Slide 1

Pickles! Bands! Doughnuts! Beer! The Perfect Pickle is here! It all goes down February 6th at Holoce. Get the briny details!

Slide 2

DPC is pleased to annouce the release party for Oregon History Comics, Vol. 1-10 at Powells Bookstore, Sunday, March 4th.

Slide 3

DPC announces its theme for 2012: Peripheries. We'll be asking members to vote on their favorites in early January!

RECENTLY

Perfect Pickler: Yume Confections

By amandamiller | Published: February 2, 2012

We’re just days away from the Perfect Pickle, and all week we’ve been highlighting the 12 participating chefs. The idea is simple. Last September, 12 top Portland chefs were given ten pounds of organic pickling cucumbers and put to the challenge to create the Perfect Pickle. On February 6th, at the 2nd Annual Perfect Pickle, we will be opening up those jars for sampling, selecting a “Pickler of the Year” and selling the remaining jars to benefit DPC. Today’s featured chef is Gena Renaud  from Yume Confections.

Gena Renaud of Yume Creations

 Q: Tell us about your background and interest in cooking.

A: My professional background has been in art and design. I’ve designed for Willamette Week, Oregonian, Nike, Adidas, Johnson & Wolverton, Mobius Design and worked in fabrication for Michael Curry Design. Last year I opened Yume Confections, which specializes in handmade Japanese sweets. My manju (a sweet bean cake) are on the dessert menu at Biwa Restaurant, and a selection of confections are available at the Jasmine Pearl Tea Merchants. This month I will be at The Portland Japanese Gardens every Friday from noon to three in the Pavilion selling a selection of sweets and talking about the tradition of wagashi (traditional Japanese confections).

Q: What is your cooking philosophy?

A: Start with the freshest ingredients (hand picked if possible) paired with inspiration. Be adventurous in eating and in cooking, and most importantly — make it tasty! Oh — and teach your kids to cook and forage. Family food traditions are important to pass on.

Q: Why should you be crowned “Pickler of the Year?”

A: Before I started making traditional Japanese sweets, I spent the past thirteen years putting up pickles and preserves each summer to be given out to family and friends at Christmas. The fact that I’m here is a testament to the confidence some folks have for my spicy garlic dills! Considering that I’m probably out of my league, I represent the underdog — I’m an advocate for being adventurous, getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things, both in life and in cooking.

Thanks Gena! See ya at Holocene this coming Monday at the Perfect Pickle!

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Perfect Pickler: Biwa

By amandamiller | Published: February 1, 2012

Did you catch our most installment of the The 12 Days of Pickles, with Olympic Provisions? The idea is simple. Last September, 12 top Portland chefs were given ten pounds of organic pickling cucumbers and put to the challenge to create the Perfect Pickle. On February 6th, at the 2nd Annual Perfect Pickle, we will be opening up those jars for sampling, selecting a “Pickler of the Year” and selling the remaining jars to benefit DPC. Each day leading up to the event, we will highlight one of the participating chefs. All chefs are asked the same questions…and their answers are telling. Today’s featured chef is Gabe Rosen from Biwa Restaurant.

Gabe Rosen of Biwa

Q: Tell us about your background in cooking.

A: I grew up in Iowa, and moved to Portland in 1997 to go to cooking school. I have cooked in Portland professionally ever since in restaurants, catering and as a retail butcher. I also have a BA in Japanese Language and Literature from PSU, and spent my last year in school eating and studying at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. Missing everyday Japanese food so much, in 2007 my wife and partner Kina Voelz & I opened our restaurant, Biwa. We are very excited to be celebrating the restaurant’s 5th anniversary in March of this year!

Q: Describe your pickles.

A: Spicy vinegar spears.

Q: What is your cooking philosophy?

A: I am very interested in world vernacular cuisines, at present particularly central, east, and south east Asian cuisines, as well as eastern European cooking (and barbeque, too) as a way of personally enjoying food and learning about flavor and technique. In my own cooking I enjoy looking at food in a practical, transformative & scientific way…trying to understand what I want the end result of a preparation to be, and figuring out different ways to get there without a lot of the dogma of traditions getting in the way.

Q: Why should you be crowned “Pickler of the Year?”

A: (I feel like a Newt Gingrich type assault on the despicableness of your question is in order here…) No — I should win by default. I can’t imagine that the other pickles are any good — I know most of those people. I mean, have you ever met Jason French, that guy is an ogre. No…I don’t know…I hate competitive cooking…how about: “the sheer volume of kimchi that we produce at Biwa should get us some kind of award.”

Thanks Gabe! If Biwa’s pickles are anything like their kimchi, they should put up a fight. We look forward to trying them out at this year’s 2nd Annual Perfect Pickle!
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Perfect Pickler: Olympic Provisions

By amandamiller | Published: January 31, 2012

Yesterday you may have read our interview with head chef Jobie Bailey of DOC, the fifth in our series of blog posts, The 12 Days of Pickles. The idea is simple. Last September, 12 top Portland chefs were given ten pounds of organic pickling cucumbers and put to the challenge to create the Perfect Pickle. On February 6th, at the 2nd Annual Perfect Pickle, we will be opening up those jars for sampling, selecting a “Pickler of the Year” and selling the remaining jars to benefit DPC. Each day leading up to the event, we will highlight one of the participating chefs. All chefs are asked the same questions…and their answers are telling. Today’s featured chef is Erin Williams from Olympic Provisions.

Erin Williams of Olympic Provisions

Q: What is your interest/background in cooking?

A: I never intended to be a chef. I earned my Bachelor’s degree with honors in both Politics and Italian and English Literature, and planned to pursue a career as a professor of literature. I took a year off of school after graduation, to try something different before pursuing a Ph.D. Through a combination of sheer will and luck, I got a job at the best restaurant in town, a small French dinnerhouse in northern-central California wine country. I worked pantry and pastry for their four-person kitchen, and it was and still is the hardest job I ever had. With a massive prep list, exacting standards and the finest chef I have still ever worked for at the helm, there was no room for error. I was given a two month trial to prove I could make it, and from that moment on never looked back at the Ivory Tower of academia.

Q: What is your cooking philosophy?

A: I was born in Pennsylvania Dutch country, where growing, butchering, and preserving your own food is a way of life. I was raised on solid farmhouse meat and potatoes for the body, and ethics of hard work and frugality for the soul. My love of well-executed simple, nourishing food prepared from great ingredients with little or no waste has been a guiding influence throughout my culinary career.

Q: Why should you be crowned “Pickler of the Year?”

A: My love and respect for the earth and its creatures and the domestic pleasures of hearth and home guide my continued belief in the beauty and necessity of simple food, well-prepared, with careful attention to frugality, resourcefulness and nourishment of body, soul and earth.

Thanks for thoughtful responses Erin! We look forward to trying those pickles at the Perfect Pickle! As a reminder, you can still get tickets (just $10!) through the Portland Mercury; get the details here.

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