anymore. The city has one of the most robust music scenes in the country, hosting nationally acclaimed festivals such as South by Southwest (SXSW) each March and Austin City Limits (ACL) each fall — and it now has the food to match.

You can still cure a hangover with an old-school Tamale House breakfast taco for less than a dollar, or drink Shiner Bock while two-stepping to country music at the Broken Spoke, a classic sawdust-on-the-floor Texas dance hall. But you can also eat pork belly ssam with tare, kimchi, rice, furikake, gochujang and green onion at one of “Top Chef: Texas” star Paul Qui’s three East Side King food trailers.

Or escape Sixth Street’s binge-drinking bars at Parkside, which serves Shawn Cirkiel’s Mediterranean-accented farm-to-table menu until 12:30 a.m. Or you can wander down to the newly upscale Second Street District, just a block away from Lady Bird Lake, and drop 20 bucks on chicken-fried, pimentocheese-stuffed olives and a cocktail made with Balcones True Blue Cask-Strength Whiskey (distilled in Texas from blue corn) at Second Bar + Kitchen, the middle plank in chef David Bull’s three-restaurant complex (which also includes haute flagship Congress, and the craft-cocktail-centric Bar Congress).

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Uchiko

Barley Swine

Uchiko 36

Congress is the only restaurant ever to receive five stars from former Austin American Statesman critic Mike Sutter, but the chef who really symbolizes Austin’s foodie transformation is Tyson Cole, who opened Uchi in 2003. That Austin could have a great sushi restaurant (and so much more) helmed by a non-Japanese chef is unlikely enough. But Cole’s alchemy of Japanese precision, hardcore sustainability and playful innovation (with both technique and flavors) has earned Uchi recognition as one of the best restaurants in the country — period.

Cole also owns Uchiko, a more informal but no less ambitious “Japanese farmhouse” restaurant where Qui is executive chef. The headline dish there is “Jar Jar Duck” — duck confit and cracklings with candied kumquat, endive and rosemary smoke, sealed in a jar before it’s served.

Another big national success story is Barley Swine. Second-generation chef Bryce Gilmore started out running the Odd Duck Farm to Trailer food cart in 2009, serving up dishes such as goat cheese grits with a duck egg, venison sausage and mushrooms. he was named one of Food and Wine’s best new chefs after opening his 30-seat gastropub, which, as the name suggests, is all about beer and pork.

Order the entire small-plate menu (pig face, rabbit, sweetbreads, foie gras and brussels sprouts are all likely to appear), and call to get your name on the always-lengthy waiting list.

Lip-smacking barbecue Great as Barley Swine and Uchi are, they serve a style of food you can get in other cities. But when it comes to barbecue and certain types of Tex-Mex, there is no place quite like Austin. Even so, for years,

eating the best brisket, sausage or prime rib (Texas barbecue is all about the cow) meant driving an hour to rural towns like Taylor, Lockhart or Luling. But in 2009 a young — and, yes, hipsterish — pitmaster named Aaron Franklin started smoking brisket by a little turquoise food trailer along Austin’s main highway.

Now a brick-and-mortar restaurant, Franklin Barbecue skyrocketed to everybody’s list of the best five — if not the best — barbecues in Texas, ahead of places that have been around for 50 or even 100 years. Like all authentic joints, Franklin is open only for as long as one night’s worth of smoked meat lasts. On busy days it sells out before the door’s unlocked, having inventoried a line that starts two hours in advance. The best and truest thing you can say about Franklin’s tender, deeply flavored brisket is that it’s worth the wait.

But, thankfully, it’s no longer the only meat in town. Last fall, John Mueller, who smoked at his family’s famed Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor before opening a restaurant of his own in Austin, got back in the game with a trailer called JMueller BBQ, which has immediately recaptured his cult status and then some. You’ll want some brisket here, as well, but John also goes old-school with beef short ribs and a handmade all-beef sausage, both Mueller family signatures.

Don’t-miss Mexican As for Mexican food, you can go upscale at La Condesa, where chef Rene Ortiz gives classic cantina food a refined twist, serving things such as lump crabmeat huaraches and duck mole negro. If you’re looking for ultracasual, you can’t go wrong with mole enchiladas or cochinita pibil at Curra’s Grill.

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Franklin Barbecue

east Side King

38

Magnolia Cafe

La Condesa But Austin’s main Tex-Mex event is tacos, particularly breakfast tacos. They’re most popular these days at Torchy’s, which, with eight locations, has lost most of its original food-trailer charm and can’t always consistently deliver (undercooked potatoes in a breakfast taco is almost as bad as bones in fish).

But the cart’s inventive lunchtime offerings fare better. The Fried Avocado taco is still classic, and the Mr. Pink, with seared ahi tuna and chipotle cream, is fish taco heaven.

Torchy’s also makes a fine green chile pork.

For true taco authenticity, venture to Taco Rico, a trailer outside of an eastside laundromat, for homemade corn or flour tortillas swaddling crispy chicharrons or tender

barbacoa (the gelatinous mouth feel of the latter leaves no doubt as to its authenticity).

Best bets for breakfast You can’t leave town without trying migas — tortilla chips scrambled with eggs, cheese, tomatoes, onions and peppers — which are still nonpareil at Tamale house.

Closer in to the action, you can get them at the Magnolia Cafe, a popular, cozy, Tex-Mex hangout that has two locations, one on hip South Congress Avenue. This is especially convenient considering Magnolia is open 24/7 (or 24/8 if you believe its sign), meaning you can get huevos rancheros and breakfast tacos even after the bars close down.

