EAT BEAT

5 questions for: writer, baker, and pizza pie maker, KEN FORKISH

The local pastry and pizza master (and now book author-to-be!) weighs on what to eat, where to go, and why eaters love living in Portland.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on May 04, 2011 at 09:00AM 1 Comments

Photo: Alan Weiner

Ken Forkish and an oven.

Photo Credit: Alan Weiner

Week after week, Portland peeps are willing to wait an hour for a pie at Ken’s Artisan Pizza. Day after day, their Ken’s Artisan Bakery baguettes are half eaten before they make it home. It’s hard to believe that it all began over a decade ago when proprietor Ken Forkish decided to abandon his career in high tech, sell his Jaguar, and build a bakery—his very first food job. In one year his bakery saw visits from Alice Waters, Jacques Pépin, and André Soltner. And now, as of last week, the bread head (he learned his baguette methods at the San Francisco Baking Institute, he says, and the secret is using the best flour and never taking shortcuts) has a book deal with Ten Speed Press—it will be a cookbook with stories, as well as lots of great photos by Alan Weiner, and should be out in time for the holiday season, 2012.

Can’t wait? We got Ken to fork over his thoughts on his fabulous food and our culinary scenery.

1) How has the bakery scene changed since you got here?

When I opened my bakery in 2001, the two artisan bakeries in town were Pearl and Grand Central. Rosie’s small bakery on SE Division wasn’t well supported and closed, and Black Bear had just closed. Now we have Tim Healea’s excellent Little T American Baker in SE, Sweetpea vegan bakery, Greg Mistell’s Fleur de Lis bakery in NE, Julie Richardson and Matt Kappler’s Baker & Spice in SW, Two Tarts in NW, Nuvrei in the Pearl, and others. Pix was only at the Farmers Market when I opened, but now we also have excellent chocolateries with Verdun, Sahagún, Cacao, and Alma Chocolate. Where else in this country would you find this variety of quality bakeries, pâtisseries, and chocolateries in a town our size? It’s vast change since I opened 10 years ago, when the Atkins and South Beach diets were vilifying all-things starch. Now we embrace all the good stuff! I’m still working out my own plans for what’s next, but I’m thinking of opening a new restaurant in a year or two.

2) Portland seems to be having a gourmet comfort food renaissance—pizza, fried chicken, burgers, etc. What’s your two cents about what’s going on with the local culinary scene?

I’m a very big fan. I travel a few times each year and always look forward to returning home to restaurants where having quality food doesn’t require an increase in the formality of the dining room. When I opened my bakery, the kitchen talent was all in fine dining; now the talent is also in more relaxed places serving high quality food that embraces our seasonal produce, in an atmosphere appealing to a broader range of people. Look at the busiest restaurants in town: Toro Bravo, Tasty n Sons, Pok Pok, and Laurelhurst Market food and definitely not white tablecloth. What we have here is an embrace of the casual, a Portland-specific idea of what a restaurant needs to look and act like, a growing population supporting our homegrown restaurants as a principal form of entertainment, and an economy that allows younger chefs to open and run their own restaurants. I think the infusion of youth in the ownership ranks was a necessary force in our town’s dining out evolution.

3) What’s your perfect pizza experience?

Tricky question! My perfect pie changes with my mood or the season. I prefer simple toppings of the highest quality: perfect cherry tomatoes in the summer, or, right now, our Finnochiona pizza made with Olympic Provisions salami—you can taste the quality of the meat and the cure, and we counterpoint the fennel seed in the salami with shaved fennel on the pie. As for a drink-and-pizza pairing, more often than not I’ll go to a Sangiovese such as a good Chianti or a Rosso di Montalcino from Siro Pacenti, but I’m also happy with a nice Pinot from Cameron, Chehalem, Grochau Cellars, Evesham Wood, or J. Christopher, or a Barbera from Piedmont. Nothing wrong with a cold Pilsner, either, or a good rosé. Afterward, give me ice cream or my pizzeria’s lambrusco-rhubarb sorbetto and a cookie, please. If I’m feeling groovy, maybe a shot of grappa at the end.

4) How did you learn to make your ridiculously addictive canelés?

I didn’t learn canelés from anyone, but 15 years ago I had a French girlfriend and she introduced me to canelés at Poujauran’s boulangerie in Paris. They tasted of honey, almonds, and cake, with a perfectly crispy outside, and I was immediately intrigued. I searched them out at other Paris shops and became acquainted with the variety of styles, from lightly baked and custardy in the middle (not my thing) to a little more cakey in the middle and crisp on the outside. For a small fortune, I purchased a bunch of the copper molds at E. Dehillerin in Paris and went to work with a couple different recipes until I found the texture and flavor I like. Key is lining the inside of the molds with melted beeswax before pouring in the batter. Keep your eyes open for the next issue of The Art of Eating, in which Molly Wizenberg wrote a feature on canelés. She interviewed me along with Pierre Herme (!). Okay, he’s the king of pastry and I’m this little guy in PDX, but I got a kick out of being a source for the same article.

