Right At The Fork

Now that Ken's Artisan Pizza has officially opened in downtown Bend, we return to our conversation wtih Peter Kost from November of 2023.    ORIGINAL POST: Peter Kost grew up in Seattle, where his love for food was established as the son of farmers who sold their goods at the Seattle Public Market.  Peter's journey has taken him from restaurant work to wine sales to a long stint at Zupans in grocery management to landing his first restaurant, Lucy's Table on NW 21st in Portland.  It was there when he met a fellow by the name of Ken Forkish, from whom he'd buy breads at Ken's Artisan Bakery.  Listen to the podcast to hear how that relationship evolved to the point where Peter became the only one Ken had in mind when he was ready to pass his iconic Ken's Artisan Pizza on to a new generation.  We will hear how Peter is determined to honor the legacy Ken built and get a hint of what his plans are going forward..    Right at the Fork is supported by: Zupan's Markets:   RingSide Steakhouse:   Portland Food Adventures:  

Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:   RingSide Steakhouse:    Portland Food Adventures:    Taking a trip to Tuscany?  You'll want to listen to this episode with Elisa Acciai, who's been a tour guide in Florence for years.  We talk about her journey from being a Concierge at a 5-Star hotel in Florence to becoming a guide in one of the world's most popular destinations, including the requirements to be licensed to do so in Italy.  The balance of family/work life as well. She'll share a few of her recommended restaurants and experiences in Florence and in the Tuscan countryside in this podcast.  Best practices for tipping various services in Italy, a must for all people touring the country. You can visit Elisa with her dearest American "sister," Astrid Ensign to take in the Uffizi and the best historical sites in Florence with Elisa, as well as celebrating the Andrea Falaschi's family's 100th year as the village butcher in San Miniato.  It will be quite an insider's trip featuring the people near and dear to PFA's Astrid, who lived for years in Tuscany, but now makes Portland her home.     Recommended Italy-focused companion podcasts here:        Contact Elisa: Instagram: @elaizatour Facebook: Acciai Elisa Florence Guide Email: [email protected] French Blog:  

This is a must-listen.  Chef Jose Camarena, Executive Chef at Portland's highly regarded República, may just be the youngest guest of over 400 on our podcast.  But you wouldn't know it if we hadn't drawn attention to that fact.  At just 24, he's in a position few others are at his age, and it's easy to see how he got as far as he's gotten at such a young age.   We talk about his family Sunday dinners, how he became interested in the food industry and how his family lineage of hard work in horse grooming instilled in him the grit to work hard to reach success in a tough industry.   We cover some of the places he's worked, who Lalo's Portland mentors have been, including chef Lauro Romero, who passed away two years ago, leaving a huge hole in many hearts.   Chef Lalo will be appearing at Steelport Knife Company on 2/22 in the first of a series of knife skills classes Steelport is putting on at their Sandy Blvd factory, where you can meet him and learn some helpful knife skills.  Stay tuned to Right at the Fork for interviews with more Steelport chefs.   We also talk about his Mazatlan favorite places, as well as his faves in Portland.  And we wish him well with his wedding coming up in March!   @ @ @   Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:   RingSide Steakhouse:    Portland Food Adventures: 

Meg Cotner is a freelance writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon via various other places including California to New York..  Meg publishes Bridgetown Bites, which covers restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, events, and includes opinion pieces, all centering on the Portland food world.. The site focuses on   and  news, while dabbling in reviews and other editorial content.     We talk about what it requires in time and effort to keep up the site, as well as Meg's personal and business objectives and her writing and eating background that led her to Portland and starting her website.   Meg also provides a great list of her favorite places to eat and sip, some off the radar, some on.  It's worth a listen just go be clued into what someone who's out there enjoying and thinking about the food world thinks are places you should go!     Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:   RingSide Steakhouse:    Portland Food Adventures: 

We look back to our conversation with Alexa Numkena-Anderson from July of 2024:   Alexa Numkena-Anderson @cheflex_pdx is enrolled Hopi and is Yakama, Skokomish, Cree and Mexican descent. She was born in Yakima, Washington and grew up in the greater Washington area (Toppenish, Tri-Cites and Fairchild Air Force Base).  After high school Alexa moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue a culinary career and attended Le Cordon Bleu Culinary school while also working as a line cook.  She has worked in many kitchens across the Portland, such as @kingtidepdx (formally Three Degrees) @twr.pdx @sammichportland @imperialportland @headwaterspdx and @bullardtavernpdx as well as working for acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs such as @dougiepdx @vit0bike @lesbianmeatmaker & @lauroromero to name a few. Drawing inspiration from her grandmother, her indigenous heritage . Her grandma Stella of the Yakama Tribe with memories of fry bread, roast beef, and soups as well as her Hopi heritage With the motivations of being a new mother, she is ready to share and continuously learn about her culture’s food. Inspired by other Indigenous chefs she feels it is her responsibility to share and learn about these ancient foods and techniques. Javelina’s main feature is fry bread and even though this food came from necessity, our people were able to make a comfort food that is still found at pow wows and family gatherings to this day. On her culinary journey she discovered the amazing bounty of native ingredients the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Using what the surrounding land has already given them and combining it with Alexa’s culture, skill and vision they hope to create a truly unique story.   Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:   RingSide Steakhouse:    Portland Food Adventures: 