But when you don’t want to go Mexican, the best breakfast in Aus-

tin may be at the Republic Square Farmers Market. Just be sure to get there before the butchers at Dai Due run out of biscuits and gravy, or before Bola Pizza takes its last cheddar, speck, egg and red onion pizza out of its wood-fired oven.

For coffee, head over two blocks to Frank. Though it’s better known for its local beer list and artisanally trashy sausages (the Notorious P.I.G. sports a house-made pork-bacon-jalapeño-sage sausage topped with mac-and-cheese and barbecue sauce), it also does pourovers and a mean cortado, using always-fresh beans from Chicago’s Intelligentsia and California’s handsome Roasters.

Food carts worth the trip And finally, with 1,095 permits issued in 2009, Austin competes with Portland as a serious food cart town. Besides the aforementioned spots (East Side King, Odd Duck, J Mueller, Torchy’s and Taco Rico), check out Ah La Cart, which is run

by Oregon native Ron Richison (who cooked at the Allison Inn & Spa) in an out-of-the-way South Austin spot. The veggie burgers are made from scratch, and every plate of Tillamook smoked-cheddar macand-cheese is made to order. The cart also does a knockout weekday brunch (French toast bread pudding, eggs Benedict with spinach and polenta, biscuits and veggie gravy).

Another truck that can’t help but make one think of Portland is Gourdough’s, a sleek Airstream trailer

Super Delicious... oh yes, we are! (conveniently located next to a Torchy’s and across the street from JMueller BBQ) that serves doughnuts as dessert plates.

The Funky Monkey comes slathered in cream cheese icing and topped with caramelized bananas and brown sugar. The

Puddin’ comes cream-filled with icing, bananas and vanilla wafers. If you’ve ever thought that Voodoo Doughnut is just a little too conservative, this is the place for you. You might say both of them are keeping doughnuts weird.

Where to go:

“ now featuring pizza and full-bar & brewery at new location on 57th and Fremont”

PIZZA

1708 E. Burnside Ave. 503.230.WING (9464)

CALZONES GARLIC KNOTS now serving BEER at all 3 locations

4225 N. Interstate Ave. 503.280.WING (9464)

new location on Fremont & 57th www.portlandwings .com

Ah La Cart: 4418 Pack Saddle Pass, 512-298-9595, facebook.com/Ahlacart Barley Swine: 2024 S. Lamar Blvd., 512-394-8150, barleyswine.com Broken Spoke: 3201 S. Lamar Blvd., 512-442-6189 Bola Pizza: Downtown Farmers Market, Republic Square Park (Fourth & Guadalupe), 512-453-7223 Congress, Second Bar + Kitchen and Bar Congress: 200 Congress Ave., congressaustin.com Curra’s Grill: 14 E. Oltorf St., 512-444-0012, currasgrill.com Dai Due: Downtown Farmers Market, Republic Square Park (Fourth & Guadalupe), 512-524-0688, daidueaustin.net

Repair. Replace. Refinish. Relax.

503-288-7461 neilkellyhomeforce.com OR CCB # 1663; WA Reg # NEILKCI 18702 © Neil Kelly 2012

East Side King: visit eastsidekingaustin.com for locations Frank: 407 Colorado St., 512-494-6916, hotdogscoldbeer.com

Wind up or wind down

Franklin Barbecue: 900 E. 11th St., 512-653-1187, franklinbarbecue.com

at the new Brasserie Montmartre, a rustic-refined French American brasserie.

Gourdough’s: 1503 S. First St., 512-607-6568, gourdoughs.com J Mueller BBQ: 1502 S. First St., 512-229-7366, jmuellerbbq.com

Live Music —Gratuit | Intimate Fetes and Private Parties Located in the heart of downtown, minutes from The Keller and Schnitzer Hall.

La Condesa: 400 W. Second St., 512-499-0300, lacondesaaustin.com Magnolia Cafe: 1920 S. Congress Ave., 512-445-0000; 2304 Lake Austin Blvd., 512-478-8645 Odd Duck Farm to Trailer: 1219 S. Lamar Blvd., oddduckfarmtotrailer.com

Happy Hour

Parkside: 301 E. Sixth St., 512-474-9898, parkside-austin.com

Lunch 11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Dinner 5:00 p.m. to midnight Sunday Brunch 10:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m.

2:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. &10:00 p.m. – midnight

Taco Rico: 810 Vargas Road Tamale House: 5003 Airport Blvd., 512-453-9842 Torchy’s: visit torchystacos.com for locations, 512-366-0537 Uchi: 801 S. Lamar Blvd., 512-916-4808, uchiaustin.com Uchiko: 4200 N. Lamar Blvd., 512-916-4808, uchiaustin.com/uchiko £

626 SW Park Avenue Portland, OR (503) 236-3036 www.brasserieportland.com

39

FIvE wINEs [ A diverse collection to BY kATHERINE COLE

complement any craving ]

40

“Comfort foods remind you of your childhood,” Christopher Handford observes as he nibbles on a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. But Handford, who grew up hearing bedtime stories about the time Dad met Che Guevara, didn’t live a grilled-cheese childhood.

