Flavors of Love

The way to everyone’s heart is through the stomach, as these romantic recollections attest

By Jake Ten Pas

Running an operation as big and wide ranging as MAC’s kitchens could reduce even the strongest chefs to tears. Fortunately, the club is home to some of the toughest culinary artists in the state, but that doesn’t mean they’re without feelings.

Start Executive Chef Philippe Boulot talking about MAC’s menus, and it’s hard to stop him from waxing romantic. He’s in love with the exquisite ingredients the whole staff takes pride in presenting, but he also feels great tenderness for the act of cooking itself. Combine these passions for process, sourcing, flavors, and the end experience, and the result is a love letter delivered daily on plates across the club.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, Boulot and his team of chefs opened up about what great food means to them, and how members can make the most of the romantic possibilities inherent in the menus of at all its restaurants.

Shelby Page - Pastry Chef

Micheal Pendergast

I think cooking for someone else can be romantic. You’re giving them a part of yourself. I cooked dinner for my husband when we were dating, and served it outside one nice fall evening. It must have worked; now we’re married!

The meal I cooked was simple: a roasted chicken, potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Later, I confessed to being embarrassed that the potatoes weren’t fully cooked because they were taking forever! He asked, jokingly, “Out of everything that night, that’s what you remember?”

As for a dessert to choose for your Valentine, I think the answer is always chocolate. Chocolate and romance kind of go hand in hand. The darker the better, as far as I’m concerned. Anything that’s fudgy and gooey speaks to me.

Micheal Pendergast

The most romantic meal I’ve ever had wasn’t very romantic at all. It was with my husband and six of our friends, but it was in a magical surrounding and we enjoyed food at its most simplistic.

Deanna Bascom - Sous Chef

Craig Mitchelldyer

We were touring Italy, and were staying in Cinque de Terre, specifically Monterosso al Mare. We took the hike from Monterosso to Vernazza (which is a long, and strenuous) and ended up at a restaurant with an outdoor patio with multicolored umbrellas covering the entire space. It was like looking up at a kaleidoscope of color, which on that particularly hot day, was protection from the sun.

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I cannot remember everything on the menu, but the one item that stood out was baby octopus. My husband and I ordered that to share, and it was simply grilled with extra virgin olive oil and served with lemon wedges. It was the most amazing dish I shared with him that trip, and we still talk about it today. Those grilled baby octopus on a white platter with the green olive oil and yellow lemons, and the multicolor umbrellas overhead. I will never experience anything like that again. Time, place, people.

Couples who find themselves eating at the Sports Pub on Valentine’s Day could share a grilled artichoke and each get their own No Sleep Till Portland Hazy IPA. Then, order the Three Grain Risotto with Salmon, finishing with a mud pie for dessert.

Executive Chef Philippe Boulot

Jos Studios

I remember the romantic food of a movie called Tampopo. It’s the story of a Japanese woman who opens a restaurant to create the perfect noodle soup. It’s so exceptional. If you want to have something sensual and something romantic, that’s your food. A noodle bowl with the perfect broth. As for a romantic meal, I recommend something light, like sushi or something seasonal.

I met my wife when we were working in Paris in a restaurant called L’Archestrate. It was a three-star Michelin restaurant, the best in Europe, really. Our first big romantic dinner was in L’Alsace Brasserie, where they brought us a big chocolate mousse in a bowl. We shared, and you could take as much as you wanted. Sharing a meal is very important.

So, definitely chocolate comes across as romantic, but I think something light is even more romantic than something too heavy. I tend to go with a fish, like sea bass, like caviar, like Dungeness crab. Perhaps a citrus salad.

I would go with ingredients with total purity, that are just perfect. It makes me dream. We’re going to do a dish with olio nueve, the first cold-pressed olive oil from the new season, that was just pressed in October. If you do a perfect risotto with a 24-month-aged parmigiano-reggiano and a dollop of that fresh-pressed olive oil, that will blow your mind.

Light dishes are romantic because they don’t bog down your mind. You have more energy, more presence. When something is heavy, you’re like, “I need to take a nap!” When you have a light dinner with strong flavors of extreme quality, it’s definitely the French way to romance.

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Cooking food is also very sensual, and good food comes from the heart. Good chefs are slightly sensitive, because you put everything you have into the food. To do good food, you really have to love making it.

You have to love to smell, you have to love to touch, you have to love to manipulate, you have to love the hand movement, the eye coordination, even hearing something cook. When I cook something in butter and it’s sizzling, I can hear if it’s going to come out properly just from the sound. I can just walk around and tell if things are right.

Executive Sous Chef Philp Oswalt

I’m going to tell you about how I solidified my relationship with my wife through food. My wife used to work here; she was the Food & Beverage admin assistant. I met her here, obviously, and would do various flirtatious actions, which often involved food. I’d be like, “Hey, do you need a salad wrapped? Do you need some cookies? Then I’d call her and be like, “Do you have any Post-It notes?”

Finally, after a couple of months, she was like, “You’re not calling me about Post-Its,” so I asked her, “Do you want to go on a date with me?” She said, “No, I have plans with my sister.” I was dismayed, and hung up the phone.

Turned out she really did. Finally, we did go out, and our first date was at Paley’s Place. After that, we’d hang out at my house, drink some nice wine and eat lamb chops. I’d always get the New Zealand lamb because it was cheap. I couldn’t afford the Oregon lamb. I’d roast the whole rack with Dijon and other spices, and then cut it into, as she said, these little lamb popsicles that won her over.

Food even played a role in how I proposed to her. I had a barbecue at my house. My story was that I wanted our families to meet. She didn’t know the real purpose, although my sister and her parents did. I stood up on the deck in front of both of our families and proposed to her and cried! I could barely say it. The sun was in my eyes, and I just looked like a schmuck. We didn’t have lamb that day. Honestly, I don’t even remember what we had.

Food is intimate. It’s about survival, but it’s also something people are passionate about. There’s just something primal about the way we relate to it.

There are two types of dining: in a restaurant and out of a restaurant. If you’re in a restaurant, that’s like a love potion because of the whole experience. If you go to a proper restaurant, it’s like a play. There’s the music, the wine, the service and the food. That’s what people romanticize about, the play. What we have here at the club is the big bad boy, Oregon lamb. So, members can repeat my proven method, but with the good stuff.

My advice, in general: When in doubt, go with oysters and champagne.

Sous Chef April Ramos

I met my husband here at the club. He’s a server in 1891. My people — my family, and just culture in general — are not really the expressive kind. Asking if one has eaten is their (our) way of showing that you care. Therefore, there is always an abundance of food around to make sure there’s more than enough to eat. In conclusion, they love you a lot.

I don’t believe in recipes. I’m terrible with numbers. When I cook, it’s all hands, eyeballs, tongue and heart. Whatever I accomplish is hard to put into words, much less write it down.

Joe’s might not be the first place members think of when Valentine’s Day is mentioned, but it has chocolate in all shapes and sizes! If you don’t have time for a sit-down meal or dessert, consider one of these faster options: chocolate milk by itself or in a protein shake, Re:Fuel or Rebbl — a plant-based version — chocolate protein drinks, chocolate chip cookies, banana bread with chocolate chips, hot or iced mochas or even an Oreo milkshake! WM