Review: Fire On The Mountain Buffalo Wings

Almost ablaze, still you don’t feel the heat. Takes all you got just to stay on the beat. You say it’s a living, we all gotta eat. But you’re here alone, there’s no one to compete. If mercy’s in business, I wish it for you. More than just ashes when your dreams come true. “Fire On The Mountain” Robert Hunter/Mickey Hart The first time I drove by the 60’s... [Read more]

My Week as a Waiter

The NY Times food section has an excellent article today on critic Frank Bruni’s experience going from the food critic side to being a server. It is an interesting article, and gives a good perspective on what they have to go through. A highly recommended read. You need to be a member, but it is free, and sign-up just takes a moment. … I need to redeem myself with... [Read more]

Review: Brazil Grill

Refreshed 1.10 For those who have spent time in Brazil, it has always seemed strange there is no Brazilian-style grill in Portland. Almost every major city has one, and they tend to be very popular. Also called “churrascaria” (shoo-HOSS-ka-REE-ah), these Brazilian steakhouses are a carnivore’s paradise, paying homage to the institution of the South American Gaucho. Churrasco... [Read more]

Monday Interview: Reinventing The Meal

Crack interview journalist, Charlie Michaels, checks in from the trenches of the Portland food world. Her report: Ever since Edward Chumleigh-Jensen-Smythe-Haskell and his wife, Tanya, exploded on the Portland dining scene a few months ago, the cognoscenti in our fair burg have been all atwitter. The reason: an exciting new definition of food is at hand. Eddie, as his friends... [Read more]

Monday Interviews: Adrienne Inskeep of Siam Society

With her pixyish hair and lithe physique, Adrienne Inskeep may look like Peter Pan, but the chef of Siam Society, the restaurant she owns with her husband, Paul Van Slyke, is absolutely grounded; by her own admission, perhaps too. “I am definitely a taskmaster, and almost to a fault,” says the 26-year-old, who since opening the Thai establishment last October in an historic... [Read more]

Cheese and the Seasons

You might notice that you aren’t seeing as much local artisan cheese in stores the past few months. Winter months divulge cheese-making secrets: it’s a seasonal activity. Goat and cow milk production naturally follows seasonal cycles, waning in the fall and winter and escalating in the spring and summer after pregnancies and spring births have stimulated milk production.... [Read more]

Review: Simpatica Dining Hall

As the nation roiled in torment over the Vietnam War, Vortex, the only state-sponsored rock concert ever, was envisioned in an old Portland building at the corner of Southeast 9th and Pine. After the war and Richard Nixon’s subsequent Watergate Waterloo–the time when later baby boomers were coming of age–the same building hosted the Pine Street Theater. There were no... [Read more]

White Balls

I have always been the baker; I baked jam tarts for my dollies; I baked cookies for my brother and his friends when they were teenagers and had the munchies; I bake everyone their birthday cake and was given a plaque from my daughter’s grade school for baking every month for seven years. You might surmise this is compulsion is borne of generosity; perhaps, but it is... [Read more]