Posted by Ed Levine, July 25, 2008 at 8:45 AM
I'm writing this from a hotel room in San Francisco, where my wife and I are wrapping up a six-day working vacation that included stops in Portland, Oregon; Bolinas, California; and San Francisco. Yesterday you read about my visit to the awesome Apizza Scholls in Portland. In the coming days I'll be sharing the results of my nonstop food forays in Portland, which included stops at the extraordinary Portland Farmers Market; a fantastic brunch at a catering company's kitchen that opens its doors on Sunday for breakfast; a visit to a very fine sausage-maker in the shadows of my brother's alma mater, Reed College; an early morning visit to a rock-and-roll doughnut emporium; and what might have been the most exciting restaurant meal I have had in years.
I ate all this in 36 hours in Portland. My two days in San Francisco have been even more food-packed. Portland and San Francisco, we have a problem. When I am food-exploring in places I don't often get to or I'm visiting for the first time, I launch into a manic, headlong dash to gluttonous, life-shortening oblivion.
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Posted by Jen Maiser, June 23, 2008 at 5:30 PM
Sometimes, it takes being away from my hometown farmers market for a week or two to really appreciate the turn in season.
I spent last week in Portland and visited the PSU Farmers Market, one of my favorite markets in the country. The PSU market was full of piles of porcini mushrooms, rhubarb and berries. The market vibe in Portland is like no other—a combination of completely relaxed mixed with a serious foodie vibe. I browsed through the market eating a Sol Pops paleta: cucumber, chile and lime-flavored.
Returning to San Francisco this week, I noticed that our market had switched from spring into early summer. Gone are most signs of spring, replaced with an abundance of early summer fruit.
I was most excited to find figs at the market. The figs were available from Knoll Farms, a farm in Brentwood that is about 60 miles from the market.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, June 6, 2008 at 12:45 PM
Want doughnuts topped with bacon or frosted and dipped in Cap'n Crunch? Then make your way to Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon. Anthony Bourdain visits the famed doughnut shop to to try their unconventional "non-conformist doughnuts" ("I kind of wish I was drunk before eating this," he says about the chocolate and peanut butter doughnut), and learn about their failed doughnut flavors, including Jägermeister and NyQuil. Watch the video, after the jump.
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Posted by Ed Levine, September 26, 2007 at 10:05 AM
I didn't need to read Eric Asimov's New York Times story on food and drink in Portland, Oregon, to know that Portland is fast becoming one of America's best food towns.
Eric's list of places was by no means definitive (nor was it supposed to be) but by aggregating the spots he mentioned with others that have appeared on Serious Eats and in other places (another NYT piece by Chrstine Muhlke) the last few years we can put together a pretty complete Serious Eats Food Lover's Guide to Portland.
Those familiar with the Portland food scene should by all means add their favorite places to the list. Remember, this is Serious Eats. We want to know where Portland's best bites are, from foie gras to frankfurters, from pizza to pigeon, from burgers to berries. A great local online source for food information and entertainment is Portland Food and Drink. The site has a great tag line: "Throwing Ourselves on the Grenade of Bad Food to Save You."
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 18, 2007 at 11:30 AM
Every year Food & Wine throws a huge party honoring the Best New Chefs its editors have just named in the magazine. This year the event was held at Aspen Meadows, part of the Aspen Institute. The setting was magical. Mountains sprouted out of every window you looked out of, with streams and rivers placed ever so perfectly between them. The event was held in a space with three levels. My favorite on the first level was April Bloomfield's pork cheeks. Bloomfield is the chef partner at the Spotted Pig in New York City. But I had a feeling I would find something even better higher up, so I huffed and puffed my way to the third floor (the altitude was killing me).
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Posted by Ed Levine, May 17, 2007 at 12:12 PM
My friend Andy Clurfeld, restaurant critic and food editor of the Asbury Park Press, has been imploring me for years to go to Portland, Maine, where she claims there is much incredible food to be had. I may go this summer, spurred on by Andy and the Food & Wine story Kate Krader just wrote. I've eaten with Kate, and she has pretty good taste buds. Here's Kate's short list along with a few comments by me (you'll know they're mine when you see my initials).
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 22, 2007 at 9:00 AM
Photographs by Adam Kuban
I didn't know when the entreaties and pleading began, though I had an idea. I also didn't know how, exactly, Serious Eats founding overlord Ed Levine was going to manage bringing back to life a pizza shipped cross-country on dry ice. (Serious pizza eaters know the crust is at its best for only a minute or two out of the oven.) I do know that about two months after joining the Serious Eats crew, I received the following email:
So... Ed is calling me begging for a pizza. If I send one, are you going to eat some, since you are now a part of Team Serious Eats?
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