Perhaps that’s why, in December 2008, “In the bottom of the recession in the middle of a snowstorm,” Christopher Handford opened Davis Street Tavern, where the culinary focus is squarely on comfort. Stop in any day at lunchtime or happy hour and you’ll find phalanxes of regulars noshing on the restaurant’s signature mac-and-cheese (so good it made our High Five list, Page 52) or brisket sandwich. To the delight of the half-starved architects and software designers of Old Town, Handford created an oasis in what had been a culinary Sahara.

Portland was an unlikely spot for Handford to settle. The son of a CIA man (and, just to be clear, we’re not talking Culinary Institute of America) and a Uruguayan who worked for the International Monetary Fund, he was born in Mexico and spent his early childhood in Jamaica, Guatemala, Uruguay and Argentina, where he has many relatives. After attending high school in Washington, D.C., he took off to England for college.

Next came an itinerant career in restaurants. Working under legendary chefs like Todd English (in Aspen) and at legendary spots like Craft (in New York City), he learned the art of comforting customers.

And under the tutelage of master sommelier Michael Fahey (on Nan-

PHOTOGRAPHY BY THOMAS BOYD

tucket), he learned wine.

I’ve noticed over the years that winemaking groups often host their tastings at Davis Street Tavern.

The space is massive (5,500 square feet), but welcoming, with exposed brick walls, open-beamed ceilings, a display wall of wine, chandeliers made from old French wine barrels and an underground cellar. An oenophile — he describes beer as “alcoholic tea” — Handford is sitting on “a huge war chest of 2008 pinot noirs,” because “this is the vintage that people will be talking about 10 years from now.” Guests view his ever-changing wine list on an iPad; Davis Street Tavern was the first restaurant in Portland to adopt this trend.

Handford’s global upbringing gives him an unusual take on wine.

For example: As he sees it, vineyards are like Third World nations, where the high birthrate reflects high uncertainty. “When a vine gets stressed, it focuses its energy into its grapes,” he says. “You cut all its limbs off and drop all these clusters and what is the vine going to do?

Fundamentally, it’s thinking it’s going to die, so it puts all its energy into its seed, just like a society that is stressed will focus all its energy into reproducing children.”

Times are changing. Education rates are rising and fertility rates are falling; and there’s nothing inhumane about stressing a grapevine.

At least, as far as we know. Sure, there’s uncertainty in the world, but there’s stability in solace. In his vast kingdom in Old Town, Handford finds comfort in a hot bowl of soup and an array of wines that are as diverse as they are satisfying.

The Wines 2010 Harper Voit “Surlie” Willamette Valley Pinot Blanc ($20) “I smell this and think of all the time I spent on Nantucket,” says Handford with a sigh. “I love seafood: oysters, clams, lobster. It’s very comforting when wine can remind you of a place. You can close your eyes and picture being there.” I get what he’s saying: This blanc is unusually rich thanks to the “sur lie” (as the French write it) treatment, in which the wine sits on the lees, or spent yeast cells, in neutral-

oak barrels, resulting in an almost creamy consistency that “takes away the sharp edges.” At first sniff, this white is a brisk nor’easter, redolent of brine; the next, it’s a warm slather of coconut sunscreen.

If a wine ever screamed for a bowl of clam chowder — or, even better, a bowl of Davis Street Tavern’s Dungeness crab bisque — it would be this one.

2010 Merriman “The Brasher Block” Yakima Valley Old Vine Chenin Blanc ($22.50) “A lot of chenins can come off as very fruit-forward,” Handford says.

“But the older the vine, the less the fruit character, the more the earth.”

Boutique producer Merriman, in Oregon’s Yamhill-Carlton District, sources this fruit from a Yakima Valley chenin blanc vineyard dating to the early 1970s. Careful husbandry in the vineyard and neutral barrel aging bring out the rich roastedplum-and-beeswax character of the fine old fruit. “I always drink chenin blanc at Thanksgiving,” says Handford; he advises serving this find alongside a roasted chicken or a turkey sandwich. (Why splurge on food when you can serve this awesome wine?)

and syrah and Washington barbera and sangiovese, is juicy and exuberant, with tons of acid-driven energy and an extra-bright red-cherry note.

It’s an ideal companion for comfort foods like “brisket, short ribs and braised red meats,” the restaurateur explains, because “when I’m doing a pairing, I make sure that the flavors of the food will be brought out by the acid in the wine. This wine can balance out heavy foods.”

2008 Mignanego Barbera d’Asti ($12)

2009 Three Wives “Remy’s Red” Oregon-Washington Blend ($17)

Comfort-food-friendly wines aren’t what you might expect — those plush, dark fruit bombs that put your palate to sleep. Instead, they’re nimble, with a frisson of acidity. “That’s why Italian wines have always done well,” Handford says. “Because high acid just goes well with rich foods.” The South American side of Handford’s family originally hails from the Piemonte region of Italy, so he knows a thing or two on this subject. He loves this shockingly well-priced “value, value, value” from the municipality of Francavilla Bisio, about an hour from Turin. It’s a glass pour and a staff favorite at Davis Street Tavern.

Rustic, with notes of forest floor and mushroom, “It goes beyond fruit — you start getting that cigar box, cedar quality which you find in much

“This is going to be a lesson in acidity,” Handford says with relish as he pours a glass of this red blend from McMinnville’s spunkiest vintner, Remy Drabkin. “Acidity does two things: One, it makes your mouth water. Two, the natural acids in wine have their own flavors and aromatics.” This blend, of Oregon lagrein

 ONLINE EXTRA: Find out where to buy these wines and get Christopher Handford’s recipe for Fainá at mIXpdX.COm

more expensive wines,” says Handford. “I’d pair this with an osso buco, or anything with a smoky quality.”

