Toro Bravo Blurbs

I've been a little cross-eyed with work lately -- both of my current book projects' final deadlines are June 17th, next Monday! -- but I'm not letting the stress kick me especially not when we've been getting the most incredible feedback for the Toro Bravo cookbook (McSweeney's, October 2013) lately. Many of these blurbs below made me cry. I'm not embarrassed to share that. After working on the book for 2 1/2 years getting all of this praise from people I hugely admire, cultural heroes, is tears of joy inducing. I'll let them speak for themselves. The book comes out in October -- so soon now...

"John Gorham is a chef with a unique personality; he is magic. In his book Toro Bravo, he puts all his passion and soul into sharing Spanish cuisine with Americans. I'm certain both professional chefs and home cooks will love it."--Ferran Adrià, head chef at ElBulli

"Having gone to high school in Spain, some of my most vivid food memories are conjured by Spanish flavors. Gorham's dishes are not replicas of those in Barcelona or San Sebastian but their flavor and sensibility are as Spanish as anyone’s. These guys (and their stories) make Portland one of the most exciting restaurant cities in the world today."--Mario Batali

"John Gorham's cookbook is as outrageously delicious as his food, as lively as his restaurant (my second home in Portland), and as personable as he is. It is a shining testament to authentic cooking. Paying homage to the Spanish tradition and expressed in personal terms, John's cooking is entirely unique."--Paul Bertolli

"John Gorham seemingly mind-reads what we want to eat: comfort and craft popping with salty, sweet, spicy flavors. No one better translates Portland's raging gustatory desires and DIY spirit. This book captures the joy of Toro Bravo; all heart, no bull." --Karen Brooks, author of The Mighty Gastropolis

"Here in Portland, Toro Bravo carves an uncommon niche—simultaneously adventurous and comforting. This cookbook, like the restaurant itself, tells the story of one restless spirit's search for home. These are recipes you'll want to both cherish and share." --Carrie Brownstein, creator of Portlandia

"I’ve known John Gorham for over a decade, since I first got to town and he turned me down for a job. Since that fateful rainy morning, we've cooked together, confided in each other, commiserated (read: partied) together, and grown up significantly. Toro Bravo is the greatest expression of who John really is: nostalgic, spirited, brutally honest, fun as hell, and one of Portland's all-around-greatest chefs. The Toro Bravo cookbook captures his vision, ferocity, determination, and hilarity."--Jason French, chef-owner Ned Ludd

"So many of my Portland friends have recommended that I eat at Toro Bravo, over the years, that I couldn't ignore their suggestion. I've loved the restaurant's many ferments, amazing food, and entire aesthetic. In the Toro Bravo cookbook, Chef John Gorham, collaborating with writer Liz Crain, has not only made the flavors of Toro Bravo accessible to home cooks with excellent, easy-to-follow recipes, but shared fascinating stories of his journey to the helm of some of Portland's best restaurants. This book is filled with culinary inspiration."--Sandor Ellix Katz, Wild Fermentation and The Art of Fermentation

"You're gonna love this cookbook. Toro Bravo brought something special to Portland when it opened, and still does: easy-to-love, Spanish-style food in a non-fussy atmosphere."--Stephen Malkmus, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks

"Toro Bravo is so much more than a cookbook (though it does a damn fine job of being just that). It’s a passionate story of how one great chef found his way by following his heart and trusting his gut. It’s a moving memoir and a gastronomic map. It’s a practical guide and a culinary cri de coeur. It’s the book I’m going to press into everyone's hands." --Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild

"Toro Bravo is the amazing story of a man's life and the building of a great restaurant. I loved it."--Gus Van Sant

“The Toro Bravo cookbook is unique in its storytelling: John’s personal story, the stories of the restaurant's evolution, the stories behind the recipes. Toro Bravo's magic lies in its ability to seamlessly merge the art of cooking with the commerce of dining: these are small plates, with big ideas."--Andrew Zimmern, co-creator and host of Bizarre Foods

Pre-order the book!

Taste of the Nation Portland 2013

This year's 26th anniversary Portland Taste of the Nation at McMenamins Crystal Ballroom was incredible as always and rather than type up all of the reasons why I'm going to lay it all out in photos for you. This was the first year Taste was held at the Crystal Ballroom and it's a great venue although next year they should consider cranking up the air. It got a little toasty. If you weren't able to make it please consider attending next year. It costs a pretty penny but 100% of proceeds go toward hunger relief in Oregon. Without further ado...

Biwa's soy cured escolar with shaved beets.

Lardo's beautiful porchetta.

Boke Bowl sui mai action

Craggan hydrating and about to eat a Boke Bowl pork and shrimp sui mai.

Racion's chicharrons topped with tuna? Ahhh, took too long to post this and can't remember exactly but DO remember they were super tasty.

