Chef Crush

~swoon~

Another Taste of the Nation event has come and gone, and we Crush Girls couldn’t be more enamored of our local cookin’ cuties. Aren’t we the luckiest diners? Here are some of our favorites from this year…

Gabriel @ Davis Street Tavern

duck breast with apricot chutney on brioche

Patricia @ La Calaca Comelona (A fave from last year!)

beef quesadillas

Ben @ Celilo

pork rillettes

Matthew and Eric @ Firehouse

rosemary lamb sausage

Dustin @ Wildwood

chilled asparagus soup with creme fraiche

John @ Pazzo (Who’s the cutie on the left?)

fig bellinis & smoked marlin-wrapped asparagus

Ian @ Fenouil

salmon tartare

Laurel @ Alberta Street Oyster Bar and Grill

tuna tartare

Jose Luis @ Andina

purple potatoes with shredded chicken and aji amarillo

And last, but certainly not least, our award for Taste of the Nation: Portland Chef Crush 2009 goes to…

Ray @ Nuestra Cocina

chicharron con salsa verde

I simply couldn’t stand it any longer. I’ve had the HUGEST chef crush on this culinary creatrix for ages now, but she’s a little camera shy. So finally I decided to just post a photo of her fantastic food and be done with it…

JANIS @ Tanuki (503) 241-7667
413 NW 21st Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97209

Why she’s dreamy:
Addictive Japanese “bar food” at startlingly reasonable prices. Fish so fresh, you expect it to flop over on your plate. Just look at this hamachi sashimi with true wasabi that she slyly presented in the shape of a lobster tail! I love a clever cook who can make us drool and smile. A recent uni onigiri blew my mind, and soup specials are not to be missed. The menu changes daily, so I recommend you decide on a dollar amount per person, sit back, and let her send out whatever the heck she feels like. Fair warning: this is food that begs for one sake after another, after another, after another…

ALEX @ Besaw’s (503) 228-2619
2301 NW Savier Street, Portland, Oregon, 97210

Why he’s dreamy:
The plate of bite-sized scones that appears on the breakfast table with coffee before I’ve even ordered is enough to make me adore this chipper chef crush. The scrambled eggs with brie, tomato, and scallions is a perfect savory start to the day, and you can’t go wrong with any of the sweet delights off the griddle. His morning morsels are so tasty, I can’t seem to make lunch or dinner, but I’m willing to bet the evening crew is just as crushable…

excuse me everyone

i’m sorry. i know that google has said malware/badware is running through here.

i THINK i have it taken care of. cross your fingers.

however

i have to stop comments from being quite so freely made.

only registered members who are logged in will be able to comment. if you want to be a registered member, please write to:

crushgirl1 @ chefcrush . com

get rid of the gaps. i put them in because i’m anti-bot at the moment. i’ll try to get a “contact us” page put in soon. prove to the crush girl that you’re a person and not an evil bot, and i’m sure she will enter you as a member. then you’ll be able to comment.

if i unlinked from you, i apologize. let us know.
if i dropped a comment of yours incorrectly, i apologize.
and i really am sorry i had to delete members. just let us know and we’ll get you set up again.

i’m just trying to get the place clean and keep it that way.

sincerely,
uncrushed, hungry, anonymous tech person

MIKE @ The Country Cat (503) 408-1414
7937 SE Stark Street, Portland, Oregon, 97215

Why he’s dreamy:
We love the porktastic whole hog plate- rolled belly, brined chop, & smoked shoulder on South Carolina grits- it brings out the simpering Southern Belles in us. Criminally crispy, juicy fried chicken is either the perfect comfort food dinner or a great hangover-curing brunch. The pecan spoonbread that accompanies the bird for breakfast is truly addicting, kind of like the cuties in this open kitchen.

COLIN @ Por Que No? (503) 467-4149
3524 N. Mississippi Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97227

Why he’s dreamy:
Tasty tacos on fresh, handmade tortillas in a variety of flavors. You can’t go wrong with any of the meat options, but our hearts beat fastest for the cornmeal-crusted snapper, juicy pollo asado, and tinga, shredded beef in a smoky chile sauce. The brunch-only chilaquiles are an excellent hangover cure (not that we would ever overindulge or anything) and plausible excuse for face time with this ultra-adorable cook.

KRIS and BEN @ Ping (503) 229-7464
102 NW 4th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97209

Why they’re dreamy:
Tasty skewers of various meats, fish, and veggies. We’re partial to the Vietnamese style short ribs, spicy Chiang Mai sausage, and house-made fish balls. The ramen is a (cheap!) huge bowl of slurptastic noodles, prawns, and bouncy pork. We’re not sure what bouncy pork is exactly, but we like it. And “carrot cake” is not a very apt description of the nonya dish, but once you taste it, it will grow on you like a bad drug addiction. Catch a counter seat and satisfy your cute cook cravings while you nosh on food you’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in town…

SUSIE @ Broder (503) 736-3333
2508 SE Clinton Street, Portland, Oregon, 97202

Why she’s dreamy:
Who else has ever made you crave Swedish food for breakfast? The tasty sampler bords, baked scrambles, and hash are all great ways to kick off your day, but it’s the adorable aebelskivers that inspire our affection. They’re like a donut and a pancake all in one…Crushtastic!

Well Crushers and Crushettes, your Crush Girls have been ridiculously busy so far this year. CG2 is busting her cute butt in the kitchen of one of Portland’s top restaurants, and CG1 is immersed in her current performance project. However, we’ve been hankering to try the new places that have popped up recently and of course visiting our old favorites, so many crushes loom on the horizon. In other news…

CG1 will be on tour in Canada in July/August and is looking for Chef Crush recommendations in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Edmonton. If you know of any kitchen cuties in those cities making delicious vittles, please email CrushGirl1 with your suggestions so she doesn’t have to live on Denny’s and fast food. She thanks you. Her stomach thanks you.

We recently got a copy of Fed Up, the newest Gourmet Girl Mystery from our friends the authors, Susan Conant and Jessica Conant-Park. Thanks for remembering us, ladies! We cannot recommend enough this fun, fast, foodie read. And best of all, recipes for the tantalizing dishes described in the book are included! Yum! You should definitely check out the whole series if you enjoy mystery novels and good food.

And speaking of good food, our favorite foodie event of the year, Share our Strength’s Taste of the Nation: Portland, is coming up April 27, 2009. This is an excellent opportunity to sample food from a bunch of Portland’s top restaurants while contributing to a worthy charity at the same time. Please check out the website and consider indulging for a good cause. We’ll definitely be there…It’s Chef Crush heaven! All those hotties and all those vittles in one place…Swoon!

We’re signing off for now, but don’t forget to tell us if you know a crush-worthy cook out there…

JAMIE & ALEX @ Biwa (503) 239-8830
215 SE 9th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97214

Why they’re dreamy:
Every darn thing on the menu. Yes, Biwa is one of our favorite chef crush destinations, due in no small part to these two cuties. Have we mentioned that CG1 has a thing for cooks in newsboy caps? And um, who doesn’t like a gorgeous, exotic girl who can master a grill like nobody’s business? They just keep us coming back with perfectly seasoned and succulent skewers, belly-warming ramen and udon, and their sassy kitchen repartee.