feast portland

Recently, HRN traveled to Feast Portland, a west coast food festival that showcases truly delicious bites and deep talks about the current state of the food and beverage industry.  Since 2012, the festival has also raised over half a million dollars to help fight hunger.

In this episode, we’ll bring you some highlights from our conversations there, with a particular focus on what food business success looks like today. You’ll hear Salt & Straw co-founder, Tyler Malek in conversation with Dana Cowin, host of Speaking Broadly, chef Maya Lovelace speaking with Alex McCrery of Opening Soon, as well as discussions with Megan Sanchez of Güero, and food blogger Gaby Dalkin. 

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HRN wraps up a great weekend at Feast Portland with a special episode of HRN Happy Hour. Caity Moseman Wadler, Hannah Fordin and the rest of the HRN team invite Nate Collier, Le Creuset’s Director of Marketing and Communications, and The Nightwood Society’s Michelle Battista and Kati Reardon to talk Le Creuset colors and festival highlights over delicious bowls of Salt & Straw ice cream.

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Dana Cowin, host of Speaking Broadly, interviews Tyler Malek, the co-founder of Salt & Straw ice cream. Tyler’s journey into the food world took even him by surprise. They chat about franchising, flavor development and, of course, Feast.

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Brad Mayer is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Precept Wine, the largest privately held wine producer in the Pacific West. Listen in as he and Mike Hewitt, host of Recruit. Retain. Relax., sip some delicious wine, and discuss some of the company’s exciting new ventures.

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HRN’s Executive Director Caity Moseman Wadler interviews Dan Peterson, the founder of Ferment Brewing in Hood River, Oregon. The two discuss their shared love of science, Vermont and really good beer.

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Dana Frank has worked as a cook, pastry chef, busser and sommelier and written a beautiful booked called Wine Food. But she really discovered her dream job when she decided to open Bar Norman and spread the word about natural wine. She talks to Dana Cowin, host of Speaking Broadly, about her career.

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Guest host and HRN Hall of Fame inductee Elias Cairo speaks to Eric Nelson, Matt Vicedomini, and Earl Ninsom, the trio behind EEM, about their path to collaborating on one of the hottest new restaurants in Portland. Elias Cairo is the founder of Olympia Provisions, Oregon’s first USDA-approved salumeria, established in 2009

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Acclaimed DC chef Kwame Onwuachi is the author of the acclaimed memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef and a former Top Chef contestant. He sits down with HRN’s Hannah Fordin and Mike Hewitt, host of Recruit. Retain. Relax., to talk about the evolution of his career and the ins and outs of running Kath and Kin, his popular Afro-Caribbean restaurant.

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Naomi Pomeroy the chef and owner of Beast, one of Portland’s hottest restaurants, must be getting used to accolades. She’s received best chef nods from Food & Wine and Bon Appetit and been included on Oprah’s Top 10 Women on the Rise list. Marie Claire magazine even called her the next Alice Waters. Naomi talks with Dana Cowin, host of Speaking Broadly, about the secrets to her success, and two passion projects outside of her restaurant.

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Michelle might be a frontrunner for the position of busiest woman in Portland. She is the co-founder of The Nightwood Society, a private dining space that serves as a hub for creative women in Portland’s food scene, hosting events, tastings, and makers markets. Her newest venture is consulting with Burgerville, a chain with close ties to the Pacific Northwest that is currently partnering with Battista and her business partner, Kati Reardon, to procure product from and promote regenerative farming practices. Michelle spoke with Dana Cowin, host of Speaking Broadly, about her various projects.

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Reem Kassis decided to write her first cookbook, The Palestinian Table, while she was on maternity leave from her job at an NGO. She had never cooked professionally, but she knew that she wanted to preserve her Palestinian culinary heritage and share it with her children and the rest of the world. She spoke with HRN’s Hannah Fordin about tracing human history through recipes, finding her voice as an author, and explore Reem’s favorite flavors of the Levant.

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Maya Lovelace has brought elevated Appalachian cuisine to the Pacific Northwest with her celebrated restaurante Yonder and Mae. Maya spoke with Alex McCrery, host of Opening Soon about growing from pop-ups and supper clubs to owning two restaurants, fundraising on Kickstarter, and learning to love the food she grew up with in North Carolina.

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In 2017, Megan Sanchez grew her successful Portland torta truck into a brick and mortar restaurant. Combining the Mexican flavors and Egyptian hospitality of her heritage, her inviting and carefully curated restaurant, Güero is a Portland destination for delicious Mexican sandwiches or tortas. She spoke with HRN’s Hannah Fordin about creating the perfect dining atmosphere, curating rainy lunchtime playlists, scaling up her business, and bringing mezze style dining to Mexican cuisine.

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Gaby Dalkin is an LA based food blogger and author of two books, Absolutely Avocados and What’s Gaby Cooking: Everyday California Food. Gaby spoke with HRN’s Caity Moseman Wadler along with Le Creuset’s Director of Marketing and Communications, Nate Collier about building her successful blog, the beauty and color of California cooking, and teased her forthcoming book.

