Right at the Fork

We are joined by two of the people responsible for the accolades and wonderful food that comes out of the kitchens of Gado Gado and Oma's Hideway.  DaMenga Weaverhuff is Executive Chef, and has been leading the kitchens for a good while now, while Tom Pisha-Duffly is the owner and since Chef DeMenga's promotion has assumed a larger role, which we discuss in some detail during this interview.   DaM...

Visit www.localocean.net for details on the Fin & Feast dinner with Andrea at Local Ocean in Newport. We go back to December 2024 and our converation with Andrea Falaschi, ahead of his visit to Oregon for the Oregon Mailata and special Fin & Feast dinner at Local Ocean in Newport. Joining us this week is Andrea Falaschi, fourth generation butcher from Macelleria Falaschi in San Miniato in the hear...

Tony Bixler, president of Local Ocean Seafoods, joins us to discuss the history of Local Ocean, as well as his journey in Oregon in restaurants and life to get where he is today.  We will talk about what makes Local Ocean very special and the extra challenges it takes to serve fresh seafood to so many every day.   We also discuss a special event at Local Ocean on March 30, 2025 where 4th generatio...

Now that Ken's Artisan Pizza has officially opened in downtown Bend, we return to our conversation wtih Peter Kost from November of 2023.    ORIGINAL POST: Peter Kost grew up in Seattle, where his love for food was established as the son of farmers who sold their goods at the Seattle Public Market.  Peter's journey has taken him from restaurant work to wine sales to a long stint at Zupans in groce...

Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:  www. Zupans.com   RingSide Steakhouse:   www. RingSideSteakhouse.com   Portland Food Adventures:  www. PortlandFoodAdventures.com   Taking a trip to Tuscany?  You'll want to listen to this episode with Elisa Acciai, who's been a tour guide in Florence for years.  We talk about her journey from being a Concierge at a 5-Star hotel in Florence to...

This is a must-listen.  Chef Jose Camarena, Executive Chef at Portland's highly regarded República, may just be the youngest guest of over 400 on our podcast.  But you wouldn't know it if we hadn't drawn attention to that fact.  At just 24, he's in a position few others are at his age, and it's easy to see how he got as far as he's gotten at such a young age.   We talk about his family Sunday dinn...

Meg  Cotner is a freelance writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon via various other places including California to New York..  Meg publishes Bridgetown Bites, which  covers restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, events, and includes opinion pieces, all centering on the Portland food world.. The site focuses on   openings  and  closings   news, while dabbling in reviews and other editorial con...

We look back to our conversation with Alexa Numkena-Anderson from July of 2024:   Alexa Numkena-Anderson @cheflex_pdx is enrolled Hopi and is Yakama, Skokomish, Cree and Mexican descent. She was born in Yakima, Washington and grew up in the greater Washington area (Toppenish, Tri-Cites and Fairchild Air Force Base).  After high school Alexa moved to Portland, Oregon to pursue a culinary career and...

Frank Squillo has had quite a storied career, but as he points out in this episode, there are definite parallels between his career as a radio host and now, as co-owner of the storied Wanda's Cafe and Bakery, a mainstay of the North Oregon Coast that he purchased with his husband in 2019 and has operated since.   We talk about what it takes to run a successful restaurant on the Oregon Coast - the...

Jon Galdos operates a premiere tour company in San Sebastian.  The convergence of his love of travel and thirst for holiday time led him to find this passion almost 20 years ago, during a successful career in engineering.   Jon explains in this interview how he approaches designing experiences for people in one of the most culinary-rich areas of the world, and how he came to love what he does.   J...

Tyler Malek is the Chef and co-owner of one of Portland's now most iconic brands and restaurants, Salt & Straw.  Now with locations cornering the continental US, Tyler and his cousin Kim have made some serious noise in the ice cream world.   In this episode, Tyler talks about the longshot pitch to Disneyland to be their official ice cream vendor, and how quickly the folks at Disney decided they wa...

We're going back to August of 2022 and our conversation with Aundre Barnes of Urdaneta. ORIGINAL POST: We spend an hour with Aundre Barnes, who has been serving diners at Portland's Urdaneta for the past 7 years. Aundre is a native Portlander and has seen many changes over his years here. He's worked in banking and in voice-over work along the way. He shares with us some of the reasons for his pas...

To kick off 2025 and Right at the Fork's 12th year, we are pleased to feature a conversation with Bill Oakley, known to many on Instagram as @ThatBillOakley.  Bill is a celebrated food celebrity who is a regular on The Food that Built America and other TV shows.  He discusses some of the food and places featured in his annual Steamie Awards as part of his Steamed Ham Society, both nationally, and...

We complete our 11th year with one of our favorite guests, Gary the Foodie.  Gary discusses some of his his favorite Portland food experiences of 2024, as well as some others outside the area, well, because it's Gary! Right at the Fork is supported by:  Zupan's Markets:  www. Zupans.com   RingSide Steakhouse:   www. RingSideSteakhouse.com   Portland Food Adventures:  www. PortlandFoodAdventures.co...

We look back at our converation with Don Bourassa in January 2024...    Don Bourassa was Right at the Fork's first guest ever in 2014. Back then, he was the Community Director for Yelp.  Now, he's moved to Porto, Portugal with his wife and among his many endeavors, he writes on substack:  International Adulting.  We talk to Don about what's transpired in the ten years since his first visit with us...

Joining us this week is Andrea Falaschi, fourth generation butcher from Macelleria Falaschi in San Miniato in the heart of Tuscany.  Andrea's family business is celebrating its 100th year in 2025.  Andrea takes us through his family history with some anecdotes about how the business started back in 1925 with his great Grandfather Guido emigrating from Argentina with no reading and writing skills t...

We catch up with Carlo Lamagna, chef and owner of his Magna restaurants in both Portland and Denver.  Carlo is creating communities and success in promoting Filipino cuisine, so much so that he's garnered recognition from the James Beard Foundation and diners around the globe since his humble start in the business from Detroit to Chicago to Portland.  He's had his eye on Denver since before he lan...

Chef Sam Smith has been a notable figure in the Portland culinary scene since he arrived in the city from the Bay Area. He is currently the chef at Yaowarat, Portland Monthly's 2023 Restaurant of the Year.  Sam talks about the experiences of traveling through Thailand with his team doing extensive research to develop the recipes for the restaurant, as well as why the team of Sam, Akkapong Earl Nin...

Join host Chris Angelus for a lively conversation with his cousin Jimmy Angelus, proprietor of San Francisco's Cole Valley Tavern and Bacon Bacon.    Jim's history, which he talks about here, includes accolades from Julia Child and Jacques Pepin, criticism from Martha Stewart, mentions on Saturday Night Live, a Chopped! appearance and a host of fun stories about the fun people in his family and ci...

  Sandra Tavares knows the people, places and things that make up a wonderful culinary and wine journey throughout Portugal.  Sandra started her career as a journalist and found herself covering a burgeoning food scene, to the point where she realized she would enjoy developing tours and experiences for people, and taking them to the best Portugal has to offer, rather than just writing about them....

We are delighted to have Mary Cressler and Sean Martin on the podcast to talk about their venture, Vindulge.  We talk about how it came about and evolved, especially through the pandemic, when their business model had to change.    Vindulge is a wife and husband team who create delicious ways to enjoy cooking and entertaining o utside with  family and friends. Combined, they have two decades of ex...

After experiencing the new Portland airport (PDX), we revisit our recent interview with Kurt Huffman of ChefStable who talks about the ins and outs of having multiple restaurants at PDX, from Grassa to Loyal Legion.  Chris and Cort express how this first impression visitors will have of Oregon and Portland is key to the area's growth.   And...   For the first time in the Right at the Fork's 10+ ye...

Right at the Fork is supported by: Zupan's Markets: www. Zupans.com RingSide Steakhouse: www. RingSideSteakhouse.com Portland Food Adventures: www. PortlandFoodAdvent With the news that Berlu Bakery is closing (to relocate), following the perminant closure of Berlue last November - we wanted to revisit our conversation with Vince Nguyen just after his James Beard Foundation award win (Best Chef NW...

This classic episode comes from September of 2023, when Nat West was shutting down his business of 12 years. He's now one of 100 candidates on the ballet for one of 12 city council positions for the new Portland city government.  Original Post We were able to catch up with Nat West, founder, president and cidermaker at Reverend Nat's Hard Cider.  Nat announced the closing of his business after ove...

We are honored to have Bill Oakley guest host this episode of Right at the Fork, featuring Nori De Vega - one of Portland's most prominent food and restaurant video creators on Instagram and TikTok.  Nori De Vega was born in Manila, Philippines, and currently lives with her husband and two basenjis in Portland. Her immediate family originally immigrated to Reno, Nevada in the 90's before everyone...