Samantha Bakall

Journalist. Photographer. Professional eater.

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Will wildfires affect the taste of Oregon’s wines?

September 15, 2017 by 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

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Why Australian coffee gem Proud Mary built its first U.S. cafe in Portland

July 1, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

Have you heard about Australia’s coffee culture? Among the subcontinent’s other culinary movements, the cafe scene is red hot, firing off trends faster than we can keep up with them. Avocado toast? They created it. Starbucks’ “new” coffee drink, the flat white? It comes from the land down under. Nolan Hirte hopes to bring a taste of that culture to Portland, one $20 coffee at a time. Last week, Hirte opened the first U.S. location of noted Melbourne cafe-meets-restaurant Proud Mary on […]

Categories: Writing • Tags: coffee

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Sake City USA: How Portland became the Japanese rice wine capital of America

June 21, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

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

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What is Alabama-style barbecue and why is it suddenly everywhere?

June 15, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

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

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Where do we go from here? Chefs weigh in on Portland’s cultural appropriation debate

June 6, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

Portland has found itself at the center of a national controversy after the recent closure of a two-day-a-week burrito pop-up accused of cultural appropriation — wantonly cooking the food of other countries, arguably at the expense of people from those very cultures. Judging from the furor kicked up, the cultural appropriation debate around Portland food won’t be going away anytime soon. Some of Portland’s most successful restaurants are run by white chefs: Pok Pok, Bollywood Theater and Por Que No, each serving […]

Categories: Writing • Tags: cultural appropriation

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Big’s Chicken smokes up the sandwich of the summer: Scouting Report

May 25, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

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

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What is Cinco de Mayo? Portland-area Mexican chefs explain what the holiday means to them

May 3, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

The history behind Cinco de Mayo, which marks an unlikely Mexican victory over France, is, frankly, a little dry. In the early 1860s, after years of wars, the Mexican Treasury was bankrupt, forcing the government to suspend all its foreign debts. France, Britain and Spain sent their navies to Veracruz to demand payment. Britain and Spain negotiated and withdrew, but France, seeking to carve an empire out of Mexican territory, stormed Veracruz with an army of 6,000, then made their […]

Categories: Writing • Tags: Portland

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Scratch your soup dumpling itch at North Portland’s XLB: Scouting Report

March 28, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

Xiaolongbao, the Shanghai-style soup dumplings that have reached cult status in recent years, are tricky to construct. Their thin, manifold skin has to be capable of containing not just a pork filling, but the slowly liquefying broth inside as well. They’re a dumpling that’s eluded many restaurants in town, and for a time, they eluded Jasper Shen. Now, after practicing his dumpling-folding technique with a pop-up at his former restaurant, Aviary, and making plenty of visits to venerable Seattle dumpling temple Din Tai […]

Categories: Writing • Tags: dumplings, Portland, restaurant reviews, xlb

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Why some of Portland’s hottest restaurants are counting on counter service

March 2, 2017 by Samantha Bakall

The 30-minute line for a table at North Portland’s recently opened XLB snaked around the entire waiting area on a chilly, but dry Tuesday night. Some sipped squat glasses of wine or golden-hued pints of beer. Others sat patiently, faces illuminated by the fluorescent menu advertising steamed buns, pan-fried noodles and the restaurant’s eponymous dumplings, xiaolongbao, while waiting for their turn to order dinner. Like many of the year’s first restaurant openings in Portland — including torteria Guero and best-of-Beijing spot Danwei Canting — XLB only offers counter service. […]

Categories: Writing • Tags: counter service, dining trends, Portland, Restaurants

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My Work

  • Photography
  • Writing

Recent Posts

  • Will wildfires affect the taste of Oregon’s wines?
  • Why Australian coffee gem Proud Mary built its first U.S. cafe in Portland
  • Sake City USA: How Portland became the Japanese rice wine capital of America
  • What is Alabama-style barbecue and why is it suddenly everywhere?
  • Where do we go from here? Chefs weigh in on Portland’s cultural appropriation debate

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