Amanda Hesser Shares Her Favourite Portland Bites

Welcome to the most recent version of Food52 Founder Amanda Hesser’s weekly publication, Hey There, It’s Amanda, full of food, journey, and purchasing ideas, Food52 doings, and different issues that catch her eye. Get impressed—sign up here for her emails.

Sometime I want to have a purpose to have a “cheese coaster” because the centerpiece of my dinner desk. I haven’t but found out a fair vaguely believable rationale, however I’m going to. I noticed this mahogany magnificence, which glides on brass casters, on the Stissing House Craft Feast final weekend. You possibly can roll your 10-pound wedge of Stilton or Parm throughout the desk for serving. This one-of-a-kind cheese coaster is offered at Curio Shop.

Nea created her personal vacation wreath (made from meringue, cream, and berries) and tower (made from crisped prosciutto, potato chips, and cheese, ofc).

We relaunched three of Jens Quistgaard’s Dansk Pepper Mills final week and will likely be producing many extra within the years to come back (he designed greater than 70!). We encourage you to gather all of them, like this couple, who’ve assembled practically 50 Quistgaard peppermills of their Higher West Facet condominium. I’m beginning with this one.

Final week I used to be in Portland, Oregon, for a Schoolhouse photograph shoot. Schoolhouse, the lighting and residential furnishings firm, is our sibling model. Lighting photograph shoots contain a variety of quick electrical work, fixture sharpening, set constructing, and tweaking. We labored with photographer George Barberis—try his work here.

Whereas I used to be there, worlds collided when Schoolhouse held a e book occasion of their retailer for Leslie Stephens, who writes the wildly standard Morning Person publication. Leslie additionally occurs to be a former Food52 editor! And her debut novel, You’re Safe Here, got here out earlier this yr.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t embody some recs from my Portland meals outings:

Rangoon Bistro: Higher Burmese meals than I had in Burma! Get the tea leaf salad, after all, but additionally the wat cho, or braised pork shoulder

Cafe Olli: Wooden fired pizzas, puntarelle salad, and a dazzlingly good chocolate cake.

JinJu Patisserie: I went for the croissants, however the blueberry scone was the winner.

Canard: he steam burgers are superb, as anybody in Portland will let you know, however in the event you’re into cocktails with a savory edge, don’t miss the “Room With A Vieux,” which is made with Japanese whiskey, rye, oloroso, Averna, and…matsutake shoyu.

Final week, I shared our holiday-season sleeper hits. This week, I’m sharing the tendencies:

• Cookware and knives are trending down. Folks bought a variety of pots, pans, and knives in the course of the pandemic, and the advantage of prime quality cookware and instruments is that they final for years, so persons are changing them much less usually. A problem for our enterprise, however good for the world.

• Wreaths & Garlands are one other space the place competitors has elevated—our new wreath designs have carried out properly, however our core assortment hasn’t. So we’ll be discovering you extra new, new, new wreaths!

• Tableware is taking off for us—persons are shopping for all method of plates, glassware and cutlery. Gen Z likes to entertain at residence.

• Playfulness is in. We’re seeing merchandise similar to this pasta keychain and this banana menorah fly.

For those who’re into work, enthusiastic about work, speaking about work—I’m!—then try our CEO’s new Substack, The Great Ones Play Hurt.

Let’s get this week wrapped so we are able to benefit from the vacation!

Amanda