Frank Squillo has had quite a storied career, but as he points out in this episode, there are definite parallels between his career as a radio host and now, as co-owner of the storied Wanda's Cafe and Bakery, a mainstay of the North Oregon Coast that he purchased with his husband in 2019 and has operated since.   We talk about what it takes to run a successful restaurant on the Oregon Coast - the key ingredients in the business and in the recipes.  We'll even go into the things he's learned and how he deals with challenging situations and challenging people.     We talk a bit about life at the coast, the places Frank enjoys most and his involvement in local politics and theater.   Frank shares some anecdotes about his interviews from his radio days with Joe Rogan and his favorite guest, Sammy Hagar, and why both of them are great memories for him.  He even talks about what it took to interview people who really didn't have any interest in being in front of a mic for an interview.   Take a listen and find out more about one of the gentlemen behind the scenes of what host Chris Angelus refers to as a coastal icon, Wanda's Cafe and Bakery.       Right at the Fork is supported by: Zupan's Markets: RingSide Steakhouse: Portland Food Adventures:

Jon Galdos operates a premiere tour company in San Sebastian.  The convergence of his love of travel and thirst for holiday time led him to find this passion almost 20 years ago, during a successful career in engineering.   Jon explains in this interview how he approaches designing experiences for people in one of the most culinary-rich areas of the world, and how he came to love what he does.   Jon has curated some wonderful experiences for host Chris Angelus' Portland Food Adventures groups with Urdaneta in Basque Country.  One of them, a dreamy visit to a 13 generation Basque Pig family farm, gets a little love and time from Jon in our conversation.  It's a must to hear about -- and more importantly, DO!!   Access the PFA trip to Basque Country here:     And Jon's Basque Tours here:     Check out Jon on Instagam: +   Right at the Fork is supported by: Zupan's Markets: RingSide Steakhouse: Portland Food Adventures:

Tyler Malek is the Chef and co-owner of one of Portland's now most iconic brands and restaurants, Salt & Straw.  Now with locations cornering the continental US, Tyler and his cousin Kim have made some serious noise in the ice cream world.   In this episode, Tyler talks about the longshot pitch to Disneyland to be their official ice cream vendor, and how quickly the folks at Disney decided they wanted Portland's Salt & Straw vibe over some of the big, more well-known ice cream brands, like Ben & Jerry's.   Tyler talks about the process of building the store and all that was involved with that with the input from Disney.   Also, Tyler talks about the business of building and using the Salt & Straw brand to its advantage, and what that has meant for growth.   We cover sampling, flavors, staffing, as well as some of the places Tyler loves to go in Portland right now.   This is our third interview with Tyler and that's because he's one of the good guys who has represented the Portland psyche so well.   Right at the Fork is supported by: Zupan's Markets: RingSide Steakhouse: Portland Food Adventures:

We're going back to August of 2022 and our conversation with Aundre Barnes of Urdaneta. ORIGINAL POST: We spend an hour with Aundre Barnes, who has been serving diners at Portland's Urdaneta for the past 7 years. Aundre is a native Portlander and has seen many changes over his years here. He's worked in banking and in voice-over work along the way. He shares with us some of the reasons for his passion and his love of the industry, which run from the soulful experience of gaining first-hand knowledge of Spanish cuisine during Urdaneta's company field trips in addition to his admiration for , whose Basque roots shine through in his unique cuisine. Aundre will share some of his favorite Portland haunts, as well as some of his favorite travel destinations. Disclosure: Right at the Fork host Chris Angelus is associated with Urdaneta and Aundre with his . Right at the Fork is supported by: Zupan's Markets: RingSide Steakhouse: Portland Food Adventures:

To kick off 2025 and Right at the Fork's 12th year, we are pleased to feature a conversation with Bill Oakley, known to many on Instagram as @ThatBillOakley.  Bill is a celebrated food celebrity who is a regular on The Food that Built America and other TV shows.  He discusses some of the food and places featured in his annual Steamie Awards as part of his Steamed Ham Society, both nationally, and special awards for his home base of Portland, Oregon.  Bill talks about how he goes about doing the awards, and why he does them.  It's a real fun hour that is a must for any Portland food lover. Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:   RingSide Steakhouse:    Portland Food Adventures: