Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com
RingSide SteakHouse: www.RingsideSteakHouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

Vindulge is a wife and husband team who create delicious ways to enjoy cooking and entertaining outside with family and friends. Combined, they have two decades of experience in recipe development, entertaining, education, writing, and professional cooking.

Mary Cressler: Mary Cressler is a wine, food, and travel writer, executive editor of the award-winning blog Vindulge, and co-author of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and upcoming Fire + Wine: Backyard Pizza (publishing spring 2025). Mary writes about BBQ and wine on her website, Vindulge, which received an IACP nomination for Best Recipe-Based Blog in 2020 and 2017. Mary is a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers, recipe developer, and food and wine writer with credits in Wine Enthusiast, Serious Eats, Weber Grills Online, Barbecue America Magazine, Big Green Egg, Oregon Wine Press, and many more, and is a frequent judge for wine competitions.

Sean Martin: Sean Martin started with a career in property casualty insurance. He’d always enjoyed cooking and helped co-found Ember and Vine catering in 2014. After being awarded one of Oregon’s best wine country caterers in 2015, he continued to work with Mary on recipe development and ways to create approachable outdoor cooking recipes and helped co-author both books. Sean works with the culinary and beverage partners of Vindulge like Big Green Egg, Alfa Forni Pizza Ovens, and Federalist Wines.

They teach classes on wine, grilling, barbecue, and outdoor pizzas and are featured chefs at events throughout the country. They live on a small farm in Oregon wine country with their twin boys. You find explore hundreds of recipes at www.vindulge.com and follow them at Vindulge at all their socials.

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com
RingSide SteakHouse: www.RingsideSteakHouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com
RingSide SteakHouse: www.RingsideSteakHouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

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).

Original post

This week Portland had a big week at the James Beard Awards, and one of those big winners was Vince Nguyen of Berlu, taking home Best Chef NW/Pacific honors. And speaking of honors, it's an honor to have Vince on the podcast for a second time, this time talking about his feelings going into, during and after winning his big award. We will talk about his team, how he gets so much satisfaction from their growth, what this means for him professionally, as well as things like work/life balance and the labor situation in Portland.

We will also hear some glimpses about how Vince would like to expand Berlu and what that would take.

Enjoy this talk with Vince, who surely will endear himself to you and make you want to enjoy his talents at Berlu, if you haven't been already. And make note of his Venmo handle. It just may be a way to get a table!! :-) (That's said tongue in cheek)

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 over a dozen years building the business from scratch. Nat tells us what led to the close and the decision to do it, the challenges and joys he experienced, and what he plans going forward. Also, we will hear how an agnostic named his company Reverend Nat's!

Nat shares some of his favorite drinking spots in PDX as well.

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com
RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

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 but Nori decided to relocate back abroad in the early 2000’s. Nori spent her formative years in the US during the school year and in Manila during winter and summer breaks.

Her passion for food comes from traveling all over the globe since she was a baby and her affinity to connect with other cultures through cuisine. Nori is a small-business advocate, tastemaker, and trusted voice in the food, wine, and hospitality space. She's the founder of Tikim, a collective that focuses on the advancement and celebration of Filipino cuisine and culture in the Pacific Northwest.

Find Nori on Instagram @nomnom_nori

Photo by Maynard Villaflores.

About Bill Oakley:

Bill Oakley made a name for himself with his work on The Simpsons and other TV shows, being one of the key writers and a showrunner for years.

Now, he's gained recognition on shows like "The Food that Made America." His love of all types of food, prompts Bills return to the podcast again, this time to talk about some of the awards bestowed on behalf of his Steamed Hams Society.

Check out Bill's apparences on Right at the Fork: Episodes #313 and #372.

Connect with Bill:

Instagram: @ThatBillOakley
https://www.patreon.com/steamedhamssociety

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com
RingSide SteakHouse: www.RingsideSteakHouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

With news that L'Orange has made the New York Times list of America's Best Restaurants, wanted to return to our conversation from July 2023 with Joel Stocks.

Original post:

Joel Stocks has found a new home at his new restaurant/wine bar L'Orange with business partner Jeff Vejr, also of Las Caves. We discuss what L'Orange is all about, including the visions both he and Jeff had when opening their wine bar/restaurant in the former Willow space.

Joel has worked at some of the best restaurants in Portland, and the world. Arzak, Alinea, French Laundry to name a few, and of course Holdfast Dining in Portland. We'll hear how Joel targeted working at the French Laundry long before he got a gig there, and now that happened. Joel will also discuss how his prior experiences influences his cooking. We'll also talk travel ideas, especially Spain.

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.zupans.com
RingSide SteakHouse: www.RingsideSteakHouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com

Right at the Fork's most frequent guest, Gary Okazaki (@garythefoodie), joins Chris on the podcast to discuss his favorite most recent experiences in the Portland food world.

Right at the Fork is supported by:

Zupan's Markets: www.Zupans.com
RingSide Steakhouse: www.RingSideSteakhouse.com
Portland Food Adventures: www.PortlandFoodAdventures.com