2006 Mairena Mendoza Malbec ($18) In keeping with the national cuisine of Argentina (“beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner”), Handford would pair this masculine Argentinian red with burgers, or grilled steak with fainá (see recipe at mixpdx.com).

And there’s a sweet story behind the wine: “When European populations started emigrating in large numbers to Argentina from Europe, the government wanted to control the culture. They didn’t want it to become a Little Italy and they wanted to ensure that Spanish remained the national language,” says Handford, whose mother’s family — as mentioned above — moved to South America from the Piemonte region of northern Italy. “So Argentina has this unique law that whatever name you want to put on a birth certificate has to be from a certain book of names decided upon by the government.” When a Mendoza farming family, the Blancos, wanted to name their daughter “Mairena” but learned that name wasn’t in the book, they started a wine label instead. Their daughter’s image is etched on the label. “A lot of Argentine malbecs come across as jammy and fruit-forward,” says Handford.

“Those are the lower-altitude wines from the valley floor. You want to look for high-altitude, old-vine malbecs,” like this one, made from grapes grown at 3,182 feet above sea level and approachable thanks to a few years of bottle age. £

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pubcrawl

pubcrawl cont.

42

[ Beer dinners: Where chefs and brewers play matchmaker ]

i

BY LuCY BuRNINGHAM

t wasn’t like Jason French feared throwing new ingredients into the smoker at Ned Ludd; the chef has smoked everything from sturgeon to eggplant. But enough malted barley to make 24 kegs of beer?

“Two hundred pounds of barley is far more than I originally thought,” says French, who spent five hours smoking the barley with apple wood and some unintentional duck drippings.

French undertook the project as

part of a collaborative dinner with Oakshire Brewing master brewer Matt Van Wyk, who came up with the idea of making a special single-batch beer just for the dinner.

“When I come to Ned Ludd, I always smell smoke from the woodburning oven,” Van Wyk says. “So I threw out the idea of bringing up some malt, putting it on the smoker, then taking it back to the brewery and making a smoked beer.”

In a town bursting with breweries and restaurants, beer dinners have become de rigueur. In the past year, multicourse beer dinners have

happened everywhere from Genoa to Castagna. But increasingly, instead of a chef creating a menu, then asking the brewer to come up with pairings, or vice versa, chefs and brewers are doing everything from planning menus over beers to brewing — together.

Sometimes that means creating special beers. In January, a fourcourse Breakside Brewery dinner at Aquariva featured an Italian Amber beer fermented on fresh bay and oregano, a collaborative beer designed by then-chef Andy Arndt and brewer Ben Edmunds.

Party at Ned Ludd: Both chef

Jason French and brewer Matt Van Wyk love to create on the fly. So for a recent beer dinner, their collaborative process resulted in an inventive meal involving 200 pounds of smoked barley, with a serendipitous addition to the menu from Steve Jones of Cheese Bar. Bottom row, second from right: Van Wyk, Jones and French are all smiles after a job well done.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LuCY BuRNINGHAM

“Andy liked the idea of including savory, bay and oregano, as they are common Italian herbs that are featured prominently in the Aquariva menu,” Edmunds says. The beer, which has what Edmunds says is a “restrained herbal character,” can either help emphasize herbal notes in food or add an extra dimension to nonherbal dishes.

At the Ned Ludd/Oakshire dinner, the result of the smoker project was Ned’s Noggin’ Smokin’ Blonde, a light but substantial blonde ale with a hint of smoky sweetness.

The beer was served alongside braised turkey leg with winter squash. Or, if you’d rather, smoked turkey leg with winter squash.

The idea was to nudge diners to better engage with what they were eating and drinking. So, in addition to turkey leg done two ways, this second course came with two beers: the Noggin’ and the single-batch Bottom up Pils, which was brewed with the same Eugene-grown wheat, sans smoker.

“Mix it up,” French instructed his guests. “Does one cancel out the other? Welcome to our beer experiment.”

A buzz ensued. Suddenly, everyone had an opinion about smokiness. “It makes you think about your food a little more, doesn’t it?” said one diner, between bites of turkey. Most seemed to prefer the smoked beer with the smoked turkey, a subtle combo that didn’t have overpowering smokiness thanks to the sweetness of the squash.

French and Van Wyk came up with the idea for serving a course with two meats and two beers when they met a month earlier. It was then that they discovered they enjoy a similar methodology. “When I brew, I like to brew on the fly,” Van Wyk told French. “I get a general recipe set up and oh, I don’t have enough of that or a gravity’s high? I make a

the best beer dinners include: • Fresh stemware for every new beer.

• A cheese course. Beer and cheese pair better than wine and cheese, any day.

• Talk of vintages, terroir and barrel aging, before someone says, “It’s just beer.”

• Chefs and brewers who encourage guests to disagree and dislike pairings.

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• Boisterous conversation.

change. I don’t like sticking to the plan.”

“I call it cooking from the hip,” French chimed in. “It’s not about hitting a specific mark, but enjoying the process and being open to new ideas. The happy accidents are part of that thing.”

For this dinner, one happy accident involved Steve Jones, owner of Cheese Bar and craft beer aficionado, who was making a cheese delivery while French and Van Wyk were hashing out details at Ned Ludd.