View from the balcony an hour or so into this year's Taste of the Nation.

Our plates of Trigger hot wings and other tasty things with Captured by Porches kolsch.

Anthem Cider's organic hops cider.

Departure's grilled scallop hand roll with coconut miso.

St. Jack's not so pretty but delicious chicken liver mousse with port poached prunes.

Laurelhurst Market's corned beef tongue reubens with a smoky bourbon cocktail. One of my favorites of the night.

And for dessert, 50 Licks soft serve churros and chocolate ice cream.

Stay tuned for next year's Taste of the Nation! Always delicious and always 100 percent to a great cause. www.portlandtaste.org

Heidi Nestler's Cooking Classes at the Urban Farm Center

My friend Heidi Nestler -- who I first meet at this gathering way back when and who has been a part of the Portland Fermentation Festival since day one -- is about to start teaching cooking classes in Portland. The first one sounds great -- it's all about miso soup this Saturday, May 19th from 10:30am to 12:30pm at the Urban Farm Center. The class costs $20 per person and you can sign up for it here. Here's what Heidi has to say about it:

Good miso soup starts with good dashi! We will cover making dashi, the broth that is the base for miso soup, as well as a key ingredient in all Japanese cooking. We will make three different types of dashi. We will experiment with different types of miso and learn how to choose ingredients to put into your soup. We will explore the savory and satisfying world of the traditional Japanese breakfast. Hint: miso soup is at the heart of it. Miso soup is great at breakfast, lunch and dinner. I’ll also show you how to make a clear soup which pairs well with sushi.

For $50 you can hang out all day at the Urban Farm Center, attend Heidi's miso class as well as her Japanese food tasting from 1pm to 2pm (try Japanese breakfast foods and dishes from every class that Heidi plans to offer) and her Japanese sea vegetable cooking class from 3:30pm to 4:30pm. Here's what Heidi says about that one:

Learn to incorporate mineral rich seaweed and kelp dishes into your everyday life. We will learn to make traditional dishes including salads, soups, savory side dishes and condiments to enjoy with rice. We will be using konbu, hijiki, nori, wakame, and more. We will also experiment with adding seaweed to more Western style foods.

In upcoming months Heidi will teach all sorts of affordable cooking classes at the Urban Farm Center including a class on DIY natto, Japanese pickles, dairy ferments and more. I'm not sure which ones I'm going to go to yet but hopefully I'll see you at one. Sign up soon before they fill up!

Heidi Nestler Cooking Classes www.heidinestler.com

Urban Farm Center 3736 SE Harvey St. Milwaukie, Oregon 97222 503.449.2402 www.urbanfarmcenter.com

2nd Annual Ulisse Edera Tomato Sale

Want to buy this man's Italian, 100-year-old heirloom seed tomatoes for your garden? Wish granted. Go to HOTLIPS Pizza's 2nd annual, Ulisse Edera Tomato Sale -- a one-day plant sale at its Ecotrust location next Friday, May 17th from 9am-5pm. Each one-gallon tomato plant will be $10 and 100% of sales go to support Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center. Here's more info. pretty much straight from the press release...

HOTLIPS owner, David Yudkin, has saved seeds and propagated these 100 year old tomato plants since meeting the late Ulisse Edera in 1984 in Edera’s garden south of Portland in Milwaukie's Ardenwald neighborhood, where many of Portland’s early Italian truck farms were located.

Born in Canelli, Italy, in August, 1890, Ulisse was an orphan raised by three different families, finally in Colcavagno, Austria, where he attended school. After serving in the Italian Army, Ulisse followed his brother to the US at age 23, hand carrying tomato seeds on the voyage. Ulisse filed citizenship papers at La Grande, Oregon in 1916, and in 1917 joined the US Army. The brothers made weekend visits to the Italian families living in Ardenwald, who farmed and sold produce at the Portland Farmers Market. It was there he met his wife, Daria, and at age 31 Ulisse and Daria were married. In 1925 they built a house on 32nd Avenue in Ardenwald and continued farming on 22 acres then known as Johnson Creek Farms. They both lived in that house the rest of their lives with close Italian neighbors and many friends nearby.

Every inch of Ulisse’s small yard was planted with vegetables and flowers. He grew 200 pounds of garlic every year, drying it and selling it, along with homemade vinegar. A visit with Ulisse always included a taste of his “bagnait” on dried bread with a sip or two of red wine. Visitors left his house without a bag of garden delights picked during their visit. Ulisse died at age 103. Though he had slowed down some, he was still gardening, cooking, preserving foods, hunting mushrooms on Mt. Hood, welcoming visitors and visiting neighbors at that time.

About Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center

Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center, (a private 501(c)3 non-profit), was founded in 1989 as Friends of Opal Creek to gain protection of the Opal Creek watershed for future generations to study and enjoy, a goal we achieved in 1996. Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center maintains and stewards Jawbone Flats, a rejuvenated historic mining town in the heart of the 35,000-acre ancient forest watershed of the Opal Creek Wilderness and Scenic Recreation Area. We are located on the west slope of the Cascade Mountains, one hour east of Salem, Oregon, and approximately two hours from Portland, two and a half from Eugene and three from Bend. Opal Creek’s Mission” “Promoting conservation through educational experiences in wilderness.” www.opalcreek.orgAbout HOTLIPS

Founded in 1984, HOTLIPS is a Portland family-owned business with five pizza restaurants and a line of real fruit soda. Our mission is to preserve culture and celebrate humanity through rich culinary experiences, and by joining others in finding new and sustainable ways of doing business. Currently with 135 on staff, we train our folks to get out and talk about sustainability, ask questions, think of new things. We spend a lot of time teaching, taking our show on the road. We love what we do. www.hotlipspizza.com

2nd Annual Ulisse Edera Tomato Sale Friday, May 17th 9am-5pm at HOTLIPS Pizza @ Ecotrust 721 NW 9th Ave., #150 Portland, Oregon 97209 www.hotlipspizza.com

Winner of Taste of the Nation Portland 2013 Tickets!

You know who you are lucky #4 commenter. You've won yourself two VIP tickets to this year's Taste of the Nation on Tuesday, May 7th at McMenamins Crystal Hotel & Ballroom! Drop me a line at info at lizcrain dot com with your name and contact info. and I'll pass that along to the organizers who are donating the tickets. Your pair of VIP tickets will be available the night of the event at will call.

Thanks everyone for all of your tasty comments. I hope that some of these businesses come to fruition. As for me, I want a soft pretzel cart in my North Portland neighborhood, near my house, or fuck it, in my driveway with all sorts of homemade mustards and sauces.

For those of you who didn't win tickets there are still tickets available for this year's 26th anniversary Taste of the Nation. It's one of the best food events in town and I highly recommend it. In addition to it being delicious and super fun 100% of proceeds go toward ending local child hunger.

Thanks everyone!

Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 6:30-9pm McMenamins Crystal Hotel & Ballroom 1332 W Burnside Portland, OR 97205 Tickets $85 and up (order by phone 877.26TASTE or online) www.strength.org/portland

Taste of the Nation Portland 2013 -- Ticket Giveaway!

Share Our Strength's 26th annual Taste of the Nation on Tuesday, May 7th at McMenamins Crystal Hotel and Ballroom is less than a week away and in an effort to help generate last minute ticket sales I'm offering a ticket giveaway here. The bighearted, hardworking folks at Taste of the Nation Portland have donated a pair of VIP tickets ($150 dollars EACH, gen. admission is $85) to me for this year's event. (Actually, two pairs. I get to go as well.) VIP ticket holders head in to Taste of the Nation and sample select food and drink an hour before everyone else and they also get complimentary valet parking.

I love Taste of the Nation because 100% of ticket sales go toward working to end child hunger via Oregon Food Bank, Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank, St. Vincent de Paul Food Recovery Program and Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. Read about last year's Taste of the Nation here.

This year's TOTN will showcase food and drink from 30-plus restaurants, 17 wineries, 7 distilleries and 7 breweries. The list is growing daily.

So it's a VERY worthwhile cause that I highly recommend buying tickets for. You can also try your luck for a pair of VIP tickets here on my blog. I've got a number in mind and I've written it down and taken a photo of it as proof. That numbered person to comment takes the cake -- you get me your name and contact info. Please help me to spread the word about this ticket giveaway and Taste of the Nation on Twitter, Facebook etc. so that we can all help promote and support the event and generate ticket sales. I'm foodloverPDX on Twitter.

So what to comment about? Let me know what sort of food/drink business you'd love to see launch in Portland. It could be a food or drink product, a market, a non-profit, coffeeshop, brewery. It could be something that already exists and you'd like to see replicated in another neighborhood or it could be a business you've just always wished existed here that you've never seen. Leave a comment and let me know -- I'm curious.

I'll announce the lucky winner this weekend or early next week!

Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation Tuesday, May 7th, 2013 6:30-9pm McMenamins Crystal Hotel & Ballroom 1332 W Burnside Portland, OR 97205 Tickets $85 and up (order by phone 877.26TASTE or online) www.strength.org/portland

Another Food Lover's Guide to Portland Coming Soon

Portland has a small, tight-knit food community. Since moving here in 2002 I've recognized that more and more every year. Everyone seems to know everyone in the culinary world and it's a very supportive and celebratory community for the most part. Sure, there's competition but not nearly as much as in many cities and it's usually friendly competition. All of this speaks to why I was really surprised to find out that a book of the same title as mine is coming out this fall -- Food Lovers' Guide to Portland, Oregon by Laurie Wolf.

