#73 Rick Gencarelli - Lardo & Grassa

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While Rick Gencarelli was living the farm to table movement in Vermont less than 10 years ago, what he read about Portland appealed to him enough to move his family out here, with the dreams of building an exceptional Italian restaurant. While he had the talent to shine in a chef-rich city like Portland, he lacked the funds.  So, as many do, he set out to make delicious sandwiches from the confines of a food cart.  It didn't take long for his sandwiches and attention to his craft elevated Lardo to the top of the PDX food cart world.  Cut to five years later, and that food cart sits on the property where his first brick and mortar, Lardo, served as the springboard for a brand that now has three Portland locations, as well as his Grass brand, set to open its second Portland pasta-concept in 2016.  It hasn't been easy.  In this interview with Rick, he talks about some of the challenges he's faced, including the current fight with Ramzy Hattar over ownership and name rights to his own company.

 

#72 Scott Dolich - Park Kitchen & The Bent Brick

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Scott Dolich’s Portland roots were planted almost 20 years ago after his bent toward local ingredients was seasoned under renowned locavore Bradley Ogden in California. He was drawn to Portland because of its proximity to farms and produce. He started working with guys like Ricardo Segura and Greg Higgins and David Machado in the early ’90s, and still points to them as Portland’s best restaurateurs. He took much of what he learned in the much smaller Portland food world of the ’90s and made a name for himself once the decade turned. He opened Park Kitchen in 2003, which, in retrospect, can be seen as a milestone. Park Kitchen signaled the start of a new, exciting generation of Portland restaurants, garnering accolades from “Restaurant of the Year” to personal James Beard Award nominations. But the restaurant itself isn’t the whole story. It’s the chef that created fertile ground for more to come. 

We talk to Scott about changing the face of the industry by working to abolish tipping in his restaurants. And more.

# 71 John Gorham - Toro Bravo, Tasty, MEC, Pollo Bravo and more

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John Gorham carries a big stick in the Portland food world.  His restaurants are known and held in high esteem not only in Portland, but all over the US.  One of the major reasons he keeps expanding is that it's the best way to make sure he takes care of the talent at his restaurants and gives them room to grow in their careers and in the organization.  The results can be seen in the lines outside his restaurants: Toro Bravo, Tasty N Sons, Tasty N Alder, Mediterranean Exploration Company and Plaza del Toro.  We talked to John about his growing restaurant empire just as he and his powerful staff embarks on opening Pollo Bravo and Shalom Y'all.

Also mentioned in this episode:  

http://apizzascholls.com/ http://www.clydecommon.com/  http://woodsmantavern.com/  http://bamboosushi.com/  http://www.pizzajerkpdx.com/  http://www.grainandgristle.com/  

#70 Aaron Barnett - St. Jack and La Moule

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We think you'll really enjoy this interview with St. Jack and La Moule's Christopher Aaron Barnett. You'll hear from his days as a boy cheering for Mark Messier with the Oilers, to his days as a cabana boy in Palm Springs to not doing much in college but being great at girls and drugs.  Somehow, he parlayed that into opening one of the country's best Lyonnaise restaurants without ever having been to Lyon.  He'll talk about how arrived at the Jewish grandmother approach to running a busy kitchen.  The hard way.

www.stjackpdx.com

www.lamoulepdx.com

 

Soundbite - Eater PDX's Mattie John Bamman's Anticipated New Places in 2016

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Mattie John Bamman, Eater PDX's editor-in-chief, discusses the places coming in 2016 that excite him most.  Mattie also blogs at http://www.ravenoustraveler.com

Mentioned in this episode:

http://www.besaws.com/#welcome
http://www.thesoloclub.com/
http://180pdx.com/
http://chesapdx.com/
http://www.pinestreetpdx.com/
https://www.facebook.com/century.bar.pdx/
http://www.chkchk.com/
http://americanopdx.com/

Intro Music: "I Can't Stand the Rain" by Arielle Verinis.
Check her out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArielleVerinis

#69 Cana Flug - Besaw's, Wildwood & The Solo Club

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Cana Flug had quite a journey in the Portland restaurant world since her last appearance on Right at the Fork.  Weeks after the show was recorded, Wildwood, one of Portland's best known restaurants, which had touched the careers of many chefs, closed suddenly after lease negotiations failed.   About a year later, Flug's other restaurant, Besaw's, Portland's oldest restaurant, became embroiled in controversy when the owner of the building claimed he owned the rights to the Besaw's name. Flug talks candidly about those newsworthy controversies, and also the reopening of Besaw's and The Solo Club.

#68 Gregory Gourdet - Departure

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Chef Gregory Gourdet of departurepdx.com has rapidly become of one of Portland's most well-known chefs. He had an exciting long run on TV's Top Chef on 2015. Then he was tapped to develop a second Departure in Denver for the Sage Restaurant Group. In this podcast, Gregory talks about his trajectory from Jean-Georges in NY to Portland, where he now runs one of Portland's highest and largest restaurants. We also talk about Chefsweekpdx.com and how that came to be three years ago.

Intro Music: "I Can't Stand the Rain" by Arielle Verinis. 

Check her out on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ArielleVerinis

#67 Kurt Huffman - ChefStable

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Kurt Huffman is a home-grown restaurant entrepreneur, who operates some of Portland's best restaurants.  His ChefStable Group is behind successful spots like Ox, Lardo, Grassa, St. Jack, PREAM, Loyal Legion, Oven & Shaker, Hamlet, and now some properties outside of Portland.   Kurt takes about the state of the food biz in Portland, as well as the current legal controversy surrounding Lardo.

#65 Maya Lovelace - Mae

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Maya Lovelace is on a roll.  She's generating attention with her Mae North Carolina cooking pop-ups, after working in the kitchens of Husk in Charleston, Beast, Bollywood Theater and Tanuki here in Portland.  We talked to her about her trajectory and her Grandma.

Mentioned in this podcast:
http://www.maepdx.com/
http://www.huskrestaurant.com/
http://tanukipdx.com/
http://kachkapdx.com
https://lovelysfiftyfifty.wordpress.com/
http://www.bithousesaloon.com/
http://purespicerestaurant.com/
http://www.mekharestaurants.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pho-Hung-82nd/111003915629494

#64 Abram Goldman-Armstrong, CiderRiot

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Soundbite - Dive Bars

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Wanna drink? No one better to imbibe with than Natalia Toral. She's been a big part of Portland Cocktail week, Raven & Rose, Multnomah Whisky Library and Nostrana, not to mention a ton of great events at places. So, Natalia knows where to get a good cocktail, on the way, or during a hangover. She's cluing us in on some of Portland's best dive bars on this week's Soundbite.

https://twitter.com/natkayt
https://www.facebook.com/Joes-Cellar-120993017916521/
http://www.docksidesaloon.com/
https://www.facebook.com/lowbrowlounge/
http://www.rennersgrill.com/
http://virginiacafepdx.com/
http://marysclub.com/
http://thesanteria.com/
http://gils-speakeasy.com/
http://portlandfoodadventures.com/fried-chicken-fryer-tuck-vs-reel-em-inn/

#62 Aaron Adams, Farm Spirit

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Chef Aaron Adams shares his "coming to veganism" story, and the inspiration behind Farm Spirit, Portland's hottest plant-based restaurant.

Mentioned in this episode:
http://farmspiritpdx.com/
https://homegrownsmoker.wordpress.com/
portobellopdx.com/
harvestatthebindery.com/
andcafepdx.com/
blpdx.com/
www.biwarestaurant.com/
departureportland.com/
www.prasadcuisine.com/