And just like that, Jones was in charge of a course. He paired wedges of Kirkham’s Lancashire raw cow’s milk cheese and a small piece of fruitcake with Ill Tempered Gnome, a perfect storm of buttery nuttiness and notes of dried fruit. The result was so good, Jones re-created the pairing for a seasonal cheese plate at Cheese Bar. By the end of the night, French and Van Wyk were already scheming, throwing around ideas about spring vegetables, restaurant-grown hop crops and more. Only time will tell if a key ingredient — of the beer or the food — will wind up in the smoker. But either way, the chef and brewer will decide together.

Lo c a te d a t Twe n t y- S eve n “A” Ave nu e in pic t u r e s q u e d ow n tow n L a ke O s we go O p e n Tu e s d ay t h r u Fr id ay 10 to 5 : 3 0 , S a t u r d ay 10 to 4

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MIX magazine can be found on newsstands and is available by subscription. To subscribe, call 503.221.8240 or go to MIXPDX.com.

Only $32 20 issues/two years Also visit MIX online @ MIXPDX.COM INTERESTED IN ADVERTISING IN MIX? Contact Steve Urban at 503-221-8314 or surban@oregonian.com

pairing suds and grub Castagna held its first-ever beer dinner last fall, collaborating with local breweries on courses like aged beef from cows fed on beer, paired with upright Brewing No. 6, a rich rye that brought out a hint of tangy tartness in the meat.

“I really feel like I’ve made it, having my beers at a dinner like this,” upright head brewer Alex Ganum said between courses.

Castagna chef Justin Woodward explained that he followed some basic pairing rules, like starting the meal with the palate-cleansing Logsdon Farmhouse Ales Seizoen, which allowed the array of salty,

savory snacks to shine. Turns out, beer and food pairings really aren’t all that different from wine and food pairings, he said.

Pairings tend to fall into two basic categories: complementary or contrasting. For example, a hoppy IPA cuts through the heat of spicy Asian noodles (contrasting), while a creamy stout enhances the rich smoothness of a molten chocolate cake (complementary). Either way, you want to strive for balance.

The beer should counteract a dish’s defining characteristics, such as spice or richness, but also harmonize with aromatics and other flavors. It often comes down to matter of taste (with plenty of gray area in between). Here are some things to consider:

1) The beer’s personality: Malty beers come off as sweet, toasty and roasty, and can create a sense of heaviness and body on the palate. Yeasty beers are, well, yeasty, and can be slightly fruity. Hoppy beers can have bitter, floral or citrusy flavors that can cut through rich foods like acid does in wine.

2) The beer’s style: There are dozens of styles, but home in on what, say, a pilsner should be (pale, light-bodied, dry and refreshing), and you’ll be that much closer to choosing the right beer for the food.

3) The food: Is it garlicky? Spicy hot? Rich, heavy and fatty?

Sweet? Citrusy? The beer and food should match each other’s intensity. A heavy dish will

overpower a light beer and vice versa. Foods have more intensity based on fat content (richness) and beers have more intensity the more alcohol they contain. In general, wheat beers, lambics and lagers are less intense than ales, stouts and strong ales.

4) Flavor notes: Try to complement the aromatics in the food with the aromatics in the beer. Orange zest, rosemary or juniper berries might pair well with an IPA with similar characteristics from the hops, while a cherry compote served with meat or dessert might call for a cherry ale. Some beers are fermented with extra ingredients, such as coffee, whole fruit and spices, while some are aged in barrels, which can add smoky, woody or sour elements. £

Party at Castagna: Dur-

ing the restaurant’s first-ever beer dinner, chef Justin Woodward (above, right) works with his team to prepare the precisely plated courses, each of which was paired with beer from a different local brewery. The key to pairing beer and food, he says, is to look for contrasting or complementary flavors.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROSS WILLIAM HAMILTON

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good cheese [ The pleasures of fondue ]

by sasha davies photography by motoya nakamura there’s something inherently soothing about enjoying food communally around a fire, albeit a tiny one in the case of fondue. the warmth and camaraderie, combined with a big pot of rich melted cheese, can nourish body and soul. the origins of cheese fondue stretch back centuries in the alpine region of switzerland, and its name is derived from the French verb meaning “to melt.” the precise history of fondue is debatable, but it is generally agreed that peasants created it. there wasn’t a winter harvest in the alpine region of switzerland, so the foods of summer — like cheese — had to carry people through winter. eventually someone discovered that hardened cheese could be improved with heat and stale bread could be improved by dipping it in melted cheese, and the foundation for fondue was born.

Fondue balances cheese with a hint of acidity that usually comes from white wine, kirsch, beer or cider, plus some savory herbs or spices. it’s those additional ingredients that set fondue apart from raclette, which is traditionally just cheese melted and lightly browned by a fire.

When making fondue, choose one or more melting cheeses that are semifirm or “bendy” in texture. in other words, when the paste is pressed, poked or bent, it gives. Widely available cheeses that work well for fondue are raclette, fontina, emmenthal and gruyère. be careful when melting them, though, since cheeses can separate at high temperatures; the proteins toughen and force fats and water out.

Foods For dipping Cheese fondue can be an occasion to clear out the fridge because so many vegetables and meats are delicious when dunked into this piping hot savory dip. most recipes recommend that you blanch vegetables, but roasting gives them an added depth.

