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J. Kenji López-Alt Biography

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“The 19th-century Americana and DIY energy that became associated with Brooklyn dining were arguably transplanted from Portland. At Le Pigeon, one of the defining restaurants of mid-aughts Portland, bucking tradition remains pleasingly de rigeuer and unapologetically deranged. Lobster-stuffed fried chicken, a recent dish that could have merely been a dare, instead crams the luxury of lobster bisque inside of a fried hunk of chicken breast, the richness cut just enough by bright spring peas and slaw. The logic of the lobster fried chicken is a dogged quest to overload all pleasure centers in the weirdest possible way. Eating it makes you want to die, but happily.”

HeavenlyWhimLobsterFried ChickenPortland OregonComboBisque
Book:The Best American Food Writing 2020: A Literary Collection of Essays Celebrating Food, Culture, and the Stories Shaping Our Culinary World
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“Portland's commitment to a daring, perfectionist hedonism is still the city's strongest culinary unifier. At Hat Yai, the casual southern-Thai restaurant from local empire-builder Ninsom, fried chicken comes as a set with curry and roti, and its thin, spiced crust shatters over meat seasoned to the bone. At the newly opened Yonder, chef Maya Lovelace's counter-service ode to her North Carolina's childhood, the spicy, tender fried catfish demanded not just enjoyment but gluttony. Dinner at Naomi Pomeroy's Beast on Tuesday nights is a throwback four-course menu meant to evoke its supper club origins, serving utterly of-the-moment morel and asparagus pastas and a hunter's chicken made with last summer's preserved tomatoes. The 19-course tasting menu at Erizo, run by Eater Young Gun Jacob Harth, ends with a massive halibut collar and a raft of Parker House rolls. It's sort of useless to consider whether any of these meals are Honest, but you can't deny they are Good.”

CultureRestaurantsCraftPortland Oregon
Book:The Best American Food Writing 2020: A Literary Collection of Essays Celebrating Food, Culture, and the Stories Shaping Our Culinary World
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