Samantha Bakall

Days after the Eagle Creek fire, a haze of choking smoke settled over Portland. It turned the sun and moon an ominous blood orange and forced many to wear specially rated masks to combat the unhealthy air quality. Across Oregon, that same smoke drifting off the more than 600,000 acres currently burning have blown through some of the state’s largest and most prominent wine regions, putting grapes at risk for developing what winemakers and scientists call “smoke taint.” As Oregon […]

Categories: Writing

Twenty-five years ago, the only places to find sake in the United States were Japanese restaurants and Asian grocery stores. “It was brutal,” said Marcus Pakiser, vice president of the sake category at Young’s Market. “You didn’t really see these imports in America. I would go in to accounts to sell sake and they would say, ‘We don’t get any Asians here,’ or, ‘We don’t do sushi.’ ” In the years since, few other American cities have embraced the Japanese […]

Categories: Writing

Last year, Laurelhurst Market chef Ben Bettinger started serving a smoked-chicken sandwich topped with what he called an “Alabama white sauce” in the Northeast Portland steakhouse’s parking lot. The only problem? Before launching the restaurant’s pop-up and its spin-off restaurant, Big’s Chicken, Bettinger had never heard of the style. That puts Bettinger in good company. Though it seems to be popping up on menus throughout the city, one of Portland’s most name-checked new barbecue styles is one you’re probably unfamiliar with. When […]

Categories: Writing

Big’s Chicken, which began as a series of “Five-Napkin Chicken” events in Laurelhurst Market’s parking lot, already looks like the spin-off hit of the summer. The restaurant, found inside the former Big Ass Sandwiches storefront and co-owned by Laurelhurst Market co-owners Ben Dyer, Jason Owens, David Kreifels and chef Ben Bettinger, smokes and grills whole chickens basted in Alabama White Gold barbecue sauce, boneless thighs for sandwiches, smokes and deep fries wings and plates up savory sides such as dirty […]

Categories: Writing