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In anticipation of Feast Portland coming up on September 12-15, we welcomed two New York-based chefs that are heading to the West Coast. Nick Perkins is the Chef/Co-Owner of the award-winning restaurants Hart’s and Cervo’s, as well as the recently opened wine bar, The Fly, in New York City. Aaron Crowder is Chef and Partner at Cervo’s in New York City where they specialize in cooking seafood inspired by Spain and Portugal. They join us to talk about their beloved neighborhood restaurants and their plans for Feast events (which includes sourcing a mobile rotisserie to pull off Fly-style chicken).

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Dana Cowin speaks with Bonnie Morales, the chef/owner of Kachka in Portland. From the art of toasting to the intersection between politics and restaurants, Bonnie reveals the many ways that being a child of Belarusian immigrants inspires her work—including the incredible family story that inspired her restaurant’s name.

The first-generation American daughter of Belarusian immigrants, Chef Bonnie Morales (née Frumkin) grew up in Chicago in a large family that brought with them the distinctive culture of food and drink of the former Soviet Union. She trained at the Culinary Institute of America, then honed her skills in several of New York and Chicago’s Michelin-starred restaurants including Tru, where she met her future husband and business partner, Israel Morales. In 2014, the Morales’ opened Kachka in Portland, Oregon – their dream restaurant devoted to the food that Bonnie grew up with, inspired by Russia and former Soviet republics such as Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and Uzbekistan. The creative, geometric plating of these dishes at Kachka is evidence of Morales’ design background.

Thanks to our engineer, Aaron Parecki of Stream PDX.

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We're bringing you our highlights from Feast Portland – four days of delicious food and some very deep conversations in an airstream trailer. We begin with one of the most buzzed-about events at Feast Portland this year, Zero Proof, an alcohol-free dinner that brought together chefs including Andrew Zimmern and Michael Solomonov.

Next, we get an insider's look into the history of Portland's dining scene. How did it become the foodie mecca it is today? Elias Cairo of Olympia Provisions interviews one of his mentors, Monique Siu, a key figure in the Portland restaurant scene since she opened Zefiro in 1990.

Joining the HRN team on our trip out west were Andrew Friedman and Dana Cowin. Both of their shows, Andrew Talks to Chefs and Speaking Broadly, feature long-form, in-depth interviews with chefs and food industry insiders. For our Feast coverage, they helped us explore the intersections of food and identity with guests Rachel Yang, Diego Galicia, Rico Torres, and Reem Assil.

The more chefs talked about how their personal history and family ties shaped their culinary identities, the more we noticed that there was one theme that popped up quite a lot: the overwhelming influence of grandmothers. We hear from Emma Bengtsson, Kristen Murray, Maya Lovelace, Jill Keuhler, and Bonnie Morales. Each woman shares an inspiring story about how their grandmothers shaped their lives and culinary aspirations.

We end this week with a short excerpt of Dana Cowin's interview with Jim Meehan. Hear how Meehan envisions the future role of alcohol in restaurants and cocktail culture – especially with the rise of legalized cannabis. It got us wondering if the grass is greener on the other side... a topic we'll explore in next week's Meat + Three!

Love Meat + Three? Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher, follow us on your favorite social media platforms @Heritage_Radio, rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, or drop us a line at ideas@meatandthree.nyc.

Our theme song is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Photo by Aubrie LeGault

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HRN’s Communications Director Kat Johnson ends our coverage of Feast Portland by talking true Appalachian cooking with Maya Lovelace, a fellow Southerner, and the chef behind Mae and a forthcoming Meat + Three spot in Portland. Maya describes working for chef stars Sean Brock and Naomi Pomeroy—and tells us why she thought she’d never open her own restaurant.

Maya Lovelace is bringing Southern flavors and soulful storytelling to Portland, Oregon. After tours in the legendary kitchens of Sean Brock and Naomi Pomeroy, she followed her heart back to the flavors of her North Carolina home, schooling Portland with generous 10-course Southern Appalachian feasts at Mae. After three years as an award winning pop-up (Eater Young Gun 2016,Eater PDX Chef of the Year 2016, James Beard Foundation Awards Rising Star semi-finalist 2017 and 2018, Zagat National 30 under 30 2017, Star Chefs rising star 2018) Maya is finally opening a brick and mortar location with Yonder, a Southern meat & three with Portland charm, coming this year to Northeast Portland.

Thanks to our engineer, Aaron Parecki of Stream PDX.

Music by Breakmaster Cylinder

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Interested in how to pull off an extraordinary food festival that also benefits a great cause? HRN Executive Director Caity Moseman Wadler gets the low-down on Feast Portland’s past, present and future from Elizabeth Roberts, the Assistant Director of the four-day festival.

Thanks to our engineer, Aaron Parecki of Stream PDX.

Music by Breakmaster Cylinder

HRN On Tour is powered by Simplecast.

If you want to understand how Portland, Oregon went from a standard steak and pancake town to one of the most envied culinary scenes in the world, tune into the conversation between guest host Eli Cairo of Olympia Provisions and Monique Siu, his former boss and the owner of Castagna and OK Omens.

Thanks to our engineer, Aaron Parecki of Stream PDX.

Music by Breakmaster Cylinder

HRN On Tour is powered by Simplecast.