• bread — toasted and cubed • sausages — cured or cooked and sliced • meatballs — cooked • pickles — cornichons, onions, carrots • apple slices • roasted vegetables — new potatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, parsnips

45

good cheese cont. start by heating up the wine, then adding shredded cheese, keeping the heat medium-low. aside from the gooey cheese, the best part about fondue is having an assortment of tasty things to dip in it. you’ll want cubes of crusty bread, of course, and you can choose a variety of flavors (rye, sourdough, olive, rosemary). and if you want a boozier kick, do as

the swiss do and dip your bread ever-so-slightly in a glass of kirsch before dipping it in the pot. but don’t forget all the other things that taste so good slathered in melted cheese — pickles, roasted vegetables, meats, sausages, crispy apples. heck, even tortilla chips.

When dinner is a pot of melted cheese, rules don’t apply.

Foster & dobbs’ Fondue makes 6 to 8 servings

Luan schooler, co-owner of Foster & dobbs, makes this fondue with at least two to three different melting cheeses. but when it comes time for dipping, her advice is to keep your bread firmly on your fork: there’s a tradition requiring you to kiss everyone at the table if your bread falls into the fondue.

1 clove garlic, cut in half 2 cups dry white wine (such as riesling; avoid oaky wines) 2 pounds cheese, shredded (such as raclette, fontina, emmenthal, Comté, appenzeller, tarentaise, gruyère) 46

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 tablespoon kirsch (optional) 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice Freshly grated nutmeg Freshly ground black pepper dash dry mustard

rub the interior of the fondue pot or flameproof ceramic pot with garlic, and leave it in the pot. place the pot over medium heat and add the wine. heat until it is almost but not quite simmering. meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss the cheeses together with the cornstarch. reduce heat to medium-low and gradually add the cheese to the wine, one handful at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition until the cheese melts. add the kirsch if using and lemon juice and stir well. season with nutmeg, pepper and dry mustard to taste. remove the pot from the stove and place on its stand over a heat source. the heat source should keep the fondue quite hot, almost simmering. serve with bread, roasted vegetables, meats or sliced apples.

Cheese bar’s raclette makes 1 to 2 servings

though it’s technically not fondue, Cheese bar makes a raclette/ fondue hybrid that’s a snap to put together and perfect for serving just one or two.

⁄ 3 cup grated raclette

2

⁄ 3 cup grated firmer mountain-style cheese (such as emmenthal, Challerhocker, appenberg or cave-aged gruyère)

1

preheat oven to 450 degrees. put the cheese and wine in a small cazuela or oven-safe ramekin and place in oven for 6 minutes. give a quick stir, sprinkle with a bit of freshly grated nutmeg, and serve. £

scene Our picks for what to eat where 47

Good eats on the Oregon coast Five favorite places to get mac-and-cheese

constant cravings: Kaija cornett expertly balances three plates of decadent mac-and-cheese at Mac! Mac and cheesery on Mississippi Avenue.

PHOTOGRAPH by dOuG beGHTel

scene

biG Ten

This spring, make a break for the coast spring break arrives this month, and you know what that means — beach vacation! OK, so the Oregon coast isn’t exactly Fort lauderdale, but it’s still the beach, and for us urban dwellers it’s always a welcome change of scenery. we’ve rounded up our 10 favorite spots to fuel up for those long, blustery walks along the shore, whether you’re taking a week off or just a weekend.

Columbian Cafe Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro, Astoria as the menu boasts, the astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro is “a bustling Euro-style coffeehouse by day serving fresh-baked pastries, an intimate bistro by night offering ‘neoregional cuisine.’ ” and recently the “neo-regional cuisine” has taken a turn toward the Far East, with a spot of Cajun and Italian thrown in. Oddly mixed in with their familiar signature nw comfort food menu items (such as houseroasted hot turkey sandwich and

bistro burger) are siu Mai dumplings, spicy fresh pad thai, red curry and local tuna poke. It could come across as a bad identity crisis – but not here, and not when it’s all executed so well.

The fresh pork dumplings are tender and light with the perfect balance of delicate heat paired with sweet/ acidic coconut curry sauce served with a zippy green papaya salad. ExPortlanders Jim defeo and partner anthony danton created a place where locals hang and visitors line up day and night. we’re told they’re packed on “sushi & Martinis Monday.” This

place truly transforms itself daily.

— lInda shanKwEIlEr

243 11th St., Astoria, 503-325-1787, astoriacoffeehouse.com

Bread and Ocean, Manzanita when I was in Manzanita over a recent weekend, a friend texted me this message: “If you’re heading back today, wondering if you’d be willing to stop at Bread & Ocean and pick up two cardamom cinnamon rolls.” Thus was I PhOTOgraPhy By lInda shanKwEIlEr

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Bowpicker introduced to my new must-have coastal treat from this bakery known for its luscious pastries, organic multigrain breads and bulging deli sandwiches. The bigbut-not-overly-large rolls add a healthy dose of cardamom to the usual cinnamon. Enjoy one with a cup of coffee after a brisk walk on the beach and you’ll be sighing with pleasure.

— KaThlEEn BauEr

154 Laneda Ave., Manzanita, 503-368-5823, breadandocean.com

Bowpicker, Astoria Enjoy fish fresh off the boat — literally — at this fish-and-chip “cart” (actually an old gillnet trawler) parked a block from the shore. The menu couldn’t be simpler — thick slabs of meaty albacore tuna, lightly beer-battered and fried to perfection, plus crisp potato wedges ready to be doused in tangy vinegar and dipped in creamy, sour tartar sauce. It’s typically open 11 a.m. to 3 or 4 p.m. weather permitting.

