Since we didn't get to #5 the closest #4 is the winner. Congratulations Mr. S. I'll be in touch about your winning copy of Portland's first very own Zagat Guide. Thanks for all of your comments. I'm looking forward to checking out some of those brunches. Happy Monday!
Portland's first Zagat Guide!
Portland Zagat Guide Giveaway
This summer and fall I was lucky enough to get to work on Portland's first very own Zagat Guide. A few weeks ago I came home to a box of them hot off the presses on my front porch. Have you seen it yet? What do you think? I'm sharing most of my copies with friends and family but I'm also giving one away here to a lucky commenter. I've written down a number as usual and that numbered commenter will get a copy of the guide. And just so you know this is how you pronounce Zagat. I've botched the pronunciation for years.
What I'd like to know is this -- what are some of your favorite brunch spots in Portland? I've been going to brunch more these days and it's always nice to know of new spots. Some brunches that I've really been digging lately -- Kenton Club (pop-up brunch every Saturday and Sunday), EaT Oyster Bar and Interurban. I live in North Portland and tend to stay up in the hinterland for brunch but suggestions throughout Portland are welcome.
Check out this recent Oregonian interview with Nina Zagat.
Save the best for last. The last recipe that we tested for the book was this paella. My feet are on the right, John's are on the left and we're about to dig in with the Toro staff...
For Your Viewing Pleasure Pt. 8
I really will get back to more regular blog posting at some point but it's just happened to be one of those things that's gotten a little bit of the boot during the past several chock-full months. These are always fun ones to do though because they're quick to put up and give you a little eye candy. We're still busy at work on the Toro Bravo Cookbook due out from McSweeney's fall 2013. I took this photo in November during our last major recipe testing day. We'll still continue to test right up until the book goes to print but this was our last big push for formal testing. I wish you could have tried this house paella. Perfect.
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I made this version of Choi's White Napa Kimchi while working on a story about the Portland mother-son-duo kimchi business for Mix Magazine. I'm still enjoying it -- really tasty. It's a mild kimchi with no chiles but a lot of ginger, garlic, Asian pear and red peppers.
Yard Fresh Pt. 25
I've got a lot on my plate these days so I haven't been cooking as much as usual. I had two weeks off over the holidays though and did a lot of eat, drink, be merry. I just didn't do much of the cooking. I think I'll put together a Cincinnati post soon -- my hometown -- and include some of the great food and drink there. I brewed beer with my brother (my first time brewing beer!) when I visited this time around amongst other things.
I went to Seattle for a few days at the beginning of my vacation and met with one of my publishers, Gary Luke of Sasquatch Books, while there. (I also saw Louis C.K. at the Paramount!) As a result, I'm now working on revising Food Lover's Guide to Portland! I'm not sure when that will be complete and when you can get a new/improved copy but fingers crossed for summer or fall 2013.
After Seattle I visited family and friends in Cincinnati for a week and ate tasty German food and Cincinnati chili as usual. And to cap off my vacation I went to the Oregon coast for a few days to ring in the new year. Food/drink highlights there: We smoked Netarts Bay oysters (so good!) and then made omelets with them with goat cheese, there was a super yummy New Year's risotto with freshly hunted seared duck breast followed by a kick-ass Caesar and much, much more. Anyway, here's some of what I've cooked and eaten at home in the past couple months. Hope you've been eating well in the new year and are happy and healthy. Happy New Year!
I made this egg sammy a few weeks back with the kimchi above because I was craving the breakfast sandwich with kimchi and sausage on pretzel bread at the Saturday and Sunday brunch at Kenton Club. If you haven't been to this pop-up brunch yet go get it. Nik Woideck is rocking it in the kitchen there -- really good stuff.
I put all the beds under thick blankets to sleep until the spring. My neighbor Alison and I have an agreement -- if I clean her chicken coop then I get the skat straw for my yard. Perfect.
I made these garlic cheese grits for Thanksgiving. It's an old family recipe and no holiday is complete without them. Sharp cheddar, lots of butter and eggs, heaps of minced garlic and a cornflake topper.
