Find out where to stay and eat with our Portland Oregon: Insider Advice.
It doesn't take much imagination to see what the hardy souls traveling the Oregon Trail, that eminent pioneer route, were after: not gold but fertile land. Today, just as it did back then, pretty much everything grows in the valley formed by the Willamette River (which includes Portland and extends more than a hundred miles south), where great soil and mild weather come together in harmony. Many people know the name Wil-lamette because they've heard that the area produces some of the country's best wines, especially Pinot Noirs. But they may not know that it's also the commercial hub for Oregon's plentiful wild mushrooms. That's why Czarnecki, one of the foremost mushroom experts in the United States, moved to the valley from Pennsylvania, giving up two successful restaurants there to head west.
At the Joel Palmer House--appropriately enough, the home of a prominent Oregon pioneer--Czarnecki loads the menu with mushrooms of all sorts, most of which he picks in secret locations no more than two hours away. "In Oregon there are always some kind of incredible mushrooms somewhere, year-round," he says.
The state's wet climate may have made it a mushroom Mecca, but that's not all it is. Nuts and berries also grow incredibly well in the Willamette Valley (the area is a U.S. center for hazelnut production). Come summer, berry stands abound beside Route 99W, which winds through wine country. Those in the know search for marionberries, the rare and revered blackberry-like variety that grows best in the valley. They proved a regular temptation as I traveled on my very own Oregon taste trail in the summer of 2005.
The superb produce means much more than just scenic drives and roadside snacking: visitors to the Willamette Valley can dine better there than they can in many large cities. Though restaurant chefs everywhere have embraced the idea of serving fresh, local and often organic food, most places simply don't have this much to choose from. "We live in the cornucopia of the universe," says Naomi Hebberoy, owner and founder of Clark-lewis, a Portland restaurant in the forefront of Willamette cuisine. "We can get 80 to 90 percent of our produce locally. It's an amazing way to eat."