— audrEy Van BusKIrK

Corner of 17th and Duane streets., 503-791-2942, bowpicker.com

Columbian Cafe, Astoria The Columbian Cafe is a tiny spot that falls under the radar for most visitors, but shouldn’t. It’s the culinary arm of the landmark triumvirate also comprising the Columbian Theater and Voodoo room lounge. On a recent saturday the band that performed in the lounge the night before was having a late breakfast in one of the four booths. The dozen or so counter stools were all occupied, and chef Marco davis, decked out

PhOTOgraPh By BrIan lEE

in a fashionable frilly pink tuxedo shirt, was on the grill, serving up crepes filled with locally smoked salmon. The specials board on this day was a bit latin in flavor – excellent fish tacos, a veggie tostada, grilled petrale with rice and egg, and perfectly spiced bloody marys. But there’s also something here you rarely find at the coast. They call it “Chef’s Mercy” — name your food allergies and they’ll create a unique dish from scratch just for you. Be sure to try the homemade jellies — jalapeño, garlic and cayenne — smeared on fresh-baked artisan toast. really, they’re good, and you can take them home for $10 a jar. The dinner menu has some longstanding pasta and vegetarian dishes, but otherwise it changes nightly with seasonally fresh seafood, meat and produce.

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— lInda shanKwEIlEr

1114 Marine Drive, Astoria, 503-325-2233, columbianvoodoo.com

Kelly’s Brighton Marina, Rockaway Beach It doesn’t get fresher than seeing your lunch brought up and dumped out on the dock at your feet. But that’s just how it goes at Kelly’s, a marina where you can rent a boat to catch your own, or let ebullient owner Kelly laviolette cook you a crab, steam up some clams or shuck oysters that have been pulled from nehalem Bay just hours (or less) before. The decor is nothing fancy — paper plates, plastic forks and picnic tables overlooking the bay. nevertheless, you’ll have one of the best meals of your life and a show to boot if Kelly’s wearing his crab hat. — KaThlEEn BauEr 29200 Highway 101 North, Rockaway Beach, 503-368-5745, kellyscrabs.com

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Local Ocean Seafoods, Newport

Portland’s Only Olive Oil Bar Store!

Taste before you buy!

• Sample Extra Virgin Olive Oils, Aged Balsamics, and Nut Oils, all handbottled to order.

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Dyke has been creating custom gold and platinum jewelry since 1970. Along with a wide selection of Dyke’s custom jewelry, the showroom also features fine quality designer jewelry from around the world.

We hope your visit to our showroom will be one of the most satisfying jewelry experiences you will ever have.

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Experience the senses of Thailand with Dang’s Thai Kitchen. We specialize in gourmet Thai Food prepared uniquely with a fusion twist. We serve the finest in Thai Cuisine using only the freshest ingredients.

Gift Certificates Available Lunch and Dinner Open seven days a week 670 N. State Street, Lake Oswego 503.697.0779

Lake Oswego Marketplace

when Portlanders complain that there’s no good food to be had on the Oregon coast, the statement is often finished with, “except for local Ocean, of course.” This bay-front grill and fish market in newport purchases nearly all of its fish directly from the boats docked in the harbor right in front of the restaurant. sustainability is at the heart and soul of this place, from their fish sourcing practices to investing in nonprofits that support sustainable fisheries. In fact, the restaurant claims, “we wouldn’t be caught dead with farmed salmon or shrimp.” a standout dish is Fishwives stew, which offers a taste of it all — crab, shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams and fish in a garlicky tomato broth. Enjoy it looking out over the water at the yaquina Bay Bridge, preferably with the restaurant’s floor-to-ceiling glass façade rolled up when the weather turns warm.

Ogden, hamic and his wife, nicole, moved to the Oregon coast to pursue a quieter life in their own place. Everything from the roasted golden beets under a wafer of chevre chaud to the lusciously medium-rare duck confit is gorgeously plated and eminently satisfying. It’s an as-yet-undiscovered gem, but the crowds are on their way.

— KaThlEEn BauEr

34910 Highway 53, Nehalem, 503-368-7708, nehalemriverinn.com

Newmans at 988, Cannon Beach There’s not much elbow room in the 10-table dining room at newmans at 988, but diners seeking an intimate dinner in Cannon Beach care little about any space constraints. Their focus is instead on chef John newman’s seasonal French-Italian-inspired cuisine and a fine dining menu featuring meaty crab cakes, silky butternut squash ravioli and an ever-changing prix fixe menu that’s as refined as the white tablecloth setting it’s served in.

— andrEa slOnECKEr

— ashlEy garTland

213 S.E. Bay Blvd., Newport; 541-574-7959, localocean.net

988 Hemlock St., Cannon Beach, 503-436-1151, newmansat988.com

Nehalem River Inn, Nehalem

Noodle Cafe, Newport

with a sloping lawn overlooking the nehalem river, the view here alone would be a big draw. But what’s started attracting folks from all over the region is owner ryan hamic’s locavore menu featuring fresh seafood paired with organic produce from area farms. having honed his craft alongside award-winning chefs such as the Bay area’s Bradley

when you’re ready to bypass chowders and fish fillets done 10 ways, head to newport’s noodle Cafe, where seafood (if you want it) floats in flavorful asian broths along with toothsome vegetables and house-made noodles. don’t miss the “jung bong,” a spicy seafood broth seasoned with paprika that comes with a nest of PhOTOgraPh By JOhn M. VInCEnT

MAKE A

DIFFERENCE

IN OUR

COMMUNITY.

