Gourmet Magazine, R.I.P.

Just received an email from a friend who works at a Conde Nast publication, saying, “I had to read this three times to make sure I was still employed,” referring to the memo, released this morning, saying the company is ceasing three of its publications, including Gourmet. I will wager everyone over a certain age who cooks has a Gourmet story. Here’s mine:... [Read more]

History, Trade, Commerce, Warfare: “In the Center” with Dave Machado

Dave Machado Nel Centro, Dave Machado’s latest venture, is a hard-hat-only area in late March. Standing amid buckets of grout and workers using acetylene torches, Machado explains how he came to open his third Portland restaurant in the eight-thousand-square-foot space on the ground floor of the Hotel Modera. “You remember what this place was, that skuzzy Days Inn... [Read more]

Alu Wine Bar and Lounge

Note: This establishment has opened under new owners. See the website for more details. “When it Alu going to open?” my husband asked last week, of the sliver of a building on NE Martin Luther King Blvd. just south of Stanton St., which seemed months under construction. Through the grapevine, I already knew the chef was Sandro Di Giovani, formerly of Noble Rot... [Read more]

Monday Interview: Heidi Yorkshire

For more than twenty years, Heidi Yorkshire has written about food, as the author of several books; a travel writer for Bon Appetit and other publications; a longtime wine columnist for the Oregonian, and, most recently, as Willamette Week’s lead food critic. Tart and opinionated, with an unmistakable voice, Yorkshire is known to straight shoot in her reviews, something that... [Read more]

Monday Interview: Morgan Brownlow

Since returning to Portland in 2002, Morgan Brownlow has seen his star rise higher, faster, than any local chef in recent memory. After two years with Ripe and Family Supper, he became partner and founding chef at Clarklewis, which won the Oregonian’s Restaurant of the Year for 2004, barely three months after it opened. More, according to his peers, when Brownlow is on,... [Read more]

Monday Interview: Troy MacClarty

After training at the Culinary Institute of America, and spending four years at Chez Panisse, Troy MacLarty landed in Portland, as chef of Family Supper, a job he left in late 2005. After stints at Simpatica and Saucebox, in November 2006, he took over as chef at Lovely Hula Hands, when it debuted at its new North Mississippi location. As cooks prepped dinner in the second-floor... [Read more]

Duck, Duck, Goose – Foie Gras Wars Continues

Anyone who eats and reads—and I dearly hope that’s everyone here, now—has gotten wind of the foie gras wars. I am not going to write the entire history of what’s happened in the past twelve months, but here’s the bulleted version: • Chicago’s City Council bans foie gras in local restaurants. Angry chefs sue. Oregon, as well as New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts... [Read more]

Monday Interview: David Machado, Part II

[This is part two of an interview with David Machado of Vindalho and Lauro restaurants. You can find part one by clicking here.] So, a guy walks into a bar, and _________. While you can fill in the blank with any number of amnesiacs asking, “Do I come here often?” and baby seals ordering “anything but a Canadian Club,” perhaps only once has the punch-line... [Read more]

Monday Interview: Dave Machado

So, a guy walks into a bar, and _________. While you can fill in the blank with any number of amnesiacs asking, “Do I come here often?” and baby seals ordering “anything but a Canadian Club,” perhaps only once has the punch-line been, “walks out with the bartender’s job.” Dave Machado gets to tell the joke. Beginning at the bottom more... [Read more]

Monday Interview: Molly O’Neill

Molly O'Neill Last Friday morning, I received a call from an acquaintance, saying, “Molly O’Neill is in town; do you think you have time to interview her?” I said, I’ll make time, and in fact, will crawl with O’Neill’s New York Cookbook in my teeth for a chance to meet her. “Oh, we need to go to Powell’s and get you a new copy,” said O’Neill, seeing... [Read more]

Nancy Rommelmann Visits Taste of the Nation 2006

I love last minute invitations, including the one that came yesterday via email, from Food Dude, saying he could not make the Taste of the Nation event and would I like to go? He even offered to pay. (Thanks, Dude!) And so I get myself to the Convention Center for the event, which supports the hunger-fighting group Share Our Strength and ran from six pm to nine pm, by 6:05... [Read more]

Monday Interviews: Scott Dolich of Park Kitchen

Scott Dolich, owner/chef of Park Kitchen, sits in his private office, i.e., a park bench across from the restaurant, within feet of two middle-aged dudes playing a loose game of pick-up basketball. It’s warm and windy, Portland’s first true spring day of 2006. Does Dolich think the weather will hold? “It might,” says the 37-year-old, who, in cargo shorts and a t-shirt,... [Read more]

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