5) Where are you loving eating right now?

I have many favorite restaurants, from long-termers like Paley’s Place, Higgins, and Park Kitchen, to the usual suspects like Pok Pok, Toro Bravo, Grüner, Le Pigeon, and Little Bird. Lincoln, Ned Ludd, Nostrana, and Biwa are also high on my go-to list. Of the newer openings, I’m particularly fond of June, and Kin on NW 14th wins my “best restaurant that’s least appreciated” nod—I’m currently craving Kevin’s pork buns. Then there are two restaurants that get no press but have loyal followings and I love them: Ciao Vito and Bastas both have excellent Italian food and wine lists. When I eat out, the wine list is something I enjoy in addition to the scene, the food, and the décor. Just saying.

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Tags: Books, Interview, five questions, Pizza, Bakery

Chef-ish Q & A: Matt Jacobson

Tasty tidbits from the co-owner of Sizzle Pie and the Quality Bar, opening soon on East Burnside.

Posted by: Anna Sachse on Sep 29, 2010 at 11:30AM 7 Comments

Sizzle Pie and the Quality Bar will soon be feeding hungry Eastside office workers and late-night party goers.

Folks who frequently stumble out of Rontoms wishing they had consumed a few less beers and a lot less cigarettes will soon have a place to sop up the alcohol and their shame: in preparation for a “sometime before Halloween” opening, Sizzle Pie and the Quality Bar has been steadily cleaning up the act at 624 East Burnside, with a dazzling sign and the same exterior burgundy-and-black paint job that graces about 101-percent of the hipster havens in Los Angeles. Scheduled to be open Lunch to Late Night, including serving up slices until at least 3:30 a.m. on the weekends, this all-new pizza pub is the brainchild of Mikey McKennedy, co-owner of the popular vegan dive bar, Tube, at 18 Northwest 3rd Avenue in Old Town, and Matt Jacobson, founder/owner of the 20-year-old indie music label, Relapse Records.

“We’re both passionate about pizza and wanted to bring it together with other things we love—art, music, good beer, and Portland,” says Jacobson.

Here’s what else he had to say:

1) Can you give us a sneak-peek at the stats on Sizzle so that we can brag to our friends that we’re in the know?

We will offer what I would characterize as an East Coast-influenced thin-crust pizza, with a focus on farm-direct ingredients. We’ll have all the classic topping combinations, as well as a nice selection of veggie/vegan pies and our own recipes, like a super-spicy pizza featuring Secret Aardvark hot sauce as the base with hot peppers on top! In addition to pizza-by-the-pie or by-the-slice, the plan is for the menu to also include Stromboli, grinders, and ice cream from our new neighbor, Fifty Licks—we expect to have the full range of flavors, but we will absolutely have Stumptown Coffee, Maple with Bacon, and Slabtown Whiskey. And we’ll have a full bar showcasing local spirits, wine, and Oregon beers like HUB, Ninkasi, and Amnesia.

2) How do you personally like your pizza?

Thin and a bit crispy with a mug of local IPA.

3) With so many pizzazz-y pizzerias in town, what will make Sizzle stand out?

First off, we will have pizza by the slice and be open late—two things that many pizza shops in town don’t do. Also, I think our location and vibe will set us apart. The space used to be a hair salon, most recently, and we basically gutted it and put in all new systems. We had to remove much of the wonderful fir floor, but we were able to salvage the wood and use it, along with some reclaimed church pews, to build our booths. We will have a great jukebox filled with a range of indie/rock/metal music like the Pixies and lots of local bands like Red Fang, plus ever-changing art on display and a back patio!!!

4) What made you decide that lower East Burnside was THE place to plop down?

So much is happening on East Burnside and in the surrounding area in terms of art, music, nightlife, creative businesses, the skatepark, and so on… it’s one of the most vibrant parts of town. It’s also just across the river from downtown and a major gateway to the Eastside. I feel like we will be creating a unique place in a unique area of one of the coolest cities in the country.

5) If you could have any band in the world play at your opening, who would it be?

That is a really, really tough question. Maybe Metallica during the Master of Puppets era, Slayer on the “South of Heaven” tour, or the Melvins, just because they rule.

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Tags: Restaurant Openings, Bar Openings, five questions, Pizza, Eastside Dining