I made a big batch of Toro Bravo's red sangria for Thanksgiving too.
And roasted some paprika glazed hazelnuts from Eric Joppie's Bar Avignon recipe in the August 2012 issue of Mix Magazine.
I also whipped up some smoked escolar butter (Newman's Fish Co.) from a Janie Hibler recipe in her cookbook titled Dungeness Crabs and Blackberry Cobblers.
I'm going to keep cooking through the Toro Bravo Cookbook (due out fall 2013 from McSweeney's) this winter. This big batch of Toro's brussels sprouts with bacon sherry cream was tasty. Life is sweet.
Nigel Slater's Trappist beer beef stew with baked brothy potatoes from his cookbook Tender. So good. Ate it for several days.
Pulled out my homemade 2 year (left) and one year miso...
And scraped and salted it. Made sure to scoop off some to eat before putting it back down to ferment. It's so fucking good. With 5 gallons of the 1 year (on the right) I think I'll be able to get it to 10-plus years. It will just get darker, richer and more developed as it ages.
And racked the plum wine. 21 gallons this year!
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Just off the plane from Madrid John and David cava in hand at Quimet Quiemt in Barcelona. One of my favorite spots from the trip.
Barcelona for the Toro Bravo Cookbook
A couple weeks ago I posted about the first part of our trip to Spain -- to Madrid -- late September for the Toro Bravo Cookbook and this week I'm posting about the second part of our trip, in Barcelona, with Toro Bravo's chef-owner John Gorham, our McSweeney's Books editor Rachel Khong, the book's photographer David Reamer, the restaurant's chef de cuisine Kasey Mills and charcuterie manager Josh Scofield.
The Barcelona part of the trip went much as the Madrid part -- loads of great food, lack of sleep, loads of good drink, lack of moderation, loads of exploring, lack of inhibition. In other words, it was an adventure and we had so much fun. Here are some photos...
Our tiny table at Quimet Quimet filled quickly with tapas. These tinned razor clams, mussels and calamari were super tasty.
The food kept coming...
Another view of the tiny but mighty Quimet Quimet in Barcelona.
Outside La Boqueria. Had heard so much about this place. Dream come true to go...
Inside! So many raw and cured meat stalls. And everything else that is Spanish and delicious...
If only this was in Portland.
John and Josh checking out one of the many processions of the last day of the La Merce Festival -- Barcelona's largest annual street festival.
We got the grand tour of Avinyo Cava that's been run by the same family since 1597. Toro serves Avinyo's cavas and wines so we toured the caves here, the production facility and, of course, tasted cavas, wines and house vinegars.
Mmmm cava.
Our last day in Barcelona. Sad but true. Kasey and Rachel in a happy blurry sunny haze. Viva Espana!
You can check out the first part of our trip to Spain -- in Madrid -- here.
Toro Bravo chef-owner John Gorham digging in to fried brains at Madrid's Taberna Bola. Open since 1870.
Madrid for the Toro Bravo Cookbook
In late September I was lucky enough to get to go on an eat/drink pilgrimage to Madrid and Barcelona for the Toro Bravo Cookbook with Toro Bravo's chef-owner John Gorham, our McSweeney's Books editor Rachel Khong, the book's photographer David Reamer, the restaurant's chef de cuisine Kasey Mills and charcuterie manager Josh Scofield. We hit the ground running and only slept a few hours a night the entire trip so we could maximize or eating/drinking/exploring time.
The last time I'd been to Spain was in 1996 when I'd I worked on a culinary herb farm via WWOOF for three months a couple hours outside of Madrid in the Extremadura region. At the end of my work stay I traveled around a quadrant of Spain -- to Toledo, Cordoba, Sevilla, Cadiz, Malaga, Granada and more -- with my mom and grandma who came to visit me there. It was a magical time for me and I was so excited to find out that I would get to return 16 years later with the brave bulls for the cookbook.
And just a word on how extremely generous Toro Bravo chef-owner John Gorham is: he bought all of our tickets, paid for our hotels, paid for a major meal every day during the trip and then some. Forever grateful. Incredible.
