Robert Reynolds Chefs Studio

Robert Reynolds Chefs Studio launches a Sunday Dinner Series hosted by the studio’s extended family of chefs, culinary writers, and food artisans.

September 27-November 15

$85 PRICE FOR EACH SUNDAY DINNER INCLUDES FOUR COURSES

PAIRED WITH HAND-SELECTED WINES (service not included)

TO RESERVE A SEAT, CONTACT CAMAS DAVIS AT CAMAS.DAVIS@GMAIL.COM OR 503-347-5540

As fall tiptoes into our lives, my mind turns from a summer spent doing as much of nothing as possible to the necessary business of the season ahead. I preserve the season’s first apricots and last tomatoes. I sweep up the summer’s light dust from the floor. I rearrange, retool, and rethink. And, most importantly, I take stock of things past and things to come as I prepare myself for the year of classes and dinners that lies ahead.

Lately, I’ve given much thought to the ever-growing family that defines my Chefs Studio. I may be the brain and name behind the Studio, but it’s the talented and inspiring people—be they professional chefs, new and former students, food writers, trend makers, artists, winemakers, or salt-of-the-earth farmers—who continue to come in and out of these doors that really make the Studio a dynamic, creative place of learning and sharing.

To that end, then, the Studio will be launching a Sunday Dinner Series devoted to introducing our extended family to the people of Portland. For eight Sundays in a row, one guest chef will prepare a family supper for 14 people. They’ll host each dinner alongside one of two local food writers. And they’ll be accompanied by a rotating team of Studio graduates who are each making their name as Portland’s new culinary artisans. While sipping and dining you’ll be able to talk with each chef as they prepare your meal. Around the table, you’ll get the chance to engage in lively discussion with chefs and hosts alike, as well as with the new people seated next to you. Come and join us. Get to know the Studio family tree. Eat well.

MEET THE CHEFS:

[1] September 27, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Chris Israel

I have known Chris since my San Francisco days. He used to come to Le Trou, my restaurant. After heading up the kitchens at Saucebox, Bluehour, and 23Hoyt, he’s about to embark on a new venture in Portland: Gruner, a restaurant specializing in northern European flavors and traditions. I love watching him work. He executes food with grace and beautiful gestures. Come taste, and learn about his new restaurant, watch how his love of design informs his food, ask him all the questions you like.

[2] October 4, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Cory Schreiber

Cory and I also met long ago in San Francisco, well before he helped start Portland’s legendary Wildwood restaurant. Our friendship is built on the most thoughtful conversations. He’s a visionary that gets things done. He just completed a lovely cookbook with Julie Richardson of Portland’s Baker and Spice bakery, which earned recent notoriety in Gourmet magazine, and he’s coming off of a job with the State of Oregon to reform the school lunch program. Come, talk, listen, eat, taste, get a sense of Cory’s role in shaping Portland’s food scene, and find out where he thinks it’s going next.

[3] October 11, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Nong Poonsukwattana

I can usually tell when a prospective student is serious about taking my classes. They always exhibit a unique combination of joie de vivre and endless ambition. While Nong is not a student, her presence and persistence reminds me of the qualities I seek in them. Many times more than once a week I feed my soul at her food cart, Nong’s Khao Man Gai, which serves only one perfect, beautiful meal: chicken steeped in a fragrant broth and served with a flavorful sauce of ginger, garlic, fermented soy beans, and chiles on top of tender rice. A warming Chinese winter squash soup accompanies this concise and delicious package of Thai comfort food. No wonder she’s developed such a cult following in so little time. Come see what else Nong has up her culinary sleeve.

[4] October 18, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Courtney Sproule

Courtney came to study with me and demonstrated that she is the real thing. I was careful not to influence her own unique brand of culinary talent. Now she’s helping me teach my new students. When she works with them, the learning curve is seamless and great fun. She also runs Din Din, a caravansary of flavors, presenting dinners around town, catering events, and generally providing merriment and feasting for everyone. It’s a bit underground, but she’s on the map, and you won’t have to look far to find talk of her.

[5] October 25, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Vitaly Paley

A collaboration between two people is a wonderful thing, among three is rarer. Wife-and-husband-team Kimberly and Vitaly locked themselves in a room with me for one year, and we wrote. We laughed, (never cried), argued, repeated, formed ideas, and fashioned a beautiful book together, The Paley’s Place Cookbook, which earned Best American Regional Cookbook award from Condé Nast when it came out last year. Come enjoy Vitaly’s food, his company, and generosity.

[6] November 1, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Cathy Whims

After Navarre owner and chef John Taboada studied with me in France, he serendipitously followed a friend to Portland. He wrote me back in France, and told me he found Cathy Whims at Genoa, and negotiated an apprenticeship. He had no way of knowing that I knew Cathy. I love the threads that connect our lives. Somehow Cathy is always connecting me to new, wonderfully talented people. As a friend likes to say of Cathy, “That girl can cook!” Now, she’s in her stride at Nostrana. Come, sit, and enjoy the Whims experience. It’s unparalleled.

[7] November 8, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Blake Van Rokel

Blake is an artist. Let me say it again, Blake is an artist. It’s in her bones, it is her soul. The results of her hard work and application are unsurpassed. I’d watch her, as my student, mid-preparation, lift a vibrant, red-veined chard leaf toward the skylight as she photographed it. I, however, was thinking the chard leaf was coming to me as part of a dish. “Blake… ” I’d call her back. And when you ate her lasagna with gorgonzola and chard, you felt like you’d never eaten before. She’s on the radar now as the sole founder and powerhouse behind Keuken, an “eating by design” dinner series that brings together artist, chef, and diner in a collaborative evening feast. Come and be serenaded.

[8] November 15, 6:30 PM

Dinner with Ken Rubin

Ken Rubin is an educator and a culinary anthropologist, not to mention an extremely talented chef. s the director of Art Institute of Portland’s new Culinary Institute, he’s introducing students to his own thoughtful brand of food education. When I want the big culinary picture, I go to Ken. “Where did this dish come from?” I might ask. “You mean, originally?” he’ll say. For the pat 14 years, Ken has nurtured a deep interest in the indigenous and regional cuisines of Mexico. His menu for the last Sunday Dinner will help tell a story about indigenous culture in transition while showcasing techniques born from a cultural history that centers on the continuity of survival and rebirth. The food will be bright, bold and memorable—and it will likely represent be the first time the scents of epazote and jalapeños have wafted through the studio.

MEET YOUR HOSTS:

CAMAS DAVIS: Camas has been my most recent re-connection to France. When Camas, a food writer and editor who has worked at Saveur magazine in New York and Portland Monthly, told me about her interest in butchery, I hooked her up with Kate Hill. Kate, a cooking teacher in Gascony, and I have worked together to offer culinary training at the source in France, giving meaning to the ideas of soil, season and culture. Kate had no trouble connecting Camas with a family of pig butchers. The current Chef Studio will send three students to Kate’s culinary retreat in November. Come hear about Camas’ experience butchering and eating in France while enjoying the warmth and humor of her hospitality as she hosts a series of visiting chefs and cooks.

MIKE THELIN: Mike is smart, funny, and a wise student of human nature. He has fingers in many pies and is thus an ultimate Portland connector. As chair of the committee for the International Association of Cooking Professionals conference upcoming in April 2010, he’ll breathe new life into the historic conference, and give Portland a stage to brag about its progressive culinary scene. He writes, cooks, and is a talented trend-watcher as a journalist for Portland Monthly. He sets a social, delicious table, and so when he hosts at the Studio, you will leave with a smile.