Portland’s culinary scene is lauded in the November issue of Gourmet magazine.
Some of the chefs and restaurateurs interviewed for the article include Ten-01‘s Jack Yoss, Daniel Mondok of Sel Gris, Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, and Beast‘s Naomi Pomeroy.
Most hail from elsewhere, coming to Portland for its communal spirit — and its ingredients, which flood in fresh each season from the bookend fecundities of the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Ocean. There’s a real sense that Portland today is to the culinary arts what Paris was to the visual arts a hundred years ago.
How’s that for a money quote? Portland today is to the culinary arts what Paris was to the visual arts a hundred years ago. Wow.
A few obvious trends are noted:
- a love of meat, for instance, notably pig (every part of it): pork-belly starters, pickled pigs’ ears, and bacon everywhere, even candied in deserts
- a kind of Euro-Pacific farm cooking . . . full-cream spoon breads, flaky brioches, lard piecrusts, gravy galore, and lots and lots of thick-crusted fried chicken
- the burgeoning local spirits scene
- passionate in-city purveyors, notably Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Steve’s Cheese
Each of the restaurants mentioned above is profiled, with shorter pieces on Screen Door, The Country Cat Dinnerhouse & Bar, Toro Bravo, Lovely Hula Hands, Pok Pok, and Lucier. Blue Hour, the Heathman, Higgins, Paley’s Place, and Saucebox get a sidebar mention too.
The article is not online yet. I’m not sure what Gourmet’s schedule is for posting new articles from the magazine.
The proliferation of bacon is one of my favorite things about Portland. That and the brouhaha over Saucebox that explodes over on portlandfoodanddrink ever so often.
in media res – Speaking of bacon I just ran into this blog the other day: Bacon Geek.
Wow. Bacon apple pie. Thanks for the link.