GIVE. noodle Cafe egg noodles, chunks of scallops and shrimp, and a rotating cast of veggies.

PhOTOgraPh By TOrsTEn KJEllsTrand

— luCy BurnInghaM

BONuS! Serious Pizza Plus, Ilwaco, Wash.

Waves of Grain Bakery, Cannon Beach

In most state parks you’re lucky to find a soda machine, but Cape disappointment boasts a genuine wood-fired pizza oven in the parking lot, cunningly disguised as a trailer, complete with the scent of fresh dough and an impressive array of toppings from arugula to anchovies. It’s the perfect antidote to sand and seaweed. If you’re staying at the park, serious Pizza will deliver to your campsite. Closed for the winter; reopening mid-March.

837 S.W. Bay Blvd., Newport, 541-574-6688

Plenty of coastal tourists rely on pastries from Cannon Beach’s eponymous bakery to meet their breakfast needs. I prefer to head just south of downtown to Tolovana Park, where waves of grain Bakery’s Jason and hillary Fargo serve addictive scratch-made treats such as pecan crumb coffeecake, Tillamook cheese biscuits and sweet brioche cinnamon rolls in a cozy cottage one block from the beach. — ashlEy garTland 3116 S. Hemlock St., Cannon Beach, 503-436-9600, wavesofgrainbakery.com

— audrEy Van BusKIrK

244 Robert Gray Drive S.W., Ilwaco, Wash., 360-642-3060

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PhOTOgraPh By BrIan lEE

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Oozy, creamy, carbo-loaded macaroni and cheese is, to many, the quintessential comfort food. The gut-filling effect of a fatty bowl of cheesy noodles will cure everything from the common hangover to the melancholy of lost love. This winter we ate our way around Portland searching out the best bowl of macand-cheese this city has to offer. In addition to the Baked spaetzle from Victory Bar mentioned on Page 29, these five eateries offer mac that stands above the rest — whether it’s a distinctive noodle shape, delectable blend of melty cheeses or the addition of something extra special. here are our picks for the city’s most decadent macaroni and cheese.

— andrEa slOnECKEr

1.

Little Bird This downtown bistro takes scraps of exquisite fromage left over from slicing wedges for its cheese plate and melts them into a creamy sauce for its Macaroni gratin. This luxurious, ever-changing sauce has an herbaceous undertone and is tossed with classic elbow macaroni and topped with a crust of bubbly gruyère. a sprinkling of minced chives adds another level of flavor intensity, and a little brightness to balance out the richness of the dish.

Though it’s offered on the menu PhOTOgraPh By dOug BEghTEl

as a side for $8, order it with a green salad and a glass of rosé and call it dinner.

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

2. Davis Street Tavern

davis street Tavern’s Velvety Mac ’n’ Cheese is a standout due to the curiously shaped girella pasta, imported from the Italian sapori di napoli pasta company. Each crevice of the large, coiled noodles is saturated in a three-cheese béchamel sauce — velvety indeed.

The cheeses are a blend of Parmesan reggianito from argentina, Tillamook white cheddar and, of course, gruyère. It’s served as an accompaniment to an entree of roasted chicken breast for $19, or as a la carte half or full portions for $7 or $12, respectively. at happy hour time, devour a small yet sufficiently filling bowl for just $5.

500 N.W. Davis St., 503-505-5050; davisstreettavern.com

3.

St. Jack For a bowl of macaroni and cheese, $17 is pretty steep, but st. Jack’s gratin de Macaroni just might be worth it. It comes bubbling from the oven in a deep brown crock, with a refreshing mélange of greens on the side to counteract the indulgence within: cavatappi pasta drenched in a sauce of gruyère, aged cheddar and rogue blue cheeses, studded with an abundance of crispy bacon lardons. rich is an understatement. Be sure to scrape up the crusted cheese clinging to the outside of the crock, and clear your post-dinner schedule — a food coma is guaranteed to ensue.

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

4. Herb’s Mac & Cheese

herb’s mini food cart (reminiscent of an airstream trailer) traveled all the way from Florida to land in the d-street noshery pod, transforming from a hawaiian shave ice stand to a mac-and-cheese slinger somewhere along the way. This is the spot for mac-and-cheese on the go.

The foundation of this build-yourown mac is simple penne pasta tossed in a béchamel-based cheese sauce loaded with Tillamook Vintage Cheddar, sharp cheddar, Parmesan, aged asiago and Muenster. you pick your toppings, like chunks of chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli and blue cheese crumbles, and then it’s bruléed. Two sizes — regular or double — come in aluminum takeout containers to keep it hot during the bike ride home.

3221 S.E. Division St., 503-928-7559; herbsmacandcheese.com

5.

Mac! Mac and Cheesery an entire restaurant dedicated to the full spectrum of mac-andcheese possibilities? yes, please.

There are more than a dozen versions on the menu, plus a few daily specials, each made with fat, ribbed elbow macaroni and ranging in price from $6.50 to $10.50. The Original is satisfyingly simple, in a nostalgic way, blanketed with stringy cheddar cheese sauce and topped by crunchy breadcrumbs.

This place screams “kids,” but parents will find comfort in classier renditions, such as the Truffle mac, which is embellished by shaved prosciutto, peas, mushrooms and just a hint of truffle oil. start with the arancini-esque Fried Mac & Cheese Balls with bacon and jalapeño for a two-course mac attack.

3936 N. Mississippi Ave., 503-2005787; macandcheese.biz £

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