Blessed with the distinct seasons of the Northeast and the year-round bounty of California, the area exploits the best of two worlds. Because nothing travels very far to get there, finding the finest ingredients at the market is easy in Portland. And then there are those culinary treasures worth waiting for. Kenny Giambalvo, the chef at the Bluehour, a contemporary restaurant in the red-hot Pearl District (Portland's equivalent of SoHo), is patient all year until he can get seasonal "day boat" salmon from a nearby coastal town. The fish, one of Oregon's signature foods, has not been out of the water more than twelve hours before Giambalvo turns it into a silky salmon tartare appetizer.
For her part, Hebberoy's lucky to have the talented Morgan Brownlow in the kitchen at Clarklewis. He doesn't plan the menu until he's seen which ingredients are freshest. Even the weather determines the selection. One day may call for grilled Columbia River sturgeon, a fish that could have swum right past diners the night before in the waterway that the restaurant overlooks. In season it is served with grilled asparagus topped with basil, olive oil and preserved-lemon salsa.
When Hebberoy says her menu is produce driven, she means it. Heirloom vegetables are everywhere, and Brownlow is not afraid to serve a raw-radish appetizer in which the spiciness of that underappreciated vegetable is softened by what Hebberoy calls secret butter (a nearby cheesemaker sells it only to Clarklewis--and on the sly, lest he be besieged with requests). The mantra of "eating local" is not limited to things that grow in the ground, either. Every week, a 250-pound pig raised in the Willamette Valley is delivered to Clarklewis and used to make a flavorful pasta with a ragout of braised pork cheeks, chestnuts, shallots, vin santo and sage.Whole pigs, secret butter and day-boat salmon don't just point to the region's obsession with all things fresh and artisanal; they also suggest the sense of quirkiness for which Portland is known. At Clarklewis, even the cocktails have an oddball seasonality--fennel figures in one of the fall drinks--and every summer, the staff buys 150 pounds of local cherries, pits them by hand and preserves them to use in drinks.
Most restaurants in the Willamette Valley offer large selections of wines from the area; it would be a crime not to, since those vintages are now acknowledged everywhere as world-class. There's something almost providential in the fact that Pinot Noir is the most famous grape grown in the region, considering its history as a heavenly pairing with mushrooms. "It's simply the most natural food and wine connection there is," says Jack Czarnecki.
Sipping a Domaine Serene Pinot Noir with Czarnecki's intensely flavored wild-mushroom soup brought that mystical connection home to me. Not only did the earthy quality of each complement the other, the two formed a perfect union of taste. That probably wasn't exactly the bounty that drew the 19th-century pioneers to Oregon, but it certainly proves that they reached a land of plenty in the Willamette Valley. As Czarnecki puts it, "For us, it's the end of the rainbow."