I'm going to let the photos that I took speak for themselves. After this post about our time in Madrid I'll post about Barcelona. Without further ado...
Langoustines on ice at the Mercado de San Miguel just across the street from our hotel near Plaza Mayor.
First bites and drinks at the same market fresh off the plane.
Meaty goodness at one of Madrid's many Museos del Jamon -- a cured meat chain there.
John took us later that night -- still no sleep -- to the Argentinian steakhouse De Maria Parrilla for their grilled sweetbreads and chimichurri that he'd loved on a previous trip to Madrid. Josh (next to John) liked them a lot and so did we.
Kasey serving up Taberna Maceiras' house specialty arroz marineiro for brunch the next day.
Funny menu at a cafe in Retiro Park. One of my favorite parks in the world. Went here every time I visited Madrid when I was in Spain in 1996.
David is not about to eat that entire roasted suckling pig on his own. Dinner at Sobrino de Botin -- the oldest restaurant in the world. Open since 1725.
Churros and chocolate at Chocolateria San Gines. Where all the staff hates you if you aren't Spanish but you don't care because you are still slightly drunk from the night before.
This was taken at the end one of the best meals that we had in Madrid. That bottle is filled with a really tasty housemade peach liqueur. Go to Portobello if you're in Madrid -- some of the best food of the trip.
Of course we went to a bullfight on our last night in Madrid.
The procession at the beginning...
Can't think of a better closing shot for the brave bulls' trip to Madrid.
Stay tuned for the next installment -- Barcelona!
Rachel Khong and Jordan Bass of McSweeney's Books at Wordstock 2012.
Wordstock 2012 + Toro Bravo
Did you go to Wordstock this year? I go every year. I love it and look forward to it every fall. I've had a lot of milestones at Wordstock -- my first book Food Lover's Guide to Portland was born at Wordstock and a lot of other good fortune and good times have come to be for me at festivals past.
This year I tabled all day Saturday and Sunday at the Hawthorne Books booth. I've been an editor and publicity director at Hawthorne since late summer/early fall of 2009. Three years! I got to hang out with a lot of our authors (and sneak away for a couple of their cool events) as well as with publisher Rhonda Hughes and senior editor Adam O'Connor Rodruguez. Good times.
I also got to spend time with the publishers of the book that I am currently writing with John Gorham -- the Toro Bravo Cookbook: The Making, Breaking and Riding of a Bull. We are so happy to be doing this book with McSweeney's. Dream come true.
I hosted the McSweeney's folks during Wordstock this year so that meant late night karaoke, 20 boxes of books in my front room, plum wine on the front porch and a lot of fine eating and drinking at Toro Bravo, of course (we had a huge dinner where cava and txakoli flowed freely and we tried a lot of the new dishes inspired by our recent trip to Madrid and Barcelona), Biwa and Tasty n Sons to name a few spots that we went. They even had to break into my house once while they were here. I won't give you all the details on that but it worked.
AND I got to finally meet our high-rolling, ass kicking literary agent Kimberly Witherspoon. We're very lucky to have Kim on our side and it was great to finally meet her in person. She moderated a panel this year at Wordstock and while she was in town she got to have a really nice meal at Toro.
Our literary agent, Kimberly Witherspoon, of InkWell Management moderating a panel at Wordstock 2012.
So, if you didn't get to Wordstock this year please try to make it next year. It's an incredible annual Portland event for readers, writers, editors, publishers -- basically all book lovers. And it might just visit some very good fortune on you as well. You never know...
Wordstock www.wordstockfestival.com
Plum wine sangria that tweaked from the Toro Bravo white wine sangria recipe. Mmmm.
Yard Fresh Pt. 24
It's been awhile since I've done one of these and to tell the truth I've been so busy meeting our final deadline for the Toro Bravo Cookbook (WE DID IT!) amongst several other big deadline projects I really haven't been cooking all that much. That said, I've made a few tasty thing lately and I'm going to share them with you here. Have you cooked anything really good in the past few weeks?
First roasted bird of the season -- stuffed with lemon and seasoned with a lot of olive oil and smoked paprika.
Last batch of spicy garlic dills. Didn't go overboard this year like I tend to with these...
