Right at the Fork

Joel Gunderson comes by RATF to talk about his second venture with Chef Aaron Barnett, Heavenly Creatures. Joel talks how the pandemic has reshaped hospitality, and also resets  Portland back to something that resembles the spirit of 2010, when he and Barnett opened Restaurant St. Jack. Joel reminisces about meeting Aaron while partying and how Aaron encouraged him to familiarize himself with wine so they could open a restaurant together in Portland. Joel has since uncorked wine programs at 11 restaurants in Portland, shaping a storied career that's got many tasty years ahead of him. 

Support Tommy Habetz and his family as he recovers here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-brookie-and-the-kids 

 

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

We start out 2023, Right at the Fork's 10th season streaming with in-depth interviews with the players in the Portland food scene, with a new series called "Where Are They Now?"  Sarah Hart, formerly of Alma Chocolate, joins us this time as a seasoned Psychotherapist.  She left the business when she sold Alma to Moonstruck Chocolate a few years back.  Sarah was immersed in our food scene with her alluring chocolate shops and retail business, as well as being a fixture at the Portland Farmers Market for years.  She found the business unsustainable after years of toiling away, and decided it was time for something else.  Sarah talks about her childhood in Missouri, years in Portland and what she thinks of the changed landscape now, both food-wise and socio-economically.  We also hear about some of Sarah's favorite haunts.   Sarah's practice can be found here:  https://sarahharttherapy.com/   Two prior interviews with Sarah on Right at the Fork can be found here:   http://rightatthefork.com/shows/tag/Sarah+Hart  

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

Our most frequent guest Gary the Foodie joins us to round out a year where he hasn't traveled to other cities as much as he has historically, so we'll hear about his favorite Portland spots and what he's looking forward to going forward.  We will discuss his objectivity toward his friends' restaurants, namely Gregory Gourdet's Kann and Ryan and Elena Roadhouse of Nodoguro.   We move on to Gary's disinterest in traveling and the seemingly scuttled plans to move out of the Portland area.   We'll also break some news to some listeners about Feast Portland.  Spoiler alert!! Baseball talk at the end.  

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

We talk to Erik Hernandez, and his journey from Los Angeles and the Far East working on brands like K-Swiss and Adidas to Portland, where he connected with his wife, his former intern, at her Studio Noyes to develop a Portland-based footwear brand, Mise Footwear, geared toward chefs and those who work in kitchens.   We hear Erik talk about how he started out contacting Portland chefs to get their feedback and trust as they began building the brand.  After going into production during the pandemic, Erik and his team had to navigate supply chain issues to get the initial orders on the feet of his first customers.  Among other topics covered are some of the issues around celebrity sports stars endorsements and their input into their branded shoes.   MISE launched preorders in December 2021 and is now shipping in the US via their website misefootwear.com.    

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

Geoff Latham of Nicky USA, whose business keeps him in the heart of the Portland food world, talks about the insane tribulations of running a business in the Southeast Industrial District and how business neighbor Salt & Straw's Kim Malek's reasoned and public thoughts of moving the company's headquarters away from Portland finally sparked action from city leaders.  Geoff will take us through what it feels like to worry about employee and family safety while paying taxes in a city that has had no plan to protect its citizens and businesses from intense vandalism and other crimes.   We also hear from Geoff about some of his favorite spots, new and older.   www.nickyusa.com  

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

Jacob & Sons' Noah Jacob joins us to take us through his journey that started as a filmmaker and director of documentaries in NYC, where he fell in love with the Jewish deli culture.  After interning and experiencing some of the greats in New York, Jacob and his family moved west to California, where they started a catering business with large corporations as clients. The business was thriving, until the pandemic hit.  Overnight, orders and events were canceled, and there was no business.  

  His next move was back to where he grew up, Portland.  The plan was to open a brick and mortar restaurant, starting with pop-ups featuring all the great food he was making, using fine Northwest products and traditional Jewish deli practices and recipes.  Eventually, he opened wholesale and retail operation, supplying stores like Zupan's with his superior smoked fish and other products,  including his traditional rye bread.  Listen to Noah's story and a fun discussion on traditional Jewish smoked salmon versus the Northwest variety.   

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com 

Chris and Cort do something different for Black Friday, and bring you their suggest gifts for the holidays in 2022.  Hear their list of great local items, tech ideas... nuts, socks and more!

Suggestions from Chris included:

• Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com
• RingSideSteakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com
• The Meadow: www.TheMeadow.com
• Tidbyt: www.tidbyt.com
• Vivienne: www.viviennepdx.com
• Finex: www.finexusa.com
• Steelport Knife Co.: www.steelportknife.com
• Peak Design

 

Cort's suggestions:

• Brooke Paints: www.BrookePaints.com
• Black Book Guitars: www.blackbookguitars.com 
• Pacific Hazelnuts: www.pacifichazelnuts.com 
• Avenue Sweets: www.avenuesweets.com 
• Kevin Carroll's A Kids Book About Belonging: www.kckatalyst.com 
• Bombas Socks: www.bombas.com 
• See Cort in the Nutcracker December 2 or 3, 2022: https://www.etix.com/ticket/o/11869/fired-updanceacademy 

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

Going all the way back to September... of this year! And our conversation with Mariah and Thomas Pisha-Duffly:

On the heels of our discussion with @garythefoodie last week, when he suggested Mariah and Thomas Pisha-Duffly could be considered as part of the new guard of Portland's lauded restaurateurs, we invited the creative couple on the podcast to talk about how they got to where they are today.

They share how they met in Boston's dive-bar world, travels to Indonesia, and how they learned to love what they do creating pop-ups in two Portlands. We begin with how they weathered the pandemic, having just opened Gado Gado months before the hammer came down. (Plus a new baby!!)

Finally, stick with this fun interview to the end, where host Chris prompts both Marian and Thomas to talk about what they love about each other.

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

Dan Hart, founder of Prost, Stammtisch, Interurban and The Bantam Tavern joins us to talk about how Portland's first food cart pod with a pub attached to it came to be, in addition to its expansion to Bend. 

We will talk about his bartending and love of skiing in his Eugene and California days, and how that led him to Portland.  We'll also touch on his favorite spots to go in Portland, as we usually do. 

Listen in for a very nice list of Dan's suggestions, which begin with his places!!  You'll really want to go after hearing the genesis of his establishments.

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

Ron Khormaei doesn't sit still.  From an early age when he left oppressive Iran for Switzerland and then Oregon, to his noteworthy academic pursuits in engineering, to navigating the corporate world to round out his skillsets.

  We talk to Ron about his journey to Oregon and his eventual stamping the best aspects of Portland into his cookware and knife products.   There's a lot of food for thought in so much Ron says in this interview.  Any entrepreneur or fellow Oregonian would appreciate the wisdom and spirit Mr. Khormaei imparts in this hour-plus talk.    See his products at www.steelportknife.com  

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com