I heard about it first through the grapevine a few weeks ago and went straight to the source. Wolf confirmed that, yes, she is writing a book with the same title. I have to add here that I think it's a good thing that you can't copyright titles. I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm surprised, however, that someone would do this.

I've researched, written and promoted my book for the past five years -- no small feat. Luckily, Sasquatch Books and I were already planning a reprint and future revision of my book. Now I just have to burn the midnight oil for the latter so that my revised edition comes out at the same time as Wolf's. I may be challenging someone to a Food Lover's Guide to Portland duel this fall. We shall see. Silver linings.

The ORIGINAL Food Lover's Guide to Portland, by Liz CrainPowell's BooksAmazonIndieBoundBarnes & Noble

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern in Portland

Last spring I got a call from a producer of Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods asking if I wanted to help out with an upcoming Portland episode. She'd seen my book Food Lover's Guide to Portland, had checked out my blog and wanted me to help choose subjects and themes for the upcoming Portland show. We had a lot of back and forth for a few months before they came to Portland to shoot last summer.

I know a lot of the folks that they ended up featuring but I'm sure that there will be some surprises as well. People and businesses that I recommended include Steve Jones of Cheese Bar, Nat West of Reverend Nat's Hard Cider, Geoff Latham of Nicky USA, Earnest and Sumiko Migaki of Jorinji Miso, John Cleary of Newman's Fish Company, David Barber of Picklopolis, The Frying Scotsman, The Big Egg, Andrea Spella of Spella Caffe, Gabe Rosen of Biwa, Gena Renaud of Yume Confections and Naomi Montacre of Naomi's Organic Farm Supply. These are the folks that I remember talking about but I know there were more.

When the crew came to town last summer I got to tag along for a day. I haven't seen any of the show yet but if you watch it imagine me crouched between storage racks behind the sound guy when Andrew is making a very strange sounding ice cream (hint: smoke and bones). I even got to introduce myself to Mr. Z and we talked a bit about Vassar our alma mater. Now, more than a year later, the show is finally airing -- next Monday night on the Travel Channel. I'm really looking forward to tuning in.

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

Essential Pepin

This is an enormous cookbook as it should be since Jacques Pepin has aimed to cook down and encapsulate his entire career with it. I've been a fan of Pepin's for years. I first got to know him as many did -- through his televised PBS cooking series with Julia Child -- Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. I love how at ease they are with one another. Jacques prefers black pepper, Julia prefers white and they bicker about it on camera. You get their character and humor unlike a lot of today's highly groomed food television folks. I also really enjoyed reading Pepin's The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen. If you're looking for an engaging read that takes you through the learning and becoming of a chef read it. It's such a good book.

I'd been talking about how I wanted Essential Pepin, which came out in fall 2011, for awhile and then one day out of the blue my ex-boyfriend's mom sent it to me in the mail. Love her. Here are some of the things that I've cooked from it...

The first dish I made from Essential Pepin is the chicken diable and it turned out great -- pan seared chicken with a red wine vinegary tomato sauce. Served it with sauteed sprouts, hazelnuts and white rice.

I often give scraps and trimmings to my dog but I made cracklings out of some of the skin since there was so much. Yum.

Really good breakfast the next morning with the leftovers.

I cooked up a big batch of Pepin's kidney bean and beef chili and got a lot of use out of it mixed with rice and coconut milk for dinner and sauteed up with eggs here for breakfast.

Pepin's not so pretty but very tasty lentil bulgur soup.

Essential Pepin by Jacques Pepin Pub. date October, 2011 704 pages $40, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Zenger Farm CSA Accepts Food Stamps

There are so many great food events in Portland and lately I haven't had time to go to many. One of my favorites of the past several year's has been Friends of Family Farmers' free and open to the public InFARMations held at Holocene every second Tuesday night of the month. The last one held featured Zenger Farm's new SNAP for CSA toolkit and I wish I could have gone and learned more about it. Here's the gist straight from the source:

Zenger Farm is launching a new toolkit to help Oregon CSA farmers begin accepting SNAP dollars (formerly known as Food Stamps) for their member shares. This is a key component in the fight for better access to good food for all.

Fast facts:

• SNAP brings more than $1 billion in federal food money to Oregon each year. • Zenger Farm Shares was one of the first Community Supported Agriculture programs (CSAs) in Oregon to accept SNAP. • While the traditional CSA model supports farmers by assisting with the upfront costs of farming, that same upfront capital investment is often a barrier for households on limited incomes. • In 2011, Zenger Farm received a grant to develop a toolkit to help Oregon CSA farmers begin accepting SNAP dollars. This toolkit will be rolled out at community meetings and conferences across the state, as well as through online webinars in 2013.

More info about the toolkit and programMore about Zenger Farm Shares