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eatout
APRIL 15. 2011
WWW.JUSTOUT.COM
Come and Get It!
Just Out serves up a feast of foodstuff
Hello Portlandr
We are opening
a new store on
in Raleigh Hills
on April 3rd.
Did you hear that? No? Listen closer.
That’s the sound o f your stomach grum
bling. Growling. And, perhaps after digesting
these flavorful pages, growing.
O f (first-, second- and fourth-) course, we
love our food, whether cart or haute cuisine.
And with a smorgasbord o f season’s eatings
upon us— from the new Q_ Center farmers
market to the third annual Dining Out for
Life, early May’s Taste of the Nation to late
June’s Basic Rights Oregon benefit Bites for
Rights—what better time to prime our pal
ates with profiles o f the city’s top chefs, ben
efits and more?
We’re getting ahead o f ourselves, though—
and skipping past the most important meal of
the day, breakfast. Or, for the a.m. challenged,
brunch. We put it to the Facebook test, ask
ing Just Out readers what local establishments
are worth the wait, just in time for Easter,
Mother’s Day and general summer brunchin’.
And from Kenny &. Zuke’s to Tasty n Sons,
Zell’s to Café Nell, Mother’s to Genie’s, Cup
&. Saucer to The Country Cat, Bridges to
Broder, you have both patience and good
taste.
Sister of Perpetual Indulgence Helen Baak
says, “I’d wait in line for Screen Door any
time,” as would Jess Jones, who calls it her
“all-time favorite when I want savory, per
fectly seasoned yum.'' Sherri Konin M ont
gomery’s vote is for Vita Café, and Laura
Seeton says, “Jam on Hawthorne is by far the
best place I would wait for anytime for brek-
kie.” Andy Yost gives props to Slappy Cakes,
Three Degrees and Veritable Quandary. Su
san Stewart loves Pine State Biscuits. Yvonne
Lyman namechecks the Tin Shed on Alberta,
praising what she calls “hands down the nic
est [staff] in Portland.” Maia Godet waits in
line “willingly” at the Cadillac Café— and
she’s not the only one.
As for specifics, Steven Dumais-Clark says,
“Sully’s Café in Milwaukie has the best om
elets ever, as well as fantastic homemade
strawberry jam and apple butter.” Facebook-
er “Doriloves Youall,” also fond o f Fong
Chong’s Dim Sum, says the “best Benedict is
at the James John [Café] in St.Joh n s— per
fectly poached eggs every time, homemade
English muffin[s] and the most amazing light
buttery Hollandaise imaginable.” Esther Moe
loves her Benedict at Milo’s City Café, Chloe
Sophia Flora is keen on City State Diner, and
Briana Buck recommends Biscuits Café and
Shari’s. And to wash it down, according to
Scott Jensen, “Darcy’s on Lombard and Fiske
has the best Bloody Mary I’ve ever had.”
Stomach grumbling yet?
We thought so.
With your appetite piqued, your hankering
happening, your craving, um, cranking, may
we present this issue’s specials?
A vegetarian-turncd-craft bacon slab pur
veyor. A Carnegie Fellow turned culinary
fella. Rising chefs who’ve worked alongside
legends in the field and are now staking their
own claims to fame. A citywide cause for
philanthropic foodies. A new farmers market
at an ever evolving community hub. A bur
geoning Mary-age o f burgers with benefits.
From James Beard to Julia Child, Portland’s
culinary connections run deep— sweet, savory
and everything in between.
Read on, no reservations required.
—Amanda Schurr
L
■M bs, •• _ lrt. j
4704 SW
Scholls Ferry Rd.
Out In The Kitchen
Raising a glass to gay chefs
by byron beck
Portland Or, 97204
KETTLEMAN
BAGEL COMPANY
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r t l a t
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The most famous chef to ever come out o f
Oregon is James Beard, widely considered the
quintessential American cook and the father
o f American-style gourmet cooking. The late
chef’s influence is so widespread that his New
York home is now North America’s only his
torical culinary center (and the site o f some
kick-ass dinner parties). And the food indus
try in which Beard served reveres him so
highly that its most prestigious award cere
mony bears his name. The hope is that, in the
near future, Portland will be home to a year-
round public market bearing his name as well.
It’s a fitting tribute for Beard— who never let
his sexuality get in the way o f his work and
who once said, “By the time I was seven, I
knew that I was gay.”
In the following pages, a few other queer
chefs who are currently making a name for
themselves in Portland’s best kitchens.
Sarah Schafer
Tom Colicchio hanging over me watching
As the top toque at the Pearl District’s my every move. Then we get the word that
meat-centric Irving Street Kitchen, Sarah Julia Child is in the dining room. I could have
Schafer is one o f a growing number o f female died! [I] spent my whole childhood watching
executive chefs in Portland.
her from the mini TV we h ad .... [The] order
She’s also one who works on very little came in and it was all my station.”
sleep. “I’m here 13 to 15 hours a day,” says
Schafer says she didn’t even remember the
Schafer, 37, when asked how much time she rest of service. After her shift, she packed up
puts into her job. “I guess that’s a lot.”
her knives and walked out of the restaurant.
Still, she adds, “This is the place where I “As the door closed behind me, there she was.
want to be.” Schafer has been fortunate enough She looked about 10 feet tall but with a cane
to be able to say just that at critical junctures in and her driver was just opening her car door. I
her culinary career, even at 24, when she met turned and froze,” Schafer recalls. “She saw me
her childhood idol—Julia Child.
and turned. Then she smiled and said, ‘Excel
“It was the best and worst day o f my cook lent meal, my dear, simply amazing, bravo.’”
ing career,” she explains o f a fateful evening
The chance encounter affirmed for Schafer
during her first week as line cook at New that she was on the right path, and that cook
York’s vaunted Gramercy Tavern. “Saturday ing was to be her life’s work. And what work it
night, 200 covers, [I] could have not been has become. Soon after graduating from the
more overwhelmed, with [executive chef] Culinary Institute o f America in 1996, the