And the last haul from the garden -- mostly went into soup...
Made twice as much plum wine this year -- all from the Brooks plum tree in the front yard. Should have about 100 bottles come spring!
Potato tacos became potato tostadas for breakfast. One of my favorite breakfasts...
Grilled sockeye that my neighbor caught (I'm so lucky) with grilled cauliflower and stewed green beans.
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Come to the downtown Powell's for Sandor's book event Wednesday, November 14th at 7:30pm. Comment here for a chance to win a copy of his newest book -- The Art of Fermentation!
Sandor Ellix Katz at Powell's November 14th and Contest!
Sandor Ellix Katz aka Sandorkraut is one of my favorite people and so I'm very excited that he's coming back to Portland for an Edible Portland sponsored Powell's Books event for his newest book The Art of Fermentation on Wednesday, November 14th (National Pickle Day!) at 7:30pm at the downtown Powell's. Over the years I've been lucky enough to travel to Nashville to interview Sandor for The Sun Magazine and also invite Sandor to speak along with festival co-organizers at our inaugural Portland Fermentation Festival in 2009. This time around I even get to host Sandor at my home while he's in Portland. Yes! I have so much to be grateful for.
Sandor Ellix Katz and me at Short Mountain Sanctuary, a couple hours south of Nashville, in January 2009.
Sandor's newest book -- which follows his other two titles: Wild Fermentation and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved -- is an in-depth cultural, anthropological and deeply personal look at fermented foods with loads of DIY inspiration and detailed info. on crafting everything from miso and sake to fish sauce and high meat.
Chelsea Green -- Sandor's Vermont publishing house extraordinaire -- has sent me a copy of the book to give away here as a promo. for the downtown Powell's event. I'm going to run this contest like I always do. I've choosen a lucky number and that numbered commenter gets the book. I'll bring it to the reading on the 14th to give to you and then you can get it signed by the author himself and hopefully we can get a photo of you with Sandor as well.
Here's what I'd like you to comment about for a chance to win -- what's the best fermented food or drink that you've ever had and why? It can be a ferment that you made -- sauerkraut, homemade wine, miso, cheese etc. or it can be something that someone else made or that you bought. I'll start the conversation with my answer -- my homemade fruit wines. So good.
See you at Sandor's book event on the 14th!
The Art of Fermentation By Sandor Ellix Katz Published by Chelsea Green 528 pages $39.95
Downtown Powell's event with Sandor Ellix Katz for The Art of Fermentation Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 7:30pm www.powells.com
Comment here for the chance to win two $25 gift certificates to Portland's Cocotte!
Cocotte Contest
Have you checked out this year's Willamette Week Restaurant Guide that came out last week? I look forward to it every year. Partly, because I always get to review restaurants for it but also because it's a great compass for Portland dining and always makes me hungry to try more places.
This year I wrote three reviews for the guide -- Ocean City, Bamboo Sushi and Cocotte. I'd never been to Cocotte and loved it and think you might too. Here's a bit of what I wrote:
"For all of the complaints that Portland doesn’t do seafood right beyond a few sushi spots, let’s have a drum roll for Cocotte. This pretty little corner bistro on Northeast 30th Avenue’s restaurant row (neighbored by Beast, Yakuza, Autentica and DOC) is all about small plates and entrees from le mer. The smoked salmon salad over a fallen potato soufflé with tarragon aioli is topped with farm-fresh greens, moist and not too smoky salmon, and slivers of radish in a lemony shallot vinaigrette. It’s perfect..."
Cocotte's co-chef/owner, Kat LeSueur, sent me two $25 gift certificates for a blog contest so I've chosen a lucky number and that numbered commenter gets both gift certificates. This is what I'd like you to comment about here -- what's one of your favorite dishes to prepare solo at home when the days get shorter? When the weather gets cold a lot of times we tend to want to make big pots of stews and soups and braises -- enough to feed a small army. What's a smaller dish -- just for you -- that you love cook in the fall and winter?
Cocotte 2930 NE Killingsworth Street Portland, Oregon 97211 503.227.2669 www.cocottepdx.com